[ It's rare for Hella to feel self-conscious about anything, so on this topic alone, she starts feeling nervous when it takes him a bit to get it. Her immediate worry is that he might look down on her, but he nips that in the bud quickly, mercifully. ]

Maybe it's overrated... but I am trying to study and get better.

[ She does want to read and write!! And she wants him to know it's not as if she's blown it off, it's something she's putting effort into. Maybe she wants him to think of her not as someone who never was given a chance and decided to flip education the bird, but as someone who's trying to make up for the things she was denied solely on account of poverty. ]

Not that there's any damn time to practice while we're out here. Or any books, anyway.