Queen Of Science

After their lectures, Fern and Emily walk through the huge library and sit in their favourite study room.

Sitting down at the big table in the middle, Fern asks, "You actually remembered to reserve the room, right?"

Grimacing, Emily says, "Of course I did. I will forever have the embarrassment of being kicked out etched in my memory. How was I supposed to know that we had to make a reservation?"

Fern chuckles and says, "Honestly, I have no idea. At least we know now."

Once the two are settled in, they immediately dive into their work.

Fern has her papers, highlighters, and laptop spread across half of the table. On the giant whiteboard wall, Fern has scribbled out an outline for her proposal. Switching between writing on the wall and typing on her laptop, Fern is in a world of her own.

In comparison, Emily is sitting on the other side of the table with only her laptop. As she searches for papers on her topic, she regularly gets distracted by random thoughts that pop up in her head. Soon, Emily is spending more time looking at cute pictures of animals than getting any actual work done.

Looking down at her word count and realizing that she hasn't written anything in 30 minutes, Emily huffs and gets up.

Confused, Fern looks up and says, "What's up?"

"I just can't focus." Starting to walk towards the door, Emily says, "I think I'm going to go find a snack."

"Wait." Indicating towards Emily's laptop, Fern says, "Show me your paper. Explain it to me."

After mentally debating whether or not she wants to have this conversation, Emily says okay and sits next to Fern. She pulls up her paper and starts telling Fern about the topic.

"I'm writing about squirrels and their role in the ecosystem. They're pretty important for the dispersion of tree seeds."

"I've never thought about squirrels as important for the spread of trees, but I guess that makes sense. Do you have an outline that I can read?"

"No, I don't like outlines."

Fern narrows her eyes and says, "That's like saying you're going to go on a road trip, but you don't have any driving instructions."

"Well, I did drive to Toronto without instructions last summer."

"Yea and you kept having to stop and ask people for directions. Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean that you can skip it. "

Realizing that Fern isn't going to let this go, Emily starts to avoid eye contact and slowly reach towards the doorknob. Once she's close enough, she points to the whiteboard and yells, "What's that- a typo?" Not taking the time to see if Fern falls for her excellent distraction, Emily rips the door open and-

She gets hit in the back by the cap of a whiteboard marker.

Crap.

Turning around and looking at Fern sheepishly, Emily says, "Does this mean that you aren't going to let me leave until I finish an outline?"

Unamused, Fern crosses her arms and says, "Yes! Now get to work."

Reluctantly returning to her work, Emily says, "yes, ma'am."

....

At one o'clock in the afternoon, Emily has finished her outline, and Fern is just wrapping up her proposal.

Fern is channeling her inner famous actress and is dramatically reading out her research proposal. She only drops her drama character when she stops to correct errors in the doc.u.ment.

Ignoring the tedious nature of a research proposal, Emily selectively pays attention to the cool science. Whenever all of the aspects of Fern's logical argument come together for a fascinating conclusion, or Fern looks particularly proud, Emily lets out a cheer of applause.

After Fern has finished performing, she sees in her periphery a group of disgruntled students staring at her and Emily.

Lowering her voice, Fern sits in her chair and says, "There are a bunch of grumpy people looking at us. Maybe I got a little too excited."

Rolling her eyes, Emily says, "Eh, who cares. We'll never see those people again."

Unsure, Fern says, "Okay." Focusing on her laptop, Fern opens up the submission folder of the project proposal and turns in her assignment.

"Finished! Let's get out of here."

Packing up her stuff, Emily says, "Wanna go celebrate?"

"Yes! Let's go to the local gardening store. I want to get some seeds."

"Seeds?"

"Going on an adventure to look at gardening supplies sounds like a great time."

Giving Fern a dubious look, Emily shrugs and says, "I'll come along."