Twisted Roots

“This, er, arrangement, isn't going to work.”

I stood in my professor's office that afternoon begging and pleading for him to switch my mentor. To my surprise, and my luck quiet frankly, the mentor my group was originally assigned had dropped out of the program and, well, Connor was his replacement.

It took me, Sarah, and Henry a good five minutes of us staring at one another, with our jaws dropped open, before any of us could say a word. From that point it was another five minutes of continuously repeating, “Oh my God” in a range of emotions.

“Ms. Barnes” My professor took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. As if I were the one giving him a hard time. He was the one failing me on purpose. Okay, he wasn't actually doing it on purpose, but he may as well have been. There was no way I was going to make it past this semester with Connor as my mentor. “I understand that there is...something...going on between you two...”

“Uh, yeah there is. We use to..” Before I could finish he held up his hand to stop me.

“I don't want to know.” He straightened his slouched posture. His left elbow rested on his desk as his fingers were now intertwined. He went on after letting out a heavy sigh, “I understand that there is something going on between you two, but that is the purpose of this assignment.”

I furrowed my brows and looked away for a brief second to emphasize just how lost I was. “I'm sorry, I'm not seeing what the purpose is...”

“The medical field crosses lines. Unless a patient is a direct relative, there is no conflict of interest in our industry, Lynn. We come together, for the care of our patients, no matter how much we may not get along. Regardless if it's a nurse, a physician assistant, or another doctor, we set our differences aside for the matter at hand.” He let go of his hand and placed his fingers on the desk, strumming them lightly. “Let's say a trauma patient comes into the ER, it's down to the wire, you have a mere matter of minutes to quickly decide what to do. You realize you need a second opinion STAT, but the only other doctor available is one you're no longer on good terms with. Are you going to let your patient suffer because you weren't able to set your differences aside?”

I looked down, disappointed. “No...”

“There's my answer to your question.” He stood up from his chair and grabbed some papers before stuffing them into a messenger bag.

I stood up and followed him out of his office. “But, what about my grade?”

He was walking fast, about two paces in front of me. “I wouldn't have Dr. Cassidy on my mentorship roster if I didn't think he was fair and professional. But, if for any reason the grade is questionable I will have a talk with him.” He turned around while he continued to walk. “I know you're a great student and I know what grade you deserve. Just try to learn from this experience, Ms. Barnes!” He held up his hand waving goodbye.

I stopped walking and continued to watch my professor leave the building through the glass doors. I dropped my head back and stared up at the ceiling while letting out a low grunting noise.

“So, you've heard.” I snapped my head back to find Connor standing in front of me.

“You knew and you didn't tell me? Why would you even agree to do a mentorship with the school your ex-girlfriend is attending?”

“First, I knew and I tried to tell you. You decided to make a scene and storm off. You haven't changed one bit have you? And two, why would I refuse a mentorship offered to me by one of the best physicians in the city just because my ex-girlfriend attends the same college?” His palms were facing up as he asked the question.

A group of researchers walked out of an office and passed right by us. I lowered my voice, but spoke sternly,“For this exact reason, Connor!” I smiled as a couple of them glanced over at us. “For all I know, you probably paid Dr. Ansari to drop out.”

He laughed “You think I wanted this?” His pointer finger motioned between the two of us. I nodded my head aggressively. “You want the truth? I didn't think I would see you past today. Which is why I had to convince myself to be professional with you for just one day.”

I covered my face with my hands and silently shouted. “Okay.” I inhaled a deep breath as I uncovered my face. “okay.” I tried to tell myself everything would be alright. “You aren't going any where, and apparently I'm not allowed to go any where either.”

“Let's just agree to keep this professional. No personal talk. Just do what you have to do to get your case studies done and I will grade them without judgment.”

“Fine” I rolled my eyes, not wanting to agree with him, but knowing he was right.

“Fine.” He repeated after me. “Be at my office Monday morning.”

We continued to stare at one another before we each walked away.

A storm of curse words were flying around in my head as I left school that day. I imagined myself kicking and screaming like a petulant five year old. Was this really happening?

Instead of grabbing a cab I decided to walk through Central Park to Kadie's office. It was quiet a distance, but God knows I needed the fresh air and time to think.

I knew I had to break it to Jonah somehow, but with him on his press tour, I decided waiting until he was back in the City would be best.

I rounded the corner out of Central Park and onto Central Park West.

I was just approaching Columbus Circle when I spotted a girl in a huge floppy hat and shades walking out of Kadie's office. I squinted my eyes, knowing I'd seen her before.

“Poppy?” I whispered to myself in disbelief.

It couldn't have been. There was no way, as much as Kadie wanted to conspire a plan to exploit her company, that she would actually work with Poppy without Adam's consent.

And then two seconds later I gasped louder than I should have when I'd found out Connor was my mentor. Jebrone and Kadie walked out just a few seconds behind Poppy. She was already stowed away in the back seat of her car. Jebrone waved her off as her car pulled away.

Jebrone and Kadie continued to talk for a few more minutes before he gave her a hug and walked away. Kadie twirled around and walked back into her office.

Jaime was right. Something was going on and I was going to get to the bottom of it.