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proving Holly's point: She was still Maggie, even with a drastic color change. She looked down.

    "That's it!” Alison was apparently the recipient of the missing epiphany. “You made her pretty, Holly! That's why she doesn't think it's her. She doesn't think she's pretty."

    Maggie raised her head, looked at everyone, and asked, “Is this some just some elaborate scheme to get me to put on makeup?"

    "No!” Holly assured. “You never have to do anything at these things that you don't want to do. Claudia and Kate are a lot of things, but I don't think they're the kind who would hold you down and force makeup on you."

    "Oh gee, thanks for that vote of confidence, Holly,” I said and added, “Maggie, nobody's trying to set you up.
    We'll just be in therapy for years, knowing that you're pretty enough without makeup while the rest of us have flaws to hide. It's okay though. Think nothing of it, humdinger."

    She smiled, and above her flew the portrait, forced back and forth by Susan's hand. “Can I have this, Holly?"

    "Of course! She yours, not mine."

    "Okay, ladies, we've only got fifteen minutes left, so make sure your faces are on properly,” Claudia said.

    "Hon, you're probably going to kill me for this, but I want to take care of something first,” I said, immediately looking away so that “Don't!” didn't find its way to me. “Maggie, I don't mean to put you on the spot—okay, yes I do. You said before that you think Susan tries to hide you, that she doesn't want to you look like a lesbian.
    She says that's not true, but I don't think you believe her. That's a pretty nasty feeling to have inside, especially about someone you love. So as hall monitor or whatever the hell I am in this class, I hereby banish you to a timeout for failure to listen. That corner over there—now!” I instructed, pointing to the corner by the front door.

    She was floored, but she did as I asked. Yes, I wielded that much power.

    "And you, Susan, I hereby banish you to a timeout as well, for failure to convince. That corner over there—
    now!” I said, pointing to the same corner where the confused Maggie stood. “Neither of you are allowed to come out of the corner until that nasty feeling is down for the count. Understand?"

    They both grinned at me and took to the corner. I watched them until I knew they were engaged in conversation.
    Then I turned my back to them. I feared looking at Claudia, but I slowly did so to find a smile attached to a shaking head.

    "What? Would you want to feel like that? I had to do something."

    "That's not what I meant,” she clarified. “I only got one of your eyes done. Sit down so I can finish."

    Okay, so it wasn't power I wielded. It was fear.

    As she finished my face, I noticed how chummy Charles and Holly had become. They chatted about how helpful her drawing was and how much the other knew about color. I saw her kiss him on the cheek, saying,
    “You are such a sweet guy!” Then she turned to Laura, who, I must admit, had behaved herself quite nicely throughout our little art class. Holly said, “I just love this man, Laura. Can we take him home? Can we keep him? Please, oh please?"

    Laura crossed her arms over her chest, acting as if she were contemplating. “I don't know,” she said. “That's a pretty big decision."

    "What if I promise not to poop on the lawn?” Charles asked.

    "Well, in that case...” Laura replied, laughing.

    I really didn't know any normal people, did I?

Chapter 4
    As everybody straightened up, I moved the dining room table and chairs back into their usual position. All the while I thought about trust. Maybe because I had tried to get Ginny to consider it. Maybe because I saw how tenuous it could be, watching Susan and Maggie struggle to find it. I guessed that it really didn't matter. What did matter, though, was that when I opened the door at ten fifteen, there stood Janice. When I opened it again, there stood Charles. We began each session