Dr. Dorothy Ann Hudson entered her apartment and almost immediately plopped on the couch. She was exhausted after another really long shift at the hospital. It was now the weekend, and she had plenty of time to rest, but unfortunately for her tired body, her mind had other ideas. DA's mind always wanted to do something productive, even if her body was telling her "No."
This was the life of DA. She had always been a hardworking, determined, driven young woman. Ever since elementary school, she loved books and spent a lot of time reading and researching. Many kids thought that she was lame for actually liking school, but she didn't care. She knew that her future would be full of success if she continued on like she was.
Her strive to succeed mainly came from her parents. They were huge overachievers. Her father was a highly successful lawyer, and her mother was a successful surgeon, which had given DA an easy life during her childhood. They had always encouraged DA to do everything possible to succeed and to follow her heart. DA was determined to make them proud, so she spent all of her time making sure that she would inevitably have a future full of success.
DA's intelligence only increased in high school. She almost immediately stood out for her perfect GPA and her laundry list of extracurriculars. She took as many AP classes as she could, and she was part of NHS, volleyball, student government, honor roll, science club, etcetera, etcetera. Not to mention that Wanda had somehow convinced DA to participate a little in drama club. She still resented Wanda for that, no matter how much people said she was great.
DA had always prided herself in being what she called a "Type A overachiever." This, of course, meant that she was incredibly busy all the time. Every minute of her life was spent doing schoolwork, working at her job, or participating in extracurriculars. As such, she didn't really have time for anything that wasn't productive or could help her relax. She didn't even have much time for relationships, but she was okay with it, though not entirely. She felt that relationships would only slow her down and not let her each her full potential.
However, there were times where DA felt that maybe a relationship would not be so bad. Maybe it was because she got lonely sometimes, or maybe it was because she was letting the fact that all of her friends had gone out at least once while she hadn't get to her head, even though she promised herself she wouldn't let it. Either way, she did go out on a few dates in high school. None on them lasted very long, and none of them were something to write home about, except for that one time when she went out with Tim. It was most likely because they had been friends for such a long time, but it still didn't last long. She told him that it was because "there is something in the way."
She didn't know why she had said that. Sure, maybe she had said it because she was referring to her work taking up almost all of her time, but she still had this strange feeling as to why she really said it. She couldn't explain why she felt that there was something more, but her friends seemed to know. They had always teased her that none of her relationships lasted because she was holding out for the guy she really wanted. Every time this came up, she would get defensive and claim that she had no feelings for this guy, and he was just a friend. Her friends would say that she was just in denial and try to get her to admit her feelings, but she continued to deny that she had feelings. Despite the fact that she had always strongly denied it, there were times when she actually thought that her friends were on to something. Of course, she would quickly deny it to herself, but that still didn't stop her from thinking about it from time to time. It was anyone's guess of when she would admit her feelings, if she ever admitted them at all or if she even really had them.
Since DA was always so busy with schoolwork and stuff, she was always oblivious to the obvious crushes that guys had on her. It was no surprise to all of her friends. I mean, her long blonde hair, her soft facial features, her relatively petite body, and her, um... ample bosom. She was definitely an All-American girl. With her Jennifer Aniston/Reese Witherspoon appeal, she turned heads wherever she went. So many guys had crushes on her, but she never knew. This caused a lot of boys to feel heartbroken when they tried to show their affection, but she never caught on to what they were trying to do.
Anyway, all of Dorothy Ann's hard work eventually paid off, as she became valedictorian when she graduated. It was a glorious moment, but it was also no surprise to her family. The fact that she was valedictorian, plus the laundry list of extracurriculars, volunteer hours, work experience, and high scores on both the ACT and SAT, impressed Harvard enough to accept her and give a full ride scholarship. Her parents were really proud of her for getting that from a top private school. DA was also happy that she was given a full ride while most of her friends would have to deal with debt.
Now that her undergraduate career had started, there was one problem that DA had. She needed to figure out what to study, and it wasn't easy for her.
Her biggest passion had always been astronomy, especially after going to space twice and her friends getting her an actual star for her birthday. Heck, she even stopped an asteroid from crashing into the Earth, for crying out loud. She had actually worked at the observatory in Walkerville when she was in high school and was even allowed to look through the telescope one time to look at Saturn's rings. All in all, she had thought about working at NASA after college and be an astronaut, or maybe even an astrophysicist. However, she had noticed that NASA's work had become more and more deemphasized over the years, which caused her to doubt whether a career in astronomy would be the best future for her.
She had also thought about a career in academics due to the fact that she loved books and learning, but she had heard many horror stories about how hard it is to establish a career in academia, what with people walling themselves away from loved ones and becoming too driven to get tenure. Currently, she has also seen it firsthand via her sister Evan, who graduated 2 years ago, and is still struggling to find a tenure track job. She also thought about studying chemistry, which was her second biggest passion. However, she didn't really like the idea of being alone in a lab for her career.
