Ryland stepped up to the out of place looking building, adjusting the strap of her oxygen bag as she did so. The gravel parking lot made it impossible for her to roll the trolley up to the door, and carrying it had her so out of wind that she thought she would pass out. What a great idea…not.

She leaned over a bit, breathing deeply through her nose as she contemplated walking into the possible confines, or simply whipping out a cell phone and telling her mom that the doctors were idiots and she wasn't attending such a quack show. She gave a small cough, before standing straight and dropping her bag onto the floor. With a tug, a small handle came to snap in place at her hip, and she rolled the trolley into the doors.

"You need some help?", a male voice called from behind her. Her brain jolted, and she narrowed her eyes before turning on the younger boy, "Sorry…I didn't mean to scare you. You just looked like you were a bit…tired?"

"I'm fine.", she spat, continuing her walk into the building.

"You don't look find. You look like death.", the boy continued, causing a sigh of annoyance to leave Ryland's throat, "I didn't mean it like that. Oh my god, you must think I'm such a dick…"

She pursed her lips together, and nodded, "I know you are. What the hell are you in here for? Mommy not buy you a new car today?"

"I deserved that…", the boy admitted, shrugging as he shoved his hands in his pockets. Ryland simply stared at him, her eyes narrowed so far that she could barely see, "My name's Adam."

"Mmm..Baker, right? Must be nice…"

Adam ignored her smart mouth, stepping a bit closer, "So what's your name? Why are you here?"

"You never answered my question. Why should I answer yours? I don't know you…", Ryland snapped, realizing that the door has been wide open this entire time.

"…Clinical Depression…"

A snarled laugh left Ryland's throat as she doubled and attempted to keep her breathing regulated, while laughing hard.

"Glad I could amuse with my pain…", Adam scoffed, biting his lip softly as he stared at her, "My turn…questions."

"Name's Ryland. I'm here because I almost died, and my doctor thinks I'm fucked in the head, now.", she explained dryly, which took Adam off guard.

"Such a sharp tone for a girl like you…"

"A girl like me? Tell me. What would a girl like me say, then? Oh dear….I went through chemo and lost all of my hair. I have it back now, but it feels fake because the radiation destroyed the follicles. Oh poor innocent little Ryland. Boohoo. Don't let the eyes fool you. I've been through a lot…"

"I can tell. Look. You don't owe me anything. I don't know you, but I think you owe it to yourself to give this place a shot…", Adam almost whispered, standing in the doorway, his arm ushering her in. She glared at him for a second longer, and then passed his body, entering the cold and sterile building that everyone hoped would be their saving grace, apparently.

A blue sports car pulled up to the curb outside the counseling center. As it idled, the window rolled down an inch as a pair of dark, wary eyes looked over the unimpressive building. The window slid back up, and the eyes turned to stare accusingly at the driver.

"This is it? This is what you're abandoning me to?" The young woman's voice was sharp, despite the obvious youth of her tone. She was obviously restraining a lot of anger.

"Jinny..."

"Jin. My name is Jin. I'm not a little kid anymore, Chance."

Her adoptive brother gave her a worried glance, looking at her with searching gray eyes. "I know. That's what worries me most. I... I don't want to lose you to jail, Jin. Trust me, I get the whole 'fuck the world' teenage attitude, but..." He looked away, but not before tears started to glisten in his eyes. "I'm worried. You don't sleep, when you think no one's looking, your hands shake, and... I know the nightmares are getting worse."

Jin let out a soft little grunt of dissent, but couldn't bring the lie to her lips. She could only look away as well. It made her a little sick inside that she was making him cry.

"I don't want you to hurt, Jin." He sighed, subtly wiping at his eyes. "If you can't talk to me, and you refuse to see the therapist like I'm asking you... maybe this'll help." He gave her a steady look, then leaned over and kissed the top of her head. "You may not be a kid anymore, but I'm still gonna protect you. Even from yourself. Just... try, okay?"

Jin leaned into him slightly, her tough persona bending for a few moments as she rested her forehead against his shoulder. She wished that she could tell him how she felt, but it was so much emotion, and it was so constant. He'd done so much for her already. Why put more on him? "I'll do my best." She got out of the car, donning a thick purple hoodie over her pink layered top. Flipping up the hood, she headed inside.

