The Bad Boy's Therapist

1.

"Now I know this is a little funny, but this is still part of your course," Ms. Brooks says in her all too cheery white lady voice. "It's time to talk about penis envy!"

A purple dildo shows up on the projector. Nobody laughs, so Ms. Brooks chuckles for them. Yvonne kind of feels sorry for Ms. Brooks. She's barely making ends meet with her new apartment in the city, she seems to genuinely love teaching AP Psychology and yet, her students reward her with glum looks like they couldn't give less of a shit to be here. Of course, they couldn't. They were here for credits. All except Yvonne, who has a genuine love for everything Psychology. So why didn't she laugh? Well, Ms. Brooks had a tendency to consider people who made any sounds in class 'deviants' and happily hand them a pale pink slip.

"Penis envy is the proposed theoretical envy of penises in females," Ms. Brooks explains. Yvonne has no envy for penises. They're weird and ugly. If she had one, she'd still be a woman. She couldn't see the point of penises. Or why Freud would write a whole theory about it. Guys in academia seemed to really like dicks.

Bzzt. Her phone vibrates in her lap and Yvonne does her best to unlock it discreetly. It's a message from Hani, who sits some several feet behind her. Yvonne struggles to hide the smile already building on her face.

It's an image that hasn't fully loaded when Yvonne reads the caption: 'envious 😏?' And she snorts loudly when the image of a micropenis finally shows.

"Yvonne!" Whatever discretion she had been attempting is now for nothing. Ms. Brooks also had a tendency to show texts to the entire class when she caught them. "Got something to share?" she says, stretching out a palm. Yvonne's insides twist into every kind of knot as a trembling hand brings her phone from under the desk.

Before Ms. Brooks can snatch it away, Hani shoots to her feet and exclaims, "Holy fuck!"

"Hani, I will not tolerate disruption in me class!" Ms. Brooks is now storming towards Hani, having a much more appropriate target than Yvonne.

Hani doesn't seem to care though. She shoves her textbooks into her backpack and shrugs her jacket on. "Ma'am, I need to go get my brother–"

"That's what you said last week," Ms. Brooks says. "Young lady, if every class ends with you chasing this brother of yours I've never seen–"

"He studies here," Yvonne interrupts. It's probably not a good idea to interrupt the teacher, but watching Hani get grilled is a far greater discomfort. "She isn't lying."

"I wasn't asking you," Ms. Brooks snaps. "Lying or not, your attendance won't be marked if you keep leaving during class."

The gulp in Hani's throat was audible. Like most of the students, she was here specifically for the credits and nothing more.

"Ma'am, there's literally only ten minutes left," Yvonne argues.

"Keep talking and you'll get a detention too."

"Fuck this." Hani storms past Ms. Brooks and out of the classroom. Yvonne lingers a little longer before gathering her things and following suit.

One might say it's especially selfish, what Yvonne does at times like these. But it isn't, not really. Yvonne doesn't want anything from Hani; she genuinely cares. And that is the only reason why she runs after Hani, slowing to jog once they're in line with each other.

"You know you don't have to come with me," Hani chuckles, hiding the tears that build on her lashes. "You'll just get into trouble."

"Yeah, well," Yvonne shrugs. "Your brother's way more important."

She kisses her teeth. "He's a damn fool. How many times he been taken to the station now? What is his fuckin' problem?"

"Tannenbaum would say it's the labelling." Yvonne jokes. Hani only responds with a confused blink and shrug. I am an idiot who makes terrible jokes, Yvonne cries internally.

"I wish there was a way to just," Hani shakes clawed hands in mid-air. "To just get through to him, you know? He's so. . .Ugh!"

It's a dumb idea, but she's doing this because she cares. "I could get through to him," Yvonne mumbles.

Snorts and chortles echo through the empty hallway once she says that. It's a dumb idea and Hani knows it. "On God, I would love you if you could."

That rips Yvonne's heart right out of her chest and throws it at a wall hard enough that it crashes straight through and blasts off to the sun. "Y-Y-You would what?"

"I'd kiss you and marry you," Hani sighs. "He's just such an asshole, you know? Pretty sure I'm gonna spend all my money this month bailing him out."

"Can't wait to see him," Yvonne grins.