Thoroughbreds

Wait here.

Lily!

I'll be right there.

Lily!

Lily!

Lily!

Hi, Lily.

Hi. Uh,

I'm sorry, you just...

Is this your sword?

Uh, no.

It's, uh,

it's my stepdad's.

You look different.

Yeah?

You look good.

Thanks.

So do you...

Well, okay, should we, uh, get started?

"Despite his lack of experience in the field,

Jared's contributions to the project

were spectral."

And does that make sense?

Is Jared a ghost?

No. - How do you know?

It doesn't say he's not a ghost.

Um...

so the answer is B,

"significant".

- This test is intolerable. - You're doing great.

I'm better at applied skills.

- I have business savvy. - Totally.

I think my best option at this point

would be to skip college and just to sort of

- Steve Jobs my way through life. - That's an idea.

You're good at this, though.

Better than my actual tutor. How much are you charging?

What are you talking about?

I'm not charging you.

We're hanging out.

Okay. So, uh,

moving on to passage comprehension.

Do you wanna read, or should I?

You start.

Okay.

"From Paul Revere to the Marlboro Man,

one image has maintained a firm hold

on the American imagination.

As closely tied to notions of liberty as any flag or eagle,

the horse..."

You know what, actually this is longer than we need.

Let's do a short one.

Do you have any food here?

So, yeah,

I'm lucky to be at a school that values

learning outside of the classroom.

And you just finished all your classwork early?

Yup. - Was it hard?

No.

Trying to wrap my head around mutual funds

and credit swaps was the hard part.

Anyway...

Shall we?

Leave it.

I'm sorry

if I acted funny

about that passage.

It's only weird if you make it weird.

Well, I just figured

you might not wanna talk about it.

- Why? Well,

I guess you're...

feeling a lot of...

feelings, uh, right now.

It's fresh.

Well, that's the funny thing, actually.

- I really don't. - Don't what?

Feel anything.

Like, you're numb?

Like you don't have any negative feelings...

Like I don't have any feelings, ever.

- Sure, you do. - I mean...

sometimes I feel hungry or tired.

But, like, joy, guilt?

I really don't have any of those.

I don't understand.

Yeah, it's hard to explain. It's really only recently

that I've been able to admit it to myself.

Because I've gotten so good at watching

and imitating other people's emotions

that I sort of tricked myself

into believing I have them,

but I don't.

So that's a, um...

A what?

A disorder or something?

Oh. Well,

the shrink would sure like it to be.

First it was borderline personality,

then severe depression,

yesterday, she said it was antisocial

with schizoid tendency.

She's basically just flipping to random pages of the DSM-5

and throwing medications at me.

But I have a perfectly healthy brain.

It just doesn't contain feelings.

And that doesn't necessarily make me a bad person.

It just means I have to work a little harder

than everyone else to be good.

Oh, uh...

- Two hours? - Yeah.

Glad you set an alarm to make sure

we didn't hang out longer than intended.

Oh, no... I mean, it...

I have this thing with my mom...

You know, I have my mom's email password.

- Sorry? It means I read

her inbox daily.

I saw your thread with her.

How she had to bump up from a hundred

to two hundred an hour to get you to do this.

Just next time, don't say you're not charging.

She was desperate to set up a playdate, by the way.

She's been trying for two weeks.

You could have gotten five hundred out of her

if you'd stood pat.

"...but the America I found when I got off the plane

was nothing like Mother's stories.

Cars stood in lines along ill-maintained highways

and gangs of slump-shouldered men

tossed dice in alleyways.

I didn't know whether to feel betrayed by my mother,

or to feel grief that,

even as imperfect as this new land might be,

she wasn't here to see it."

Okay. So, how would you summarize that passage?

- Bad. - No.

Uh, not evaluate,

just summarize.

You make the arrangement by phone this time?

- What are you talking about? No email

with my mom about payment.

I'm not getting paid this time.

I don't want payment.

What do you want?

Nothing. I just wanted to see you.

Lily.

I'm gonna go ride. You mind telling your mom...

Um, Amanda, this is Mark.

Mark, this is Amanda.

Nice to meet you.

Yeah.

Did you need something?

No.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay, so question nine,

"The author's attitude towards her mother's jade box

can be primarily described as..."

Wow.

Wow, what?

You hate him.

Um...

So it's "A, solemn.

B, contemptuous..."

You despise him.

No, we...

have our differences,

but I'm trying very hard

to have a pleasant

and mature relationship with him.

Hmm.

So, "C, sardonic.

D, ambivalent..."

Because he's rich?

- Excuse me? - Because he leaves you

envelopes of money?

Okay, that was for my broken laptop.

He doesn't just leave me envelopes of money...

Okay, but you and your mom must still know

that it's in your best interest to keep him happy.

Okay, I... actually, I think we're done here.

What's wrong?

I don't know.

I just think you should be honest about your feelings.

Otherwise it starts coming out in passive-aggressive ways.

Like, for instance, you start inviting