Session 11 –
"Hi, Sasuke-kun!"
"Hello."
"How's it going?"
"Fine."
"1-10."
"Hn. 5."
"That's better than the last time I asked."
"What'd I say last time?"
"4, I think."
"Then 6."
"Oh, that's awesome!"
"Bio Tools is going well."
"Happy to hear it."
"You helped."
"I did?"
"Aa. I've been...thinking more about my standards."
"What'd you decide about them?"
"That my best is good enough."
"I'd agree with that. How do you know when you do your best?"
"Usually when I'm the best."
"Sasuke-kun."
"Hn?"
"I guess we can revisit that later. So you're telling me you have a 100% in Orochimaru-sama's class?"
"96."
"You're kidding."
"I missed an iClicker question once."
"That's insane. What about all of your other classes?"
"They're fine."
"Just fine?"
"As and Bs."
"Have you ever gotten a grade you weren't happy with?"
"Me? No."
"What about a grade that made someone else not happy?"
"Always."
"Always! I find it hard to believe that anyone could be mad at a 96 in BioE."
"Well."
"That's crazy."
"Itachi just wants me to do my best."
"Who's Itachi?"
"My brother."
"Oh, okay, okay. Well, how would he know the difference between what's your best and what's not? Especially when you're doing so well by every other standard. That doesn't seem fair."
"I'm not sure you asked a question."
"I guess I didn't. That seems like a lot of pressure to me. Is it?"
"Pressure makes diamonds."
"Pressure also triggers hypomania."
"..."
"I bet you're wishing you never told me."
"Somewhat."
"You've got to talk to him Sasuke. I'd hate for you to do less than your best and be unprepared to handle it healthily."
"That'll never happen."
"Let's pretend it does. What would you do?"
"I don't know."
"I remember you telling me before that you usually lose sleep when you're stressed. Is that one of the first signs that pressure is impacting you negatively that you can think of?"
"I–Yes."
"We can start there, next time. I want a list of at least five things, okay? Triggers and responses."
"Okay."
"Anyway. Spring Break is next week. Do you have anything planned?"
"Suna."
"But you hate Suna."
"Suna annoys me."
"I'm failing to see the difference."
"I don't hate it."
"Well, what's in Suna that annoys you so much?"
"Family. Cousins, uncles."
"Oh, I see. I see. You must be the youngest."
"Aa. How do you figure?"
"Lucky guess."
"Hn."
"Did you want to still meet next week? We can always–"
"Yes."
"You don't even know what I was going to say."
"I'll still want to."
"Tch. Okay, well, like I was saying. The Counseling Center will obviously be closed so I'll need to call from my personal phone if that's okay with you."
"Aa. What is it?"
"Are you sure? I'll want my list then, too."
"Tch. I'm sure."
"Okay, fine. You have a pen?"