Chapter 20: Goal for the Future

“So can someone tell me why I needed to come here?” Sam asked, making a sour face.

Mary glanced up from her textbook. “Shh Sam! We’re in the library!” She whispered. She was sitting next to Sam, and Daniel was across from her. Everyone had textbooks out.

“It would be easier if I studied back in my room,” Sam grumbled.

“You know, Mary, if Sam doesn’t want to be here, she doesn’t have to study with us,” Daniel said. “We could just study for our test together.”

Mary’s face turned scarlet and she frantically shook her head. “N-No! No! I-I’d really feel better if she stayed!” Ignoring her own warning about being quiet, Mary flinched when the librarian shot her a dirty look. She quickly buried her face in her textbook.

Then she gasped.

“W-Wait! That… it’s not like I’m saying I don’t want to study with just you!” She quickly explained. “It’s just, well…”

She looked to Sam for help, but bailing Mary out was near the bottom of Sam’s list of priorities at the moment.

Mary sighed. “Look… I’ve never had a study group before, okay?” She admitted. “Back in high school I just studied all by myself. But I wanted to try doing it with my friends… is… is that okay?”

She glanced hopefully at Sam, her blue eyes sparkling. Sam groaned. It looked like there was no getting out of this.

“Okay,” she agreed. “If that’s what you guys want-“

“Oh, hey Sammy! Imagine meeting you here!”

WHY.

Sam slammed her head against the table in frustration, and then slowly looked up to see Cain and Carly walking up to them.

“What are you doing here?” Sam grumbled, trying to strangle him with her eyes.

“I’m just here to get some studying done, that’s all,” Cain explained, holding up a thick-looking medical textbook. “As for Carly, I think she’s just a stalker, personally.”

“Hey!” She elbowed him in the side, shooting him a dirty look. “I just came here for a quiet place to get some work done on my script!”

“You’re writing a script?” Mary perked up excitedly.

“It’s one of the requirements in theater,” Carly sighed, pulling up a chair beside Sam and opening her laptop. “I have to write and perform my own original scene. I’m thinking I’ll do a monologue about a hero trapped in another world, you know, like Alice in Wonderland? But get this, he has incredible powers that allow her to conquer any foe just by snapping his fingers!”

“Whoa! That’s so cool!” Mary gushed with excitement.

Sam was less enthused. “That sounds like the most boring thing I’ve ever heard.”

Carly scowled. “You try writing something, then!”

“Uh… fair.” Sam shut her mouth and turned back to her textbook. She was well aware she had the artistic creativity of a baked potato.

“Now that you mention it, Sammy, what are you studying?” Cain asked curiously.

She answered with a silent glare.

“Um…”

“What?”

“N-Nothing!” Mary shrank a little under the pressure her roommate was exuding, but she couldn’t help her curiosity all the same. Sam spent practically every waking minute with her nose buried in one of her books, and she couldn’t help but wonder what subject the girl was studying with such fervor. But she would never pry, never!

…But Carly certainly would.

“Come on, Sam, tell us!” She grinned. “You said before, that Boffer Club would get in the way of your studies, right? So we can’t help be curious about what’s got you so focused! Come on!”

Sam sighed. This was why she hadn’t wanted to come here in the first place. She just wanted to study in peace. But with everyone asking, that was looking less and less likely.

It had reached the point where she was willing to tell them if it would get them to drop the subject. That way they could all focus on their own work.

She lifted her book slightly to reveal the cover.

“Oh, wow!” Carly said. Mary gasped.

Cain’s reaction, on the other hand…

“Human Anatomy? Don’t tell me you’re trying to be a doctor as well, Sammy!”

Sam smacked her book flat on the table with a growl. This was why she hadn’t wanted to tell anybody.

“But wow, a doctor, huh? That’s so cool,” Mary said, her voice wistful.

Whelp. So much for dropping the subject.

“You know, Sammy, if you want to know what the pre-med courses are like, I’d be happy to fill you in!” Cain grinned.

