Passion in James County XV: Ben and Nancy
Chapter thirteen
Trish Wilkins only went to see Mrs. Thompson, the school psychologist because she had to in order to keep from being suspended, but she found she liked Mrs. Thompson and kept going back to see her after that first session. And the more she talked with Mrs. Thompson the more she liked her. Before long, she was looking forward to her appointments. Mrs. Thompson understood her, and listened to her, really listened. Talking with her seemed to make the bad feelings Trish had a lot a little less upsetting, and they began working on ways Trish could improve her situation.
After a few weeks, without Trish even realizing it was happening, the girl began to show signs of change. She wasn't aware how much she'd changed until Dawn Dillon commented on it one day as they ate lunch.
"What's going on with you, Trish?" Dawn asked. "There's something different about you lately."
Trish shrugged. "What do you mean?" she asked her friend.
"I don't know, you seem mellower," Dawn said. "And I've never seen you in that outfit before."
"This, it was something I got for Christmas, I just never felt like wearing it before," Trish said. The outfit in question was a loose maroon jumper, with a white turtleneck under it. When she got it, she hated it, and swore she'd never wear it. Now she couldn't remember why she felt that way.
"It looks good on you," Dawn remarked. "And I like the way you have your hair done today, too." Her friend's hair hung loose, it wasn't done up in the outlandish styles she had previously affected.
"You keep that up," Trish said, feeling her face get hot, "and you're gonna make me blush. If you do, I'm gonna smack you, right here in the cafeteria."
Dawn smiled at her friend. "That sounds more like the Trish I've come to know and love," she chuckled.
Trish had even gotten to like working on the school newspaper and was learning to write better articles. Mr. Morris had complimented her several times, and she really liked that. She liked him, too, and was glad he hadn't done what she'd asked him to. It also helped that, after the incident occurred, he never mentioned it again.
When school let out that day, she headed for the paper's office to finish an article she'd started. She bumped into Dawn.
"I'm going down to the mall," Dawn said. "You want to come along?"
"I can't," Trish said. "I have to finish writing an article for this week's edition of the paper."
"You really have changed, haven't you?" Dawn smiled. "I don't think I ever heard you refuse an invitation to go to the mall before."
"Get out of here," Trish laughed. "Some of us care about our responsibilities and aren't just slaves to shopping.."