Echo Creek Mental Institution

Chapter 2: The Awkwardness

The group that consisted of the girl with the skull face, the girl with maniac depression, the fat kid and the paranoid guy adopted me as one of their own. I must've made a good impression on them, although I didn't understand how I did that. Maybe if I figured it out, more people would like me and want to go on more adventures.
"So your real name is Star?" Janna inquires to Jackie and me as a nurse stands over us. Apparently, we had clean up time for thirty minutes after breakfast. Also the guys rooms were to the left of the cafeteria, girls were to the right so we abandoned Ferguson and Marco right after our meal. Ferg didn't like me very much, I think I crossed a line like usual. I felt stupid. Marco was always in his own little world (lucky guy) so I couldn't get a read on him.
"Yeah." I respond. "It is."
"No way." Jackie dismisses, "Your real name is..." She nods for me to continue.
I lie. "No I'm serious guys."
Janna lets out a cute little laugh. "Sure thing, Star Butterfly. We'll just pretend that sounds real."
"No it really is-" the nurse raps her hands on my shoulders suddenly.
"Mrs. Butterfly, your room is here." She chirps, her nose extending a whole foot past her actual skinny face. Seriously, paint her green and she is totally a witch. That would be awesome.
"I can't room with them?" I look and Janna and Jackie longingly.
"Two people per room and it's us." Jackie makes a surfer symbol with her hand as Janna waves. "Later dude!"
I sulk. "Shit waffles."
"Don't worry, sweetie. Your roommate is a nice girl don't worry." She pats my shoulder and opens the nearest door. I cringe as I'm shoved in firmly, but not angrily. The room is painted a light pink and had two beds. One was occupied by a girl COVERED in freckles (and a blanket) and the other was a thin mattress with a thinner sheet and a very upsetting excuse for a pillow. There was a window in between with a desk under it. On either sides of the doorway was a small bookshelf, I guess for clothes and stuff. It was very much plain.
"Persephone." The nurse sings. The girl with all the freckles untangles herself from the lump of sheets and sat up. About half of her head's shaven and the rest is died pink. She wore the standard light pink jumpsuit. As she pulled the goop from her eyes, they reflected blue in the light while the whites are almost red. She was interesting. Plus lots of freckles. This girl was definitely someone I wanna hang out with.
I extend a hand. "Hey I'm Star Butterfly."
The girl snickers at the hand and shoots finger guns at me. "I'm Pony Head. Guess we're roommates."
I pull my hand back and return the guns awkwardly, "Hey..."
"Now Persephone." The nurse gave a warning look from behind her cat glasses. "We don't use that kinda self deprivations language here. Call yourself by your real name."
Pony scoffs and stretches. "Okay."
As she exists, the nurse hands me a piece of construction paper. "It's a meal card." She explains. I take it from her shaking hand, only then did I realize how old this woman was. Her face looked like it had been through a washer, but wasn't saggy yet. She had brown eyes. I snatch the card from her and sit on my bed.
"Alrighty I'll let you to get aquatinted." The nurse nods. "Persephone make your bed please." She nods lazily with a thumbs up and we share awkward eye contact as soon as the door's closed.
"So..." I look away without grace as I teeter on my bed. "Pony Head?"
"Yeah." She talks like she's chewing gum, which she isn't. "It's a play on pot head. 'Cause I do drugs and shit." And with a yawn she adds "which is why I'm here..."
I feel my face fill with fire. The freckles I so gracefully noted of weren't freckles they were scars from crank bugs. Like from heroin. I grip my teeth and rub my feet on the floor in my socks. More awkwardness. I wasn't good at this. No wonder I was always alone. I have one job as a human and that's to hold a conversation with another human and I can't even do that. I'm a lousy friend. I'm a lousy person. I'm a lousy human. I guess maybe lousy people don't deserve to die spectacularly. So maybe I should just off myself in the conventional way. Some rope or a tall building. Like a normal person.
"Yo, B-Fly." Pony snaps me out of my trance.
"Hm?" I say nervously.
"I'm meeting people on the patio. You wanna come?"
I glance over at her unmade bed. "But your bed-"
Pony raises an eyebrow.
"Never mind it's all good." I itch my arm and spring to my feet. "Yes patio it is lets go."
We shuffle through the door together. The girl's a whole head above me. She's pretty lanky though, her arms are just to thin and so were her legs and neck for her torso and head. Her body was paled out and covered in scars. She had long strides that I had to double my pace to keep up with. She seemed to just float over everything.
We swing into the rec room to see a bunch of kids chilling in a corner. The patio wasn't a patio it was a "patio". Basically, in the rec room there was a big window that went floor to ceiling (it had a few safety bars on the outside though) and in front of it was a grey carpet and a picnic table on that carpet. It was covered in graffiti but no one seemed to mind. Just a bunch of signatures and kind words.
I spot Janna and Jackie on the left side of the table but Pony goes to sit on the right. There are a few kids there but I feel my stomach churn when I think about going to talk to them. I can't just walk up I have to have purpose. If I meet those new kids now I'll be introduced as Pony's roommate then I'll have to stand there awkwardly as they pass inside jokes about that and past roommates of Pony's and making fun of Pony the way only good friends could. And there I'll be, alone but still with people. I'll be totally out of the loop. I couldn't. So I go right and sit next to Janna.
"Where's Ferg and Marco?" I ask.
Jackie laughs. "Marco's a neat freak he'll take his whole cleaning time. Ferguson doesn't like this sorta stuff."
"What?" I ask with a small tickle in my throat. "Hanging out?"
Janna nods. "He's a weird one."
I laugh a bit and she smiles at me, the scars on her lips pressing thin. Her skin was really nice, besides the scars and her hair framed it nicely. Her eyes sorta sparkled, the way only boring brown eyes could; slightly. All of the sudden, Jackie blurts out this story of the time she went hiking up Mt. Everest and I was forced to look away from Janna.
The story wasn't very interesting, Jackie went with her dad and a family friend and they had to eat rabbit at some point. Jackie told it like it was epic but really, it was a normal story for that sorta thing. Thy went up, had some unpredicted whether mishap, came back down. Very plain. Also it was set on Earth, what great story could ever take place in this decade, in this year, on this planet ever worth repeating? So stupid...
Cleaning time ended with Jackie's story that she dragged out and we ended up all leaving a bit late. We passed Pony who was yelling at a guy nurse about how the whole "not making your bed" situation was stupid. Janna and Jackie exchange eye rolls, indicating that this happens often. I wonder when I get to do stuff like that with them. Has it been long enough? I begin to fall behind as they whisper rumors about Pony. We reach the mess hall and I spot Marco, who looks up at me and frowns.
"Hey?" I raise my eyebrows. I dunno how to only do one.
"You're a liar." He spits.
My feet stop. "What?"
"I know all about you, Estella." He growls at me with big, brown eyes. "You're not supposed to be here. You're a liar."

BUM BUM BUM

I DUNNO HOW MANY PARTS THIS WILL BE SORRY YALL
I LIKE THE ARC AND IM BORED AND HAVE WRITERS BLOCK
LOVE YOU ALL
BUT IM IN COSTA RICA WITH MY CAMP WITH LITTLE TO NO WIFI SO UPDATES SILL BE SPORADIC

<3
WOLFIE LYNN THOMAS