Modern Day

The peaceful stillness of the early morning was rudely broken by the clock's harsh alarm. The slender young girl standing by the window running a brush through her long hair frowned at the obnoxious sound and immediately shut it off.

"Susan, I wish you would trust me to wake you up in the morning instead of setting that awful alarm," the girl admonished her roommate who was tumbling groggily out of bed. "I never have problems waking up early."

"I know that, weirdo," Susan grumbled, "but how do I know you're not going to go off on another one of your pajama hikes when it's time for me to get up?"

"I might be capable of a little more consideration than that," the other replied, mildly affronted.

Susan shrugged. "I'm not taking any chances with this class. More than two tardies and the professor starts deducting from your grade. She claims that missing so much class would 'gravely inhibit our mastery of the material.'"

The other girl regarded her roommate with a bemused expression. "Isn't this just P.E.? I think your professor takes her subject area a little too seriously."

"Just a little," Susan agreed as she trudged to the bathroom. As she reached the threshold, she turned to look at her roommate, something akin to envy shining from her eyes as she took in her impeccably beautiful appearance despite the hour. "Anna, I have to ask. Have you been up for hours, or did you just wake up like that?"

Anna turned a quizzical gaze upon her before answering, "I've been up for a while."

Susan rolled her eyes and shut herself in the bathroom, but not before spouting a "whatever!" over her shoulder.

A half-hour later, the girls emerged from their dorms, each hefting a heavy backpack. They made a rather odd pair: Susan with her short, curly blond hair and ample figure beside Anna's tall, thin build and long, sleek brown hair. Upon further observation, one would note that their personalities were as mismatched as their appearances. Susan had much ado keeping her mind on her coursework, or rather she had yet to realize that her courses were the primary reason she attended college. Her carelessly indolent personality was irresistible to the younger college crowd and earned her the position of social director in her sorority. Fortunately for her, she befriended Anna who had the patience and was willing to pull her down to earth long enough to pass her general courses. Anna cringed at the thought of any sorority-sponsored event, having been dragged by Susan to numerous wild frat parties. Anna was considered by Susan to be socially inept as she vastly preferred to go out with just a few close friends or, as Susan often described it, satisfy her "over-achiever instinct" by being involved in every scholastic organization that she thought would look good on her resume. Neither came close to understanding the other or even attempted to, but both were content with their unlikely friendship. As they made their way out of their dormitory, Susan bubbled with lively chatter as her friend listened and nodded, every once in a while sharing in her laughter.

"Please tell me you're not going to shy away from the Mardi Gras thing tomorrow," Susan pleaded. "Remember, I told you I was going to hold you to it after you skipped out on New Year's."

"Don't worry, I remember my oath," Anna replied with mock gravity. "And you know how I am about my oaths."

Susan blithely nodded. "It's all just a part of your being so incredibly neurotic. I hope you'll loosen up at the party. You've been too tense lately and extremely unsocial - even for you."

Anna sighed in slight frustration. She was not wholly willing to disclose all her concerns to her kind, but often thoughtless, roommate.

"I don't know what's wrong with me lately," was what Anna was willing to confess as she absently fingered the pendant on her necklace. "I almost feel like my mind is being pulled in different directions or something, and I can't seem to connect with anyone anymore. That's sort of why I've been making a fuss about this party. I'm getting to where I feel really uncomfortable around people. I mean, I know I have always been that way but never to the point that I was anxious or even afraid. Rather sad, isn't it? Especially since I was thinking about going into teaching…"

Susan grimaced. "Trust me, the idea of teaching physics is what is depressing you. You should teach French instead and get some use out of your second major. I don't think French would suck the life out of you."

"Neither would physics," Anna protested.

"Physics and modern language," Susan snorted. "Lovely combination. Why don't you just let it all go and become an art major like me? We're a lot less anal on that side of campus, so maybe you wouldn't get those anxiety attacks."

"I would not call that 'letting it all go'," Anna laughed. "Although I did consider studying art history once. It took me forever to decide on my majors. There were so many things I wanted to do."

"Okay," Susan mumbled wearily. "So be a professional student."

Anna rolled her eyes. "Do not try playing guidance counselor. What is this, the third career you've recommended for me in the past two minutes? As tempting as the position of eternal pupil is, I don't think my scholarship would last that long."

