Our Circle

Eye For An Eye

•Chapter Two•
•Eye For An Eye•
•Tegan•

The bell for lunch rang as I walked into the guidance office. I left class five minutes early, I was starting to feel trapped and used the therapy circle as a reason to get out. I didn't bother stoping to talk to the secretary, she wouldn't have even peeled her eyes away from her computer screen. I headed straight to Miss Gracie's office, the third on the right. Her office is nice, besides the faded purple carpet. But other wise she had a cozy office. Her walls were lined with shelves full of books and different knick knacks. It seemed very inviting.

Besides Miss Gracie and I, there was only one other person in the room. He sat next to me yesterday, his name, if I'm remembering correctly, is Roman. Roman is such a nice name. Roman was shorter then some of the other guys here, but still taller than me. His floppy brown hair always seems to be in his eyes, he's constantly brushing it away. So maybe I've stared at him a few times during class, that's not weird. We share only one class, he never talks during it, not that I would know. I mean, I don't stare at him ever single minute. I don't pay much attention in class either.

"Hello Tegan, you can set your bag down over there." Miss Gracie pointed towards the same wall as yesterday. "People should be arriving any second now." I nodded at her and set my bag down.

"You're in my music class, right?" Roman walked over to me. I meekly nodded at him and turned away. I could already feel the tears pooling in my eyes. First time encounters were fair to stressful. "Are you okay?" He asked, concern lacing his words.

"Y-yes." I felt the tears start to swell and slowly drip down my face. I need to get control of myself and fast/

"Um, I'm sorry. What did I say?" Roman looked so confused and worried that it made me want to cry harder.

"I-I'm sorry." I sobbed, dropping my head in my hands. The emotions from last class bubbled up and everything became too real.

"It's okay." He whispered. I felt his strong arms circle around my shoulders, hugging me to his chest.

Miss Gracie handed me a few tissues, I quickly wiped my eyes and pulled away from Roman. I feel real bad for not only crying near him, but almost crying on him. I need to find my happy place and gain control of my emotions. I began counting backwards from ten.

By now everyone else was present. I sniffled and sat down next to the blond girl I had sat next to yesterday. Her name was either Skye or Ivy. I can't remember. Roman came to sit next to me in our disheveled circle. He smiled at me as he plopped down. I tried to smile back at him, but I think I failed.

"You okay?" He asked softly.

"Yes." I said in a hushed whisper.

"Good." He grinned at me, showing off his pretty teeth. This time I managed a small smile back.

"Okay everyone," Miss Gracie directed our attention to her. "We could try harder in forming a better circle. This looks like an irregular triangle." A long brown haired boy began laughing. His laugh was loud and boisterous, filling the room and making my ears hurt. His name was either Fletcher or Calvin, both of them sat on the opposite side of the circle from me. I'm really bad with names and facial recognition. I was also a bit freaked out yesterday, so I wasn't trying hard at remembering who was who. I know for a fact that Lloyd is the seriously quiet boy sitting next to Miss Gracie and Theo is the scary, intimidating one with spiky black hair. He kind of reminds me of a greaser. But everyone else kind of merged together in my mind, besides Roman who I already knew. Now that I'm really looking at everyone else I think some of them are in my classes.

"Quiet down, Calvin." Miss Gracie scolded the laughing boy. His name is Calvin, not Fletcher. "I understand that you guys don't trust me or each other and I don't expect any of you to open up to each other. So we'll try some trust activities that will hopefully open up everyone to a mutual trust."