When we last left off, Julia had just
realized she'd left a note that called her professor an ass under his
door, on the day he found out his mother had passed away. Seriously,
how does Julia not have an anvil drop on her head every time she
walks outside? At this point I almost feel bad calling her out for
being so weak willed and painfully clueless...but that will pass.
Jules decides she's going to buy some
liquor, write a heartfelt apology to Rachel (her friend whose mother
passed), and spend the day remembering Grace. Finally Julia does
something relate able. I'm not saying get drunk every time you have a
bad day (because you would probably be drunk most work weeks), but
life works differently in college. If you drink all the time it's
called being an undergraduate or surviving your Master's degree. When
you drink all the time in the real world it's called alcoholism.
Learn the difference.
And then, because she just can't help
it, Julia somehow morphs Grace passing into being about her.
Narcissism has no limits, y'all. You know what DOES have limits? My patience.
She stood in front of the Prada
store, envisioning the one and only time Rachel had taken her
shopping for couture shoes. Julia still had those black Prada
stilettos, tucked in a shoebox in the back of her closet. They'd only
been worn once, on the night she's been betrayed, and although she
would have loved to have destroyed them like she destroyed her dress,
she couldn't. Rachel had bought them for her as a homecoming
present, having had no idea what Julia was actually coming home to.
We better find out
that Julia's ex-boyfriend was Dexter-ing the shit out of some people
and she walked in on it or something along those lines. I'm going to
be irate if it turns out he broke up with her because they were both
moving in different directions after graduation and she's still
railing on him.
Julia stops
thinking about herself long enough to cry about Grace in front of the
Chanel boutique. If I were a Chanel shopper (I'm not), and I saw some
woman weeping in front of the store it would freak me out. Not
because I'm insensitive, but because I would assume her credit cards
had been declined and she would go from teary mess to plotting death
by stilettos in the snap of a manicured finger.
Julia walks home
and in a moment of clarity realizes the following:
Julia walked back to her apartment
slowly and began to beat herself up for having been a bad surrogate
daughter, a lousy friend, and an insensitive twit who didn't know
better than to check a scrap of paper to see if it was blank before
she left it behind with her name on it for someone whose beloved
mother had just died.
Congrats, Jules.
The first step is recognizing you have a problem. Now work at it.
There's a huge difference between recognizing you have a problem and
doing something about it.
Then she reverts
right back:
Julia was surprised that The
Professor hadn't had her dismissed from the program on the spot.
Perhaps he remembers me.
Jules, his mother
just passed away. If he didn't recognize you in class, then he's not
going to know the difference between you and the Starbucks barista he
makes cry on his way to work. You're not even on his radar.
When Professor
Emerson returns to campus two weeks later, he has Julia summoned to
his office for the much dreaded meeting. Emerson spends the
twenty-four hours he has between scheduling his meeting with Julia
and her arrival at his office terrorizing every mouth breather in the
tri-state area.
As it turns out
Paul has a meeting with Emerson before Julia does. On his way out of
the office, Paul asks Julia on a date. KNOWING the Professor she
inadvertently insulted (in writing) on the day his mother died is
waiting to discuss her academic future with her, Julia blushes and
twitches and writes her number on a scrap of paper for Paul. She does
this while mentioning her cell phone in the same sentence. Why the
eff wouldn't she would just text him? Julia uses troll logic. That's
why. Throughout the few chapters I've read so far, Julia has
mentioned her eagerness to do well in school. Then she does this
-ish. #YOLO.
Julia enters the
office knowing that she's in trouble and what does she do? She
notices how attractive Emerson is. Well that's good. That'll give you
something to think about when you're applying for minimum wage jobs
because you were kicked out of your program in under a month.
Needless to the say
the meeting does not go well.
“I expect an answer when I ask you
a question. Surely you've learned your lesson by now?” He studied
her quickly, then glanced back at the file in his hands. “Perhaps
you're not that bright.”
“It's Professor Emerson,” he
snapped. “Doctors are a dime a dozen. Even chiropractors and
podiatrists refer to themselves as 'doctors'” → Julia
made the mistake of addressing him as Dr. Emerson
“Would you stop fussing with that
ridiculous abomination of a bag and sit in a chair like a human
being?” → Julia's satchel
broke and she was trying to collect her things
Things get even
worse when Emerson pulls out a condolence card Julia sent along with
some flowers to the funeral.
Emerson wastes no
time dismissing her from the program. He's all “GTFO and TTYN”
and Julia just sits there stunned.
“That is all, Miss Mitchell.”
(You will never be Miranda, Gabriel)
Of course it's raining when Julia walks
home. Of course she's wearing a white, thin shirt and has no
umbrella. Actually, I can't shade her for this. I've had something
similar happen to me twice. I always forget to bring an umbrella with
me and it blows when you're that girl
strolling into class, soaking wet, wearing white, looking like this:
but Julia is a Mary
Sue so I bet she still looks good. Like Victoria's Secret model good.
It was all over. Now she would have
to return to Tom's little house in Selinsgrove in disgrace...and he
would discover that and laugh at her. They
would laugh at her together. Stupid Julia. Thought she could leave
Selinsgrove and make something of herself. It was all over now, at
least for this academic year.
A Jaguar pulls to the side of the road and a voice tells her to get
in. This makes Julia curious.
But of course it's Professor Emerson and Julia does accept the ride.
I bet she does.
My hopes for future chapters:
1. Emerson Freaky Fridays with someone charming like Hugh Jackman and
Julia gets with him then.
2. A spine for Julia.
