✅ The Last New Start [NaNoWriMo2021]

51. Tests of Confidence

Happy new year to all my readers! And special thanks to Jordan, who gets an extra chapter posted for everyone to enjoy. Everyone else should say thanks to Jordan too!

"Can you tell me to..." Tess mumbled. She was brave enough to actually say the words now. It had been two and a half weeks since Ffrances had originally done the hypnosis thing, although she'd done another session since then to reinforce it. And in that time, Tess had been asking for help half a dozen times. By now it had become kind of normal. She would come downstairs to pick up her flask from the fridge, and while she was there she would ask Gabby to tell her not to wet the bed. But it was different when Ffrances was there. Then she mumbled and stuttered, feeling weird. Like she was intruding on Gabby and her girlfriend.

Today, she felt like she was crossing a new hurdle. Finding the courage within her to ask for the help she needed. She wondered if it might be easier if she explained why, so that Ffrances didn't think she was overusing the suggestion. So she pushed herself, and once she started the words came tumbling out. She told them that she had a big test on Friday, and Friday had come from being a distant terror to the end of this week. And now it was tomorrow. Tess's music class were each performing a solo piece, and their abilities here would count towards their final grade. She was always nervous before a big recital, and she knew that she would barely sleep tonight. That wouldn't be good for her confidence, or for her breathing. And she didn't want the day to be a disaster before she even got to school.

Ffrances smiled, and nodded. "Of course we can. But which thing do you want us to say? You have to come out with it first." Tess fought against her nerves for a few moments, and then sighed. It was embarrassing, but she had to say it. She was resigned.

"It's just because I think I won't sleep otherwise," she said. "I might wake up in the middle of the night, and not be able to get back to sleep. I know that midnight preparation before a test is really a bad idea, and I don't want to be tempted into doing something... stupider than normal. So can you, please, tell me not to have an accident tonight?"

"Of course we can, baby," Ffrances said with a smile. "And we're really proud of you for being mature enough to come and ask. There's nothing wrong with saying it when you need it. Admitting your needs is a strength."

"You won't have an accident tonight," Gabby promised her, while she was still processing Ffrances's reassurances. And as soon as she heard it, she knew that it was going to be true. "You'll just have a good, deep sleep, and wake up refreshed in the morning."

"I'm sure I will," she whispered, and then climbed the stairs to get ready for bed.

* * *

The test was relatively easy. For some reason Miss MacManus had wanted to see Tess play the violin, which wasn't her first choice. But she was trying to have a reasonable skill with all of the common instruments, and she was sure that she played the piece almost perfectly. She would have a high mark for both technical skill, and her interpretation of the dots on the page. She was going to do well, and she knew it.

She'd known it was a good day from the moment she woke up dry, but that was a secret she would never share with her friends. Not even her closest friend. So when Liz met her outside the auditorium filled with praises, she put her confidence down to a good horoscope. She didn't believe in them, she said. But if she decided not to read it and things turned out well, then it had to have been a good one.

"That doesn't make sense!" an obnoxious blond girl popped up. "I mean–"

"Just like horoscopes then," Tess didn't let her finish whatever the insult was going to be. "Buzz off, Mindy. Nobody asked for your opinion."