Pretty Girl

{CHAPTER 4} - PSYCHOLOGY CLASS

- Tuesday -


Pretty girl was fascinated with understanding the human mind.

Always questioning why people behave the way they do? What their motivations are? And what factors drive them to do what they do?

Each individual was like an onion.

No matter how many layers you peal back there was always more to discover.

She had a burning desire to understand people.

She wanted to be their brain, their beating heart, their nerves, but more importantly their eyes.

When first beginning college, with no clue of what exact field to go into, she went with the flow.

Open to any suggestions, she coincidently chose psychology.

Mr. Fern was her professor, a charismatic young man, who made the subject comprehensible.

She worked hard, still her grades were never communicated in the same manner.

She made up for it by being a model student; Coming to class on time, finishing projects to the best of her abilities, and always being quiet.

Attending the class for a couple of weeks, not interacting with the others left her alone.

She didn't mind. She preferred to work alone.

Why?

Maybe because she felt she had nothing to offer.

Students who were kind enough to approach her were shut down.

In the end people gave up.

To them she seemed well off.

It was nine in the morning; her class was starting soon.

With no sleep from babysitting Abigail, and Terry, combined with a slight hangover resulted in her misery.

Always arriving early gave her the advantage of taking any seat she wished.

With time to spare it allowed her to go over material she had skipped over.

Pretty girl had a habit of quietly mumbling, whilst scanning her notes when no one was around.

"Good morning." Mr. Fern entered with a friendly smile.

"Early as always I see."

Pretty girl straightened in her seat, "Good Morning."

Mr. Fern wrote away on what topic was going to be covered this lesson.

He promptly strode to Pretty girl, sat adjacent, and asked, "so how have you been?"

She closed her text book giving him her undivided attention, "Things have been good. And you?"

He chirped, "same old."

He went back to the front of the class once a couple more students entered.

Over the past couple minutes students filled the seats.

"Morning all so today I'm teaching you guys about the halo effect. This term was coined by none other than Edward Thorndike in the 1920's. Now you're all probably wondering what is this hallo effect, well in simple terms it's when you assume something to have positive attributes, solely because of other similar things that have positive attributes. As an example, you probably assume your doctor is trustworthy because of how most doctors are portrayed in the media, or from other positive interactions you may have had with other doctors. Or -."

As the lesson went on half attention was on him, and the other half somewhere else. Thinking of everything, and anything. Drifting slowly. Sinking.

"Would you like to give an example of the halo effect."

All eyes were on her, awaiting a contribution.

"Oh, I'm sorry... I couldn't hear what you were saying."

He smiled, "That's ok, but next time please ask me to speak up. Would anyone else like to say anything - ."

From the embarrassment she went back into an unbreakable trance.

Some were still watching, others were whispering.

Wanting to leave all she could do was sit without uttering a word.

"Hey you need help?"

There he was, it was none other than Daniel.

He had the gull to place himself right beside her.

"Oh, hey Daniel I had no idea you take this class."

He answered, " yep, I also take Psychology. By the way do you need help doing the activity?"

On the board they were instructed to complete a task.

"It's ok you don't have to, plus I'll be fine."

Daniel shrugged, "ok, I'm just going to stay here though."

It was harder than it looked.

Unable to answer anything, guessing was best. With Daniel by her side focusing was a challenge.

"Hey I just wanted to apologies for the way I was last night. I didn't mean to lash out at you. If you couldn't tell I wasn't in the right mind set."

"Oh, that's ok honestly I forgot half of what happened at the party."

"Well just apologize."

After his almost sincere apology they focused on the task at hand.

Time was ticking, and running out.

There was also the grueling fact they'd probably go over the questions.

If so, she had nothing to show.

"Hey just to let you know for question one the answer is option B."

Daniel was eyeing her blank sheet, desperate to help.

"Oh thanks." With the little guidance she felt lighter.

"Hey Daniel... do you mind helping me out?"

He perked up, "Sure."

She was thankful for Daniels assistance.

"I finally finished, thanks sooooo much", she praised him.

"Look It's fine, and hey If you ever need help just ask."

Daniel wasn't as unbearable as she made him out to be. Maybe she was wrong about him.

The class proceeded with going over the answers of the activity, and ending.

"That's all for today's lesson, students please go over what I had just taught because we will learn more next lesson."

Before leaving Mr. Fern called out to her. "Wait one moment I need to have a word with you."

That very phrase was what she had dreaded the most.

With everyone gone the two of them stood in front of the other. "I am sure you have an idea of why I need to talk with you."

Frozen still, fidgeting hands. She had an idea.

"It's my grades isn't it," she proclaimed.

"I'm afraid so, you really need to boost up grades if you want to pass this class."

She pleaded with him, "Mr. Fern I promise you I'll work harder to improve an - "

Stopping her he explained. "Listen I know how hard you work, I can tell, and I've seen it first hand, I just wanted to let you know that my doors are always open if you want extra help."

Noddingher head, she quietly said, "Thanks Mr. Fern I'll keep that in mind."

she was never the sharpest tool in the shed, always dead last in mostlyeverything.

This news didn't discourage her in the slights.

Quite the opposite.She was more motivated to work even harder.