Never feel alone

Chapter 21

Lena

"How do you feel about seeing Dr. Kodema again, honey?" I asked Callie.

She turned from her painting and shrugged. "I don't know."

"Are you sure?" I pressed. "I don't want to force you into something that makes you uncomfortable, but I can't know how you're feeling unless you talk to me, hon."

She turned back to the wall, thoughtfully. "I don't want to see her again." She glanced over at me quickly. "If that's okay, I mean."

"It's fine," I assured her. "I had a feeling you might feel that way."

"She's nice and all," she went on. "But I don't know if I can trust her enough to talk to her. I know it's her job, but she still turned us in."

I nodded. "You're right. Your therapist should be someone you can trust enough to open up to. How do you feel about this, Soph?" When she didn't answer, I turned around.

I haven't seen Sophia in a while," said Mariana, looking around the room. It was the next afternoon and the girls and I were getting some painting done, while the boys were unpacking Brandon's belongings in he and Jesus's room and Stef was at work. Sophia had been helping a minute ago, but now she was nowhere in sight.

"I think she went to the bathroom," Callie said, carefully painting around the edge of a window.

"I'll go check on her," I told them, standing up.

I went into the hall, and saw that the bathroom door was open. "Soph? Are you in there?" I stopped. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. What'cha doing there, sweetie?"

Sophia was sitting on the toilet, shaving her legs with Brandon's electric razor. It appeared that she'd already nicked herself, too, judging by the thin line of blood running down her leg.

"My legs are hairy," she said quietly. "Kids at school are starting to notice. And all the other girls are shaving their legs..." She looked up at me with damp puppy dog eyes.

I nodded, looking down at the dark hair on her calves, suddenly struck by unpleasant memories of being twelve. "Did someone make fun of you, honey?"

"Yes," she admitted. "The girls in gym class."

"I went through the same thing when I was your age." I knelt down in front of her and put my hand on her knee. "Sophie, I think you're the perfect age to start shaving," I told her. "But you're not quite doing it right. And that's okay, because no one ever taught you."

"Do you think... you could teach me?" she asked, sheepishly.

I winked at her. "I'd be glad to. And in the future, if you need help with something, I want you to know that you can come to me or Stef. You don't have to be afraid to ask us for things, honey. We always have time for you." I took the electric razor from her, then cleaned her cut and put a band-aid over it. Then, I found a new razor and Mariana's raspberry scented shaving cream.

"This is the kind of razor you want to use," I explained. "And you don't want to shave your legs when they're dry, because it makes them really itchy. Plus, you could hurt yourself, as you've already found out," I added with a smile.

I sprayed some foam into my hand and massaged it into her skin.

"That smells good," she said.

I took a dab of it on my finger and dotted her nose, and we both burst out in giggles. "How about I do this leg for you," I offered. "And then you can try the other one. Does that sound okay?"

"Yeah," she said, smiling. "It does."

I shaved her left leg, carefully avoiding her bandage. When I was done, I handed her the razor and guided her through the right leg. "You did great, sweetheart," I smiled. "That wasn't hard at all, was it?"