Chapter 4

I picked Ginny up for school the next day. She seemed pleased to see me and smiled as she got into the car.

"How are you today," I asked.

"Fine. I had a good think about things before falling asleep last night."

"So what was the outcome of all this thinking?"

She giggled, "Well for one thing, I decided I was very happy to be your girlfriend and decided I would play my part in trying to make our relationship a good one. I also decided that with your help I would look at what my talents and strengths and see in what ways I could develop them."

"I am pleased to see that your thinking led to some positive conclusions. Especially the one about our relationship and maybe later today we will have some time to talk about your strengths and how you want to develop them. Had you any trouble with your mother last night?"

A look of concern flashed over her face, but she said brightly,

"No she came home alone and I was already in bed and she didn't disturb me. I could hear her pouring drinks for herself and knew I would have to stay awake."

"Why? I asked.

Ginny went on to explain how her mother would fall asleep drinking. She said that this worried her for she smoked as she drank so she worried in case her mother would set the house on fire and went on to explain she always stayed awake on occasions like this, then got up and made sure everything was ok.

"Then I make her as comfortable as I can, cover her up with a blanket, put the lights out and go back to bed. It was because I do this that I had the time to think about the things we discussed yesterday," she finished.

"Despite everything, you care about your mother don't you?" I asked

"She has had a very hard life," replied Ginny. "She might not be a very good mother but she decided to have me and she has always kept me with her. With all the problems she has in her life that has been constant."

"I can see that she was there when you needed someone, and I love you for your loyalty to her," I told her. "Now however she needs you more than you need her and you are repaying your earlier indebtedness to her by looking after her."

As we pulled into the parking lot she said with a bit of anger in her voice,

"Are you suggesting that I should abandon her?"

"No, not at all." I stopped the car, "but it is something we might be able to use constructively if we are going to help her."

She sat there and looked at me as I got out of the car so I walked round and held the passenger door open for her and she undid her seat belt and got out. As I closed the door, she turned to face me, then put her arms around me and kissed me.

"You know, you are something else again."

"Why do you say that?" I asked in surprise.

"Not only are you trying to reform me, but it seems you want to do the same for my mother." She laughed

I noticed a few people staring as we kissed, so I took her hand and we started walking towards the school.

"I am not trying to reform you," I scolded her. "You don't need reforming there is a beautiful person inside the camouflage of the exterior you present to the world. All you need some help to achieve the great potential that lies within you."

"I realised something else last night," she said.

"What?"

"You are so good for me;" she said with a giggle, "you are the only one who ever says nice things about me. That is one of the reasons I decided to keep you and someday I might tell you about the others."

"I think I want to stick around long enough to hear them." I joined in her laughter as we entered the school.

We shared all our classes that morning and we sat together at lunch time. I noted a few stares in our direction but didn't pay any attention to them, and if Ginny noticed she didn't say anything. I spoke to her about the possibility of setting up a self defence class and asked who she thought might like to join, starting with people in our year. She suggested a girl in her art class who was a very talented artist, and while she was not hassled very much she lived with her widowed mother who was crippled with arthritis. Her name was Penny Mitchell and she spent a lot of time being her mother's carer and as a result did not have many friends. She felt if she could join a group like this it would help her to feel she belonged to something and maybe give her the opportunity to make friends.

She looked at me and said that there were two people in the senior year who might be candidates one of whom might be a great help to us in setting up the group one was a real nerdy guy who was a whizz kid with computers. He had been badly bullied in his first two years. So much so that he had tried to kill himself. He had slashed his wrists, but fortunately his mother, who had not been feeling well, came home early from work and they had got him to the hospital on time. Though this saved his life it turned out that his mother, who had been feeling unwell for some time, collapsed a few weeks later and was diagnosed with a cancer so far advance that her doctors could do nothing for her. She had died later that summer.

Because of the suicide attempt and the death of his mother he was largely left alone but was regarded as a nut case and did not have any friends. His dad ran his own computer business and he spent most of his free time working with him in the shop. His name was Jimmy Sneddon she told me and since he knew what it was like to be bullied she thought he could be a big help in recruiting some of the younger ones who were in the same boat.

The second person year was a girl, Mary Walker Who was a bit of a loner and might not want to join but she felt she could approach her and see.

Then she remembered another person in our year called Sylvia Plath, she was a candidate for Valedictorian and was a whizz kid at maths. She was a late child of fairly elderly parents and was chronically shy. Where Mary preferred to be alone Sylvia tried to hide from people because she seemed scared of them. Ginny felt that there was hardly anyone who had held a conversation for more than a few words with her. Although she was blonde and pretty she dressed in an old fashioned kind of way and you always felt that she was trying to merge into the walls so as not to be seen.

Sometimes she got a bit of stick but mostly she was ignored and again had very few friends. Ginny felt that the kind of thing I was suggesting might bring her out of herself and build up her confidence. The trick would be getting her to come. By the time lunch was over we had decided that we would make an approach to the people she had mentioned and see what they felt about it.

After school we got into my car and drove to my house. Once there we got ourselves drinks from the fridge and settled down to get our homework out of the way and once again I worked on the desktop and she used my laptop. After about two hours of desultory conversation and some hard work we felt we had broken the back of things that needed to be done and my thoughts turned to dinner. I suggested we take a break and see what Mags had left for eating. There was a fish pie in the fridge that took care of everything as it was topped with potatoes. I took out a pack of vegetables that could be cooked in the bag in the microwave. This time we ate at the Kitchen table.

As we ate, I said to her, "Look Ginny I know this is a touchy subject for you but I have been thinking for some time about upgrading my laptop to one with double the memory from its present two gigs to four gigs. I am not just saying this. I really have been thinking about it. If I did it now, would you accept the old one?"

She stopped eating and looked at me. "I told you that last night I did a lot of thinking about you and me. I want to ask you something and I hope you won't be offended."

I smiled at her, "I am not easily offended so ask away sweetie."

She paused for a moment, "I want to know if you are serious about us and see this as a long term relationship, or am I just a sort of renovation project whom you, out of the goodness of your heart, want to help."

"I will tell you something Ginny, so that you understand how this began. You are a very bright girl and I noticed you in class right from the off. I have told you already that I was attracted to your sweet face and your beautiful red hair. I know up till now you feel fat and unlovable. That is not what I saw, however. I saw a girl who was overweight but who if she put her mind to it without losing all that much could be the kind of person who would draw men's eyes wherever she went. Because I was attracted to you I also noticed how much hassle you were getting and felt bad for you. Add to this that your name was Ginny McPherson and I thought I am going to come to the aid this girl if I can."

"What has my name got to do with anything?"