"Are you sure, Liz?" Alex asked as she leaned forward. "Are you sure you told them everything you can possibly think of?"
"I'm not doing drugs, if that's what you're asking," Liz said as she clung to Alex. "Everyone thinks I'm a drug addict, but I'm not. I swear I'm not."
"I believe you, Liz," Alex said looking away from her friend. I could tell by her expression that she wasn't entirely convinced that Liz was telling the trut
h but that she didn't want to challenge her friend while she was struggling with such a serious problem. "We'll figure out a way to make it all better, okay?"
"You don't believe me," Liz said in a flat voice. "I can always tell when you don't believe what I'm telling you."
"Liz, look, I believe you," Alex said as she sat back. "I'm just really worried about you. I want you to get help."
"Fuck you, Alex," Liz said in the same flat tone. "You don't believe me. Get out."
"Liz, don't do this," Alex pleaded.
"I said, get out," Liz repeated as she pulled her hand away and looked out the window. I could hear the pain in her voice and I knew she wasn't kidding. She looked back at Alex and yelled, “GET OUT!"
Startled, Alex stood up and rushed out of the room without looking back. I thought about following her, but thought better of it when I looked back at Liz and saw her hunched over holding her head in her hands.
"Liz, are you okay?" I asked as I walked across the room and sat down in the chair next to her bed. "You know she just wants what's best for you."
"I know," Liz sobbed into her hands. "But I can't get anyone to believe me! I swear I'm not taking drugs, but I don't know what's wrong with me!"
"All right, let's say that I believe you -- because I do," I said, looking at her tear-stained face as she raised her head. "The question is what's going on? What's happening to you?"
"I don't know!" Liz cried as she ran her hand through her hair. "All I know is that I'm tired all the time, I'm tripping and falling down a lot, and I can't think clearly. I thought it was because I was stressed out and tired, but after last night, I know it has to be something more than that, I just don't know what it is and the doctors can't figure it out."
"So, that would indicate that we need to approach this differently," I said as I thought out loud. "We need to look at this like a fire."
"What are you talking about?" Liz asked as she wiped her face and looked around for her water glass. I grabbed it off of the nightstand next to her bed and handed it to her. She reached out to take it, but it slid through her fingers and spilled down the side of the bed pooling on the floor as she yelled, "Dammit! This is what I'm talking about!"
"Hang on, Liz," I said as I grabbed a towel from the bathroom and mopped up the water. "I know it's frustrating, but let's go through what's happened and see if we can't pick out some common details."
"Screw that!" she shouted. "I'm tired of questions I can't answer and accusations that are going to cost me and my best friend our educations!"
"What are you talking about?" I asked, genuinely confused by her outburst.
"Didn't Alex tell you?" she said. "Victoria Metzler and her gang of mean girls has accused Alex and I of cheating on our practice exams and the school has ordered an investigation."
"Yeah, so?" I replied, not following.
"When they do an investigation, they also put a hold on any scholarship or loan money until they figure out what happened," she said wryly. "They don't like throwing good money at bad students."
"So, you've been accused and they've withheld your money?" I asked.
"Exactly, only the problem is that if we don't pay our tuition on time, we get dropped from our classes and can't be reinstated until the next term, which is after graduation," she said. "We're set to graduate at the end of this term so that means we have to wait until next fall!"
"But if you didn't cheat, they should be able to clear you immediately, right?" I said, trying to understand what the problem was.
"We didn't cheat, but Violet hates us and she has pull with the department head and the nursing internship supervisor, who both have to be character witnesses for the investigation," she said, hitting the bed with the palm of her hand to underscore the problem. "Neither one of us cheated, but we have no way of proving that beyond a shadow of a doubt, and the program doesn't want to lose the donation that Violet's dad made to the school. She wants us out, she gets what she wants."
"That's a shitty thing to do," I said, shaking my head.
"Yeah, well, have you met Violet Metzler?" she asked sarcastically. "She's shitty human being."
"Indeed," I said, thinking about how this shed new light on my contract with Richard Metzler and suddenly understanding Alex's hesitation when I told her about it. "So, what if we find a work around?"
"How in the hell are we going to find a work around for this?" Liz asked with an exasperated sigh. "It's not like Alex and I are millionaires who can finance our own educations. If that were the case, neither one of us would be worked up about this, you know?"