Change My Ways

“Jessica Andretti…” there was a few moments of silence allowing every person in the Biology room to turn and face me, eyebrows up in question. Hearing my name over the speakers in school was a shock. For one I never did anything bad. Another reason was because everyone knew I could do something, but never pushed myself to do anything. In college, I lay as low as possible and everyone knew it so if an announcement informed the school I won something, they must have had the name wrong.

Soon everyone was back to their experiments, which at the moment was cutting open a poor dead frog and examining all of its organs. As my partner opened the frog’s chest up, a loud crack came over the loud speaker again. “Jessica Andretti, please report to the head office by the end of the day.” The speakers crackled to silence and once again everyone in the class was staring at me, eyebrows raised in question.

Looking back down to the dead frog lying on the table, I crinkled my nose and glanced over at my partner who was quickly pulling out all of the organs and setting them down on the plate. After he pulled out what looked like the frog’s heart, he turned to me and smiled. “Can you start pulling off pieces of tape and writing the organ names on them?” He asked with a smile. When I barely nodded, he quickly went back to the frog and left me with a roll of white tape and a sharpie.

My eyes found their way to the clock hanging over the front door of the classroom. In another thirty minutes the class would end and luckily for me, this was my last class of the day. Then I would be able to quickly stop by the office building and see why I had to be embarrassed in front of the whole school, which was a little more than high school.

I went back to the tape and ended up writing down all of the labels and sticking them on the tray in five minutes. After that we just had to complete the four page long worksheet, which was due the next time we had class, which was in two days. This meant to me that I would be doing this Thursday night to get my brain back into the swing of doing Biology worksheets.

Instead of jotting down the detailed function of each organ on the sheet and where it was located, I simply grabbed my 'Biology I' binder and slipped the paper onto the rings. Once I shut my binder, my hands found my Ipod and I slipped my headphones into my ears and pressed play. Eyes locked onto the huge clock hanging over the front door, I took a deep breath and leaned back in my chair, waiting for the last ten minutes of class to tick by.

“This is the moment that you know, that you told her that you loved her but you don't.” My thumb quickly pressed the next button and my Ipod brought me to the next Death Cab for Cutie song on my Ipod. Shutting my eyes and trying to get caught in the upbeat of the new song, I couldn’t help but let my mind take a small wander back to three months ago when I found out my boyfriend of a year was cheating on me.

Suddenly, the burning sensation behind my eyes and in my throat made its presence known. Before adding more embarrassment onto what was already there, I quickly shoved a few stray papers into my binder, put my purse on my shoulder, and grabbed my binder. Glancing at the clock, I noticed I was only leaving five minutes early.

Out in the hallway, I held my breath and tried to stop myself from crying over that waste of space again. I should have known. That’s what I get for dating some stupid jock, 'I think I’m hot shit' hockey player. Hey, if he was so great he would have been in the draft.

Rubbing my eyes with my free hand, I started off campus to my car parked in the west lot. I usually didn’t drive but today was one of those overcast days that screamed rain and I would rather fight through the city traffic to stop the rain from hitting me before I went to work than getting completely soaked and sitting in a coffee shop for the rest of the night, soggy.

As I reached the parking lot with my car in it, I sighed and looked over to the huge building just a few more feet away. A few huge white pillars were one the front staircase and as I thought about all of the things I could be called in for (no money to pay for school, dorm broken into, etc) I made an easy decision to take a quick drive to Starbucks before I faced the principal, if that’s what he calls himself, of the college.

Jumping into the driver seat, I quickly put my seatbelt on and started the car. Without traffic the drive there was five minutes, with traffic it could be up to a half an hour but the thought of my favorite thing to order, a Grande Double Chocolaty Chip Frappuccino with extra whip cream, made it seem painless. With one of those, I could get the news I am getting kicked out of the school and I would no care one bit.

Luckily all of the normal three o’clock traffic around my school seemed to hold off just in time for me to make it to Starbucks and get inside. As I walked up to the counter and ordered my drink, I turned and noticed about twenty other college students walk in behind me, keys clinking together in the hands already occupied by their almost empty wallets.

After a few seconds the girl returned and I handed her the five. After my few cents in change which I dumped into the small mug for tips, I walked over to the ledge to pick up my drink and yawned, keeping my keys and cell phone in my hand. After a few minutes, my drink came up and I quickly grabbed it and then dashed over to the small table where the straw were. Sticking the straw into the drink, I headed over to the front door. With a small smile I took a sip of my drink and let the chocolate liquid fill my mouth. With a deep breath, I let it flow down my throat and as I was about to take the next sip, successfully out of the building and heading back to my car, my eyes caught glimpse of the yellow mustang that used to pick me up at my dorm building in the middle of the night.

