Third Degree (12 page)

“We’re talking about my baby sister, not a patient. It’s not possible for me to discuss leg removal of any kind with Allie involved. But,” he says, clearly ready to change the subject, “I have involved my sisters in another, more relevant topic.” He walks across the room and stands in front of his large white board. There’s a towel draped over it. “With their help, I’ve created an extensive list of typical college and teenage activities you may have missed out on due to your unconventional education.”

I straighten up, my eyebrows already rising. This should be interesting. Marshall yanks the towel off, revealing his neatly written list.

Izzy’s Educational To-Do List

Created by Marshall Collins with collaborative input from Renee and Tracy Collins

1.
Cultural assimilation:
attend a school athletic event (Tracy recommends a football game, Marshall and Renee agree).

2.
Literature:
read at least five novels that are popular with female teenagers and have zero educational value (Renee recommends
Twilight
series books, Tracy says anything but
Twilight;
Marshall has never been a female teenager).

3.
Chemistry:
experiment with alcohol and/or other substances with similar purpose (Marshall did not seek out input from his sisters on this subject because he refuses to acknowledge that, at thirteen and sixteen, his sisters may know something about illegal substance
use).

4.
Art and design:
create and use a fake ID (again, only Marshall’s idea).

5.
Applied sciences:
engage in rebellious acts (Tracy suggests a school-related prank, Renee suggests breaking school dress code but didn’t take into consideration the difference between her Catholic grade-school uniform and an average university dress code, and Marshall recommends cheating on a test).

6.
Social studies:
develop a variety of relationships (Tracy says dating multiple boys at once though Marshall says sixteen-year-old girls should not date any boys, Renee says eighth-grade boys are too immature to date, and Marshall recommends starting slow—like not pissing off your roommate for a week).

“What did you tell your sisters about me?” I ask after absorbing the list.

“That you’re a foreign exchange student and I’m helping you fit in.”

I laugh. “How many different lies are you going to come up with to explain why I’m such an oddity?”

He takes a seat in his desk chair, looking me over carefully. “You’re not an oddity, Izzy.”

The weight of his stare alone is enough to cause goose bumps to pop up all over my arms. I rub them hard, trying to force my skin back to normal. Maybe it isn’t just his stare. Maybe it’s the image of Marshall consciously seeking out advice from his sisters, standing in front of the board, probably last night, and writing down that list.

And what have I done to keep up my end of the deal? Helped him get a 60 on his latest quiz? I can do better than that. I have to do better than that.

“I’d like to start with applied sciences,” I say.

He looks back at the list, scanning it quickly. “The prank or the dress code violation?”

“Let’s go with your idea: cheating on a test.”

Surprise fills his expression. “All right, I’m listening …”

Chapter 10

“So what’s the deal with you and Marshall?” Kelsey asks.

I’ve noticed, over the past few days, that whenever she wants to have one of her psychoanalytical chats she sits at my desk instead of hers. Can we psychoanalyze that?

I shut the angsty teen novel I’ve been choking down for the last hour and roll over on my bed to face her. “What do you mean?”

“You spend a lot of time in his room,” she says, adjusting her black sports bra, then bending down to retie her shoes.

“With the door open,” I make sure to point out.

She allows a long, dramatic silence to fall between us before finally responding. “Marshall’s a really decent guy, but he’s not perfect. And I’ve never seen him date the same girl more than a couple times, probably long enough to bang her and move on. Not that he’s a man whore, just a typical guy having fun. And he’s had lots of gaps between girls, so he’s not always dating someone or anything—”

I’m laughing too hard for Kelsey to continue. “I guess you think home-schooled equates to zero experience with casual hookups?” Since I don’t fit the typical profile of a home-schooled student, I have to goad her a bit to find out what her version of this type is.

Kelsey’s eyebrows shoot up. “You seemed pretty freaked about
my
one-night stand. And now you’re hanging with Marsh all the time, reading books about girls obsessed with a boy. You never study. I’m not sure what classes you’re taking besides the one that Marsh is in, or even if you go to class at all. What am I supposed to think other than naive girl drowning in her crush on the older, more experienced boy?”

“First off …” I take a breath and bite back the rising frustration. “I’ve pretty much only done the casual hookup thing. I’ve never even been in the same universe as a relationship. But I would never let any of my naked female anatomy come in contact with naked male anatomy without proof of a clean bill of health. That doesn’t make me a naive prude.”

Her eyes widen, and she pulls herself upright. I immediately sit up and turn around. Marshall’s standing in the doorway, his hand raised in a fist like he’s about to knock on the door frame. Kelsey jumps to her feet and turns to me. “To be continued …”

Great. I can’t wait.

The second she’s out of the room, I lean against the wall and focus on the other side of the room over Marshall’s shoulder. I’m not willing to make eye contact at the moment. “I
thought you had U.S. history.”

“Our quiz took ten minutes and then we were allowed to leave.” He picks up my latest novel and takes a seat on Kelsey’s bed. “How’s the book?”

I figure we’re not going to talk about what he most likely overheard. “Honestly, you should forbid your sisters from reading this shit. I didn’t think it was possible to lose IQ points from reading, but I’m positive I just did.”

