(Disclaimer: This story, plot, and its characters are all copyright and owned by me unless otherwise stated in later chapters where some of my friend's characters may come into play.)
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Chapter 3
"We'll start with an incision roughly one inch under the base of the rabbit's neck. Using a slight, downward pressure we will then use the T cut to open the chest cavity."
Mr. Henderson was droning on as he spoke to the biology class from his position at the chalk board where he was drawing on a diagram of a dead rabbit.
Ana sighed as she sat on her stool at the work station. Her best friend and work partner Mandy was busy arguing with their other best friend, Jason, on who would be the one to open the animal. Dissections tended to always start like this when you had a vegan and a squeamish gay boy working in close prosemtry.
After another ten minutes or so of this childish bickering, they finally managed to get the dead rabbit opened up for exploration, though not without complaints as both nearly threw up their breakfasts on the class room floor.
Ana, however, had given up on this assignment long before entering the school gates. Her thoughts were drifting off out the window along with the smell of formaldehyde.
She was letting her mind wander over the events of this morning and all that had happened. The boy flashed in her mind again. He had saved her neck, but...where had he come from?
"Ana?"
Who was he...?
"Anaaa?"
More importantly, did he have a girlfriend...?
"Miss Tristanval!" Mr. Henderson's stern yell jerked her back to reality. She blushed, sitting up straight in her seat at the back of the room. Embarrassment burning in her cheeks. "Coming in late is bad enough, but I will not have you daydreaming in this class, Ana. I don't care how high a GPA you have. You should be setting an example for others."
She cringed at his words. "Sorry, Mr. Henderson..."
Mandy shook her head, pushing a lock of bright blue hair from her brown eyes. "You alright?" For her to actually say that let Ana know she was slightly concerned for her. Mandy usually didn't take the time to care, but Ana understood her friend was curious about her detachment.
Henderson was right, Ana realized. She had one of the highest GPA's in her graduating class. Someone with that much brain power normally didn't day dream like that. In fact, any other day Ana would have been studying something as she was cutting the rabbit open herself.
"Yeah, sorry. I'm fine, Mandy..."Ana said with a quick nod.
"You've been out of it ever since you got to class..." Jason muttered softly then gave a soft chuckle. "Bet it's a guy, Mandy?"
Ana blushed, bewildered with Jason''s intuition. "Um..."
"I knew it!" Mandy squealed with glee. "That's why you were late this morning! You had some guy in your panties!"
"What?" Ana looked at her friend in disbelief.
"Who's the lucky guy?" Jason leaned in close, eyes shimmering.
"Wha–I don't know what--" Ana started, but was cut off.
"She doesn't even know!" Mandy gasped mockingly, grinning. "You naughty girl! Pounding the sheets and not even knowing who the poor sap is!"
Ana darted her gaze between them. "No! I didn't--"
"Oh, I'll bet he's a complete hunk!" Jason swooned, drawing swirls on the counter top with his scalpel. "He must be to get a book worm like you this dreamy-eyed."
Mandy leaned in close to her friend, voice lowering as she gave her a devilish grin. "Sooo. This means you're not in the pure white virgin club anymore, huh?"
"Virgin?" Jason whispered harshly before Ana could defend herself. He gave her a cross, hurt expression. "You popped the proverbial cherry and you didn't even tell ME?"
"Was he good?" Mandy bit her lower lip in thought, eyes going starry in thought. "I'll bet he brought you home on his motorcycle after a candle lit dinner, took you upstairs to your apartment, and just when you went to kiss goodnight he totally swept you off your feet. God, you two probably made sweet, passionate love until dawn. That's why you were so late to class."
Ana shook her head and opened her mouth to say something, but stopped when Jason cut her off once more.
"Oh puh-lez." He chewed on the end of his plastic scalpel. "I bet he got you to you're apartment and before you even had a chance to offer him in he kicked in the door and stripped your undies off before you even got inside. Then he probably did you like a jack hammer on the kitchen table so hard you're having a hard time walking."
Ana gawked between them both, face red.
"Jeez, you really must have gotten your brains screwed out good..." Mandy said then jumped back as Ana stood up on the rungs of her stool, slapping the counter with both hands in agitation.
