CHAPTER 3 — The First Time She Felt Small Again
671 Words
The first week of classes arrived like a wave Lia wasn’t ready for.
Schedules.
Modules.
Expectations.
Deadlines.
She had barely unpacked her things when the first research task landed in her inbox — a group assignment analyzing a flawed mathematical model and proposing a correction. It was dense, technical, and unlike anything she had encountered before.
She stared at the screen for hours, trying to make sense of the equations. Her notebook was filled with scribbles, half-formed ideas, and questions she didn’t know how to ask.
Back home, she had always been the one who figured things out.
Here, she felt like she was drowning.
🌫️ The First Group Meeting
Her group mates were sharp — Aria, Daniel, and Mateo. All city-raised, confident, fluent in academic language Lia was still learning to speak.
They met in the library, surrounded by whiteboards and coffee cups.
Aria dove in immediately. “The flaw is in the assumption. The model treats the variable as static when it’s clearly dynamic.”
Daniel nodded. “We need to reframe the entire approach. I think we should use a recursive function.”
Mateo added, “We’ll need to justify that with real-world data. Maybe something from the energy sector?”
Lia listened, heart pounding.
She had thoughts.
She had questions.
She had a possible correction.
But she didn’t know how to say it without sounding unsure.
So she stayed quiet.
🌧️ A Moment That Stung
After an hour of discussion, Aria turned to her.
“Lia, what do you think?”
Lia hesitated. “I… I think the error isn’t just in the assumption. It’s in how the model scales. The variable isn’t just dynamic — it’s reactive.”
Daniel blinked. “Reactive?”
She nodded, flipping her notebook open. “It responds to external inputs. If we treat it as recursive without accounting for feedback loops, we’ll miss the distortion.”
Mateo leaned in. “Wait… show us.”
Lia sketched quickly — a diagram, a feedback loop, a correction path.
The group stared.
Aria’s eyes widened. “That’s… actually brilliant.”
Daniel nodded slowly. “I didn’t see that.”
Mateo smiled. “You just saved us hours.”
Lia felt her cheeks flush.
Not with pride.
With relief.
She had spoken.
She had been heard.
She had mattered.
🌤️ A Quiet Walk Back
After the meeting, Lia walked back to her dorm alone. The sun was setting, casting long shadows across the campus. Her notebook felt lighter in her hands.
She had contributed.
She had proven herself.
She had survived.
But the sting of that first silence lingered.
Why had she hesitated?
Why had she doubted herself?
She knew the answer.
Because she was still learning how to belong.
📱 A Message That Felt Like a Hand on Her Shoulder
That evening, her phone buzzed.
Evan: How was your first group meeting?
Lia smiled faintly.
Lia: Intense. But I think I held my own.
Evan: I never doubted that.
She stared at the message.
Simple.
Steady.
Unshaken.
Just like him.
Lia: Thank you. I needed that.
Evan: Anytime. You’re not alone in this.
Her heart warmed.
Not because of the words —
but because of the way he always knew what to say without saying too much.
A Moment of Reflection
Later that night, Lia sat by her dorm window, watching the city lights flicker like distant stars. She opened her notebook and flipped past the equations, past the diagrams, past the scribbles.
She found a blank page.
And she wrote:
“Day 7. Today, I spoke up.
And they listened.”
She paused, then added:
“I’m not just here to survive.
I’m here to contribute.
To challenge.
To grow.”
She closed the notebook gently.
Tomorrow, there will be more meetings.
More challenges.
More moments where she would have to choose between silence and courage.
But tonight, she allowed herself to feel proud.
Because for the first time since arriving, she didn’t just feel like a scholar.
She felt like a voice.
- Writer
