"What happens to the paintings now? Will they go to you?"
"I don't know. I guess her friend will keep them."
"You haven't been contacted by her?"
"No. Why are you asking? This doesn't seem like a question you'd ask in therapy."
"I'm trying to assess what connections you still have in New York."
"Why? I'm not going back there, at least not anytime soon."
"You haven't been contacted by anyone there?"
"No," I say, confused by her question. "Who would contact me?"
She scribbles something in her notepad, then says, "Let's move on. Tell me about school. Brock said you're struggling to make friends."
"I wasn't until Braden told people to stop talking to me."
"I get the impression you and Braden don't get along."
"It's not because of me. Braden has some serious issues. You should tell Brock to bring him back to therapy. He needs this more than I do."
The session continues with Clarice asking me stuff about school and how I'm adjusting to living here, which is what I expected her to talk about. I don't know why she was asking me all that stuff about my mom and her friends and how she made a living. That was strange.
When we leave her office, Brock is waiting in the lobby.
"How'd it go?" he says, smiling.
I don't answer.
"She wasn't very talkative today," Clarice says, smiling for the first time since I got here. And she's smiling at Brock, not me. Is he sleeping with her? Is that why he picked her? Does she give him a discount?
"She's just nervous," Brock says. "I'm sure she'll open up more on Wednesday."
"Wednesday?" I say. "Like the day after tomorrow?"
"I have you scheduled for three days a week," Clarice says. "After a few weeks I'll assess your progress and see if we can go down to twice a week."
There's no way I'm coming here three times a week. I thought it'd be once a week, which was bad enough, but three times? Hell, no.
"See you on Wednesday," Clarice says as we're leaving.
"I'm not doing it," I say to Brock as we're driving home. "Three days a week is too much."
"It's not too much. You've been through a lot. You need someone to talk to. Someone who can help you work through these things."
"I have Jackson for that. He's the one I talk to."
"Jackson isn't a trained professional. Clarice is very good. She's trained at the best schools and was at the top of her class."
"So she's a good student. That doesn't make her a good counselor. I don't like her. Not even a little."
"Nobody likes their therapist right away. It can takes weeks, or even months, to feel comfortable with the person."
"I'm never going to feel comfortable with her. She's so serious. And she looks like Morticia."
"Who's that?"
