Anne and Mary walked into the Student Union for lunch, chatting like magpies. They´d arranged to join one another at noon one or two days a week – “girl time”, they called it. Today, Sigrid was missing.
As they went through the cafeteria line, Anne noticed a woman sitting alone at a table.
“Isn´t that Louise Whatsername?” she asked Mary. “You know, from North College?”
“Yeah, I think so. It´s not the same Louise we knew – at least from her looks. Something´s happened for her. She´s looking good.”
Louise had, even on her better days, never been a fashion plate. Her clothes had generally been clean, but she never seemed at home in them; nothing seemed to match, nothing seemed quite correctly put together. She had tended toward rather ratty tee shirts, ill-fitting jeans and grungy running shoes. Her complexion had been blotchy, her hair straggly and lifeless.
Today, Louise was another story. Her hair was shining and casually styled in the way that shows thought has been given to it without excessive care. She wore a figure-flattering jumper dress over an attractive shirt that brought out the coloring of a complexion the girls had never appreciated. She even seemed to be wearing attractive flat shoes that matched her belt.
Mary gave Anne a beckoning nod and led off with her tray in Louise´s direction.
“Hi!” Mary said, “It´s Louise, isn´t it? Can we join you?”
The woman looked up in surprise and smiled. “Sure, make yourselves at home. How are you? I haven´t seen you since the end of the semester.”
Anne answered. “We moved out at the break. We found a house out on the edge of town and a bunch of us are renting it. How´ve you been?”
“I´m fine, thanks. I never knew what happened to you, but I keep seeing one of you and now and then one of those guys you were hanging out with. Are you all still studying together?”
Mary replied, “Yes, we´re still studying together. Things are going pretty well. How´s it going for you? You´re really looking good. I love that dress.”
The talk turned to more or less conventional college chatter, and the three of them attacked their lunches.
Louise went along with the chatter until they had mostly finished. She looked at the two women and said, “Have you got time for a cup of coffee?”
Mary looked at Anne, who nodded, “Sure. Coffee Shop?”
When they had gotten drinks, they settled at a table and Louise picked up a thread she had clearly been leading up to.
“What are you guys doing?” she asked.
The two friends looked at each other. Mary said, “Doing? What do you mean?”
Louise blushed and sat back in her chair. “Sorry, that came out wrong. I mean, it looks like the gang of you – you two and those four guys – have got something going for you. I´ve been watching the stuff they post about class standings, and you all are way up there, assuming I´ve got the names right. You don´t look like a bunch of geeks. So, I want to know what you´ve got going for you.”
Anne spoke for them both. “Louise, we aren´t doing anything now we weren´t doing when we were in North. We work our asses off. We study together and do the best we can to get good grades. That´s all.”
“Well,” Mary put in, “there´s more. When we aren´t studying, we have a good time. Anne and Saul swim, Will and I work with horses, Tom and Alex – well, they´re busy with other things. Work hard, play hard.
“But there´s a reason you´re asking us, isn´t there. You´ve changed, haven´t you? Something happened since we saw you last and it looks like it was good.”
Louise snorted a rueful laugh. “ You can say that again. You remember what it was like when you were in North. Parties all weekend. I basically just showed up at classes, didn´t do much work. That gang I hung out with were a real bunch of losers. I almost flunked out last semester.”
“What happened? You´re looking good now – don´t know when you´ve looked better.”
“Thanks,” Louise said with a smile. “I know how I looked back then, a real loser. I was drunk all weekend and screwing guys I hardly knew.
“Actually, it was two things. Maybe three. First thing was, I got called into the Dean of Women´s office.”
“Yeah, so did we,” Mary volunteered.
“You? Both of you? What for?”
“The dean was checking out parties in North College. With six of us in the room most of the weekend, that qualified as a party, even though most of the time we were studying. We managed to convince her it was all hard work.”
