Thera[pies]

What is Happiness?

  The 7 students of Whitewater High all underwent the slow walk of intense questioning looks from the student body, everyone giving them expectant looks, wondering what they had done wrong to be called out to the social worker. 

  They looked like spectators of fighting arenas, anticipating for the drama to begin. 

  There were whispers, "freaks" "crazy" "problematic" because only kids who wore those labels needed to go to the social worker right?

*****

After school:

"So what is happiness, and how do we achieve it?" 

The perky school social worker asked, in her high pitched melodic voice.

She was the new social worker, the former one had left without a word, leaving behind all the "unsuccessful" assignments to this quirky new woman, who knew almost nothing about the true depth of mental and emotional struggles these 7 seniors of Whitewater High went through. 

She was expecting kids with typical problems and she would always have the answers she had been taught to say.

" Below average grades" 

"work harder with extra classes"

"Popularity problems" 

"You don't need to be popular to feel special"

"Parent issues"

"Just talk to them"

"young love"

"Every one goes through this, it's time to move on"

"self-identity crisis" 

"It's just a phase"

"Anger management"

"Here is a stress-ball. Just cool down"

"Low self-esteem"

"You're beautiful"

All of her guesses were somewhat correct, what she didn't understand was that the answers she recited were useless to these 7 teenagers sitting in this white brightly-lit room with her.

She smiled brightly in encouragement towards the 7 awkward students, sitting in a circle around her, they fidgeted and squirmed in discomfort.

Except two students who didn't seem to care that they were here.

"Lets start off with you. What's your name?" the quirky teacher with the name Ms.Emilia Fawn written on a name tag she wore.

she was looking at a girl around the age of 17, like everyone else in the room was.

This particular 17 year old girl, was one of the 2 students who looked like they couldn't care less about the fact that they were in a therapy group session. 

She stood up, tucking her dark messy waves which fell mid-back, behind her right ear. She then readjusted her glasses onto the bridge of her nose. 

"uhm, hello.. Im Aiyanna Limbu" Clearing her throat.

"hello Aiyanna" The rest of students in the room droned monotonously.

"Wow, this is like an AA" Aiyanna laughed awkwardly but stopped when she saw the bored looks of the other students except the girl sitting next to her, who stood up immediately without being asked to.

"Oh hi! I'm Aleisha!" The girl named Aleisha had an awkward smile on her face, exchanging glances with Aiyanna, it was apparent that they were friends,

Aleisha had long dark hair that turned lighter near the end, they fell into waves and her hair ended in soft curls brushing at the small of her back.

  " Almost forgot we had to introduce ourselves! I'm Aleisha Monroe... oh I think I"ve mentioned that already! I honestly don't know why I'm here but HAHA here I am!" She shrugged with a forced smile.

The two girls stood beside each other, they were so similar with their dark skin and soft messy curls that people may have mistaken them for twins, the only difference was that Aiyanna was taller by a centimeter, and she had a more slimmer body with more prominent features, contrasting to Aleisha's curvy body and soft features.

  Ms. Emilia Fawn was a little taken aback by such awkward enthusiasm but she was pleased nonetheless.

She gave the two girls a grateful smile and motioned for them to sit down, one by one the rest of the students got up and introduced themselves.

"hello, Im Daisha Jefferson"  Said a mocha-skinned girl with a short voluminous afro

another kid with short blonde hair stood up and introduced himself

"Trefor Franco"  was all he said and sat back down.

"Im Anwar Chauhan, I don't know why I am here, please, I haven't done anything wrong.. I just-"  The student rambled nervously, wringing his hands together, he had black hair that sat neatly on his head.

He was interrupted in the middle of his introduction by Ms.Fawn who gave him a reassuring look "thats ok Anwar, you've done nothing wrong, sit down" her voice was gentle and Anwar immediately sat down, swallowing nervously.

"Im Elfriede Rosa Paredes and I don't know why Im here" She looked at her watch that looked fairly expensive on her olive skin. "I have to be working out in like 5 minutes, do you realize how inconvenient this is for me? Like, inconsiderate much?" 

Everyone in the room stared at her uncomfortably, an awkward air filled the room and she sat back down.

The very last student stood up, she looked a little younger than the rest and had a very petite figure

"hello, Im Ho Hoi Man" her voice was soft and she had a polite smile on her porcelain face "You can call me Harmony" she sat back down.

Ms.Fawn felt the need to clear her throat as an attempt to clear out the tense atmosphere of the room.

"Well" she said, in her perky voice, she flashed them all a brilliant smile

"Do you like pie?"