After all of that went down earlier in the year, Elias talked to his parents. They suggested that he should go to therapy. He agreed as long as it was group therapy, he found it awkward to be alone with a creepy elder. So it was finally his first opportunity to join. April 7th. He dressed in his typical jeans and a tight gray shirt. As he walked in, he saw all eyes land on him. There were about 12 kids in here seeming to range from 11 to say 17. But he couldn't tell for sure.
As the instructor noticed everyone's attention breaking he turned to the door as well, he looked quickly to his calendar. He was an elderly man but he seemed younger than he looked with his jolly smile and eyes that smiled even without his lips.
"oh yes, I remember today is the seventh. Remember I told you we'd be inviting someone new to our group? well this is him. Do you want to introduce yourself, young man? If not i can do it for you. My name is Alan Polizi, but everyone here just calls me Al."
Elias had never been shy so he walked up with a smile on his face and looked around as he was now in the middle of the circle.
"My name is Elias, but id like you to call me Eli" Not very many people called him that but that's exactly why he chose it. He wanted to be different he wanted to be seen differently and this was just a beginning.
"well Eli you can sit next to Lucas." Lucas raised his hand, he was a blond boy, the typical guy all girls would like which made Elias scowl, but he remembered he's Eli now and he won't let the little things bother him anymore. He smiled at Lucas and he smiled back maybe they'd be good friends. As Eli settled he looked across the room. There was someone he realized he missed. She was a tiny girl. She was sitting crosslegged in her chair and reading a book with her head down so all he could see was her red hair piling over. That position amused him. Just as he thought that, Al was done filing Eli in his book.
"well let's introduce ourselves." They all went around the circle. Starting with Eli and then Lucas and all the way around. There was Thomas, 13, Camren, 15, Julie, 17, Aimee, 15, Pierre, 12, Olivia, 13, Giovanna,17, Harry,11, Kyle, 16, Jordan, 14 and lastly was the red headed girl. She looked up when Al cleared his throat with a big cough. She then blushed she looked at me and said her name was Melody and she's 16. Her voice was sweet and velvety and even after she said her name her eyes lingered. Eli looked into hers and smiled. They were a simple brown but they shined. She blushed and look down into her book, but her eyes weren't moving. She looked straight into the page seemingly getting redder and redder.
Throughout the rest of the meeting they got to know why everyone was there. Al stated that the first step to recovery is acceptance. They went around, they started with Melody this time. She had her book down by this point, because it is considered rude to read while people are sharing feelings. She shrugged and looked up at Al as she spoke. Which Eli found reasonable since it is awkward telling people,you hardly know, what's wrong with you.
"well I have ADHD, but that's not really why I'm here I've learned to deal with that." Just as she was about to continue Al stopped her.
"what has helped you with that?"
"Really the question is what hasn't? A lot of things have helped me, first of all my books, if there's anything that requires focus it is reading. to hop into the story and understand it first hand takes the most focus, second is my viola, I call her Rue." she smirked at this. "but lastly, really is you guys, you guys help me with so much, you make me believe in myself." She looked around the room sweetly, stopped at him and then looked quickly back up at Al.
"but I'm really here for my obsessive compulsive disorder."
We went around the room with series of depression, anxiety, anger issues, along with tons of other issues. Then it was his turn, Eli didn't know what was wrong with him. He just knew something was wrong. maybe it was loneliness, maybe it was paranoia, maybe it was nothing, maybe.
"Eli? why are you here?" He thought one last second.
"I just need friends, friends so that I can find myself. When I do that then I'll know why I'm here today." He said. Al smiled and nodded.
The rest of the time people shared some personal stories of the week. Melody didn't say anything more after that but she paid close attention when the other members talked, nodded along when it called for that.
Eli found himself wanting to know more about her. It seemed like everyone else talked but her. She was listening and taking in everything, but she didn't open up. So he looked at her wondering what she could be thinking. who she could be. The more he wondered and theorized he realized she was beautiful. So he made it a reminder in his mind to talk to her once this was over.
The time went by quickly after that. Camren talked the longest and soon there was no more time. Eli smiled, glad he didn't have to share his stories.
He got up from his seat and Al walked towards him.
"I hope we didn't bore you today. It was just a in between day we have lesson days where we actually do things and in between days where we just talk about how the lesson we learned helped us or otherwise." Al said. He seemed to like to talk so Eli just smiled and told him it was fine.
Eli then walked to the doorway hoping he didn't miss her. Luckily she was still there leaning the corner with her book open yet again.
"Hey" he said. She looked up and smiled.
"oh hello, Eli. I was gonna come find you after the talks but apparently Al had the same goal." Eli wondered why she wanted to talk to him but he had to stick to his goal of asking her on a date. Just as he was about to ask her she began speaking. She looked up at him strong and proud. "Would you like to go on a date with me sometime?"
That was unexpected. Eli turned bright red but then he smiled. He smiled and said "Yes, I would love to go on a date with you."
