Disclaimer: I'm just playing with Suzanne Collins' characters and her world. They're hers. Not mine.
Gross Anatomy
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Gale asks her for the millionth time as he walks her to the building on the outskirts of the campus. Her first anatomy lab.
She isn't, not by a long shot, but it's a prerequisite.
Over the summer she'd finally decided on a path in school, though her certainty has wavered with each passing day, as she inched closer to the class.
No longer is she able to claim being an undeclared. She's now, officially, a pre-nursing student.
It was a choice she hadn't come to lightly. Over the years, growing up, she had sworn up and down, after watching her mother go in and out of hospitals and rehab facilities, that she would never work in healthcare. It's a mostly thankless job as far as she could tell. Her mother, during the worst of her spells, was unbearable, frightening, and despite her frequent promises to Madge and everyone else in their family, she always fell back.
The inconsistence of her mother's stability and seeing not only her, but also the others she was in the facilities with, all the hardships it caused in the families, had made Madge certain working with the sick was the last thing she would ever want to do.
As unpleasant as her mother's stays had always been, though, Madge had felt the staff members genuinely cared for her, tried to make both her mother and the rest of the family feel what little hope they could. Madge felt compelled to pass that compassion on.
And that's why she's currently staring out at a building with an enormous refrigerator in the back.
"You won't even help me with the animals I bring back from hunting," he frowns. "How are you going to do…this?"
He really isn't helping.
"I'm…just going to get through it," she finally sighs. He worries about her too much. It's just because he cares, but it's still too much. It can't be good for him.
Spotting Clove coming up from the opposite direction, waving, Madge turns to Gale and pops up on her toes, presses a kiss to his cheek.
"Wish me luck."
Judging by the look on his face, he thinks she's going to need a lot more than luck, but he dips down, catches her lips for too short a time before whispering, "Good luck."
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The inside of the dissection lab has a very…unique smell. Madge wrinkles her nose when it hits her.
She stays near Clove and they press to the back wall of the little hall outside a pair of heavy doors that must lead into the main lab, behind the crush of the rest of the class.
A tall, bald man, a little intimidating looking, emerges gives them a wicked sort of smile. His name badge reads 'Brutus'. Perfect name for a man in charge of cadavers Madge thinks.
"Ground rules," he begins as one of his TAs starts passing out papers, a list of do's and don'ts for the lab.
His deep voice rumbles, warns them against taking photos with a threat of dismemberment, which Madge isn't one hundred percent certain is a joke, tells them that in the highly unlikely event that they think they know their cadaver to let him know.
"In all the years I've done this, though," he tells them with a very distinct downturn of his mouth, "I've only had one girl think she knew one of them. She didn't though." He sneers, "And don't even think of taking any souvenirs!"
That's a little disturbing. Who would take something from a cadaver lab? And what?
Actually…she's pretty sure she doesn't want to know.
"The TAs will pass out the dissection kits, but each group will be responsible for cleaning them after each use and putting them away." He glares out at them, daring them to not wash their utensils.
After a few minutes the doors open to a white walled room flooded in harsh fluorescent light and lined on both sides with four long metallic tables each, covered in sheets. Madge's stomach rolls just thinking about it what's under them.
"This is either going to be so gross or so awesome," Clove whispers.
Madge is pretty sure it's going to be the former, but can't seem to get her voice to work. Plus, she also isn't sure she would voice that to Clove, who seems to like the macabre. It's a little scary at times.
The crowd shuffles in. One of the TAs tells them, "Five to a table, please."
Clove heads to a far table, on the right side, and Madge trails after her. Maybe if she sticks with Clove she won't have to do as much dissecting.
They're quickly joined by a tall boy with a limp, then an ashen skinned girl with stringy hair.
"Hank," the boy offers them all smile. "I'm pre-occupational therapy."
"Laisa Robet," the girl, a little awkward, blurts out. "Pre-med, I don't actually have to take this class."
Well why are you in-wait, what?
"Okay," Clove rolls her eyes, clearly not caring what the other girl had said, "I'm Clove, going into dental hygiene."
"Madge," Madge says, brushing off Laisa's odd admission, feeling a little like she's in some sort of bizarre group therapy. "Pre-nursing."
"And I'm Cato."
Madge fights a groan, her luck couldn't possibly be that bad.
"Going to be the best damn physical therapist in the country."
Apparently, yes, it could.
Looking over, she sees the close cropped blonde hair and annoyingly grinning face of the nuisance she'd racked only months before.