Xavier was walking to the very unimpressive building from college, so far he had skipped out on three other possible meetings here he hadn't thought it would be this hard to just sit and be silent....maybe talk sometimes. He knew this could help, or at least get to a point where he could find help and get better. He saw other people going in too at this point, he guessed this wouldn't hurt, fixing his jacket he starts walking up the stairs to the door, keeping his ipod on and headphones up. He didn't really want to make the first move, especially out here. He kind of smirks wryly about how he is now, his younger self wouldn't know who he was if they met, he changed so much from the accident...and the subsequent crap that went on afterwards. He walked passed a nice looking car, the driver watching another one of the people coming here to maybe get rid of their troubles. He walked up the stairs, his face contorting in pain now and again from his leg and knee injury, he stopped and leaned against a railing catching his breath, he had his brace in the small messenger bag he always carries...he can't believe he left his pills home though, trying to get better Xavier guesses. He keeps walking and walks into the building immediately heading to a bathroom so he could put the brace on under his jeans. It was a no go on that so he has to wear it over them, he sighed a little annoyed about this but at least it helped with the pain. He looked around looking for a sign or something that would lead him to the group and saw it walking down a hallway he sighed, actually going through with this, let's hope it hasn't been a colossal waste of time.

Victoria skidded to a stop on her skateboard in-front of the building, swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat the girl sighed. She didn't want to do this, but she knew very well that she didn't have much of a choice. It took everything in her power to convince her parents that she could make it here on her own, it would take her selling her soul to convince them that she didn't need a support group.
Shaking the thought from her head the girl picked up her board and walked into the building. Patting on the outside pouch of her bag she made a mental note that her pills were with her. Checking her watch quickly she sighed. "One more dose in a half hour." She said to herself. Looking around at some of the people that walked in she started to make mental checks, something she often did to remember things. So far there seemed to be three girls, including herself and two guys, one of which was very good looking. He seemed to walk with a limp though, also seemed like he didn't want to be bothered. "Smart," Victoria thought, "I should have brought headphones with me."

Moving into the room the girl found a seat in the circle and put her board on the floor under her feet, starting to rock it back and forth over the smooth tile.
Closing her eyes Victoria brought a closed fist up to her mouth, at a glance someone might think that she was deep in thought, the way she hung her head. The concentration on her face may all lead to that, but no in-fact, Victoria Stone was starting slip, as she gently bit the skin of her already purple knuckles.

Hjordis sulked in her mother's car, idling in the parking lot with air conditioning at full blast and snarky replies on her lips to every one of her mother's questions. The woman had perfected the art of the pity-me-guilt-trip, as if she had any problem other than being late to her book club to drive her to group. Please.

"You took your medicine this morning, right? You know what it does to me when you forget..." The bitch always had to make it about her.

"Yes, mom, obviously."

"Are you going to be alright?"

"Yes, mom, obviously." Hjordis glared at the woman for a few moments before throwing open the car door and stalking towards the entrance, gravel making its signature crushing sound underneath her white shoes. The typical middle class silver minivan pulled up, her mother sticking her head out.

"Call me if you need anything, okay? I get worried." Jesus Christ, she's at it again.

"Will do, mom." Hjordis replied, sarcastic as ever as her hand pawed at the pocket in the too short shorts holding her smartphone. "My phone's right here, where I put it 30 seconds ago when I got out of the car." She ignored however her mother's reply and walked into the completely nondescript building, ready to turn around and leave at the slightest provocation. She had already seen other people enter, and she was prepared to hate any and all of them if she had to.

Travis said goodbye to his school counselor before getting out of her car. She had said nothing about the fresh black eye or the bruised arm. He preferred it that way. Shutting the door and trudging his way towards the door thinking of all the things that could go wrong.

The worst being his father finding out about him going here. His eyes bounced to and from the other people who seemed to be showing up for the meeting. He checked who the other people were, seeing most looked like those who Travis and his friends would torment, this would be a pretty odd experience. Travis thought this to himself as he fixed the sleeves of his American Eagle shirt.

Travis found his way to the room for the meeting. He saw a few other kids around his age in there. 'Damn, there's some stunners in here. He slid a chair next to Hjordis, the strawberry Blonde in the jean shorts. Hell if he was stuck going to this place, he might as well meet some people.

"Hey babe. Whats goin on?"

Xavier walked into the room and sat down across from the other two already there, he didn't make a move to interact with them and just looked around a bit. He took his brace off and put it back in the bag, he'll just put it back on later, he didn't have to have it on while he sat here, hopefully. He looked over at Victoria and pulled his headphones down, "Hi, I'm Xavier, you alright?" He asks looking at her knuckles and to her face. She seemed just lost in thought but he didn't think it would hurt to ask. He slid his leather jacket off and let it lay against the back of his chair, he hadn't stopped working out after his accident and stayed in good shape, he moved one arm under the other to hide the long scar on it, no need to talk about that till the shrink got here.