“Good thing you have a few extra to spare.” He flips through the book, keeping his head down. “My brother gave me his tickets to the football game next Saturday. We should go.”

The way he says it, it doesn’t feel like it’s just an item on Izzy’s Educational To-Do List, but I could be overanalyzing this. Yet another reason that I really need to meet some new boys. ASAP.

“We can watch Kelsey cheer. That’s a good roommate bonding activity, right?”

“Yeah, sure.” He closes the book and sets it beside him. “Look, Izzy …”
Okay, here we go—the “I have to be professional even if you have a crush on me” speech
. “About your applied science plan …”
All right, maybe not
. “I’m not sure I can do that. It feels like I’m using you, and I don’t want that. Besides, you can’t take every test for me. At some point I have to learn the material.”

I roll my eyes and stand up. “Go get your books and laptop. We’ll study, you’ll learn as much as you can, and then I’ll make sure you get a decent enough grade to maintain your B average. You’re going to be a gym teacher, not a doctor. Who cares if you memorize all the names of the bones?” I look him over carefully. “Now can you ditch the bullshit guilt?”

His mouth pulls into that sexy half smile. “I think you gave a very convincing argument.”

While I’m waiting for Marshall to come back, my cell phone rings. I check the screen and hit ignore the second I see it’s Mom.

I’ve been doing this a lot lately, but I’m not sure if it’s because I’m angry with my parents or if the fear of being alone is so heavy right now that I’m already trying to distance myself—ease out of their lives so that it hurts less later on.

I enter the unfamiliar lecture hall keeping my head up and making sure I appear completely
confident in my need to be here for this exam. Marshall’s seated in the second-to-last row, just like we’d discussed over the past week. He doesn’t even glance over his shoulder to check if I’m here or not while the TAs are handing out test booklets. When the stack gets to Marshall, he turns no more than thirty degrees, sticks the booklet out in front of me, and spins to face forward again. I quickly jot down Marshall’s name and student ID number. All his studying helped him get a 77 on the last quiz, so he instructed me to aim for something not too flashy—like an 88.

It takes me exactly six minutes to scan the test and answer all fifty multiple choice and true/false questions correctly. And I’ll admit, my heart is pounding in that fearful yet excited way. It’s a lot like the feeling I’d get when a new gunshot-wound case was wheeled into the ER and Dr. Rinehart would let me examine the patient first and identify the bullet entry and exit wounds.

The process of choosing the six questions Marshall is likely to answer incorrectly isn’t very difficult, either, considering I’ve been pulling my hair out studying with him for the last week.

4. The basic unit of life is ____

A. The cell

B. Water

C. The atom

D. The heart

We’d studied this question many times and the dialogue went something like this …

“
Easy. The heart.
”

“
No. The cell.
”

“
Okay, so it’s like the basic unit of life as in all living creatures, I thought this was a human anatomy course.
”

“
Regardless, it would still be the cell. And you know what? This is one question that will be on the exam exactly like this. No tricks or scenarios to talk yourself in circles around. All you have to do is memorize it.
”

“
But all those other answer choices are so tempting. I can’t just memorize it. I need a song or something to remember. Can you make up a song, Izzy?
”

“
Make up your own damn song!
”

I smile down at the test booklet, erase A, and switch it to C.

28. Based on basic tissue type, which of the following terms does not belong grouped with the others?

A. Cartilage

B. Blood

C. Muscle

D. Ligament

“
I have no idea.
”

“
Muscle. We’ve done this one three times already and I’ve told you the answer three times.
”

“
How do you memorize stuff?
”

“
I don’t know.
”

“
Ha! Finally, a question the great and powerful Izzy can’t answer.
”

“
Shut up. And surely you’ve memorized something in your life?
”

“
The Lord’s Prayer, but I spent nine years in Catholic school reciting it every single morning. It was more like brainwashing than memorization.
”

“
Anything else?
”

“ ‘
That groupie? She was a Band-Aid … all she did was love your band and you used her, all of you!
’ ”

“
What the hell was that?
”

“Almost Famous.”

“
Who’s almost famous?
”

“
You mean
what
is
Almost Famous.
It’s a movie. A fucking awesome movie. Okay, adding to Izzy’s Educational To-Do List item number seven—watch any and all fucking amazing movies that she has been deprived of.
”

“
If this is anything like the angsty teen novels, I’m vetoing addendum number seven.
”

Once I’ve finished everything on the test and given Marshall his requested 88, I watch him from behind—his pencil is constantly being flipped over while he erases and recasts his answers. I can’t see his forehead from behind, but I’m sure it’s wrinkled and tense. By the time we’re told to pass our papers forward, it’s hard to tell if he’s made it through all fifty questions or not, but regardless, it doesn’t matter. His test will be tossed in the garbage. I’m not sure why he even bothered to try to answer all the questions.

Marshall heads out of the lecture hall before me, and by the time I catch up to him, he’s walking shoulder to shoulder with a tall blond girl who sat beside him during the test. I slow up my pace and keep several steps between me and them.