If at first you don't succeed, then level the playing field and take a second chance.
Two years ago, Ellie Harrison collapsed under the weight of her past and the fallout that caught up with her. Like a shell of her former self, she retreated away f...
"You are?" I lifted my eyebrows at Santanu, who just nodded. "Why didn't we study together then?"
"You never asked. Wait... She's your girlfriend?" Santanu's voice squeaked out an octave higher while he looked between me and Ellie. Right when the corners of Ellie's mouth pulled downward, he added, "Dude, Logan, she's way out of your league."
He's not wrong.
Now I scowled but thankfully Ellie released a small giggle. "Thanks. Appreciate that."
The sight of a short, thin Asian student in the doorway with round glasses on the bridge of her nose and a stack of white papers in her hands couldn't have been better timing than if she'd shown up before Santanu's dig at me. Ellie pressed a soft kiss into my cheek, whispered good luck, then smiled over her shoulder at me on her way out.
I blinked a few times, then turned my head and met the biggest grin on Santanu's face. "What?"
"Now I see why you said you were taken," he mumbled and took his seat. "Total goner but you're a lucky guy. Ellie's really nice.."
Again, not wrong.
"Thanks." I nodded at the test administrator and took the test she extended to me.
"Exam is closed-book, closed-notes," she announced and walked to the desk at the front of the class. "You have two hours, good luck."
The Biotransport midterm, like Dr. Taylor had warned us, looked brutal. She asked only six questions but all were open-ended, not one multiple choice question. My eyes skimmed over the test, which I identified the easiest questions first.
Question 1: Explain how the thickness of the cell-free layer is affected by the aggregation of red blood cells in microvessels.
Question 4: Consider blood flows in a healthy cardiovascular system. If we suddenly increase the systemic hematocrit, then the blood pressure changes to maintain flow rate. Explain how this hematocrit change affects blood pressure in the system using the theory of local flow-induced regulation.
Question 5: Draw the Pressure-Volume Loop of a normal heart, then a similar diagram after a heart attack and briefly summarize the changes.
Questions 2, 3, and 6 were more complicated, with flow diagrams and formulas, so I completed the easier questions first. Santanu and I worked silently, with only scratched pencil sounds and the soft clicks of the administrator's fingers on her laptop's keyboard broke through the silent room. Other than targeted thoughts for each answer, I briefly felt thankful I'd rescheduled this exam sooner than later.
The clock on the upper right corner of the lecture screen wall tickled down the time and I tackled the more challenging questions slowly and deliberately. When I completed the last one, I looked up and saw only ten minutes remained. While I double-checked my answers, Santanu stretched his arms overhead, then stood up and turned in his test.
He gave me a tired, thin-lipped smile, which I must have returned based on how mentally drained I felt inside. I knew I'd done pretty well since there wasn't any question I hadn't known the answer for, but one fact remained obvious.
One down, three to go.
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