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When Zack starts going to Saturday detentions, he doesn't mention the "detention" part to his mom. To be fair, she doesn't ask him why he's suddenly going to school on the weekend, but she does tell him, "I'm happy you're going to class. I can't wait to see you graduate."
Her words eat him up inside since the reason he has detention in the first place is that he's missed one out of three classes since September and slept through most of the classes he's made it to. Thankfully, he's still on track to graduate on time even if his average isn't anything to write home about. His saving grace is that, for the last two years, he's managed to get Ds in all of his classes. He was quite proud of passing given the minimal effort he put into it, but now that victory feels hollow.
It's not just his mother's aspirations for him and his fears about her mortality that have changed him. After becoming a ranger -- after making friends and saving the world -- he's found it increasingly difficult to remain apathetic about his future.
So for the first time in years, Zack tries. Having friends at school makes it easier to actually attend his classes, and he starts completing his homework and assignments on time instead barely completing them at all. He takes to studying in his mom's bedroom, even if she's watching television or listening to music, and it does something to him when she looks over at him and smiles.
It's not always easy though. He tries his best in algebra and still barely scrapes by with a C at midterms, and he has a similar experience in biology and chemistry. It makes him wish, sometimes, that he could go back to not caring about his grades, because working ridiculously hard and only being moderately successful somehow feels worse than not trying at all.
The chemistry assignment he gets a month later makes him realize that he's in trouble. He barely understands the math that underlies the class so he doesn't even get what the assignment is asking him to do.
He tries to figure it out on his own. He watches YouTube videos and even sets foot into the school library for the first time ever, and he still feels lost. He's glaring down at the assignment at lunch a few days later when Billy sits down next to him and asks, "What's up? What's that sheet of paper?"
Zack sighs. "I think I might fail this chem assignment."
"Can I see?" Billy asks and Zack hands it over.
"Oh, dude, are you taking this with Anderson? He gave out the same assignment last year with the exact same wording and everything. I can totally help."
Zack pauses, and for a long moment, all he can do is stare at Billy. He never considered asking Billy or any of the others for assistance. "What?"
"I can lend you my notes," Billy offers. "Or, like, you can come to my place after school if you want."
It's been him and his mom for so long that Zack can't remember the last time that there were people in his life that could offer help, let alone offered it willingly.
He swallows the weight suddenly lodged in his throat and then covers up his reaction by quickly smiling. "Thanks. I'd appreciate that. Should I meet you by your locker at three?"
They meet up and Billy not only explains the assignment, but the underlying math that Zack's been struggling with, and Zack finishes the assignment a whole day before it's due.
The next week during lunch, he's nervous when he mentions the trouble he's having in biology, but both Kimberly and Trini volunteer to help him out. He expects asking for help to feel embarrassing, but it doesn't, not when no one shames him for it and not when he comes home late and can truthfully tell his mom that he was out studying with his friends.
It's the end of May when Zack realizes that his friends and fellow rangers have also become his study group and that exams are right around the corner. They end up studying together more often, at lunch and even in-between training sessions at the Command Center, much to Zordon's irritation. Zack walks into his exams confident and worried at the same time, knowing that he worked hard and hoping all his hard work was enough.
A week and a half later, he picks up his report card. He has two As and a single C. Every other grade is a solid B. They're the highest grades he's gotten since his mom got sick, made more impressive by his poor attendance at the beginning of the school year.
After dinner that night, he hands her his report card. It's folded in half and she asks him what it is.
"It's an invitation to something a year from now," he tells her as she unfolds it.
"An invitation to what?"
He waits for her to read over his grades, and when she smiles up at him so brightly that it lights up her whole face, he answers proudly, "My graduation."