I Don't Care if You're Sick

The Old Crowd

Kellin's POV

The hour flew by fast and all to soon other patients came in, groggy and tired, glaring around for the food which had arrived just five minutes before them.

"Come on, let's eat." I looked guiltily at my food, soggy hash browns, slimy eggs, and cold sausage. "I'm not hungry." I declared, shoving the food away from me and glaring out the frosted window where all I could see was blurry shapes.

"Yes you are, you just don't like what on the plate, which I don't blame you, but there's cereal." He was right, I was hungry, but I felt bad about eating last night.

"Kellin, you don't need to starve yourself. You're really fit, you work out, and don't try to protest because I heard you last night when you thought I was asleep. Even if it was only for fifteen minutes."

"I'm going to get fat if I eat. So I'm not going to eat." Vic looked sadly at me, "Please eat. It would make me really happy. You shouldn't think that pounds define who you are. You are a person, not a number."

We both had a bowl of cereal, I ate all of it and so did he. I felt better after eating, he was right, I wasn't a number. I was Kellin Quinn.

"Therapy time, show your trays to Hayley and then come sit down." I showed mine and Vic's try and he brought the milf cartons that had previously held our cereal, she nodded and wrote something down on her clipboard.

Vic and I sat on the love seat couch and waited for the first therapy session to start. It wasn't really therapy, we read the rules of the lounge and the rules of group and rated our moods on a scale of one to ten.

"Lets say our names and our mood, Ryan, you start." Hayley pointed at the boy with brown hair and sometimes questionable clothing choices.

Ryan was one of the usuals, he'd been here the first time I came and had been here twice before, he left a few days before me, I guess he was back again, "I'm Ryan and a three." He always sounded like he was bored but in reality he had crippling anxiety that he hid so well I only knew because we were roommates for three days.

"I'm Brendon and a five." Brendon and Ryan obviously liked each other and had been rumored, only among the patients only of course, that they had hooked up.

"I'm Tyler and a two."
"I'm Josh and a seven." Tyler and Josh were the best of friends. Tyler was very protective of Josh and hated when he got to close to other patients. No one knew if they were together or why Tyler was so protective of him. Tyler had depression and Josh had anxiety but was always happy and outgoing, the opposite of Tyler.

"Hi my name is Ronnie, I'm an addict and a five." Everyone knew Ronnie, he had gone threw some serious shit as a child with his family. He was the stereo type of a fucked up kid.

"I'm Frank, I'm about a six and Gerard's a one." Frank and Gerard were totally together. They kissed and held hands and didn't give a shit that they weren't allowed to do that here. Gerard never spoke, he wrote things down and gave them to Frank to read aloud. They both had depression and Gerard had been suicidal and a recovering alcoholic. He'd get better.

"I'm Vic, I'm a seven." He turned and smiled at me, tucking a lock of his brown wavy hair behind his ear.

"I'm Kellin and a seven as well." I retuned the smile and waited to be dismissed to our rooms before more therapy.