The Smartest Girl in the Room

by Deborah Nam-Krane

  "Let’s hear it!"

  Zainab launched into the winding story of her life: the idyllic first years in Africa, her father’s tragic death, her mother’s whirlwind remarriage in London and her crazy combined family’s adventures through South America and California.

  By the time Zainab was finished, the three were warming up Mitch’s car: Mitch in the driver’s seat, Zainab in the back, and Emily in the passenger seat. Emily sat back and sighed. It was so nice to be in a car and not the bus or train. Better not get used to it.

  Mitch was impressed. "Wow. So where’s the family now?"

  "They’re in upstate New York, where all respectable people end up eventually."

  Emily gagged. "There is nothing respectable about the suburbs. Most of the people who live there are so bored they’ll do anything, whether it’s open marriages, swapping or hard core dealing. I’d feel safer being in a crack house in the roughest part of Boston than the most elite suburb."

  Mitch laughed. "I can promise you that there is no dealing or swapping going on at my house, and I’m not sure my parents could get an open marriage going. I had a great time in Natick. Maybe I lived in a parallel universe?"

  "Oh God, stop!" Zainab threw her head back. "I feel a Trek recap coming on."

  Emily giggled. "Okay, okay," she said, "but I’d much rather talk about swapping, drugs or Trek than finals. I’m starting to get nervous."

  Mitch turned his head. "Finals are about five weeks away."

  Emily sighed. "I’m taking an extra class."

  Zainab shook her head in disgust and turned to Mitch. "And she’s one of those annoying people who actually went through the syllabus and read everything already."

  "And next quarter you will too," Emily pointed at her reprovingly.

  Zainab scoffed. "Why, if you’re still so stressed out about it?"

  "I stress to get an A, not so I can pass."

  Mitch looked at Zainab in the rearview mirror. "Do I have to start dragging you out of Cappuccino Princess at a certain time from now on?"

  "Anyway, what are you doing tomorrow night?" She nudged Emily. "I think you can afford to give studying a rest for one night."

  She just had to use the word "afford". "What did you have in mind?" Emily asked reluctantly.

  "Something simple, like dancing all night."

  Emily smiled. That was never simple, but it was fun. She did a quick calculation. "I’ll do it on two conditions: One, you let me spend the night afterward-"

  "Done."

  "And you spend the next day studying with me- in the library or your house- not at a coffee shop."

  "Fine," Zainab groaned.

  Mitch cleared his throat really loudly. "And...what about me?"

  "You’re not going to be heads down with Joe?"

  Mitch shook his head. "Wow. Have I been reduced to Joe Welles for my Friday nights?"

  "You know he’d love that," Emily said softly.

  He grinned as he pulled in front of Zainab’s building. "Should I see if he wants to join us?"

  Emily cursed under her breath. "Yeah, I wanted to study tomorrow anyway."

  "Oh, shut up," Zainab said as she opened the door. "You’re coming out with me- and apparently Mitch."

  "I’ll keep the evil Mr. Welles away," Mitch whispered with a smile. Before she could say anything, he called out to Zainab. "You’ll tell me where tomorrow?"

  Zainab gave him thumbs up. "And I’ll see if I can round up everyone else."

  "It’s a plan!"

  Zainab waved to them both and then winked to Emily when Mitch turned away. Emily opened her mouth, but Zainab smiled and walked into her building.

  Mitch turned the ignition and revved the engine. "So… where to?"

  "How well do you know Newton?"

  "Route Nine, Comm. Ave, Washington Street-"

  "Ding ding ding! If you know Washington Street, you can find me pretty easily."

  Mitch started driving. "How bad are Zainab’s classes going?"

  "I exaggerate, but she under represents. I don’t think she’ll fail but she's definitely lost momentum."

  "You’re a good friend to care so much about it."

  "Thanks but I know what it’s like to be the smart person filled with unrealized potential. It sucks."

  "You haven’t always been Little Miss Straight A’s?"

