Classes were finally starting up, which I was happy about. My article had been published, and my parents were even nice enough to send me an email to congratulate me. I about died when I saw it. This is why I don't talk about my family, what kind of parents email their child after they have won a major award? No phone call, no text, just one lousy email that said:
Natalie Elizabeth,
We are so proud of your article in the Journal of Neuroscience. Congratulations on your accomplishment.
Love,
Mom and Dad
I mean come on, that's just insane, right? I had shown Lydia when she came over. She knows every absurd, dysfunctional detail about my family. For reasons unbeknownst to me I have had utter transparency when I talked to Lydia about anything. Maybe it's a good thing she's going in to psychology, she can get me to tell her pretty much anything. Sometimes, like when she read this email, I can see that Lydia pities the way I grew up. I wasn't really raised as a child, I was raised to be a trophy, an award for my parents to show off. That's how it was for every kid in New Canaan, so it's not like my experience was special. I just dealt with it better than most kids. Normally being raised by parents like mine turns kids into entitled, whiny, narcissists who refuse to acknowledge that their parents would rather give them money than spend one measly second raising them. I wasn't stupid, I knew my parents were terrible. Lydia's parents at least spent time with her, and genuinely cared about her well-being.
I was on my way to Behavioral Psychology when my phone rings. I look down and see that it's an unknown number, but the area code suggests that it's from Durham. Probably someone from the lab. All of the Neuroscience students had their number hung up just in case we screwed something up in the lab, then they could get a hold of us.
"Hello, this is Natalie Spencer." My phone call voice was so pleasant, it kind of makes me sick.
"Natalie, this is Dr.Kuhn."
"Hi Doctor? Did I leave something out in the lab?" I was pretty confident that I didn't, but sometimes if I really got on a roll I would leave a mess of slides out.
"Oh, no, of course not. I actually was just talking to another colleague about you and all of your accomplishments, and they were very impressed with you."
"Well that's really great, thank you." I was still perplexed about the whole situation.
"You are very welcome, Natalie. The reason I'm calling is because that colleague has a specific... um, I guess you could call it a human behavioral project that he's working on. I told him that I thought you would be perfect for it and he agreed."
As exciting as it was to be asked to be on another project, I wasn't sure I would be able to take on this new one while still working on my NEK-1 project, "I really appreciate you recommending me for the project, but do you think I'll be able to handle that with my current research?"
"Trust me Natalie, you'll handle this just fine. It really won't require much work, and you're perfect for it. I set up a meeting with him at 1:30, his office is on the sixth floor of the Schwartz building on west campus. When you go up there just say your name and they'll be expecting you."
"Sounds good, I'll be there." I might as well hear them out if she went through the trouble of scheduling a meeting.
"Have a good day Natalie."
I'm going to have to rush out of class to get to Schwartz on time. I get to class and the room is pretty much empty, which makes sense, I'm like 20 minutes early. I've always been like this, very type A in that I'm always organized and I'm always early. I knew this class was going to be smaller anyway. Behavioral Psychology was a 400 level class, that means we would have 15 students in here at the most. I organize my notebook, pens, and open my book to the first chapter. I had already read it, but I like to highlight points as the professor lectures. The door opens and I see Dr. Nielson walk in. I knew him quite well, Neuroscience and Psychology students have a lot of overlap, so our professors knew all of us.
