When asking your smart friends for help, do you ask to learn or ask to just get the problem solved without understanding how? That's an essential difference there. Asking smart people for help is not giving up if you do it with the intention to learn. When you start working you will ask people for help ALL the time. And you will help people a lot to. Communication is essential in working in teams.
Just the fact that you post here to try to learn how to improve suggests to me that you have the right attitude. You are not giving up!
So keep asking your friends, and talk with them about the problems you are facing. Learn from them! Also try to help them as well when they get stuck.
Good luck!