She doubts he'll even be the best in his class, assuming he gets in, but she keeps her mouth shut. Apparently Cato, the world's most obnoxious human being, is the fifth man of their less than merry band.
Great, and she thought this couldn't get any more unpleasant.
He gives Madge a narrow look, "Well if it isn't little miss hit and run."
Biting her tongue, Madge fights the urge to tell him if he doesn't watch his mouth she's going to pull another 'hit and run' on him. Hadn't he learned anything from their last encounter? She isn't going to let him push her around. Maybe she should tell him she's the one that got him out during the paintball game back in the spring…
Before she can do anything, though, a couple of the TAs come to their table, plop a rag wrapped set of dissection tools down on the small rolling table.
Madge lets a tiny smile inch up her face.
Her coworkers from the coffee shop, Katy-Jo Lewes and Birdy Alameda, Gale's least favorite caffeine slingers, are pulling double duty again this year as TAs. Madge had conspired with them to get in one of the sections they were assisting with, so they could help her with study sessions during shifts at the coffee shop.
"I'm Katy-Jo Lewes and this is Birdy," Katy-Jo Lewes tells them with her ever bright smile. "We're gonna be walking between these back two tables."
Cato looks unimpressed. They're not the most impressive looking pair, but Madge knows they're not to be trifled with. He squints down at their name badges, "It says Phoebe?"
Birdy gives him a flat look, "I go by Birdy."
"Probably for the best," he gives Hank a look, clearly thinking a boy will share his sense of humor, "I hear Phoebe, I expect to see an old woman."
Neither Hank, nor any of the other occupants of the table seem to find that humorous. Or they're afraid of the deadly look Birdy is shooting Cato's way.
"Funny," Birdy drawls, "I hear 'Cato' and I expect to see reasonably priced women's fashion." She lets her eyes flicker up and down Cato's frame, his brightly pants and his print covered shirt, "Well, I guess at least one of us isn't using false advertising."
Hank snorts.
Color rises in Cato's cheeks and Madge wonders if he's going to complain to the head instructor, but before he can get his mouth moving, spit out something vile at either girl, they brush past him, begin pulling the sheet from the body on the table.
What the hell is on the face?!
Madge suddenly feels she's in an episode of 'Law and Order', looking down at a murder victim. There's a plastic bag over the face, which is also covered with a thick looking paper towel covering the features.
"We do the head and face last," Katy-Jo Lewes explains as she leans with her forearm on the body. It grosses Madge out more than a little.
"You'll start with the back," Birdy pulls a little scalpel from the towel, twirls it between her fingers. "First, though, you have to flip the body."
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Flipping the body, putting it face down, gets Madge a little too up close and personal with the icy cold skin. When it flops over, with a loud thud, her heart stops, thinking it's going to bounce off the narrow little table and crush her.
The entire group works well together, with the exception of Cato. He seems to think his only job needs to be holding the book and pointing out the few muscle groups they manage to uncover during the first class.
"Hey, boy, you'll have plenty of time to plan out your fall collection for the flirty and fabulous after class," Birdy snatches the atlas of the human body from his hands and tosses it to the little rolling table.
Cato gives her a glare before grumpily picking up one of the tools, begins scraping unenthusiastically at some fat.
It's almost tolerable; Madge doesn't feel nauseated or faint as she'd feared she would. She is, however, losing her appetite with each word that leaves Katy-Jo Lewes and Birdy's mouths.
"Fat looks a bit like cream corn."
"This always makes me want steak."
"-and sometimes it has a pudding-like consistency."
"-smells a kinda like corn chips."
"You know you're ruining tons of foods for us, right?" Madge finally says. She's now certain she can't eat anything but bread for the rest of her life, and maybe some candy.
"It does look a bit like cream corn," Clove frowns as she drops a glob of yellow fat into the bucket below the table. "I'll never be able to eat that again."
Madge nods and Katy-Jo Lewes and Birdy just shrug. Clearly ruining people's desire to eat isn't a new occurrence to them.
"And make sure you can live with never being able to wear whatever fragrance you slather up in after class ever again," Katy-Jo Lewes tells them, a forlorn little look on her face.
"Oh, 'Coconut Lime Verbena', I miss not associating you with cracking ribs and bone saws," Birdy sighs.
Madge tries to block them out and not think about her 'Strawberry Sorbet' hand sanitizer in her backpack and how by the end of the semester she might not be quite so fond of the smell.
"Can you two just, I don't know, not talk unless it's something constructive?" Hank finally asks.
"It just gets too quiet in here, though," Katy-Jo Lewes pouts.