Jin walked into the room, looking at people from under her hood. She vaguely recognized a few people from school. More or less. It wasn't like she knew their names or anything, but the faces seemed familiar. She took a seat and pushed it slightly out of the circle it was in. Then she put her hands in the hoodie's front pocket, pulling out a deck of playing cards with a rubber band around it. The cards were weathered and bent, obviously having seen better days. Jin quietly started to shuffle them, her nimble fingers working through the exercise with a practiced ease. So who was going to run this shit show? She'd rather get started, so it could be over faster.

Head snapping around Victoria looked at the guy who talked to her. Looking confused for a moment she pulled her hand from her lips and nodded. "Yea, I uh..yea I'm okay." She said with a soft smile. Putting her hands back in her lap the girl swallowed the lump in her throat. "I'm Victoria, but call me Vee." Extending her hand to shake was out of the question, so she simply nodded in his direction.
Looking Xavier up and down up for a moment she started to think to herself, maybe this support group wasn't going to be such a bad idea. Quickly glancing around the room the girl noticed some of the decent looking people, some she's seen around town, other's she's at school. Turning her attention back Xavier she sighed, "So, why are you here?" She questioned tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

She had been leaning back in her chair, perfectly at ease with not speaking or being around anyone in the room - the anxiety about being around a bunch of unknown people already made her even snarkier than usual - and as such, was not happy when a boy sat next to her. He was almost cute until he opened his mouth, and H immediately stood up and pulled out her phone, tapping one of the only 4 contacts in the thing and calling her mother.

"Come pick me up."

"You know I'm at book club. I can't just leave..."

"God damnit, mom, fine." H hung up, annoyance showing on her face. If only this thing would start and maybe some okay people would reveal themselves and she could make a couple of friends and never have to come back again ever. She slid her phone back into her pocket, sitting back down a seat away from the obvious asshole that sat next to her, and turned to him.

"Don't talk to me."

He gave her a small smile "I'm Xavier, my...friends used to call me X, now they don't talk to me at all since I moved I guess." he sighed and shrugged

"C'est la Vie though, onto the one thousand dollar question now right?" he says easing out of his tense sitting position now.

"I'm here because...well, I screwed my life over I guess. After an injury I...did some stupid things, still having problems trying to break it but yeah..." He looked down rubbing his hands together. "But it matters and doesn't at this point I've been fucked up for about six years now or so, since High School I guess...maybe longer with how I was always pushed to the limit by my father." He talked nonchalantly about it but if it hadn't left it's mark he obviously wouldn't be here. He kept his one arm hand facing down on his knee so as not show the long scar up his arm, he felt really stupid for not wearing one of his long sleeve shirts to this meeting, he didn't want to talk about his daddy issues at this time, he was here for his narcotics addiction the other would have to wait until he was really ready for it. He tilted his head

"And what about you Vee? What's got you coming here?"

Chewing on her lip Vee simply nodded as he spoke, before flushing a light red when he asked her the same question. "Well, to put it as one of my brothers dose. I'm crazy." She said shrugging her shoulders. Rubbing her purple knuckles, she sighed before looking back at X. "Doctors say I'm a schizophrenic. I don't know how I became one, but here I am." Vee said looking back down at her feet as they rolled the skateboard back and forth.
"I'm on enough meds and been to enough shrinks to handle the problem for now. But, mom and dad said this would be a great way to get new friends that I've lost" Resting her elbows on her knees Vee ran her fingers through her hair. "I thought this was just going to be a huge waist of time," Blushing a bit she turned to look X in the eye again, "But, it might not be all bad."

She could not believe that three months ago she had been a normal girl with normal teenage angst, nothing major and now here she was, fifteen and two months pregnant. By force, no less. She should have never let her so-called best friend talk her into going to that party. What had she been thinking? Now here she was with a horrible secret that she had only revealed to her brother. How much would she be willing to tell this group? Would the support leader tell her parents?

Walking into the support group room, Alice looked around. She twisted her red hair around her fingers and looked for a place to sit. Finding a couple of empty chairs, she went and set down. Part of her wished that nobody would notice her, speak or ask her why she came. Of course the group was for talking about their problems, so she knew she'd eventually have to talk. Alice pressed a hand to her flat stomach and leaned forward in her seat, looking down at the floor. Her curly hair pooled around her face.

---

As soon as Jase walked into the room, his eyes widened at the amount of people attending. He did not do well in big groups of people and hated making small talk. People who made small talk did not really care about the other person. What good would this group do for him anyway? He did not really have a "problem" per say. His parents were just freaks who thought therapy could cure his gayness.