Rage rushing through me, I allowed my eyes to follow it, but forgot to send the order for my legs to stop moving. Once the yellow mustang was out of view, I looked back ahead of me and collided with someone’s chest, sending my double chocolaty chip frappuccino colliding with the cement sidewalk beneath my feet. Not only did it hit the ground but the cap came off and splattered the entire sidewalk. Luckily it missed my shoes and whoever I bumped into.

“Oh my god, I am so sorry”, my eyes drifted up to the face the voice belonged to. His eyes were wide and apologetic. His bottom lip was between his teeth like he was preparing himself for me to freak out and yell at him. But then, he tilted his head and took a step back from me. “I’m sorry, would you like me to buy you one, it is my fault. I bumped into you”, his voice was almost like music to my ears. As he spoke, I felt myself getting lost in him, but the second I remembered the yellow mustang, my stomach flopped and I tore my eyes away from him.

“No thank you”, I whispered. “It was my fault, I’m sorry”, my eyes stuck to the cement as I turned my head to the right and saw my drink all over the cement. With a small sigh, I gathered enough courage to look back in the boys eyes. “Sorry about that, I have to get back to campus”, his eyes brightened for a moment, but I didn’t stick around long enough to see what he had to say.

My footsteps echoed through my head clearing it free of any thoughts about what had happened today. All I really wanted to do was go back to my dorm and just sleep for the next two days, but my curiosity was starting to grow about what was so important that I had to go the office instead of just calling them.

Back in my car I pulled out into the three thirty traffic and tried to remain calm as people cut in and out of my lane and went to slow that I would get stuck behind a red light, or too fast that I had to jam on the brakes when they did. After fifteen minutes of that, I pulled into the west lot, got out of the car, and frappuccino less started making my way to the front door.

Fingers wrapped around the handle, I gave it a good tug and then quickly slipped into the lobby. Dumping my keys and cell phone into my bag, my legs brought me to the front desk where without one word I was ushered away to the office in the back that had Mr. Waters engraved on a plaque hanging on the door. With a deep breath I knocked on the door and cracked it open, sticking my head into the room.

When the old man I had only met once before spotted me, he stood up and quickly walked over to me, opening the door and pulling me inside. As I was ordered to take a seat, I noticed that my Physical Therapy teacher was sitting off to the side, a huge smile on his face.

Flipping some of my dark brown hair behind my shoulder I gave Dr. Carpenter a small wave. Then, Mr. Waters started talking, grabbing all of my attention. “So Ms. Andretti, I received a call from the Athletic Staff of the New York Rangers Hockey team today”, my eyes bugged for a moment and then started to drown in confusion. What did an NHL team have to do with me, small girl from Hingham, Massachusetts?

“Mhhmm”, I said trying to sound interested and not completely confused. “They looked over your papers and are offering you a three month internship with the organization!”

If I would have still had my Double Chocolaty Chip Frappuccino right now, it would have been splattered all over the ugly blue carpeting of Mr. Waters carpet. Not only was I in complete shock that an organization that huge could want me as an intern, but I was very confused as to how my papers even got sent in the first place. I never even knew internships there were possible.

As my silence continued, Dr. Carpenter walked over to me and put his hands together. “I sent your papers in. You have so much talent, and you’re working at a coffee shop. I know how serious you are about this, and I figured I’d just give you a little push in the right direction”. My legs quickly brought my body up and I wrapped my arms around my teacher. Sure, it may have sounded awkward, but how else could you react when someone tells you that you’re taking a three month vacation to go learn how a real athletic trainer does the job and get paid, and still get the credits for your paid for classes?

Mr. Waters handed me a thick yellow envelope and gave me a small smile. “We will see you in three months Miss Andretti. Take care of yourself”, Dr. Carpenter said and gave me a pat on the back as I grabbed the yellow envelope and looked down at the address written on the front of it. The only words that stuck to me were Madison Square Garden, and as they repeated in my head, I felt myself grow nauseous.

I was going to intern as an athletic trainer’s assistant with twenty two hockey players in the heart of Manhattan at the best arena in the world, for one of the best teams in the NHL, and get paid.

Oh, there has to be a catch.