Edelweiss

Chapter Four

April 28th, 2014

When Eva's alarm went off, she jolted awake but didn't immediately get out of bed. She lay there for a second before realizing it was morning and another school day. She did not want to go to school today. She wished she could just stay in bed all day and binge-watch Netflix on her computer. She turned off her alarm and covered her head with her comforter, trying to find the motivation to get up. OK, Eva, you have to do this, she told herself. She threw the covers off her and stood up out of bed, trying to find the energy to move her feet. After she had changed and brushed her teeth, she went downstairs to the kitchen to eat before she had to leave. She ate a quick bowl of cereal, then got her backpack and coat and ran out the door. She got to her car and was happy that it had not snowed again during the night.

While driving to school, she thought about the application that she filled out weeks ago and wondered what it would be like to be the one selected. She had done a Skype interview last week and was told that after they were finished with all of them, they would notify the one who got the job via email. It had already been over three weeks, and she had heard nothing from them. Well, I guess I should not be surprised. I'm not sure that I was a suitable candidate, she thought. Eva liked science and was good at it, but it didn't always come naturally to her as it did to some people. She knew that there were more innovative, more educated people who must have applied. Students from schools like MIT were probably geniuses by nature and were far more qualified. More often than she would like, she struggled with self-confidence and belief in her ability to do things as well as others.

When she arrived on campus, she parked nearby and hurried to class. As usual, she found her economics class boring, so she played on her phone while she was there. After scrolling through Facebook and Instagram, she decided to check her email. She moved her fingers on the trackpad, finally reaching the bottom of the ones that hadn't been opened, and noticed an email from www.Cambridge.health science. She uncrossed her legs and sat up straight in her chair, staring at the email in disbelief. She hurried and opened it, not quite knowing what to expect. She impatiently waited for it to load. She was almost scared to read it, no matter what the news was.

Dear Miss Abrams,

We are pleased to inform you that we have selected you for the internship at The University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. You will receive another email with further information in a few days.

Sincerely, Dr. Tolly

She had to reread the email just to make sure that she had not read it wrong or that her eyes were not deceiving her. She kept staring at her phone in disbelief, unsure what to think. She had never been to England, or any other European country for that matter, and the thought of living in another country scared her a bit, but she considered herself extremely lucky to be the one they picked. She would not pass this opportunity up, not in a million years.

She saw out the corner of her eye that people around her were leaving; she raised her head and realized the class was over and had been for some time; the room was almost empty now. When did class end, and how did I miss almost half of it? Eva thought. How long was I staring at my phone, and how many times did I read that email?

She grabbed her things and left for the building that her German class was in; she wanted to talk to Sam before class started. She was hoping he was there and did not decide to play hooky today like he so frequently did. She wanted to let him know she got the intern job.

When Eva entered the classroom, she immediately started scanning the room for Sam and saw him standing towards the front of the class talking to the teacher, so she hurried in their direction.