Shelby Anderson Barnum–Dorcas Peters

The friendship between Shelby Anderson Barnum and Dorcas Peters begins at Central Washington University as an uneven but deliberate movement toward connection: Dorcas reaches out readily, while Shelby, guarded and estranged from affection, takes time to respond. Its defining gesture is not an instant transformation but Dorcas’s promise to be there without requiring an answer—and Shelby’s gradual willingness to sit beside her, accept care, and begin a conversation of her own.

First Meeting and Uneasy Welcome

Shelby and Dorcas meet at the start of their first year on campus. Shelby has already visited the university, but her thoughts are elsewhere: listening to AC/DC’s "Highway To Hell," she sighs at the prospect of being there and longs to return to California. Dorcas, a red-haired student who approaches with buoyant energy, asks whether Shelby is also a first-year student. Shelby answers without much enthusiasm. She notices Dorcas’s positivity but feels tired by it almost at once; as someone who dreads social ties, she experiences the encounter less as effortless companionship than as another demand on her guarded attention.

After introducing herself, Dorcas accompanies Shelby to the university dormitory. The two go to reception and then to their assigned rooms. Shelby has requested a room to herself rather than a roommate, and the space initially feels bare and closed-in: her belongings remain unpacked, and she opens the window before arranging them. Once she has begun to make the room her own, Dorcas knocks and asks if Shelby might show her around campus, unless she already has other plans. Shelby agrees, not wanting to hurt her feelings. Dorcas responds with an embrace; Shelby remains motionless, unused to physical affection and, more broadly, to showing affection to anyone. The moment sets out the difference between them without resolving it: Dorcas offers warmth instinctively, while Shelby cannot yet meet it in kind.

Friendship Offered Without Pressure

On the campus tour, Shelby shows Dorcas places to study, including the library, as well as the refectory, cafeteria, and art building, where they will spend much of the year. Their visit ends with them sitting on the grass among other students. The tour gives their introduction a practical shape: Dorcas asks for help, Shelby accepts the request, and they spend time together through an activity Shelby can lead rather than through forced disclosure.

The friendship becomes more consequential when Dorcas seeks Shelby out on the university roof after Cassiopée has said something hurtful. Dorcas apologizes for her friend and insists that Shelby should not be criticized for being who she is. Shelby is touched enough to smile; Dorcas notices. Then she acknowledges that she can be intrusive, but says she would genuinely like them to be friends. Crucially, she does not press Shelby for an immediate yes or no. She tells her that she will be there if Shelby needs her, leaving Shelby free to decide what the offer means.

That restraint matters because friendship has long felt unavailable to Shelby. She has not heard someone outside her family offer that kind of support in years, and the concept of having friends is bound up with a loneliness that continues to wear her down. Her answer is only thanks, not a declaration that she is ready to trust Dorcas fully. The scene instead marks a smaller change: Shelby allows the offer to reach her, and Dorcas lets that response be enough.

Care in Ordinary Moments

Dorcas’s support also appears in unceremonious acts of inclusion. At lunch, Shelby has taken a table alone because eating in front of unfamiliar people is difficult for her. Food is a sensitive issue, and she is trying to resist returning to a pattern of making herself sick after eating. Dorcas spots her, comes over with Cassiopée, and gently asks whether they may join her. Shelby had chosen the solitary table deliberately, but answers with a negative shake of the head to indicate that she does not mind. Dorcas’s concern is expressed as an invitation rather than an insistence; Shelby can accept company while keeping control over the terms of the encounter.

Later, when Shelby comes to class after missing two days because she did not want to face people, Dorcas is there with Cassiopée. The two sit beside her, and Dorcas offers her an energy bar. Shelby takes it and thanks her, eating while Dorcas watches protectively. The gesture connects companionship to immediate, concrete care: Dorcas does not merely notice Shelby’s absence or distress, but offers food in a form Shelby can accept in that moment.

Gradual Reciprocity

Dorcas remains a familiar presence in Shelby’s campus life, appearing with Cassiopée before class and checking on how Shelby is doing. Their relationship does not erase Shelby’s anxiety or make social contact suddenly easy. After another difficult period marked by insomnia and fatigue, Shelby follows her psychologist’s advice and sits beside Dorcas, surprising both Dorcas and Cassiopée. She hesitantly asks whether they are doing well. The question is small, but its direction matters: Shelby is no longer only being approached or cared for; she initiates contact and turns her attention toward her friends.

Across these encounters, the friendship develops through repeated invitations, patience, and manageable acts of participation rather than a single dramatic confession. Dorcas’s openness gives Shelby room to decline, hesitate, or accept only what she can manage. Shelby’s later decision to sit beside Dorcas and ask after her marks an emerging reciprocity, not proof that her isolation has ended. Their bond’s significance lies in this distinction: Dorcas offers companionship without treating Shelby’s reserve as rejection, while Shelby begins, cautiously, to make space for the connection.