  "I’ve never been Little Miss Anything, and especially not in high school."

  Mitch smiled. "Tell me about high school."

  "You first. Tell me a little bit about yourself."

  "What’s to tell? I live in Natick, I’m in the SGC, I’m a senior-"

  "Big man on campus."

  "And what year are you? Let me guess. Middler?"

  "Wrong on two counts."

  "How can I be wrong on two counts when I made one guess?"

  "I should be a sophomore, but I’m actually pretty close to getting the credits I need to graduate, so I’m technically sort of a junior."

  "Huh?"

  "When I was in high school, I took some AP classes. I could have gotten better grades, but I did well enough on the tests that they gave me enough credit to come in as a sophomore. On top of that, I literally had nothing better to do the summer after high school, so I decided to take some classes over the summer."

  "How many?"

  "Four. Anyway, then I took extra classes throughout my first year, so last semester I was halfway through middler year. By the time this quarter is over, I’ll be a junior. And if I keep going at this pace, I’ll be done by the end of June."

  "I’m sure you’re a very hard worker," he said after a moment, "but that doesn’t add up. You should still be just about finishing middler year."

  "Oh right, I didn’t take summers or any other quarters off. I’ve been going straight through."

  They stopped at a traffic light. "I think I would have lost my mind by now."

  Emily closed her eyes. "I sort of have."

  "Insanity notwithstanding, I wish I had done that, but I don’t think I could dedicate myself like that."

  "Great segue, because we were talking about you," Emily smiled. "What have you been doing in place of racing through school?"

  "Sorry, what did you say?" Mitch asked. Emily pursed her lips, irritated that he was ignoring her question. "So you’re what, twenty?"

  "I will tell you as soon as you get me home- by the way, bear left in two sets of lights- if you answer my question."

  Mitch had to make the turn quickly. "Fraternity," he said quickly. "I was in a fraternity."

  "Oh," Emily said after a moment.

  "Was being the operative word. I am gone, I am out, and I am never going back."

  My, how strident, she thought. "Why?"

  "Because they asked me to leave."

  "Did you kill someone?" she asked finally. "I know this is a stereotype, but I was under the impression that anything went at frats, short of maybe that."

  Mitch raised his eyebrows. "No, I didn’t kill anyone. What I did was much worse. I told them to stop hazing."

  "Hazing? Why, other than that it’s illegal and immoral?"

  "That pretty much covers it. And I’d be lying if I said I never participated before, but it got worse."

  "How so?"

  "There’s a difference between making your pledges walk home ten miles in the rain and making them drink in your basement until they vomit, and then making them drink some more."

  "I don’t know, how cold was it when it was raining?"

  Mitch threw up his hands. "Not so cold that they couldn’t shake it off with some hot coffee."

  "Or alcohol?"

  "Or alcohol. But I was not looking forward to dragging some unconscious eighteen-year-old to the emergency room with alcohol poisoning." He looked at something off in the horizon. "Maybe I just didn’t have enough to drink myself one night. There is something about a roomful of sloshed up, slightly sadistic guys that loses its appeal if you don’t have your own buzz going."

 
; "And that’s when you told them to stop hazing?"

  "I did one better than that. I told them to stop, they didn’t stop, and then I reported them to our regionals, who of course found no corroborating evidence. And then within the week they voted me out. Hence, Natick."

  Emily smiled sympathetically. "I’m sorry, especially about Natick. How long has it been?"

  "Three months."

  "Do you still talk to any of those guys?"

  "My ‘brothers’? They send me emails all the time to let me know what a jerk I am. But that’s fine because I’m going to be sure that all of the incoming freshmen next year know what they have to look forward to."

  "And that’s why you joined student government." Emily said, thinking more. "And that’s why you're on budget review. You want to limit their funding."

  He made the turn at the light. "Ding ding ding! I can’t let it go on."

  "I respect that." Mitch looked at her. "Really. It takes a lot of courage to stand up for your principles, especially when your friends don’t approve."

