Where A Girl Can Be An Adult

Chapter 4

After our lunch together, I said goodbye to Hạ Nhiên and Bạch Nhạn, and I headed to the campus library. I found Nhật Khang there, working on his homework about measures of variation, percentiles, and box-and-whisker plots.

Nhật Khang looked up from his books and grinned, "Hey class monitor, could you lend me a hand with this percentile problem? It's really giving me a hard time."

I nodded eagerly, sliding into the seat next to him. "Of course! Let's tackle it together."

We bent over the worksheet, our heads close together as we pondered the problem. After a few minutes of struggling, Nhật Khang suddenly leaned in and planted a soft kiss on my lips. My heart fluttered as I melted into the moment.

Blushing, I stammered, "Wow, I didn't see that coming."

Nhật Khang smiled sheepishly, "Sorry, this is my first time doing this. You just looked so cute concentrating on the problem."

As we returned to our homework, the library buzzed with the warmth of our shared moment.

That evening, back in the dorm room, I eagerly recounted the unexpected kiss from Nhật Khang to Diễm Mi. Her eyes widened with surprise, and she exclaimed, "Oh my goodness, Thảo Linh, I've got goosebumps just hearing about it!"

I chuckled, feeling a mix of excitement and nervousness as I relived the moment. "I know, right? It was totally unexpected, but kind of sweet."

Diễm Mi grinned mischievously, "Looks like someone's got a secret admirer!"

I blushed, brushing off her teasing. "Don't say nonsense, Diễm Mi."

Changing the subject, I asked, "So, any plans for the weekend?"

Diễm Mi shrugged, "Not sure yet. Maybe catch a movie or hang out at the café? What about you?"

I pondered for a moment, "I think I'll just take it easy. Maybe explore Little Saigon or catch up on some reading."

We chatted a bit more about our weekend plans before settling in for the night, the memory of the kiss still lingering in my mind.

Day after day, I got closer to Nhật Khang, helping him everything that he needed to improve. When we were free, we also went to play bowling or hang around at Little Saigon. Nhật Khang also bought me a cup of pearl milk tea, also a symbol of a main lover. In the middle of the day, I received a text message from Mỹ Yến, and it said, Thảo Linh, I just got a 70 on my first Statistics exam. Will you help me improve my grade if you don't mind? I'm currently working on normal distribution and central limit theorem. I texted her back, Okay, I will help you anytime you want. Nhật Khang turned to me and asked, "What's with a special treatment?"
I turned to him and said, "Mỹ Yến is struggling with Statistics, and she needs her help with her improvement on Statistics."
"Ok, I'll drive you back to the campus."
"Oách đấy!"

After Nhật Khang drove me back to the campus, I said goodbye to him and always thought Mỹ Yến would pick on me once again, which was also the storyline I didn't like. I decided to change that storyline to a new one by creating a polite encounter with Mỹ Yến... While I was entering Mỹ Yến's dormitory, I looked around and always thought she wasn't there. Suddenly, Mỹ Yến'a arrival startled me that I clenched my fists to fight back. Fortunately, Mỹ Yến responded with a calm tone, "Thảo Linh, calm down. I actually want to apologize for picking on you." I took a breath in relief and asked her to have a seat. I started the conversation seriously, "So, I heard you got a 70 on the first Statistics exam. Can you tell me the reason why you did that?"

        Mỹ Yến said, "I always thought I would have good grades for a lifetime, as well as being the popular girl in the campus. However, because of my personal business that's not what I expected, I got a 70 on that exam. Another reason is my parents only focus on their workplace all day and all month. Now, I realized I messed up. All I need is your help for my improvement in studying. Don't you think this is not enough to turn me into a better version of Mỹ Yến?"
Then, I consoled her, "I understand what you mean by that. Being the college hotgirl is not that easy besides expertise. Sometimes, you must spend more time of studying than your personal activities. Therefore, I agree to help you improve your grades, but I have a condition."
"What is it, class monitor?"
"You should refrain from your personal activities, as well as dating and school violence."
Finally, Mỹ Yến accepted my condition, "Deal!"

Ever since I helped Mỹ Yến work on recent classwork like probabilities with standard normal distribution and estimation, I found out that she had changed a lot from her original version. She no longer had a gangster nature, instead she became my new devoted classmate. Whenever I helped her resolve some estimation exercises, I felt that Mỹ Yến would rather take the boy out of the ghetto than the ghetto out of the boy. From that time on, we became close friends of ours. We also took study sessions at the library, the cafeteria, and outside the campus. That's how we helped each other be prepared for the next exam.

At the end of the day, Mỹ Yến said to me kindly, "Class monitor, I want to thank you." I chuckled, "What do you thank me for?"
"Thank you for helping me doing my homework."
"No problem, Mỹ Yến. As long as I help you, you'll get better grades without any distraction."
"Ah, after we finish the exam, will you go watch a movie with me?"
"I would love to. But which movie?"
Mỹ Yến said as she handed me the tickets, "The movie is A Cinderella Story. I heard Hilary Duff stars in it."
I nodded my head without any hesitation, "I've never watched a romcom movie for a while, so how I can reject it?" Finally I said goodbye to Mỹ Yến before returning to my dormitory for some more study time. I didn't expect to be friends with a main female lead, Mỹ Yến thought positively.