Chapter 7.

Two hours. That's all it took them to complete the project while Lisa had expected it would take them all evening... She couldn't believe how well they worked together with Jennie, their ideas were flowing smoothly, sometimes they were similar, sometimes they were complementary, but during the entire time they understood each other perfectly. "I never ever enjoyed doing homework this much." a quick though flashed through her mind. Where did this come from? She wasn't sure. Maybe just exchanging ideas with someone as smart as Jennie made her enjoy it so much.

"Looks like we're done." Jennie threw the book away. "Good work, Liz." Lisa was just starting to smile when Jennie's went on: "See, you could really be a brilliant student if you just put a little more effort."

Lisa bit her lip, her smile vanished. To be honest, she expected a little more praise from Jennie, while "good work" was the only compliment she got. The brunette was definitely not easy to please. Lisa wondered why Jennie always expects more from her, why she always pushes her forward? Maybe it's just in her nature...

Leo, Lisa's cat, jumped swiftly on Jennie's lap and meowed quietly when she began to run her fingers through its fur. "Hmm, that's kind of unusual." Lisa thought, Leo was usually very distrustful of strangers.

"He likes you." she observed. Jennie didn't reply, she just continued to caress Leo, who even started purring, pleased with the attention it was receiving.

"I'd like to ask you do one more thing for me. Would you check your messages, I sent you something."

"Sure." Lisa opened her inbox and clicked on the attached file. "What is it?"

"It's a chemistry textbook. With exercises. You see, your chemistry grades are really bad and if you want to go to medical college, you just have to improve them-"

"I thought we already agreed that I wasn't going to do that." Lisa answered dryly.

"I agreed to no such thing. You said you wouldn't, but I still hope you'll change your mind. Just look at the file, that's all I ask." Something about the softness of Jennie's voice convinced Lisa to obey. She looked at the screen. The entire first chapter was full of Jennie's notes, comments and explanations, as well as links to other books. The most important sentences were marked in different colors, and each color had a special meaning described at the end of the chapter. Arrows marked the sections that were related... In short, it seemed that Jennie put an insane amount of effort to make this chapter as easy to understand as possible for Lisa.

"I didn't know that you were so good at chemistry." the Thai said softly.

"I'm not. I'm not even taking chemistry this year."

"Oh my god, then why would you do that?" Lisa whispered quietly, amazed and surprised, melting inside.

"I thought I'd help you out."

"But why?" the questions was a barely audible whisper.

Jennie hesitated before answering.

"I don't want to pretend to be some kind of expert on the meaning of life and all this philosophical stuff, because I'm just an eighteen-year-old girl like you, but..." she paused for a second. "Lisa, life is not just about fun and pleasure. Pursuing this won't bring you happiness, it's just a lazy way out. You have to have something care about, something you're committed to. A passion, a dream, a goal, whatever... Just something that makes you wake up in the morning with anticipation... Something that challenges you, makes you grow. Even it it's difficult."

Lisa was listening with her mouth wide open. These words touched her very deeply, perhaps she didn't fully understand them yet, but she certainly sensed how important they were.

"I'm going to go now, I understand you need some time to think this through." Jennie prepared to leave. "There are three exercises at the end of the chapter, try to finish them today." she said. "And remember that I believe in you." she smiled encouragingly as she went out.

After she left, Lisa stared for full ten minutes at the screen, not sure what to do. She hated chemistry, she could never understand it. And now Jennie asked her to face this nightmare...

She began to read the book but after several pages she felt completely overwhelmed. It was just too much information, her head was spinning. Feeling defeated, with tears in her eyes, she angrily closed the file. Fuck this shit, fuck studying, she was going to watch Netflix all evening. Why the hell not?

And then she remembered Jennie's face when she said "I believe in you." If it wasn't for her, she'd just give up, but she just couldn't let her down. Lisa clenched her teeth with determination, opened the textbook again and forced herself to resume reading.

Five hours later, at 1 am, exhausted and dazed, Lisa finished solving the last exercise. With trembling hands she scrolled to the end of the book where the answers were given. Her solutions were correct.

She did it. On her own. Incredible.

And then she experienced something she never felt before. Pride. No, there was something else, something more important. A sense of accomplishment. Yes, it was the right word. Accomplishment. She's risen to the challenge, she faced it, confronted it and... she won. It felt so good that Lisa put her clenched fist up in the air and exclaimed "yes!" out loud. Then, without even knowing why, her eyes glistened with tears. But they were not tears of sadness, they were a sign that Lisa succeeded in making the first step in believing in herself.

"Come in." she said, hearing the knock on the door. It was her mom.

"Honey, what are you doing up so late?" she asked her daughter.

"I just... had to study."

Ms. Manoban didn't let herself show surprise. Lisa studying? It was definitely something unexpected. She came over and placed a kiss on her daughter's forehead. Normally Lisa would protest, she thought she was far too old for such displays of affection, but today she just accepted it.

"This Jennie, is she a new friend?" her mom asked.

"Yes, you can say that. She's new in school."

"There's a lot of sadness in her eyes, she's been through a lot. Be very kind and patient with her, okay?" she said and for a thousandth time in her life Lisa was surprised how amazingly perceptive her mom was.

"I will, mom, I will." she replied and it sounded a lot like a promise.