The Psychopath Maker

Chapter Thirteen

          "It's handled." He folded the corner of the page before turning it. "Don't ask me again."

       She drummed her nails on the table. "Sure thing, Mr. Lemen." She scooted her chair back to its original position.

        Silence fell upon the table once again. Troy, with his back against the chair, quizzically watched Isabeth jot down a definition with rapid strokes of her keys. Then he shifted his eyes to Benny, who was reading a passage in a black textbook from the reference section. As he looked at them, he wondered what had changed. What happened Sunday, when they ignored Benny hiding behinds the nurse's station to the moment when Isa escorted him to class? Within the year that they knew him, no one spoke to him, let alone cared about his well-being.

         "The groundwork is done." Troy combed his hair through his hair disturbing the mousse he slathered on it that morning. "So, what specific topic are we researching?" He asked, trying to get this session over with so, he could be done with the aberrant boy.

           "Well..." Benny sat his book on the table. "There are three big issues with mental illness and the government." He was perplexed about why Mr. Franz assigned him that topic, to begin with. Was it because of his present issue or was it an imprudent mistake? "First is the treatment of the mentally impaired with the law, then deinstitutionalization, and lastly the death penalty and the criminally insane."

       Feeling the glare of their eyes waft over his face, Benny felt ashamed. His eyes dropped to his book as his foot began to tap nervously.

   "I don't care," Isabeth said with a shrug of the shoulders. "I'll research anything."

          "Benny, you can do deinstitutionalization since you were in an asylum." Troy threw out, still typing with his eyes glued on his laptop screen.

      "What the hell, Troy!" Isabeth grunted kicking his chair.

        The abrupt attack caused Troy's fingers to slip misspelling the word he had in mind. "What?" He shouted at her. "It should be easy for him. He knows the process." He rapidly tapped the backspace key. "He'll give good detail."

      "It's fine." Benny shifted in his seat. "It's the truth. It'll make my job easier."

       Isabeth's phone vibrated sending out a vibrant hum. She glared at Troy before reading the text message that lit up her phone.

Faith

It's on! Boys Gym 10mins

       "Gym. Ten minutes." Isabeth orated dryly showing Troy her phone.

      "Cool." Troy saved his document before slamming the laptop closed.

        Benny watched them as they simultaneously gathered their things; loaded their laptops in their bags, stacked up the books they were taking, and loaded the rest on the black book cart.

     "Hey, just email or text me later if you need help." He muttered rising from his chair.

      Isabeth stopped dropping books into her bag, "Do you have plans?" She slipped back on her flats using the chair to hold her balance.

      Troy shook his head at her as he waited, standing behind Benny.

   "For tonight?" Benny stupidly asked glancing at the introduction he had already typed up.

      Isabeth ignored Troy and continued, "You should come with us." She nodded. "To a party in the gym." She rubbed her hand over her hair smoothing out her strands. "It'll probably be lame...but still."

      "Are you sure that's a good idea?" Benny asked. His gut said it wasn't but Dr. Weiss did tell him to be more social.

      "Yeah, Isa...is the idea good?" Troy asked trying to get her to think. No one on campus had a liking for Psycho Benny.

      She ignored Troy pulling her bag off the table, "Benny, you're a senior." She moved around the table coming face to face with him. "It's time you experience the socially deviant realm of Dawson Prep." She gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder.

       The smile she displayed erased all rational thoughts from Benny's mind. "If you say so." He replied.   

Do you think it's a good idea for Benny to go to the Gym Party?