1
Elizabeth
I turnedanother page of my MCAT study guide while jotting down some notes with my free hand.
I'd been sitting at the desk over the last week, and I must say, I'd grown very accustomed to it. I'd read through the entire book twice, and I really wanted to get through it again tonight. No, I wasn’t a nerd, but I had been studying like crazy. McKenzie was afraid for my sanity, but I couldn’t help that. Every time I went through the book, I found another sentence or paragraph that I needed to memorize. At that rate, I was going to end up copying the whole book before I finished.
Using a scrunchie to tie up my long brown hair, I pushed my glasses back up on my nose. I really should just get contacts, but who had the time. It was all I could do to remain hydrated.
Pursing my lips, I reached for my fourth cup of coffee for today and restarted “Hedwig's Theme” from the Harry Potter movies. I loved listening to movie scores while studying. It let me replay the scenes in my head and provided a nice distraction from the monotony that I put myself through. It was a trick I had learned in high school that had stayed with me for years. The songs had changed, but the concept stayed the same. Even now, I would be watching the movies and the song would come up and I would start to think about what I was studying when I last listened to that song.
"Eli!" McKenzie burst into the room, startling me from my thoughts. She had decided that Eli was far more trendy than Elizabeth, and thus the nickname had stuck.
"Oh my God!" I said and knocked my drink off the desk. The coffee spilled everywhere, but thankfully not onto my books.
Though McKenzie and I had been best friends for years, we couldn't possibly have been any more different. She was a hurricane mixed with a tornado. Gorgeous, outgoing, and charismatic, she seemed to get along with just about everyone she met. I, however, did not. She exuded confidence, and all kinds of people gravitated to her as if under her spell.
More than that, she was spontaneous. She simply jumped into whatever interested her at the moment, and she swiftly moved on to her next obsession, bulldozing anyone in her path with her sweet smile and engaging laugh. Her enthusiasm was infectious, and as much as I dreaded it sometimes, there was never a dull moment with her. Maybe opposites did attract after all, even in platonic cases such as ours.
"Eli, what are you doing? Why haven't you answered me? Are you almost ready?” She blanched, without stopping to breathe. “Oh God, you're not wearing that are you? Please tell me you're not wearing that. We have to leave in like three minutes." Her sentences ran together in such a rush, it was hard to keep up, and all I could do was stare at the rapidly chattering blonde.
“Leave where?” I asked, but McKenzie wasn’t really listening.
She wasn’t a bad friend, or selfish, or anything like that. McKenzie was always moving ten times faster than the world around her, and at times I wondered how her body kept up with her brain and vice versa. She was tall, slim, and basically perfect—a stark contrast to me. At least, in my mind. I glanced down at the black heels that elongated her legs, then back to my faded Converse.
"Well?" she demanded, as she turned toward the mirror in a sleek orange dress that I would never be caught dead in.
"Um, you look nice," I said as she began to apply more red lipstick. I didn’t know why she bothered. She already had perfect hair and make-up; the extra sheen on her already plump lips was unnecessary.
"You should definitely change. You need something dressier, more attractive... But still in your comfort zone, so you know, not showing too much skin. I know how you hate that." McKenzie never looked up from the mirror as she talked, and I couldn’t fathom how she applied lipstick with her mouth moving that fast.
"Something like what you're wearing?" I joked. "Cause my mom would kill me and call me some kind of hoochie mama."
"Your mom is uptight," she said as she turned to face me with a shrug, "But you have to findsomethingbecause you're going to look like you’re from an entirely different world with your oversized college sweatshirt and sweatpants.”
I glanced down at my attire before meeting my best friend’s gaze. "I'm studying; this is what I wear when I'm studying."
"Yes, but study time is over," she said as she over walked to the closet.
"McKenzie, I seriously have no idea what you're talking about. Ready for what?" I grabbed my phone to see a dozen missed phone calls and text messages, all from McKenzie. I must have turned it on silent instead of vibrate again and missed them all. It wasn’t intentional, but Freud might say there was more to it than the accident I tried to blow it off as.
"For our date! Oh my God, you aren't backing out on me now? You promised!" She pouted and stomped her foot like a toddler. "I'm not letting you sit in this dorm all night when you promised you would be my second on our double blind date!"
I closed my eyes and dropped my head as I realized what she was talking about. I had reluctantly agreed to go on a blind date with her, mainly to stop her begging and to get her to shut up. "I completely forgot about it. I have been swamped with studying, and honestly, I'm still not done, so I don't think—"
"Oh no. You're not doing this," McKenzie said as she grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me upright. "You've been studying every night this week. In fact, all you do is study. You need to give yourself a break sometimes. You can take one night off. Besides, you promised. And if you don't go, I can't go, and Ireallywant to go." She gave me a pleading look; it was the same expression she gave everyone that got her everything her little heart ever desired. No one ever said no to McKenzie—including me.
I groaned and lowered my head to my desk. I knew I should be studying, and, honestly, I wanted to study more than I wanted to go meet some random guys. But Kenz was right, too. I probably needed to get out of this room for a bit. My mind could use a bit of a break.
"Okay fine, but," I said as she started to squeal with excitement. “But, we are leaving by midnight. I have got to finish this paper tonight before I go to sleep."
"Okay, Cinderella," she said with an excited laugh. "Now, about that outfit."
* * *
We walkedinto the dark Italian restaurant and toward the hostess stand. I was very aware of the people who stared in our direction. They weren't staring at me, though.
McKenzie's orange dress would make anyone else look like a giant traffic cone, but on her, it had that “straight off the runway” feel. She could pull off just about any fashion risk. Maybe even set new trends. I, on the other hand, had opted for a simple, pale blue shift dress. I hated calling attention to my athletic build, so the looser fit made me feel better. While my best friend enjoyed having people take notice, I preferred to blend in with the wallpaper.