"We used to have an iPod dock," Birdy says, casting a sad look to the corner of the room, where a couple of outlets sit emptily. "They took it away because we played one particular Drowning Pool song."
Judging by the looks on their faces they don't see why their song choice necessitated the removal of their obviously beloved dock.
Clove pops up from tracing the edge of the latissimus dorsi from origin to what she hopes is the insertion with a small glob of yellow in her hair.
"Oh, gross," Madge gags.
Clove's eyes widen in horror, Madge suspects she's probably trying to plot out the fastest way home so she can boil her hair. That's what Madge would be doing if she had fat stuck in hers.
Hank reaches over and carefully plucks it out, grimacing, "Maybe we should wear hair nets."
Maybe we should wear full body condoms…
Madge has the sudden urge to borrow Gale's waders, rubber boots, and whatever plastic-like upper body cover she can get her hands on. If she asks him nicely he might take her to a surplus store, they might sell hazmat suits. Or she could just check Amazon…
Would they let her into class if she looked like Walt White?
She might need to run it by the girls.
############################
Class lets out, shortly after Cato leaves for the bathroom and doesn't come back, conveniently leaving all the cleaning to his tablemates.
"What an asshat," Hank grumbles as he helps make sure they have all the tools gathered up.
Laisa, who is a little quiet, but otherwise nice, takes them to the sink to clean while Madge and Clove push the table into the giant freezer.
"I understand the term deadweight now," Madge huffs.
Katy-Jo Lewes notes the missing member with annoyance.
"He best not be skipping out next class."
Birdy twirls her scalpel again, "Does he not realize he's outnumbered fairly heavily here?" She grins wickedly, "He takes off early again and I'll show him just how good at dissection I am."
When they finally exit the chilly building, Madge hadn't even noticed how cold it was until she stepped out, Gale is waiting in the parking lot across the street. He's leaning against his truck, looking warm and comfortable and untainted with the smell of chemical preservatives.
"God your boyfriend is hot," Clove says as she squints across the street at him.
Madge feels her mouth tug up into a smile. Yes he is.
"See you Thursday then?" Madge clarifies as she begins walking in Gale's direction.
"Yeah," Clove grimaces, runs a hand through her brown hair, inspecting it for further contaminants. "I feel so gross. I'm gonna go boil myself in the shower."
"Makes you wonder if the chemistry department would consider renting out the autoclave, huh?"
Clove makes an affirmative noise before taking off to the right, towards the dorms, "See you later Madge!"
Cutting across the main road, jogging, into the parking lot and into Gale's waiting arms. He smells so good. So clean. So not like dead bodies.
"I need a bath so bad. You can't even imagine."
Gale's mouth turns down, a little crease forms between his eyes as he leans in and sniffs her. His eyebrows rise, "You do have an interesting fragrance on."
Yes, 'Strawberry Sorbet' and death. What a combination, she should bottle it up and try to sell it at the mall.
"Other than your new, um, perfume, how did it go?"
Surprisingly, Madge thinks to herself, not too bad.
She smiles up at him, "I think I'm gonna make it."
Enjoy it? Probably not. But she's sure she wants to do this now. If she can make it through anatomy with Cato then she can make it through anything else that's thrown at her.
Her face buries in his chest, "Can I stay with you tonight?"
His place is so much closer and her first lecture on Wednesday is at seven-thirty and she still hasn't done her the assigned problems for her section….
"You just want help with your chemistry."
Is she that transparent?
"Fine, just drop me o-"
Gale cuts her off with a kiss. When he pulls back he's grinning, "Not a chance." He sniffs her again, and frowns, "But first I'm giving you a bath."
Madge grimaces, "I may have fat in my hair. You may want to leave this one to me."
His eyes roll upward, "I'm a hunter, Madge. I'm pretty sure there's nothing on you I can't handle."
"That's quite a bold statement, Gale," she gives him a small flicker of a smile.
"I'm a bold man," he kisses her again. The little crease forms between his eyes again, "You sure you're okay?"
She nods. It's shocking, but she's really okay. Which should disconcert her more than it does.
"Well then," his grin gets a little wicked, "let's go home and put some of this newfound knowledge of the human body to good use."
She contemplates telling him the anatomy he's thinking of won't be part of her 'newfound knowledge' until the end of the semester, but decides against it. "Haha."
Pulling the door to his truck open, he gives her a little push in.
Curling into his side, Madge tries to soak up every inch of his warmth she can. Getting special attention from her worrywart boyfriend is a nice benefit of this new path she's chosen, and she's learning to be happy and accept it.
Besides, she's pretty sure this kind of attention benefits him every bit as much as it does her.