CHAPTER FOUR

It's Thursday and as the flier said, I stood in front of the building that's supposed hold the support group. Since it was only 4:30 and I'm half an hour early, I decided to sit on the bench in front of the building. It was better run going back home, and risk seeing my mom in her drunken state.

Anything was better than seeing my mom in her drunken state.

The building had an array of multiple colors, with graffiti covering the entire side wall. Anyone else would think that this building just proved that this was a bad neighborhood. Graffiti was in almost every building and this only added to that, but I saw see what they didn't see. While the other building had a string of curse words drawn to them that I won't even mention, the work on this building was pure art. On one part, there was a picture of a silhouette running from various demons. Another side held a drawing of a cloud raining down on a person on a bench. My favorite one however, of a person picking up another one when they fell. I hoped something like that happened to me.

These drawings stood out to the ones around it, and held a powerful meaning. I never truly minded graffiti as it was just a way for one to express themselves. It was a creative outlet and invited I seeing what was inside people's minds. Of course, they are the people that just vandalized for fun but these drawings weren't that. They were something more.

In my visualization, I don't notice a person walking towards the building with a key.  He looked like the owner of the building since he was slightly older than me. I also didn't notice when he tapped my shoulder.

"Can I help you ma'am?"

Startled, I jumped up and turned him.

"Oh, I'm just waiting for the group counseling session at five."

"Well since it's ten minutes to five, you could come in now. More people will start arriving in around six minutes."

At first I was a little hesitant and debated whether it would be better if I just stayed, but knowing that I would go inside soon enough, I accepted the offer.

The inside of the building was just as pretty as the exterior. It had a rustic looking feel, as the walls were made of wood. Around twelve chairs were arranged in a circle. There was a mural on the wall, which pictured the Golden Gate Bridge. A pang of guilt struck me when I saw it but I quickly pushed it aside.

"What made you decide to come to group therapy?"

I turned around and answered, still dazed about seeing the mural.

"I wanted to meet and talk to new people. I don't have that many friends in school."

That sounds pathetic.

He nodded in recognition and replied, "Then you'll love Noah. He is probably the friendliest person I know. A little cold a first if you don't know him, but he is incredibly understanding."

"Noah?"

"He likes to come to these group therapy sessions to observe. I like to consider myself as a mentor to him seeing as he wants to become a counselor. Noah has a bit of an unfortunate past but he makes the most of it."

"Well I look forward to meeting him."

Just as I said that, a group of people came in. Some of them started talking to the counselor, I still didn't know his name, while others got coffee from the kitchen. I waited by the side, too shy to talk to anyone.

Why was I here again?

Deciding to ignore the question as I perfectly knew the answer to it, I looked by the door to see the boy from earlier come in. I really needed to start learning people's names.

Seeing that there was still a good five minutes before the session officially starts I decided to walk over to him. Why do I have this sinking feeling like this is going to be awkward?

"Hi."

He glanced at me and gave me a small smile before uttering the word, "Hey."

I didn't know what else to say, so instead I said the very embarrassing conversation starter. This is what happens when you are socially inept.

"So," I paused. "how's the weather?"

A confused expression plastered on his face and I struggled to hide the flush of my cheeks as I realized that I actually said that outloud.

Before he could respond I added, "Don't answer that."

He nodded, the smile from earlier still apparent on his face. We stood by each other awkwardly when I remembered that we were in group counseling.

"Why are you here?" I asked rather bluntly after saying nothing for a minute or two.

I felt the need to slap myself for asking that question. He was here other because he was depressed or suicidal, although I couldn't wrap my head around the thought of him being either of those things.

"I just like to observe."

"Oh okay."

Another silence.

"Do you know who Noah is?"

He looked surprised at my question so it didn't come as a shock when he said, "excuse me?"

"You know, Noah? The counselor kept talking about how great of a person he is and how Noah is one of the nicest people he knew. Do you know who he is?"

His smile grew even bigger which confused me. Why is he still smiling?

"I think I may have an idea on who he is."

Right then, the counselor approached us, carrying a couple heavy boxes.

"Noah, there you are. Can you help me put these boxes in the corner over there? I have to get some last minute paperwork done."

He nodded and took two boxes and put them in a corner. My eyes widened. He was Noah? I truly am the queen of embarrassment.

The counselor then turned to me and said, "You finally met Noah. Isn't he just great?"

"He's amazing." I said in the happiest voice I could muster.

After taking a seat next to an emo kid and what looked to be a life sized doll, the group session began.

"Welcome everyone to the first group session of the season. If you don't already know, my name is Dr. Jones. I would really love to begin this by introducing ourselves."

Everyone then proceeded to say their name and whatever information they wanted. Some said more than others, and I would like to say that I was in between. When it was my turn, everyone stared at me and I shrunk under their gazes.

"My name is Kate Sterling. I come from a broken family, but I try not to let it get to me."

Dr. Jones nodded with a smile before moving on to the next person.  A couple of people later and it was Noah's turn.

"I'm Noah Fields. I have a pretty stable life and I would love to keep it that way."

After everyone went, we started talking a little bit more about why we were here and what he hoped to achieve. Some were forced to come here by their parents, while others came here voluntarily. Overall it was pretty fun, and I enjoyed the small distraction that it gave me from my life.

After the session was over and everyone started to leave, I grabbed my bag and headed for the door. The emo kid from before took his life sized doll with him. I realized that it was actually for a school project, which made me a little relieved to say the least.

I heard someone call my name so I stopped and looked over to see Noah rushing past people to get to me. I waited awkwardly by the corner, wondering why he would want to talk to me.

"Hey."

"Hi."

"Do you want to get coffee together?"

My head tilted in confusion as I replayed his question in my head. Well that was random. Seeing my silence, he kept sprouting more random nonsense.

"Or if you're not a coffee girl, we could get tea?"

I was silent for a second before my response came out. It might have seemed rather rude, but it was the only thing that came to my mind.

"Why?"

He seemed unfazed by my question and he answered. "You seem interesting and I want to get to know you better."

Is this some sort of prank? No one ever wanted to get to get coffee with me just because they wanted to get to know me better. He obviously wanted something, but I couldn't pinpoint what.

Knowing that I wanted to delay going home and curious to what he could want, I decided to say yes. It wouldn't be the weirdest thing that I've done.

"Coffee's okay."

And that's how I ended up getting coffee with a strange boy named Noah Fields.