“No, thank you, I’m fine,” she snapped. “I’m not trying aiming to become a doctor anyway, at least not, like, that kind.”

Carly was taken aback. “Really? Then why the Human Anatomy class? And aren’t those Health books in your bag?”

Sam kicked her bag under the table and sighed. “Listen, if you must know, I’m not trying to be an ordinary. The reason I’m taking these classes is because they’re required courses for the physical therapy education program I’m planning to enroll in!”

Cain was surprised when he heard that. “Wait, so you’re trying to become a physical therapist, Sammy? I gotta say, that’s… not common.”

Mary blinked. “Physical… therapy?” With no idea what that was off the top of her head, she had to think about it for a second. Then her face turned white with terror.

“Sam! You can’t hit your patients, they have serious problems!”

Cain burst out laughing. “No, no, that’s not what she’s saying.”

Mary frowned. “Then what? I’m confused.”

He explained everything. “Physical therapy is a form of post-care treatment to help a patient regain mobility or functionality after sustaining an injury, or in the case of disability or deformity. For example, if someone was in an accident and hurt their leg, then they would go see a physical therapist, who would help them regain mobility. Stuff like massages, heat treatment, continuous exercise, they’re all forms of hands-on care to help improve a patient’s quality of life and help them make a full or partial recovery. That about sum it up, Sammy?”

Sam was a little shocked at the thoroughness of his response. “Y-Yeah, that’s basically it.”

“Cool, so you’re going to be, like, a masseuse or something?” Carly asked.

“What?! No, it’s not like that at all!” Sam scowled. “Okay, yes, massages are definitely a part of it, but it’s a really difficult field!”

“She’s right,” Cain nodded in agreement. “After she gets her bachelor’s degree, she’ll need to enroll in a three- or four-year program to get her doctorate. That’s a lot of schoolwork.”

“Wow, yikes, four more years on top of regular college?” Carly winced. “I’m on my last year and I’m basically shot. I can’t even imagine going through that. Is it really worth it?”

Sam frowned. “Of course it is! Being a physical therapist is an amazing thing!” A warm smile crossed her face as she thought back to her own experience. “Being able to help people who need it… if someone couldn’t walk, or couldn’t use their hand, then they might feel hopeless. They might think that their life is over. But a physical therapist can change all of that. Even if I can’t fix someone completely, I would still be able to show them how to go on. I can be there for them every step of the way and help them heal as best as I can…”

Her shoulder throbbed, and she massaged it unconsciously as she remembered the doctor’s kind smile. Unbeknownst to Sam, it was reflected perfectly on her own face.

“Even if a patient thinks it’s hopeless… a physical therapist can bring back their smile, and bring the light back to their world. That’s why… that’s why I want to do it myself. To help as many people as I can.”

Mary was practically in tears at Sam’s explanation. She’d never heard something so pure and good before.

Carly and Cain, on the other hand, were taking it a little more seriously. They shared a look with each other. Both had seen Sam’s performance in the Boffer Club, and the way she seemed to favor her right arm. Even now she was lightly massaging her shoulder. With the way she was gushing about being a physical therapist, they both had the same suspicion that something had happened to her in the past.

But neither one saw fit to drag that issue out right now. They just let Sam smile nostalgically.

Her reverie faded a few seconds later and she dropped her hand, clearing her throat. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

“A-Anyway, that’s why I’m studying so hard,” she quickly explained. “Extra courses aren’t cheap. And I can’t keep putting a huge burden on my mom… so I need to study. If I get good enough grades, then I can get a good scholarship, then I won’t have to take out as many loans. So with that being said…”

Her tender expression gave way for a cold glare.

“Can you guys stop bugging me so I can study in peace? Thanks.”

Mary, Cain, and Carly all jumped a little in surprise, and quickly got back to their own work. Meanwhile Daniel, who had been working in silence this entire time instead of joining in the discussion, was almost done.