What Strength Is

Sara clutched her head as the professor ended his lecture. As everyone else got up and moved on to their next class, she remained in her chair stressing over how she'd fix her problem.

She didn't understand half of what the professor had talked about during his lecture. Who was this person? What was that theory? Two days of being sick and she was this behind!? She'd made sure to read the chapters that the professor had set for the days before today. The fact that she still had no idea what was going on left her to believe that the professor must have gone into greater detail on one of the days she had been sick.
But she couldn't let her grade drop. Her parents were already supporting her so much- her tuition, her dorm room, her medicine. She couldn't let them down.

Dejected, she gathered up her things into her shoulder bag. Being one of the few people still in the room, she made her way up to the professor who was gathering the remainder of his lesson tools.
"Umm... Sir?" She asked timidly. Her teachers were one of the few people Sara was able to talk normally to.
The professor brightened in response. "Ah, Sara!" Knowing a student's name in a 100+ person class was quite rare for him. It was thanks to Sara's studious nature that he knew her- she was one of three people in his class who had a grade over 100%.
"I'm sorry I missed your lectures. I was sick."
"Yes, I read your email. Sorry to hear."

She took a moment to find the right words. "Do you... think you could give me a rundown on what you talked about on those days?"

At this, her professor frowned. "You remember signing your syllabus, right? Any missed days are your problem to correct."

"Yes, but-" She stopped herself. She had no defense.
"You can always ask one of your peers if you can borrow their notes." The professor pointed to one of the few people still left in the room, a raven-haired male in the top corner who was still packing up. "If you need notes, I'd recommend Matthew." With that, the professor took his bag and left.
Sara looked down dejected. She couldn't ask someone else to help her- it wouldn't be right. But if she didn't, her grade would suffer. She slowly made her way back up the stairs of the lecture hall, glancing over at the person her professor had mentioned.
She stopped once she had passed him. She stared at the back of his head, wondering what to say. Would he be annoyed if she tried to talk to him? Would he yell at her if she asked him for help?

Someone brushed past her, and Sara spun a full 360 as she missed who it was. The girl who passed her went up to the person she had been staring at.

"Hey Matt, I had work again. Didja get notes for me?" She asked him.

He smiled warmly at her. He handed the two notebooks he had been writing in. "I didn't finish copying them all into your notebook. I'll copy them for you later."

The girl smiled gleefully as she took back her notebook. "Thanks, you're the best! I'll buy you something later."

"Just keep giving me English help and we'll call it even." He said with a smile.

'Oh.' Sara thought. 'He's a nice person.' Sara backed out of the way as the other girl passed her as she rushed to her next class.

Matt finished packing up, shouldering his backpack. As he passed Sara, he said a quick "Hi" before continuing up the stairs.

'It's now or never.' She told herself. "Excuse me." She said in a small voice.

He kept walking.

"I have a favor to ask." She spoke a bit louder.

When she heard no response, she opened her squeezed-shut eyes. He was gone. 'Was he ignoring me? Wait- did he not hear me!?' Her face flushed red at the realization. He hadn't heard her. How embarrassing!