Pride & Pre-Med Curriculum

Chapter 1

Creative Writing. Were they serious? How is anyone supposed to be creative first thing in the morning? Especially when you have been up all night studying for a pretest in Biophysics like Lizzy had. Okay, so she knew that she had a 3.8 GPA in that class so far, but ever since the counselor, Mrs. Albert, told her that she had to maintain a 90% or above in Biophysics and Advanced Biophysics to even be considered for some med school programs, she'd decided she wasn't going to take any chances.

Her only consolation from her exhaustion was that this was her one and only pud class. Creative Writing had not been at the top of her list of choices, but she had needed something that was only two credits to fill her schedule and so she had done one of the only whimsical acts of her short life and had enrolled in it.

She was a serious student and would never have considered it under normal circumstances, but in truth she had little choice. She had taken almost every other class that worked with her schedule during her junior and senior years in high school. Her counselor had urged her to take it, warning that she was taking too heavy a schedule and she might suffer burnout with the monstrous workload, so she had compromised with this, her only course that would not be a challenge.

She groaned, reaching for her SpeedyMart Giant Gulp mug full of coffee; it was one of those industrial-sized cups that was insulated and held more than an entire pot of coffee. She took a swig and grimaced. She actually hated the bitter, inky liquid, but everyone recommended that she learn to like it, assuring her that she wouldn't make it though med school without copious amounts of it.

Lizzy was digging through her book bag which held everything from work out clothes to lip balm as well as her mammoth texts for this morning's classes for some aspirin to ease her aching head. She was rifling through it when a copy of her sister Jane's paperback romance fell out.

Great.

She had forgotten to return Jane's library books, again. She reached for the novel entitled Banish My Love, its cover art, consisting of a bare-chested rogue holding a damsel whose heaving chest was about to spill from her dress, peering back at her from the floor.

Before her fingers closed on it, however, a strong, masculine, well manicured hand appeared and snatched it from the floor. Lizzy's eyes traveled up and up before colliding with a pair of dark, brooding ones. He didn't look like the typical student. Too rigid and business-like, he lacked the relaxed slouch of her more typical classmates.

Her words of thanks died on her lips as she came face to face with the handsome, arrogant features before her, emphasized by the pensive frown he wore. He wore a button up dress shirt and a long sleeve pull-over sweater, of which he had casually pushed the sleeves up to his elbows, exposing muscular forearms. Even his khakis were neatly pressed. In fact, the only thing that suggested he might be a student and not faculty was the shaggy black hair that fell across his forehead. He was examining the romance novel with a sneer pulling at one side of his top lip.

"I hope this isn't the type of 'literature' you plan on emulating in this class? Were you expecting to learn how the write the next great american romance novel in this class? I do hope that you're not discouraged by the lack of scantily clad damsels in our class curriculum? Perhaps we should start with something simpler, like Dr. Seuss, for your benefit?" He slapped the book down in front of Lizzy with impatient distaste and continued walking before she could explain.

Who did he think he was? She was livid at his small minded assumptions. It wasn't even her book! Grumpily, she continued her search for the aspirin bottle, but before she located it, her question was answered.

"Class, I would like to make an announcement." Lizzy recognized the middle-aged man in the three piece suit standing at the front of the room as the dean. She remembered seeing him speak in orientation. "I am sad to inform you that Professor Cooper has fallen ill and will be taking an extended medical leave. His doctors think he may have suffered a heart attack. While he is in stable condition, the doctors said it will be awhile before he can return to teaching. We hope he will return to health quickly and resume his duties here, but in the meantime, temporarily, we will have the teacher's assistant fill in. Many of you might know the TA, Will Darcy, although Mr. Cooper had him performing behind-the-scene duties of grading papers, and developing curriculum and so-on." The dean patted the back of the man standing beside him who just happened to be the one that had picked up Lizzy's book. "He will take over the lecture portion and will be assisted by another TA with his other duties."