The Lab Partner She Avoided

Junia had spent the first half of the semester making sure she was never paired with Finn in chemistry class. It wasn't personal, exactly. He was quiet, kept to himself, and had a reputation for turning in labs late. She needed a good grade this term more than she needed a friend.

朱妮娅在学期的前半段一直想方设法，不让自己在化学课上和芬恩分到一组。倒也不是针对他个人。他安静，独来独往，而且交实验报告总是迟交，出了名的。这个学期，她需要的是一个好成绩，而不是一个朋友。

So it surprised her when their teacher, rearranging seats for the new unit, put them together anyway.

所以当老师为新单元重新排座位，还是把他们分到一起时，她很意外。

"I'll do the write-up," Junia said, a little too quickly, on their first day as partners. "You can handle the measurements."

“我来写报告，”在他们做搭档的第一天，朱妮娅说得有点太快了，“你负责测量。”

Finn didn't argue, which somehow annoyed her more than if he had. For two weeks, they worked in near silence, passing beakers back and forth. Junia started to suspect she had misjudged him completely, since his measurements were always careful and exactly on time.

芬恩没有争辩，这不知怎么反而让她更恼火，比他争辩还要恼火。接下来两个星期，他们几乎一言不发地合作，来回递着烧杯。朱妮娅开始怀疑自己完全看错了他，因为他的测量总是仔细，而且分秒不差。

The truth came out by accident. Junia had been struggling with the homework all semester, without telling anyone, because admitting it felt like admitting she wasn't as capable as everyone assumed. One evening, she was checking an online forum where students posted anonymous chemistry help. She recognized a phrase in one answer that Finn had used in lab the week before.

真相是无意间浮出水面的。整个学期，朱妮娅一直在为作业吃力，却没告诉任何人，因为承认这一点就像承认自己并不像大家以为的那样能干。一天晚上，她在一个学生匿名发布化学求助的网络论坛上查东西。她在其中一条回答里认出了一个短语，芬恩上周在实验课上用过。

She stared at the screen for a long moment. The account had been answering questions in their class's forum for months, patiently, without ever asking for anything in return.

她盯着屏幕看了好一会儿。这个账号几个月来一直在他们班的论坛里回答问题，耐心十足，从不要求任何回报。

At school the next day, she finally asked him directly. "Is that you? The one answering everyone's questions?"

第二天在学校，她终于直接问了他。“那是你吗？一直在回答大家问题的那个人？”

Finn went red and didn't deny it. "I don't like getting credit for it," he admitted. "People act differently around you once they know you're the person who's supposed to be good at something."

芬恩脸红了，没有否认。“我不喜欢因此被夸，”他承认，“一旦别人知道你是应该擅长某件事的人，他们对你的态度就变了。”

Junia understood that better than she expected to. She had spent months protecting her own reputation the same careful way.

朱妮娅比自己预料的更能理解这句话。她花了好几个月，也用同样小心的方式保护着自己的名声。

"I should have actually talked to you weeks ago," she said, "instead of deciding what you were like before I knew you."

“我早就该好好和你聊聊的，”她说，“而不是在还不了解你的时候，就先替你下了定论。”

Finn shrugged, though he was smiling now. "You're talking to me now."

芬恩耸了耸肩，不过这时他已经在笑了。“你现在不就在跟我说话了吗。”

They finished the lab that afternoon in half the usual time, and for the first time all semester, in something other than silence.

那天下午，他们用了平时一半的时间就完成了实验，而且是整个学期里第一次，不是在沉默中完成的。