Sure, DA's passions were strong, and anyone else would tell her to follow her dreams, but in the end, she decided to go for something more practical than following her true passions. She chose to go for pre-med. After going inside of Arnold three times and Ralphie and Ms. Frizzle once, the human body had always fascinated her. On top of that, she had heard many great stories about Harvard's pre-med program.
Not surprisingly, DA excelled at Harvard, and she almost became valedictorian again, but there was still one problem. She couldn't decide what profession of medicine to go for. Being a general physician would allow her to care for people and benefit society. It would also allow for a ton of money. However, she was also interested in being a medical researcher. That would allow her to research for ways to improve medicine, possibly saving more lives than being a general physician. Plus, that would offer the possibility of winning the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The idea of discovering something really important and being recognized for it greatly appealed to her. After a long time of thinking it over, she decided that maybe she could do both. She could be a physician and a scientist at the same time. It was possible with MD-PhD dual degrees. Of course, this meant that she would have to do twice as much graduate schooling and less free time, but she figured she could manage.
Once that was settled, she spent her last undergrad year greatly preparing for medical school. She decided to continue her education at Harvard, having heard many stories about its phenomenal medical school. Luckily for her, Harvard worked with MIT to have a MD-PhD program. Due to her stellar GPA, long list of extracurriculars, and MCAT score of 520, she was accepted into Harvard Medical School and the MD-PhD program. After finishing her undergrad education, she enrolled in Harvard Medical School. There was another problem that arose. Most of the students there did not really see her potential. To them, she was nothing more than some nobody blonde with an ample bosom that looked really pretty and hot. They didn't see her as one of the best of the best. Luckily, she proved them wrong as time progressed.
She spent the first two years of her program at Harvard, where she decided that her specialty in medicine would be neurology. The human brain had always fascinated her, just like Keesha. Since the brain is also pretty much the most important part of the body, DA figured that she would make a huge difference as a neurosurgeon.
After two years at Harvard, she transitioned to MIT for her PhD education. She studied the brain and cognitive science at MIT for four years, and after completing her thesis, she finally had her PhD. Afterwards, she went back to Harvard to complete her medical education. After two more years, she finally had her MD and started calling herself Dr. Dorothy Ann Hudson, MD, PhD.
That was a few months ago. After completing all of her education, she was matched to a hospital in D.C. This made her happy as she would get to work close enough to Walkerville for her taste. Just like everyone else, mostly, she had a strong connection to Walkerville and couldn't stay away from it for too long.
Now, her current problem arose. Her residency had just started, and it was already so much work. The pay was generous enough, but the work was long and tedious. On top of that, her mind always went over what she did wrong each shift after every single one. She never accidentally killed someone or would be facing a malpractice suit, but her mind always told her that there was room for improvement, no matter how small. Sure, she kept trying to tell herself that it would be impossible to achieve perfection, but her mind kept on telling her otherwise. On top of that, neurosurgery residencies last for seven years, so she would have to suffer through a really long time of this. She couldn't wait until her residency was over. Then, she would have an unrestricted medical license and be allowed to practice wherever, then maybe all of her stress would disappear.
After a few minutes, she grabbed the mail that had piled up over the past few days. She dropped the pile on the coffee table and headed to her bedroom to change from her scrubs into a pair of pajamas. She then took her long blonde hair out of her ponytail and quickly brushed it before washing up a bit. She then went into the kitchen and made herself some dinner.
She wasn't in a relationship at the moment. Just like high school, she didn't think that she had time for a relationship. She actually had a boyfriend for a few weeks, but they broke up a few months before she completed med school. This was the result of her strive to succeed and busy schedule. Still, part of her felt bad for ruining it and thought that a relationship would be a great thing for her, but the practical part of her brain won out again by telling her that it was for the best.
After she finished dinner, she went through the mail and found the letter from Walkerville Elementary. Piqued with curiosity, she opened it and gave it a quick read. After doing so, she became shocked and saddened.
"Ms. Frizzle is dead?!"
Before she could process this any further, her phone rang. She answered it. "Hello?"
"Hey DA," It was Phoebe "I need to know, did you receive information from Walkerville Elementary?"
"Yes, I did. I'm shocked, to say the least."
"I know. I'm also going through a lot with this. I also need to know if you will be at the funeral."
"Um... I don't know. I've got so much going on right now."
"I know. I was actually hesitant to call you because of it."
"Well, there's so much work. I don't know if I will have time to be there."
"I know, but can you at least try? It would really mean a lot if you could come."
"Okay, I'll try. Is anyone else going to be there?"
"Well, I know that Keesha will be there, and she says that Ralphie and Carlos will be there, and that Carlos is checking with Tim."
"Alright. I'll try to be there. For Ms. Frizzle."
"Great. Well, I've got to go. Bye." With that Phoebe hung up.
DA grabbed her planner from her purse and saw that she would, in fact, be available for the funeral. She had the Thursday through Sunday off, a huge miracle. Afterwards, she relaxed on the couch, but not really, as her mind was still being productive by planning the trip back to Walkerville. She only hoped that all of her friends would be there.
A/N: Next up will be Arnold.
I saved Arnold for last for reasons that will become apparent when the next chapter comes out.
Stay tuned for more!