"Please come with me?" My friend Jessie was begging me to go eat lunch in the band hallway with her. She had gone by herself before where a group of band students got together but she was shy and didn't want to do that by herself again. I looked up at her from where I was eating my packed lunch. She had her soft green eyes wide open, innocent looking without trying. She had her blond hair down and reminded me of a small child or a caged animal, frightened looking. I put down my sandwich with a sigh; I wasn't in band and wouldn't know some of the people there. My stomach did flip-flops as I slung my bag over my shoulder and followed her lead. She still didn't look happy, more nervous then ever as we rounded the corner where a small section of students sat. I saw our friends Carolina and Laura. My stomach eased up.
As I sat down to lean against the wall I saw three guys sitting there staring at Jessie and me. They gave a small hi to her but I felt like an alien still being stared at. Since they were staring at me I decided giving them a once over to see who the mystery guys was a bad idea. I snuck peaks though until the loudest one decided it was time for introductions. I found out his name was Tony, the other two were Avery and Mick. I got hellos all around and then it was like I didn't exist. I watched as the small group bounced ideas around, marching strategies and pieces that they played. Then they moved on to classes that they were taking. I could tell that the guys were older by a few years and being a freshman I lost track of where the conversation was going. I turned to Jessie to talk and that was that.
The next day I went back to the band hallway for lunch and I soon realized this would be a normal everyday thing. I was talking to Jessie about how my OCD was not my fault and that my germ problem was however getting better. That's when Avery who must have overheard us talking stopped us. "You have OCD?" He was asking me with a great deal of suspicion as if I was lying to him. When I confirmed that I did though the suspicion went away and was replaced with a look that I could not describe, maybe it was sheer happiness. "I have OCD too." That was when my whole world changed, never before would I have thought my OCD could help me in any way but it helped this small group of friends open up to me and start to accept me instead of treating me like an outsider.
That day became a day to remember for the rest of my life. Why? This day was one I will remember because it became a therapy session. Almost everyone in the hallway had something wrong with them. Avery had OCD as well as me. Mick used to have homicidal thoughts but by the way he talked I assumed he would run in front of a bullet for someone he had just met. Jessie and Carolina where depressed as well as me. The session really made me open up my eyes to realize that just because people in band seem happy and perfect they really weren't. I felt as if this territory I thought I had crossed became the one place in our whole school, North High, where I really belonged. Avery and Mick kept commenting on how open I was about my problems and it shocked me. I guess after being to a Behavioral Health Hospital for Ocd and depression two different times and all the outside therapy I had had really loosened me up. Although I didn't want my OCD, or my suicidal thoughts that kept popping up, they were a part of me. It made me feel so good that day to know that I had opened my new friends up and seemed to have helped them because they said that the next day we should all have a group therapy session again.
AN: Sorry it wasn't my best writing but it will get better.