Sitting at her orientation, surrounded by 98 other students, Annie couldn't help but feel down. Nursing school was supposed to be her new start, her way to make something of herself. But what did she do? She failed out her first time around, and was back at Greendale, retaking her class. She should have moved on to second semester, with all of her other classmates—well, the one's who passed, anyway. Instead, she was sitting at a round table in the cafeteria with 6 other people she didn't know, waiting for the orientation speech to begin.
Annie couldn't say her life was horrible. After high school and her pill addiction, she met an amazing guy named Jake. They had been together for 4 years now, and lived together in a small apartment with their dogs. He worked in a warehouse in the evenings, while she took classes during the day. People always said that she was lucky, and she definitely agreed with them. Her only complaint was that things felt stagnant, like nothing was moving forward. Annie, being a go getter, figured that by 22 she would be graduated, with a bachelor's degree, making a good living, and on the way to getting married to the man she loved. Everything happens for a reason though.
As the room filled up, she took stock of the people. A girl with her mother—she probably wouldn't last in the program very long, a lot of people her age, quite a few older people, and a larger number of men than she was expecting. She counted 19 total. Not bad. Greendale always liked to boast about the number of male nurses they taught.
Annie looked down at her sticker name tag and sighed, peeling the backing off and sticking it to her blue scrub top. Looking around the table, she smiled, taking a peek at everybody's name. Troy, Shirley, Abed, Pierce, Britta, and an empty chair. Looked like student number eight was running late.
"So, are you guys excited about class starting?" Annie asked, smiling at the group.
"Oh, why yes!" exclaimed the woman named Shirley. "I've always wanted to be a nurse."
Troy and Abed both murmured some non-committal gibberish about their excitement.
"I want to be a nurse, but I don't want to be bogged down by sexist ideas of what a nurse is supposed to be," Britta said, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair.
Annie suppressed rolling her eyes, and went back to studying the people in the room. As she turned back to face her own table, she saw a tall man taking the free seat next to Britta. Actually, he was a tall, handsome man. She looked at his name tag and saw his name was Jeffrey. He carried the biggest thermos of coffee she had ever seen, and he somehow managed to make the scrubs he wore look good.
"Hey there, I'm Jeff," he said, setting his things down on the table, "I didn't miss anything, did I?"
Britta shook her head, a small blush rising to her cheeks. Annie sighed. She thought anybody who dated a classmate was a fool, especially when you were going to be in a program together for 2 whole years. That was their mistake to make, though.
Just then, the head of the program walked in, and quiet fell over the room.
"Good morning everybody, my name is Dr. Thompson, and I oversee the nursing program here at Greendale Community College. Nursing is one of the most rewarding professions that can be pursued, and I have all the confidence in the world that you all will succeed. Now, a couple items to go over. First, every student must complete a drug screen within 7 days of today. Failure to do so will result in your forfeiture of your spot in the program. If there are any issues with this, please come see me after the meeting today. Next, your uniforms. As you walked in, we checked to make sure that everybody was dressed appropriately. You will wear this uniform on your assigned hospital days. Make sure that you get an ID made today, and make sure that if you had violations, they are corrected in the future. Good luck to all of you."
Everybody applauded as Dr. Thompson took her seat, and a middle aged bald man took the stage.
"Well hello! My name is Professor Pelton, and I'll be your main professor this semester! Who's in for a fabulous time?" he paused briefly, causing an awkward silence. "Now, let's get done with the boring stuff so we can get on with the fun!"
An hour of bad puns and boring text book talk later, the Pelton was finally done, allowing everyone to find out which lab groups they would be assigned to.
"Okay, so I was thinking that, if you all are up to it, we could maybe have a study group?" Annie asked, gauging the reaction of the people at the table.
"That would be good for me," Britta said, "Jeff, will you go?"
He looked up from his phone and glanced at the group. "Sure, sounds like we could use all the help we can get this semester."
"Troy and I are in," said Abed. "People say I'm weird and difficult to deal with, so as long as you guys are prepared."
"I would love to have a study group!" Shirley said excitedly, "I was really hoping to join a group."
"Just tell me when and where," Pierce said, causing Jeff to roll his eyes. Annie smirked.
"Okay, great! Well, just write your numbers down on this paper, and I'll text you so we can set up times!" Annie said, setting a piece of notebook paper in the middle of the table.
Annie looked down at the sticker on her shirt, noting that she was in lab group 2 pm, so she headed over to the group standing to the left of the stage. She saw Jeff as she walked up, and she shot him a quick smile.
"Ready for the tour of the campus?" she asked him, smiling.
"A tour? Really? Do they forget that we've already taken classes here?" he asked her, shaking his head, smirking a little.
"Yeah, they show us the library, the computer room, the classroom we'll be in, and stuff like that. It's just a way for them to keep us here a little longer."
"Great. How do you know what they're going to show us?" he asked her.
"Don't tell the others yet, but I'm actually a repeat. I failed last semester," she said, past the point of feeling embarrassed about it, "I figure that I can help some other students out with what to expect this semester. I just want to be the one to tell people."
"Got it," he said, smiling down at her slightly, "if it makes you feel any better, I don't think that's anything to be embarrassed about. At least you didn't give up."
"Thanks," she said, smiling, "you have no idea how much that means to me."
He didn't say anything to that, as the tour was about to begin. The upperclassman leading the tour showed them all of the important buildings and rooms on campus, and explained what they should expect that semester in a little more detail than Pelton had explained. Annie and Jeff stayed together the whole time, cracking jokes. They also picked a study room. Study room F to be exact.
When the tour ended, they went back to the cafeteria and sat back down at their original table. Annie picked up the sheet of paper with everybody's names and phone numbers, tucking it into her pocket.
As the rest of the students filed back into the cafeteria, the Professor Pelton took the stage again.
"It looks like that's all I've got for you today! Have a fabulous rest of your day, and I'll see you in a week for your first class!"
The group immediately got up, not needing to be told twice, and Annie began heading to the door.
"I'll text you guys this evening," she called over her shoulder as she slipped through the double doors leading to the parking lot.
Jake had driven her today since her car was in the shop, but she didn't see him there yet. "Damn," she muttered, taking out her phone to text him that she was done. She found a picnic table to sit down at while she waited.
"Waiting around all alone?" a voice said behind her.
Annie turned around and saw Jeff standing there, his hands in his pockets. "My boyfriend drove me today, and he's just running late picking me up."
Jeff nodded, looking out to the parking lot. "Want me to wait with you? I don't have anywhere to be."
"You don't have to. He should be more than ten minutes or so," Annie said, knowing, but not understanding the reason, that Jeff probably shouldn't be present when Jake picked her up.
"Alright, well, you have my number…" he trailed off, looking at her meaningfully.
She nodded, patting her pocket. "Have a good rest of your week, Jeff."
"You too, Annie."