In Stitches by Anthony Youn

Author:Anthony Youn [Youn, Anthony]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: 2011-04-26T04:00:00+00:00

THE WEEKS BLUR. Among my housemates—Tim, Ricky, and James—I struggle the most with adjusting to the PBL style. These guys seem to be able to isolate what’s crucial in each domain. Unlike me, they sift out the unimportant stuff.

I’m not used to crystallizing and compartmentalizing. I much prefer the shotgun approach: blast away at everything. I just don’t have enough time. This causes me to freak out before every test. Even though I study more than any of my housemates, I sleep the least. I try to sleep. I drink tea, listen to soothing music, attempt yoga, meditation tapes, sleeping pills. I even try a phone session with a shrink. Nothing helps. My stress level increases. I sit down at each test, stare at the bubble sheet, and watch the multiple-choice questions swim across the page. Words float. Letters scramble. I feel as if I’m looking at an eye chart. I lurch through each test, barely scoring enough points to pass. Even Tim outpoints me. After one especially frustrating exam, I stagger home and look at myself in the mirror. I’m pale, wild-eyed, hair sailing off in ten different directions as if I’ve shoved my fingers into a light socket. I’ve turned flabby, having abandoned weight training. Replaced it with a regimen of candy bars. I wear a pathetic, blotchy Fu Manchu mustache to cover a field of newly sprouted acne. My shabby clothes fall off my body. I’m wiry as a coat hanger.

Ricky walks by, stops, stares. “I’d say you look like a homeless person, but that would be an insult to homeless people.”

Second year. Taking its toll.

“The problem is all you do is study and worry.” Tim, lying in bed, fiddling with the phone cord. He’s just hung up from a revoltingly gushy phone conversation with Jane. The phone is still steaming.

“What else is there?”

“A social life, dude. You need to find yourself a wo-man. Take your mind off things.”

I have to admit that since things with Jane have amped up, Tim has seemed more relaxed. He certainly doesn’t stress over PBL tests the way I do. Well, nobody does.

“And where would I find such a wo-man?”

“Let me think about it. What about—Oh, wait a minute, I forgot to tell Jane something.”

But even as Tim redials her number, I know.

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