  "Thank you, but I don’t know if it’s courage. Once the thought came to me, I couldn’t let it go. I had to follow it through."

  "No matter the consequences?"

  "No matter the consequences."

  "If you don’t want to be brave, you’ll just have to be dedicated after all. Ooh, that’s the next turn- sorry!"

  They pulled up in front of her house. "So, is that enough information? Are we even now?"

  "Even Steven!" He laughed. "But I think you’ll have to tell me about high school next time."

  "Deal, but then you’ll have to do the same."

  Emily nodded in agreement. She found herself looking at Mitch’s now glowing green eyes. She looked down. "So... thank you so much for the ride, you have no idea…"

  "It’s not Natick, but this is pretty far from school. How do you usually get home?"

  "Actually, the fifty-seven bus gets off pretty much right here."

  "But you have to switch lines from school. That settles it." Now Mitch looked down. "You’re just going to have to let me know the next time you need a ride home."

  "That’s really nice of you but I couldn’t let you drive all this way for me."

  "It’s right on the way home. How about if you can’t get out before ten I’ll give you a lift?"

  "You're usually around this late?"

  "I have homework too! Plus I've been working on some stuff with Joe, and since he lives on campus he doesn't always think about time constraints."

  Emily made a face. "I'll never know what people see in him."

  Mitch shrugged. "He's an overzealous dork but essentially harmless."

  "And here I was going to go with ‘ambitious whore who thinks he's smarter than he is’."

  "Yeah- dork." Emily laughed again and Mitch smiled when she did. "So will you call me if you need a ride?"

  Emily held his eyes. "Okay."

  They continued to look at each other, then look away, then look back to each other. "So," Emily said, gathering up her bags, coat and courage, "I’ll see you tomorrow?"

  "Yeah, yeah. I’m assuming Zainab will find us both in her inimitable Zainab way."

  Emily chuckled. "Nice fifty cent word to end the evening."

  "Just trying to keep up. But why don’t I give you my number in case she can’t?" Emily copied his number into her phone then gave him hers.

  "Great," Mitch said softly. They looked at each other again as if they were expecting the other to say something. Emily couldn’t stand it anymore and giggled. After a moment Mitch did too.

  Emily finally forced herself to leave. "Thank you again. Drive safely!"

  Once inside, Emily walked through the darkened house. She went into the bathroom, washed up and then went into the study that she used as her bedroom. She moved papers off of the loveseat which also functioned as her bed. She went to the little closet that kept her tiny wardrobe and changed. Then she got out her blanket and pillow, turned off the light and lay down.