The girls paused in front of the kinesiology building where Susan would have her P.E. class. Susan glanced at a large poster taped to one of the glass doors and cocked an eyebrow.

"Well there's an easy solution to your problem," Susan said. "The University Scholarship Pageant. You could win that as long as you get past the talking-to-people part."

Anna shook her head firmly. "I think you and I both know how ridiculous that would be," she said as she smoothed a lock of hair back over her ear that the wind had impertinently brushed out of place. A seemingly insignificant habit, but Susan understood it and sighed.

"I swear, you are as self-conscious as you are neurotic," Susan remarked as she boldly reached up and swept Anna's hair from both sides of her face. "You know, what you consider flaws actually add quite a bit of character to your appearance. Live a little, and wear your hair up once in a while, like at the party for instance – ugh, did I just sound like my mother?"

"The party is already going to be a bit of a trial for me without my exposing my…um, flaws," Anna said dryly, "but I appreciate the thought behind it. I might even take back what I said about you being a guidance counselor. See you at lunch!"

With a wave, Anna strode off toward the science and technology center.

The early morning physics lab students were a surprisingly lively bunch, being comprised of junior and senior level students who shared an uncharacteristic enthusiasm for their major of study. Anna always felt she fit in better among them than among Susan's sorority sisters, though she knew better than to admit it to her. She reached the lab fifteen minutes early and greeted the students already assembled there as she dumped her backpack on the floor and settled into her usual seat.

"Hey Anna," the student beside her asked, "are you ready for the test on Wednesday?"

"Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me," Anna groaned as she let her head sink heavily onto the desk.

"Sorry, thought it was a safe question," the other replied with a chuckle. "I just figured you probably had all the material down weeks ago."

"No really, I meant it. Thank you," Anna said, raising her head to regard the student speaking to her. "I had really forgotten about it."

He raised an eyebrow at that. "You? How scary is that?"

"You'll do fine, Anna," Dr. Boaz commented as he strode into the room, having caught the last of the conversation.

"Sure, if I study at Mardi Gras tomorrow," Anna mumbled as she pulled out the lab assignment for that day.

Her annoyance faded as she read through the procedure. They would be working with prisms that day, an activity she had been eagerly anticipating. For some reason she could not explain, Anna had always taken great delight in the study of the properties of light. The topic she had chosen as the basis for the large project she recently completed for the class was fiber optics, and her enthusiasm for the project at once pleased and amused the professor.

"I need your attention up here for a minute before you get started," Dr. Boaz began at exactly thirty minutes after the hour. "I have some information some of you might be interested in: your project evaluations."

A collective gasp sounded throughout the room as students exchanged nervous but excited glances.

Already? Anna wondered. They had just submitted their projects the week before.

"You have the reps from Columbia to thank for the promptness of my grading," Dr. Boaz explained as he handed out the evaluations. "When they came on Friday, I didn't think they would spend much time in our department, but they ended up spending the entire afternoon looking over your projects. I don't know if any of you were aware of this, but they came pretty eager for candidates for their graduate programs, especially in liberal arts and sciences…And I'll just add that one project in particular highly intrigued them."

"Hmmm…I wonder whose that could be?" one student asked as he turned and looked at Anna, waggling his eyebrows. It was the same student who had teased her earlier.

"Don't worry, Brian," Dr. Boaz said, having heard his comment. "They liked your project too. In fact, they were quite impressed with everyone's work, but they only have so many scholarships to offer the students in our department, or I should say one." He regarded Anna with a smile.

"Not bad, Miss Darcy," Brian remarked, grinning cheekily at Anna. "Guess you'll be moving to New York, huh?"

Anna sat up straighter in her seat, stunned hope shining from her features. She desperately wanted to go on to graduate school next year, but her prospects for doing so had always been uncertain. Though her undergraduate studies had been fully funded by scholarships, her living expenses the past four years had all but drained the money she had inherited from her family; and however impressive her grade point averages might be in her majors of study, the grades she received in many of her general studies courses were less than stellar. A scholarship at a university in her hometown was more than she had ever hoped for.

"I'll give you the details after class, Anna. Now, I suggest you all get started on the lab. This one's a little more time consuming than the others."

Strangely enough, Anna found it exceedingly difficult to turn her attention to prisms.