Vevilo

My transcript. Every semester, a final grade. A cumulative average of 3.9. A small line at the bottom that said "Dean's List" four times in a row. She read it. Her smile slowly went flat. I asked her, very calmly, "Which part of this looks like not taking it seriously?" She didn't answer. I asked her what her own average was. She said she'd "have to check." I asked how many of the group projects she'd done last term. She looked at the floor, because everyone at the table knew I'd carried two of them. Nobody laughed. A friend quietly put her drink down. I never raised my voice. I just closed the laptop and said, "I work two jobs because tuition doesn't pay itself. I'm not behind. I'm just tired." The next morning, there was a mug of coffee outside my door, and a note in her handwriting: "I was wrong. I'm sorry." I graduated that spring, and she was in the front row, clapping the loudest. People who see you working hard often mistake it for struggling. The grades tell the real story. Have you ever been underestimated by someone close to you?

My roommate announced to our whole friend group that I'd "never finish my degree" because I work two jobs and "don't take it seriously." Everyone laughed, and I laughed along. Then I opened my laptop, and I turned the screen toward her so she could see one thing I'd been keeping quiet for months...