Don’t judge a girl by her bra size

From The Everywhere Girl Diaries – a work of fiction

Third week of November, year one

Dear Diary,

Boy, I need some kind of book with tips on how to understand what I’m reading.  I’ve read 100 pages today and probably haven’t absorbed more than about 1% of the content.  I can tell you how many countries are in the EU, that Phillip II was the father of Alexander the Great, and the definition of ethical appeal.  That’s pretty much it.

I suppose the falling-asleep-every-other-page part isn’t helping. I’m really tired today because I stayed up half the night talking to Busty!  Yep, Busty.  She’s the latest refuge from the swine flu.  To be honest, I wasn’t at all happy when I found out she’d be staying with me.  I thought it would be a disaster. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Here’s what happened.

Last night I was trying to study and she was doing her nails. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that she was also staring at the picture of my family that Mom had sent.  After a few minutes, she slowly put the brush back in the bottle, tightened the cap, and, still looking at the picture, cleared her throat. Then she cleared it again.

Me:  Did you need something?

Her:  Well yeah, I mean I was just curious.  If you don’t mind me asking, are you the only one who’s not adopted?

I was speechless. Pretty much everyone at home knows that Harry, Archie, Amantha, and Ruth are all adopted, but I had no idea how she could have known that or figured it out. I mean people (the ones who don’t know) are always telling me that I look just like my sisters or telling Harry and Archie that they look just like Dad.

Me: How did you guess?

And that’s when I learned a lot about Busty (whose real name is actually Betsy). It turns out that she is going to be a geneticist.  Yes, Busty.  38D Busty, Party Hearty Busty, Never Seen her Crack Open a Book Busty.  A geneticist.

I couldn’t have been more surprised if she had told me that she was 16 and a genius – which is the next thing she did. The fact is, she’s here on a full scholarship and will graduate in two years. She is considered to be an up and coming star in the field of molecular genetics, and several schools are already courting her for their PhD programs.

And the reason I never see her study?  Because basically, she doesn’t have to.  She absorbs information like a paper towel.  They only time she has to do any real work is when she has a paper due.  Then, she goes to the library to use one of their computers, since she doesn’t have one of her own. Her parents don’t have a lot of money, and although her tuition, room and board, and books are covered, there’s not much left over for anything else.

And the partying and late nights?  It’s all for appearances.  She’s just trying to fit in.  Why she decided to confide all of this in me is a mystery.  I’m apparently the only one, besides Trish, who even knows her real age.

By the time the clock struck three, and we had decided that we really had to go to bed, we’d discovered that we had more than a few things in common, we were on our way to becoming best friends, and I had given her my left brained computer.