Louise laughed. “I´ll bet she didn´t believe that for a minute. I mean you had to be studying with the marks you guys get, but I´ll bet that wasn´t all you did.
“But you didn´t cause trouble. The bunch I was with did. That´s what she got me in there for. You know, when we got called on the carpet, we said we weren´t the only ones partying. Maybe that´s why they got after you.” Louise reached across the table and touched Mary´s hand. “I´m sorry. Shouldn´t have done that, but those guys were poison.”
“What else happened that turned you around?” Anne asked.
“Well, two things. Biggest was, at Thanksgiving I went home, and my folks took one look at me and freaked. They threw me in the shower and made me stay for two hours and then did a makeover on me.” Louise grinned broadly. “Not one of those things you see on TV. They got me a haircut that looked good. They put me into some decent clothes. And they sat me down in the living room, handed me a beer, and said, ‘Louise, you´re in trouble. You´ve got to get out of it. How can we help you?”
“Wow,” Mary said.
“Yeah. Well, I denied it all for a while, but they knew pretty much what was up, and they didn´t let me wiggle for long. We talked and you know what? They really helped me get a grip on myself. It was incredible.”
“So, your parents, that´s the second thing. Is there a third part to this?” Anne asked.
“Yes, in a way. Really yes, there is. One of the things my folks suggested I do was move out of North College, get away from that crowd.”
Louise digressed. “You know, my folks didn´t lay down the law or anything. They made me talk about what was going on. They didn´t let me waffle or evade. I think – no, I know – they talked to the dean and got a real understanding of what was happening. And they talked to me all weekend until I realized that I was on a wrong track, that I was heading for a real bad choice and that I didn´t want that. I was a good student in high school, you know. I just got too much freedom too fast.”
She turned to her main subject again. “Anyway, I moved out of North College. And I started spending part of my weekends doing the homework. And – surprise – I met a guy.”
“Why am I not surprised?” Mary asked, smiling.
Louise chuckled. “Well, he was in my Differential Calculus class. He´s cute as hell. And after I got my act together, he asked me out. Eventually, he told me he hadn´t wanted to ask me out before, because I looked like bad news, but my new look changed his mind. And so now we study together.” Louise took a deep interest in the bottom of her coffee cup. “Which explains why I know you guys weren´t just studying up there.”
“Well we never said that was all we did,” Anne said.
“No. And, while I´m not in for what I assume you guys are into, I know now that sharing study chores and a good time in bed sure makes a difference in my GPA.”
“That´s not a discovery that´ll win you the Nobel Prize, Louise,” Mary said with a smile.
“No, but it may help me get the research work I always wanted, someday.”
“Is this a ‘forever´ thing you´ve got going?” Mary asked.
Louise shook her head. “No, I don´t imagine so. Maybe, if I hit the Love Lottery. But it´s good and if it doesn´t last, if my prince frogs out on me, I´ll be all right.” She looked at the two of them with a direct gaze. “That´s another of the things my folks have done for me. Since Thanksgiving, we´ve talked a lot, and I´m pretty sure I know where I want to go and what I want while I get there. They woke up my rational self, as my Humanities professor calls it.”
“You´ve got some great parents,” Mary said.
“Well, I never thought so until Thanksgiving. I´m not really sure what happened to make me change, but I´m sure glad it did. And now, I´ve got my honey and my grades are getting better. I look better and I feel like a real person. I just hope I can keep it up.”
“You will, Louise,” Anne said. “And if you want to talk about it come out and see us. Or, we´ll get together here.”
Louise looked at them with a grin. “So, you´re really living with four guys?”
“Well, there´s another girl now. One of the guys fell in love last fall and they got married this winter, just after we moved.”
“And you´re all living together?”
“Uh huh.”
“I don´t know how you do it. I wouldn´t even try. But if it works…” Louise shrugged her shoulders, looked at her watch. “Hey, I´ve got to get to class.”
The three women hugged and walked out of the Union, off to classes and their different lives.