In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.
(Albert Camus)
Suze stared at the paper forced into her face, which was obnoxiously hogging up space in her personal bubble. She didn't know what she was looking at, other than a test with very pretty, old-school loopy handwriting penciling in answers. It made her own chicken scratch look far inferior – and masculine - but then again, she guessed Jesse's writing was nothing special back in the day. She looked up at him, blank-faced, "If I stare long enough, will it do tricks?"
"Susannah, look!" He pointed at the paper, frustration coating his dark brown eyes.
She followed his finger to the letter in red at the top of the page. "A 'B'? Um, congratulations?"
"It's not good enough!" He started pacing. "A 'B' is not the way to transfer to a good university," he recited, "A 'B' does not get you into medical school, Susannah."
She rolled her eyes and snatched the paper from his grasp. He sure could be melodramatic at times. "A 'B,' on one test, for one exam, for one chemistry class isn't the end of the world, Jesse." She slumped onto the bay window seat and glanced over the exam. She paused, noting his percentage. "Eighty-nine percent?" she said incredulously, "Are you kidding me? I would have killed to have scored this high on a five-point quiz in chemistry, let alone an exam. You were just a few points from an 'A.' Relax."
Suze patted the seat next to her and Jesse slumped next to her, complying. "I just don't want anything to interfere with my chances of getting in," he mumbled.
Suze glanced over to his face, marred in thought, worry crinkles circling his eyes. She mussed his hair and pulled him in for a bear-hug. "You will get in. You're like a sponge with the information - the books, the old, boring novels. That whole enchilada.
"Father Dominic believes in you. And I believe in you." She planted a kiss on his mussed up hair. "By the end of fall semester, you'll have a 4.0 GPA and will be applying to the best universities in California. And then you'll be on your way to healing poison oak rashes and blistered feet - professionally – in no time."