What Do I Do Now? 55
parents gave her a lot of space and freedom, and her
outdoors-loving father said she had more or less raised
herself.^139 Those who didn’t know her thought she was
European looking. After a journey through Australia, she
began studying at the Queen’s University, and was now a
first-year student.
Compared with Elon, Justine studied more than he did.
She had to. To keep her scholarship for four years, she
needed straight A average, and she often got panic attacks
from the pressure. To ease the stress, she practiced for a
black belt in taekwondo, wrote fiction in cafes, and drank
vast amounts of coffee and inexpensive red wine. “Bless
those tasty Australian shirazes, stay away from the cheap
French stuff,” she said.153,157
Elon saw Justine from across a room inside of the
university. To begin talking to her, he lied by saying they
had met before at a party. But Justine knew she had never
attended this party, and she thought Elon was a clean-cut,
upper-class boy with a South African accent. When Elon
asked her out for an ice cream date, Justine decided to lie
back by saying yes.^182
The unsuspecting Elon went to Justine’s room where
there were supposed to meet each other. He walked up to
the door where he found a note explaining the lie. But
Elon didn’t give up. He searched through the university
and found Justine while she read a Spanish text in the
student center. Carrying two ice creams, he surprised her.
But Justine wasn’t impressed and Elon had already decided
to transfer to a university in another country.^182