Lexi's In A New City

Chapter 8

A few days later, Lexi finally agreed to meet up with Isaac outside their Academic Writing class. If it wasn't for the fact that they had a grammar test next week, she would've declined his invitation without a second thought. But her promise to assist Isaac with their class together was still a promise. Isaac was quite nervous about what seemed like an easy grammar test. It amused Lexi a little, but she kept that fact a secret. She just focused on finishing her coffee as she waited for Isaac to show up to the library. A few minutes later, he took a seat at her table.

"Hey, how are you?"

"I'm fine."

Isaac almost looked sideways at his friend and classmate. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, I'm alright. Let's get started."

Lexi pulled out her notes and flipped to the few pages that covered grammar. She took a glance at them briefly, and then looked back at Isaac.

"I'm surprised you're so worried about a little grammar test. It's only worth ten percent, for God's sakes."

"Hey, ten percent is still something," Isaac argued.

"That is true. And you did fail that stupid quiz we had last class."

"And no one else failed it, too! That was way more embarrassing. I wish our prof hadn't mentioned it."

"Same! Oh, my God, she was such a bitch that day."

Isaac let out a loud laugh, but covered his mouth with his hand before it got out of control.

"What? It's true!"

"It's not that I don't believe you," Isaac explained. "I just can't believe you'd talk shit about the prof from your favourite class."

"Uh, that's not my favourite class. It's far from it."

"Then what is your favourite?"

"Intro to Creative Writing."

"Ahh, I see. We should probably start studying now, huh?"

Lexi's laugh was brief. "Yes, let's do that."

The two began going over the various grammar concepts that would more than likely be on their test. For Lexi, it was a stupid idea to have such a test for a university-level essay writing course. But their professor wanted to confirm that everyone knew proper grammar before beginning assignments and the other tests in the class. Lexi was annoyed, but Isaac was a little worried. He thought that he knew his grammar, but the last quiz they had had clearly proved otherwise.

"Why is the concept of oxford commas so annoyingly stupid?" he suddenly whined.

Lexi shrugged. "Don't ask me— I didn't invent it."

"Jesus Christ, I'm gonna fail."

"No, you won't. You're going to do great. Just listen and take notes, and you'll be set to study for it."

"You make it sound so easy."

"It can be, depending on how you go into this test. If you think you're gonna fail, then it's gonna be painful. But if you think you'll do good, then it'll feel like a cinch."

Isaac paused to think this over. "Do you actually believe that?"

"If I didn't believe it, I wouldn't have said so."

After that exchange, they resumed going over every grammar concept covered in class. This time, Lexi noticed that Isaac seemed to be more invested in studying than he had been prior to their conversation. He scribbled out his notes to keep at her pace, and interrupted minimally. He only spoke up if he had a question, not to distract her or get them both off topic. It made their study session more productive, and they ended up covering everything for their grammar test sooner than expected.