Becoming Jane

Chapter 17

**Please read author's note at the bottom for info on future updates**

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Chapter Seventeen

Little J put on a brave face in front of her family, she’d become a talented actress over the years. If she did not succeed in the medical field, a career in the theatre was a definite must.

She was fine when she attended her other classes but felt an immediate rise in her anxiety as she entered her anatomy class. She knew James had talked to him but she was not sure what about. He refused to speak of it, promising her that Harrison would indeed do the speaking.

All sorts of possible speeches entered her mind, almost all of them ending in an argument. She didn’t have the energy to defend herself, nor did she think she was hydrated enough to cry anymore tears.

Little J kept her head down as she walked into the familiar classroom. Other students chatted and conversed but she walked straight past them and Harrison to take her usual seat. She refused to look up as she pulled a piece of parchment, as well as ink and her quill from her bag. She dated the top of the page and waited patiently to listen to Harrison’s lecture.

She looked up only for a second, but it was a second too long. Harrison’s dark brown eyes were on her and he offered her a small smile.

Odd. What had he and James spoken about?

“For today’s lesson, I’ve decided to go in a different direction from what I originally planned. A while ago you may remember me speaking about the brain in a way that made you think perhaps I’d been intimate with the organ,” he smirked comically.

Light laughter escaped from each of the students, bar Little J who was still utterly bemused by his unusual lecture beginning.  

“Today I’m going to come at it from another direction,” he continued. “I’ve always been a scientific man. Facts make sense to me, but as of late I’ve come to entertain the notion that we make decisions based on our emotions rather than the facts we have at hand.”

“But sir,” interrupted a student from the opposite side of the room. “Did you not tell us that the soul was not connected to the mind?”

Harrison glared at the student. “I know I said that, that’s because it’s true. Anyone who says different has clearly never read a scientific book in their lives. What I’m saying has absolutely nothing to do with what your Sunday school teachers tell you.”

Little J couldn’t help but smile slightly. Harrison really was passionate about proving the church wrong. She wondered if he even believed in creationism. Perhaps he had another theory about how man came to be.

“Anyway, as I was saying, your brains have many abilities, too many to record. A human’s emotions are a big part of who you are. Emotion controls us more than we know. Emotion causes us to make poor decisions – like eating that last slice of your mother’s pie even when you know you might burst, or having one last pint and you end up waking up in the street … or you lash out at someone important to you because your emotions clouded your better judgement.” Harrison’s eyes flicked to her ever so slightly. She knew he was speaking to her. It was comforting. “Your brain is essential to your survival, how you use it depends on how long you survive.”