Miles (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 1

"Can anyone tell me where a whale would live?" Mia asks the kids that were staring up at the projector board that showed four different examples of the habitats we had been discussing. The kids just got done with reading time and were all ready to continue on with learning about all the things we had planned for the day. I looked around the room, waiting for the one eager little hand to shoot up to answer the question.

When I see Raphael slightly stand from his seat as he stretches his arm up, waiting to be called on by either me or his teacher, I point towards him to tell him that he could say the answer. "The ocean!"

Mia nods her head, hitting a button on her computer to change the projector screen to show a whale swimming in the ocean. "Yes, a whale would be living in the ocean. Where would a bird live?"

We keep going through all the animals we had until the bell rings, announcing that it was time for recess. I move to the back of the class to make sure all the kids get into the line and follow their teacher out the door. We silently walk out of the classroom, them following the instructions of holding one finger up to their mouth so they always knew to be quiet when in the hallways, to the back door and once the fresh air hits the kids faces, they take off running to the playground to get out all the extra energy that they've gained from sitting in their seats all day.

I follow Mia over to the picnic tables as she pulls out her laptop that she had brought with to look over the worksheets that we were going to go over later on in the day. I give her my attention when she looks over at me, suddenly remembering something. "I know you usually leave once we're done cleaning the room, but at 3:00, there's a middle school assembly that I have to help set up for, you mind helping me with that?"

I nod my head, knowing that I would do anything to help my best friend, especially if she was going to have to deal with middle school kids. "Yeah, absolutely. What's the assembly for?"

"I'm not entirely sure. Some of the other teachers think it's some mental health thing because they looked up the company that's coming for it. I don't know too much about it, but they apparently come every year here to speak," she tells me, typing someone on her laptop as she shrugs her shoulders.

"What's the company?"

"Something called Stigma Educational Program," she tells me and a picture flashes in my mind of the logo of that company placed somewhere that I couldn't quite figure out where I had seen it. I think for a minute of where I could've possibly seen it, but going to college focusing on adolescent and child care, I've probably seen dozens of these types of programs, so it must've been there or something.

"Sounds familiar," I tell her.

"Well, good thing there's a thing called the internet," she says with a small chuckle, pulling up a new tab to search up the name. She clicks on the first link to bring up a page that proudly displays an attractive man wearing a suit holding a sign that says 'Erase the Stigma'. Underneath his picture said Julian Caldwell, Founder and I was hoping we would get to meet this guy today since this actually looked pretty interesting since it was so professional looking.

"'Stigma Educational Program's main goal is to provide information to teens, children, and kids about mental health. We plan to help those in need understand that seeking help is the right course of action and to help erase the stigma surrounding it. We teach students, parents, and teachers the signs and symptoms of various mental disorders and ways to start a conversation. With our programs, we talk to anyone and everyone to give them the proper education to handle these mental disorders that can directly affect the daily routines of children and adolescents,'" I read out, looking over her shoulder to see the text that displayed on her laptop under the Mission Statement tab.