'Well there you go, your problem is your parents,' he told himself. 'I guess also the depression and social anxiety... but my parents are the source.' He sighed, dropping his backpack into a empty seat. He pulled off the stupid "all American boy" looking jacket his parents forced him to wear, and pulled out his favorite black hoodie from his pack. He pulled it on over the baby blue t-shirt he wore. His parents were really strict about image and hated his dark clothing. If his father did not already physically abuse him for being gay, Jase would parade around in a dress just to make them angry, but knew he could never go that far.

He set down between a girl playing cards and a timid looking redhead who was currently hiding beneath her hair.

Jin's eyesight shifted from an empty corner of the roof, to an Asian kid who'd sat down beside her. She gave him a wary look, before looking back to her cards. "Nice hoodie." She muttered, and he probably wouldn't have even heard it if he hadn't been sitting next to her. Her hands automatically ran through the cards, flipping and shuffling. She was soothed by the familiar sound.

In her head, she was wondering what some of these people were doing here. They all looked so... average. Okay, the girl with the oxygen tank had some serious issues, and there was an angry looking blonde chick who looked like she wasn't too happy about being stuck here either. Most of them, however, looked so damn normal. She could tell by the make of their clothes that they were all rich enough to buy that kind of needless bullshit and not think twice. Honestly, what kind of problems could you have if you could buy a $60 t-shirt with some logo splashed on it?

She felt her hands fumble, distracted by her annoyance. The cards scattered everywhere, all over the floor. "Dammit..." She knelt to start scooping them up, and as she reached out, she saw her hand tremoring faintly. Grunting, she squeezed it into a fist until the shaking stopped, before she started to scoop up the cards.

Jin paused in her recapture of the cards, looking up at who had addressed her. She was immediately wary- she knew the smell of pot from years on the streets. Some people just couldn't handle the pain, so they got high to get away. This guy's shoes alone would probably buy a whole street meals for a month, and the rest of his clothes were no better. And then, he opened his mouth, and Jin felt revulsion so strong that she actually wanted to vomit. Preferably all over this asshole's overpriced sneakers.

"Get your stinking fingers off my possessions before I commit regicide in front of all these people." Her dark gaze was intense, and her voice was low, almost a growl. This guy was the worst of all of them. Ten seconds in, and he'd already insulted her. "I got a name, but you probably don't give a fuck, do you? I'm not going to get anywhere near you unless it's to lift your wallet or shove those kicks so far up your dumb butt you'll have to tie your laces with a toothbrush. Back. Away."

"Uh thanks..." Jase murmured when randomly the girl playing cards told him he had a nice hoodie. He could not tell if she was being serious or if she was making fun of him, then again, he could never tell the difference between the two. He couldn't help eying her a little bit longer than necessary. Something about her features were familiar. He quickly looked away so that she would not get the wrong idea.

He usually tried not to pay attention to other people's conversations, especially while they were fighting, but he could not help but snort when the high kid asked what regicide was. He pressed his hand against his mouth and looked away from them. Maybe they would just think he was crazy. His parents did, so why not these random strangers, too. But seriously? How could he not know what regicide was? That was like second grade stuff. Whatever.

Jase noticed a card on the ground that was sticking out from the leg of his chair. The others did not seem to notice. He looked down at it and smirked. How fitting. He wondered if he should risk picking it up and giving it back to the girl. But before he could give it back, the redhead who seemed to be oblivious of the whole fight lifted her head and saw it. She bent down and picked it up before Jase could give her a warning.

Still holding a hand to her cramping stomach, she got up from her seat and passed Jase and held it out for the girl to take.

"You've dropped your black King card. The corner got a little bent under the chair leg." Before the other girl could respond, a panicked look crossed Alice's face. Not this again. She dropped the card and turned and ran out of the room, hoping she would find a bathroom in time.

'Oh,' A light bulb went off in Jase's head. He put his backpack on the girl's chair so that nobody would take it.

"Damn, babe." He chuckled. "Sorry, just trying to make some friends, weirdo." Travis didn't really understand why she got upset but he didn't really care. He looked suddenly over and saw a girl drop her cards and a man come into the room and try and help her pick them up.

Travis knew this wouldn't be normal, but he was trying to make the best of it. "Where is the person running this meeting?" He really was wondering because he wanted to get this over with and get home before his dad got angry." I got things to do and places to be." Travis was eyeing everyone else up seeing what kind of people had shown up after his encounter with 'snappy' sitting next to him. A kid, a pretty chill looking asian guy and then the thug who had bothered the girl with the cards. "Damn, this is a strange group." Trav said aloud to himself.