"No one screwed my brain's out!" She yelled it and blinked as she looked around the room. Everyone had gone silent, pausing in their dissections. Mr. Henderson sat watching her expectingly. Ana gulped down the dry lump in her throat.
"Miss Tristanval..." He said nothing more, merely pointed toward the classroom door. Ana groaned and grabbed her bag as she headed out to wait in the hall. Great. She really didn't feel like being sent to the Headmaster over this.
"Can you believe it...?" Ana muttered as she took her seat at the lunch table later that afternoon. Mandy sat across from her, Jason perched at her side, eyeing her jell-o cup. "Henderson gave me a zero on the lab and Headmaster suspended my for two days..."
Mandy looked at her devastated friend silently for a long moment, noting she once again had not grabbed herself anything for lunch besides an apple. "Well, it's your own fault you know...screaming obscene things like that in Henderson's..."
"My fault?" Ana swallowed a chunk of apple. "You were the one's going on about me having sex in the middle of class."
"Hey, you never stopped us. We were happy for you. Come to think of it, that was really rude. Getting our hopes up like that."
"I was crushed." Jason sniffled in agreeance, finally managing to sneak an arm around Mandy while he was speaking in an attempt to steal the jell-o. He was met with a plastic spork jabbing the back of he hand. He winced.
"Well, excuse me." Ana grumbled and rolled her eyes, then turned her attention to glance over the room as if annoyed with her friends. Which she was.
"I really don't see what you're waiting for, Ana. There are plenty of guys here who I know for a fact are dying to get into your knickers." Jason smirked roguishly when she gave him a soft glare. He held his hands up as if in a surrender. "Hey, only relaying what I hear from the men's room.
"Well, I think our Ana here is a lesbian."
Ana blinked, turning to Mandy in confusion.
"Come on, think about it, Ana. You're 19, cute, and still a virgin. What other answer is there to your problem other than the fact that you might be confused and about to turn lesbian?" Mandy leaned back in her seat as she began picked at her jell-o.
Jason tilted his head. "You know, she does have a point. You do seem to distance yourself from relationships with men. I could see you staying away from the shit heads, but you blow off the nice one's, too. Take Laurie for example. He lives next door and you've never even had him over for coffee or something."
"I'm do not hate men. I just..." She tried to think how to explain it to them, but the words were so hard to find. "Hey, Jason's my friend after all."
"Yeah, but Jason doesn't count. He's gay." Mandy sighed heavily. Jason stuck his tongue out at her.
Ana looked down at her apple, already not feeling hungry after just one bite. Her stomach felt as if it were in knots. "You know how I feel, Mandy..."
"Yeah, yeah...all that lovey-dovey, right person crap. Let me tell you, Ana. There is no right person. You'll wait forever and never find him. You'll regret losing it if you put too much stock and moral behind waiting on love." Mandy slurped up the last of the jell-o.
"I'll wait as long as I want to, Mandy. That's my decision. I'll do it when and if I'm ready for it...and not a moment before."
Jason gave her a small smile as he listened to her then looked to Mandy as the bell rang. She got up, leaving them there. He watched her then slowly stood, walking around the table and kissed his friend on the cheek. "There's no shame in that, Ana. You won't do it until you're good and ready. That's why you're so smart, but when you do do it finally I want every last freaking detail." He chuckled then headed off.
Ana blushed, smiling to herself and turned the apple over in her hand in a small, nervous gesture then got up and threw the fruit in the bin. Heading to her next class in a cloud of deep thought.
Later that afternoon, Ana headed home along the same route she took everyday. She would take the tram to the station near by her apartment complex and walk the rest of the way.
Near the corner, she heard a noise down the alley and looked down it, peering into the darkness. A Doberman was whimpering as it limped towards her. The same dog from that morning.
"You poor thing..." She whispered and dropped to one knee to inspect the creature as it came to her, head lowered.
It gave a pained whimper as she rested her hand on its head and her heart sank in her chest. "Come on then. You can come home with me. I'll make sure you're looked after and taken care of..." The dog licked her offered hand and followed her as she headed down the sidewalk toward her building.
She did not notice the shadow in the alley that watched her as she left with the dog in tow. The figure wrapped the choke chain leash around its hand and softly chuckled to himself as she disappeared out of sight.
