RemedyㅣJENLISA

Chapter 5

First month of university went smoothly for the bigger parts of the students. Juggling between parties, work and studies, some still managed to do their absolute best in the nerve-wracking exam week, earning grades to be completely proud of. Though, it didn't go as good for Lisa, who did more school work in one month in university than she did in years back in high school, and still failed most of it.

Bad grades weren't something unusual for her. She couldn't brag about being anywhere near a good student throughout the years. She thought that the things that they were forced to memorize were a complete pile of shit and none of it would ever be needed in real life.

They could easily teach kids the basics - like how banks worked, how to buy an apartment, a proper way to get a job or start a small business, time and money management, for example. But no, they decided to stick with filling the kids' heads with mostly useless information and wait and see how they leave their homes after graduation completely unprepared for the real life.

All students turned their head toward the door of the classroom once it opened and revealed Mrs. Park, with her floral dress trailing behind her as she walked towards her desk. She put down the brown suitcase she had in her hand and leaned at the front of the table, crossing her arms over her chest.

The serious and slightly scary look she had written all over her face didn't inspire much hope in the students about the results of their last week's exam. She squinted her eyes and ran them over the faces of everyone in the room. The silence was deafening.

"As you have probably already guessed, I am not at all happy about your results in my class. The last exam was, to put it mildly, an embarrassment for me and all the years I have been teaching this subject to young adults like you. I will give you back your papers now and I want you to look at them carefully and reflect on it. Thankfully, not all of you have done badly. Some of you have given amazing results that kind of softened the blow in my face and gave me hope that at least someone is interested in what I'm saying"

She talked for the next few minutes before pulling their exams out of her case and handing it to each one of them. Lisa sat and stared at the bottom of the paper, where with a red pen was written a D-.

Well, at least it's not an F, Lisa thought.

She heard a quiet squeal from her left that quickly caught her attention. Jennie had a big smile on her face as she held the paper in hand, looking at the next A+ in her collection. At the bottom of the sheet there was a small text written that Lisa could barely see.

NOTE: excellent job, Ms. Kim! Keep it up and you soon may become the top student of the class.

Huh, it must be nice and ego-boosting to receive such message. All Lisa has gotten throughout the years was 'You are a disgrace to this school' back in tenth grade. But the fault was all in her and she didn't really blame the teacher.

"Now," Mrs. Park started. "since I won't let things go like that any longer, I will give a second chance to those who failed to better their marks. Though, it won't be in a form of an exam again so don't get your hopes up about cheating. I will give everyone with a grade C or lower a random topic and I will want you to present me a project on it.

Easy, right? And the catch? You will be assigned a partner with whom you will work with. It could be anyone with a grade C or higher and the pairings are put together by me, so don't get your hopes up, again.

Now, to the partners. I want you to help them find the right information, teach them when they don't understand something, push them to work harder, motivate them. But do not let them persuade you do the project for them. I want to see what they are capable of and how much they are willing to learn. I want to see their own hard work and determination, okay?"