3: Encounter II

3

Riverside School of Medicine was one of 4 elite schools in New York and held the highest percentage of students who graduate with honours. Every parent or student that wanted their children to do medicine did everything in their power to make sure they got enrolled there. The school also offered special cases like Mallory the opportunity to study there on the condition they maintain a strict 4.0 GPA no exceptions made, a drop in their GPA would result in immediate termination of their scholarship.

Their rival school was Dayton West and was infamously known for usually sweeping in whenever one of the scholarship students of Riverside were kicked to the curb. Dayton ranked number two to Riverside and was their biggest competition, it was also a lot lenient to their students than Riverside but students still preferred Riverside, Mallory included.

New York was also the home to Irvine the school of business as well as the Davis arts and craft academy. These were New York's elite Universities, where the rich and academically gifted ended up. It goes without saying that the lifestyle on campus would be like that out of a teen fiction show like gossip girls Constance Billiard, filed with the glitz and the glam most importantly, the drama.

The first day Mallory stepped onto Riverside campus she knew instantly that she would never fit in. Maybe it was because of the washed out converses covering her feet that just looked out of place as they made contact with the hallway floor which was covered in the world's most expensive Pietra Firma Luxtouch tile or maybe it was the Forever 21 outfit that just didn't blend into the fancy interior design of the Deans office or maybe just maybe it was the line-up of fancy cars parked in the student's parking lot. The point is she knew instantly that this was a world she wasn't a part of but desperately wanted to be.

She had managed to survive 2 years in this place and that on its own made here swell with pride, despite not coming from a reputable family she had managed to create a name for herself by securing a spot on the top 10 list for a consecutive 2 years and that in itself was impressive at a competitive school like Riverside.

This made her a target for most of the entitled rich kid's anger, more often than not she found herself being confronted by one rich kid or another. The thought of a girl who came from a poor background being on the top 10 list seemed to rub them and their parents all sorts of uncomfortable ways. They just couldn't fathom how someone who couldn't afford to pay for the best tutors or buy the best study materials would rank higher than them.

She wasn't a genius but she was a hard worker, to her obtaining good results wasn't a matter of who could afford what but rather of how they utilized the information that they obtained to ensure they achieved the best results and Mallory was good at using the information that was accessible to her. As much as she worked hard, she made sure to work smarter in the process.

Now that she would be working nights at the hospital for some weeks she had to make sure she set up her schedule to ensure she got enough sleep, that way she could still manage to attend her classes on campus and be able to keep her part time job, it was a schedule that left her with no time for her to spend doing anything with the friends she'd managed to make and keep at Riverside.

Tonight she was paired up with a soft spoken girl from Dayton West by the name of Clarisse the team took turns attending to the patients in the different departments and today she and her partner were placed in the Neurology department.

The night started out uneventful and all they did was make their rounds checking on patients, taking down their stats and repeat. A simple task for them to do.

"We have one more patient to check on and we'll be on break." Clarisse said as they made their way towards their last patient.

"Thank God. I'm starving. I also want to head down to the ER I heard Doctor Berar is on call again I love watching her in action." Mallory replied a hint of excitement laced in her voice.

Half an hour later Mallory found herself sitting in her favorite spot on the rooftop starring at the view of the city she wasn't able to catch her favourite doctor today but she was content with sitting on the roof. The moon was high and full in the sky which made the scene much more beautiful and peaceful to her. The peacefulness and fresh air didn't last long though because once again the smell of cigarettes filled her nose.

She turned her head to the side where she last saw the handsome man who disturbed her peace she was met with a similar built man but instead of the fancy attire she saw them in last time they were dressed in sweats and a hoodie and were facing away from her to focused on something on the other side of the city. She squinted her eyes as she stood up and made her way towards the figure. She was annoyed that this person had decided to ignore her warning and repeated his actions.

"Excuse me sir this is a no smoking zone, like I said previously the smoking area is on the 7th floor." She said to the man rather aggressively as she stood a few feet away from them.

But instead of coming face to face with the person she was assuming it was she was met with a completely different person. He stood at the same height as the man from her previous encounter, maybe taller. She assumed he was trim built, not overly muscular. Instead of the dark eyes she was expecting she was met by bright blue ones that looked at her startled. Plainly put he was as attractive as the previous guy but was definitely not the previous guy.