The Smartest Girl in the Room by Deborah Nam-Krane Page A

"Next weekend- I
mean, part of next weekend-"
    "Next weekend sounds good." He looked up.
    A thousand things she wanted to say. She
settled on: "Yeah, sounds good," then lightly tapped his shoulder
as she turned to walk in. "Thanks for dinner, sort of, and the
ride."
    "Next time will be even better," he said as
he walked away.
    Emily couldn’t wait.
     

CHAPTER 5
     
    Friday was a good day, because on Thursday he
had to attend an organizing meeting for his trip to Ireland. It was
the first time all of the participants were scheduled to meet, and
afterwards they were going to dinner. He had been looking forward
to this before, but now he wished he could get out of it. Or maybe
bring Emily with him. But that would be weird, especially since he
hadn’t said anything about Ireland yet.
    The more he thought about it as he drove
back, the more he thought that three months wasn’t a big deal, and
that Ireland wasn’t so far away. He could call, she could call,
they could Skype. It could be done. And maybe it was better that
way, because they could take it slowly. And then when he came
back... he smiled.
    His mother looked at him with a mixture of
relief and exasperation when he finally walked in the door at
eleven. "Jesus, Mitch! Where have you been?"
    "I’m fine. I might need to be hospitalized if
you offered me some coffee, but otherwise I’m fine."
    "Okay," she said slowly, glancing at him
sideways. "Do you want something to eat?"
    He touched his stomach and turned away in
disgust. "Right now, all I want to do is sleep until tomorrow." He
climbed the stairs to his room then fell onto his bed face
down.
     
    ~~~
     
    Mitch woke up at six-thirty that night. He
changed his clothes then came down to dinner.
    "Everything all set?" his father asked as
Mitch munched some bread.
    "Still all set," he mumbled between
bites.
    His father cast his eyes down as he smiled,
and Mitch smiled a little to himself as well. His trip was as
important to his father as it was to him. "So, dad, any places I
need to go while I’m there?"
    "I don’t know. Your grandmother told me the
same stories so many times that I got used to tuning out the
details," he laughed. "Just make sure you get to County Cork, and
tell them you’re from the Rowley’s line. You should be just
fine."
    "Good enough," Mitch said as he resumed
working on his bread.
     

CHAPTER 6
     
    Emily had let Zainab sleep for three more
hours before they studied. She could have used the sleep too, but
instead she showered, changed and straightened Zainab’s apartment.
When Zainab woke up, Emily had lunch ready. "Why do I let you leave
again?" Zainab asked as she started to eat.
    "So you can sleep on the wall?"
    "What?"
    "Your phone call with Mitch?"
    "What call with Mitch?"
    "Very funny."
    "No, you’re the joker here. What are you
talking about?"
    Emily laughed but stopped when she saw the
serious look on Zainab’s face. "Do you really not remember talking
to Mitch on the phone and telling him you were sleeping on the
wall?" Zainab looked stunned. "What time did you- oh screw that.
How did you get home?" Emily asked.
    Zainab opened her mouth as if she were going
to say something then closed it. She sat back. "I don’t know," she
said after a moment.
    "Okay, Ms. Pharmacy Major, is that what you
call a blackout?"
    "Stop."
    "I’m not going to stop. You’re scaring me and
I don’t want you to do it again."
    "Good, I’m not going to."
    "Good, because if you do, I’m going to follow
you around and be your designated Jiminy Cricket."
    "And that’s different from the usual
how?"
    "It’s different because if I always did that
we’d be studying now."
    They were heads down in their books for the
next five hours. Emily quizzed Zainab on her toxicology notes
before they broke for dinner. Through her own exhaustion, Emily
could tell that Zainab, once she got going, was really into
chemical interactions and the effects on the body. The theory of it
at least.
    "So you haven’t told me