Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Danika
“Just try again.”
“Brat, we’ve been at this for an hour.”
“And it’ll finally click in the next five minutes, guaranteed. Just try again. Name the four levels of measurement.”
Arden huffs out a sigh, pulling his face up from where he plopped it onto the table. “Nominal, ordinal,” I nod encouragingly. “Interval and ratio.”
“Excellent!” I cheer. Arden looks at me like I’ve just promised him a blow job. “And which one is numerical data with equal intervals and a true zero point?”
He’s silent for a moment, his eyes narrowed in thought. “Interval.”
I scrunch my nose in disagreement.
“Fuck!” he shouts, understanding my expression to mean he got the answer wrong. “I’m never going to remember this shit.”
“It’s a lot of information, Ard. You can’t beat yourself up too much. Here,” I say, grabbing a notebook and pen. “Let’s make a mnemonic device.”
On the page, I write each measurement and what they mean. Arden reads over my shoulder as I write. “Nominal means no order, ordinal means natural order, interval means equal spacing with no true zero, and ratio means it has a true zero.”
When I finish writing, I look up at him expectantly. Pushing the notebook toward him, I command, pointing the pen at the notes. “Make a rhyme.”
“A rhyme?”
“Yes, a rhyme with this information and then you’ll remember the names and all the pieces.” I nod encouragingly, handing him the pen. Arden sighs but takes the writing implement.
“Ordinal is natural but nominal is none. Interval is equal but zero is done,” he writes. “Ratio is equal and zero, that is true. That’s the four measurements and now I’m through.” Arden looks at me.
“Look at you! A regular Lin Manuel Miranda.”
“Who?”
I shake my head. “This is great,” I cheer, way too excitedly. “See, it’s easy! Okay, now what else?” I pull the textbook toward me, but Arden puts his strong hand down on top of it.
“Now, we take a break.” Getting up from the table, Arden moves to the kitchen to grab a couple beers from the fridge.
Closing the book, I place it neatly on top of the other textbooks on the table and gather them into my arms, taking a sip of the beer Arden handed me. “I think we’re making good progress here.”
“It’s only our first study session. There’s a long way to go,” he huffs, landing roughly on the couch and plopping his feet on the coffee table. Placing the books on the bookshelf, I land next to him, grabbing the remote before he gets a chance. “Reality TV it is,” I say, sticking out my tongue.
“So, got anything going on this week? Any fake dating I need to be a part of?” Arden says casually from the other side of the couch. As if he’s asking the weather or what kind of jacket to wear with his outfit.
“Well, I’ve basically just got classes all week, but there is a luncheon that I was invited to with my cohort. Oh, and there’s a party on Friday.”
“A party? Like the one we just went to?”
“Oh no, that was a school-sponsored event. This apparently is being hosted by the second years. More booze, less mingling with professors and what not.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
We sit in silence for a moment, the only sound between us is the intro to Below Deck Mediterranean.
“Well, I’ll prepare for that then,” Arden says finally.
“Prepare?”
“Mentally.”
“Oh.”
A buzzing pulls both of our attention to Arden’s phone on the coffee table. Gripping it, he gets up from the couch and walks unceremoniously into his bedroom, closing the door behind him. Guess I’m on my own for dinner then.
I’m not a morning person, but I couldn’t resist jumping out of bed for my eight o’clock physiology lecture.
This week, we are starting our anatomy labs, which means hours in a lab dressed head to toe in protective gear.
Typically I don’t find goggles, gloves, and booties to cover our shoes especially fashionable but for this, I can make an exception.
“Ready for class?” Gemma asks, greeting me at the door of the science building.
“Yes,” I agree with gusto. This morning we were spending the first few hours listening intently to our professor's lecture about whatever part of the body we’d be dissecting that afternoon and then after lunch, we’d get to the practical work.
I cannot wait to see what it’s really like inside the human body.
Not only that, but according to Charming Charlie, these kinds of labs help us decide if we want to go into the surgical or medical field. It all depends on how we react to cutting open another person. I haven’t truly given it much thought but I guess it’s now or never.
Holding the door open for Gemma, I walk into the expansive lecture hall.
All the cohorts take classes together so it’ll be easy for me to get lost in a sea of med students.
As much as I like to stand out, sometimes it’s easier to fade into the background and just observe.
That’s what I intend to do in these lectures.
I don’t need to be top of my class, number one question answerer.
I just need to take it all in and learn as much as I can.
Gemma and I sit in the middle of the last row of seats, close enough to the door so we don’t get stuck in a stampede after class and far enough from the front so we won’t be asked any questions.
I do a quick scan of the room for Nico but don’t see him, letting out an annoyed sigh of relief.
I don’t want my entire life here to be looking around the corner for Nico.
I need to shake this guy as soon as possible.
The professor introduces himself at the front of the room and the crowd quiets to silence. We’re all in the same boat. Our first med school class. You can hear a pin drop from how much we are silently listening to whatever this man says.
“Welcome to Physiology One. I am Dr. Phillips. I’ll be your lecturer for this course.”
For the next three and a half hours, all you can hear is Dr. Phillips talking and keyboards clacking.
He doesn’t ask many questions but rather offers a lot of information that we all are hankering to write down and osmosis into our brains.
It’s not until my butt starts to tingle a bit that I realize I haven’t stood up in hours and now the class seems to be wrapping up.
“Alright, folks. That’s a lot to take in for now. Grab some lunch. Take a nap. You’ll see each other again in your anatomy lab at one.”
The shuffling starts as students pack up their laptops and head toward the door. Because of our prime seating location, Gemma and I hit the hallway first and head immediately toward the cafeteria.
“I cannot believe how much information I just stuffed into my brain and it’s only the first class. How am I supposed to remember all this?” Gemma asks, grabbing a tray and some day-old looking salad from the fridge.
“Studying, studying, and oh yeah, studying,” I reply, opting for the veggie plate with Mediterranean hummus.
After we pay for our food, we wander over to a spare table in the corner of the room.
It seems like everyone who was at that lecture is also now here in the cafeteria.
Seems like I’ll be spending a lot of my time with the same people for the next few years.
And still no Nico? Maybe he dropped out! What an amazing turn of events that would be. But then you’d have to stop fake dating Arden. I shoved that intrusive thought way into the back of my brain where it belongs.
Even though we had an hour and a half break before our next class, Gemma and I were both eager to soak up more of what we just learned so after scarfing down our food, we spent the rest of the hour quizzing each other back and forth about the components of a feedback loop.
Science never tasted so good.