  "Hmm," she said to herself, still smiling. Then she laughed a little bit. Sleep, she thought, or you won’t catch the early bus. She closed her eyes, but opened them again, and when she did, she thought she saw stars twinkling at her in the darkness of her room. That had happened only once before, and that made her smile even more as she drifted off to sleep.

  ~~~

  Mitch had figured out how to get to the Pike from Emily’s house. It wasn’t that far away. This might almost qualify as a shortcut. Don’t get ahead of yourself, his reasonable voice boomed inside his head. He remembered that she hadn’t mentioned her age but he could guess: nineteen. He was going to celebrate his twenty-third birthday in less than six months.

  She’s legal and she isn’t stupid. You’re not going to go to jail, his other inner voice countered. But do you really want to be the guy who dated the nineteen-year-old? He made a face at the thought. There was an ick factor to dating someone still in her teens.

  She might be turning twenty soon, he thought hopefully. I could wait until then.

  Great. But would she? While you’re in Ireland?

  Ireland. For the first time it wasn’t making him happy just to think about it. It was the only thing that had kept him from sinking into a deep, pharmaceutically qualified depression after the falling out with his "brothers". He still felt pangs of guilt over never having visited his Grandma Lulu’s hometown before she died. Why did his chance have to come right now?

  A lot can happen in a month.

  True, but is it fair to start something that has to end by then? He thought.

  He pictured himself with Emily, walking in the snow, watching TV and laughing. Maybe it didn’t have to end. Let’s see what happens tomorrow, he thought, as he turned into his exit.

  CHAPTER 2

  Emily went to the library after her last Friday class. In spite of her best efforts, she found herself thinking about starlight and smiling.

  "Look who’s burning the Friday afternoon oil."

  Emily looked up. "Hey, Drew!" She’d never seen him at the library before on Friday. "What are you doing here?"

  "As if you’re the only one who likes to study on Fridays!"

  "I think ‘like’ is a strong word." Be nice, but not so nice he stays, Emily thought. "I just want to free up the weekend for other things."

  He sat down. "Such as?"

  "Oh, impromptu movie fests, casual dinners, a big assignment." She shrugged. "And you?"

  "Same thing, although without the movie or dinner part," he laughed. "I need my weekend free for the solar car."

  "You guys do the bulk of your work on the weekend?"

  "Most of the guys are there pretty much all through the night, every night. I’m just there on the weekends. I’m sort of the president, helping them come up with public relations strategies." He nodded, as if to agree with himself.

  "So you don’t actually install solar panels or anything like that?"

  "Not unless they’re in a rush but I have been known to get out the sandpaper."

  "Okay..."

  "For the body of the car. We usually start with fiber glass, and then we need to shape it and smooth it down before we put the components in."

  Emily really did think solar cars were cool. "Are you guys still constructing the body?"

  "No, that’s finally done. How these guys can be perfectionists on so little sleep I’ll never know. All of a sudden the frame is constructed, the engine is ready, the panels are installed, and boom! It’s ready to go."

  "And where is all of this going? Are you guys competing somewhere?"

  "Are you kidding me? Not at this school! Maybe by next year but I think it will be a few years before we’re even close to being prize-worthy."

  "What it is about ‘this school’ you find so contemptuous?"

  He snorted. "So much of the coursework is dumbed down for people who still get Cs, and that’s with the grades jacked up, unless you're an athlete. Then they've got to ma
ke sure you get the B. I get that people are trying to fit a lot into their lives, and it’s tough for them, but their strategy obviously isn’t working for them or us. Everyone knows what a joke we are."

  This wasn’t the greatest university in the country but Emily worked hard for her grades. "So what are you doing here then?"

  He looked down and shrugged. "They made me an offer I couldn’t turn down, but if I’d known then what I know now, I would have bitten the bullet and gone to Harvard instead."

  "Well, yeah." Now she was a little jealous. "Go to Harvard even if you have to scrub floors at night."

  "I would have scrubbed floors, but it would have had to have been at night, in the morning and while classes were in session, which would have gotten in the way of studying. Even then I still would have to have taken out some big loans." He shrugged. "Harvard doesn’t give merit-based scholarships."

  So you’re trapped here. "Make the best of it, right? And at least you’re getting a free ride."

  "Not entirely free. The first year was free, but since then I’ve gotten half of a year. Plus I have to pay for my room, board, food and fees."

  "You’re not a Kay Scholar? Sorry, I just assumed- "

  "No, if I had been as smart as I say I am, I would be, but my high school guidance counselor got confused and only told us about the Achievement Scholarship. I think he thought I would be a slam-dunk for that one but not the Kay Scholarship. It wasn’t until I got here that I found out about it and then I saw the people who did qualify. I almost left that weekend."

  "Well, you’ve made it this far. You’re what, a junior?"

  "Yeah, I’m a junior, even with all of the co-ops."

  "Don’t those help pay for the balance of the tuition?"

  "Yes, but not everything. I’ve gotten good assignments, but the real money is through the Engineering and Computer Science schools. But," he blew out through pursed lips, "I’d have to be lobotomized before I started hanging out with that crowd!" He laughed at his own joke.

  "So how do you pay for the rest of it?"

  "High-interest student loans, the American way."

  "For those who have the collateral, I guess."