This answer does not address the gist of the question. The question-writer clearly states the details of the case (e.g. never met this friend, family member was friend's father), yet the answer-writer implies that the details are not given and thereby misses the point of the question: How should a high schooler support a close friend they have only known online who may be devastated by a parent's very recent death, a parent with whom they had a strained relationship. How can this high schooler support the friend in their academic motivation? All this is ignored. — Sarah Bowman 1 min ago

Don’t worry about it. In my experience anyone who says something as loaded an passive aggressive as “Don't forget about us when you make it big!” is really not worth dealing with. It is a button pushing statement and — in my experience — that adds up to someone you barely know just being a bit of jerk. — Giacomo1968 1 min ago

How do you mean "help them out"? Walk through their grief with them? Encourage their studies? Something different? I've started an answer below; if you can answer that I'll edit my answer to include that. — baldPrussian 2 mins ago

Your first, second, and 5th paragraphs are spot on. 3 and 4 are somewhat generic and don't really apply here. To improve this answer, I'd suggest adding content that would be appropriate to high school students learning how to handle grief. — baldPrussian 2 mins ago

@baldPrussian Your answer explains most of those points, and the part about trying to not force them into their routine is what i was wanting to know about — Micelle 33 secs ago

Do you not want to go? Is the husband aware of your arrangement? — AsheraH 1 min ago

Do you want to? Why not? — guest 1 min ago