Day 9
Tony was awake at 6:00am the next morning for no reason he could think of. He had simply slept well and felt rested enough to wake for the day. Knowing he still needed to take a shower and that it was too early, he simply threw on a sweatshirt and his slippers before padding out of his room to check things out. He was surprised to find a young blonde girl sitting at the art table. She didn't appear to be drawing but writing instead. Wanting to be friendly he walked over and took a seat across from the newcomer. "Hi."
Ellie Bishop looked up from writing in her journal and smiled at the boy in front of her. "Hi…good morning."
"Good morning to you too…I'm Tony. You must be Ellie." When he got a surprised look he added. "One of our staff yesterday said that you would be coming. Did you get in late last night?"
"No I just got here like twenty minutes ago." Ellie explained. "I was in the ER down the street but since I was staying safe they let my parents drive me here. My dad had to be at work by 5:30 so yeah I got here really early"
Tony nodded his understanding. "So your parents are in the picture…sorry if that is not my business."
Ellie smiled, "Yeah they are and they are awesome…they both work for the FBI in research and psychology so they know how to deal with me…well at least know when I need the extra help." She then added. "And don't worry you can ask me anything." She smirked. "But would be cool if you told me stuff about you too."
"Of course I'm an open book." Tony said really liking this new girl…he just hoped she was even cool when she freaked out since they all seemed to do that every once and a while…some more than others.
Just then Sasha came over to the pair. "I see you two have met each other." She said with a smile as she took a seat at the table as well. "Tony you are awake early, everything okay?"
Tony nodded, "Yeah I'm fine just didn't need any more sleep. It's okay that I am out here, right?"
Sasha nodded, "As long as it's after six and you are on track." She then added. "BUT I need to be out here with you guys." In rounds the night before she had heard about Tony having some issues with being with his peers without staff being around. Everybody knew Tony meant well or hadn't thought about it but it was something Michael was going to talk to Tony about in their session later that morning.
"Okay," Tony said as he watched Sasha got up from the table and went to sit on the couch so she wasn't completely invading their privacy but is able to hear and watch them. "So what brings you here?"
"Pretty much in a nutshell I refuse to take my meds so I go crazy." Ellie said with a shrug of her shoulders.
Tony raised an eyebrow. "You would rather be in a place like this than take medication?"
Ellie shrugged again, "I guess so…I would like to take a homeopathic approach to my mental health but my parents both being psychology professionals won't let me. So therefore I refuse my meds, go bonkers and end up in the hospital. They figure that I will get intense treatment this time and be willing to take meds after talking with therapists and docs every day or something."
"Oh," Tony said as he glanced at her journal. "Like writing?"
"Yeah…well I would be on my laptop if my parents let me bring it. But since they didn't I will resort to writing in this thing" She held up the book for emphasis.
"What do you write? I mean poems, stories?"
"Stories mostly, I write what is called Fanfiction. Right now I am writing a story based off of the TV show Criminal Minds, which is kind of funny because my dad actually works for the real Behavioral Analysis Unit at the FBI." Ellie said with a smile.
Tony chuckled, "I've read fanfiction but I haven't done any myself so that's pretty cool. Also your dad's job sounds awesome. My dad is a jackass, that of course isn't his job but it might as well be."
Ellie pouted now, "Sorry to hear that. I of course don't get along with my parents a lot of the time and wish they would do some things differently, but we've got a pretty good relationship even though they work long hours."
Just then Anthony came wondering into the room and stood aback when he saw Ellie sitting at the table. "Ohh the newbie is here."
Tony laughed, "Anthony this is Ellie…Ellie this is Anthony."
Quickly both teens shook hands before Sasha could see what they were doing. Anthony then sat down with the other teens. "Glad you made it safely Ellie. We heard you were coming."
It was then Ellie noticed the awful bruising around Anthony's neck. "Yeah I got here safe but what happened to YOU?"
Anthony was confused at first but then got it. "Oh one of our old client's kind of beat me up yesterday, spent a good portion of the day in the hospital getting checked out. But I'm okay, it looks worse than it is."
"Wow that's pretty intense, I hope that isn't a normal thing around here. Then again I did experience some pretty rough stuff at the treatment center I was at for a few months last year." Ellie said to the two boys next to her. She was really beginning to like both of them and not just in a friend kind of way.
"Anybody want their meds early?" Brian questioned as he walked up the small group of teens. "Ellie I don't have a med list for you yet though."
"Fine with me, I wouldn't take them anyway." She said with a shrug.
Both Anthony and Tony agreed to take their meds one by one.
While Tony was up at the med window Anthony smirked at the way Ellie was looking at him. "Don't even think about it…he's gay and in a very serious relationship."
Ellie was unable to hide her shock, her mouth actually dropped, "Seriously? That hot specimen of a guy is gay? So unfair!" she grumbled
Anthony laughed and shook his head. "He's a great guy though so don't let that keep you from being his friend."
"I'm not homophobic by any means…it just sucks he wouldn't go for me." Ellie explained but stopped when Tony joined the table again.
For the next hour the teens talked about their past experiences and doodled in Anthony's sketch pad. They were all smiles when the morning staff arrived to take the overnight staff's place.
Tony was surprised to see a staff member he didn't recognize but Tony seemed to know him.
"Hey Joe…how was Disney World?" Anthony asked the middle aged bald man.
Joe smiled at Anthony. "It was good, thanks." He then saw the two kids he didn't recognize. "Hey there…"
"Hi." Ellie said smiling. "I'm Ellie…I just got here this morning, you were on vacation?"
"Yeah took the grandkids to Disney." Joe said and looked to Tony. "Hi you must be Tony. You were coming in the day I left."
"Oh" Tony laughed and smiled. "Hi Joe…and yeah I am Tony, nice to meet you."
"Like wise," Joe said before saying his 'goodbyes' and heading off to check-in with the rest of the staff.
"Hey kiddos, can you do me a huge favor and go to your bedrooms for the next twenty minutes so we can check-in?" Sasha politely asked the teens. "It would be a great help."
"Can I go to mine? I was told by Brian that because Jenny is sleeping I had to stay out here." Ellie said.
Sasha nodded, "You can just don't wake her up or anything." She nodded down at her notebook. "You can take your journal and a pencil with you if that would keep you occupied."
Ellie smiled at that, "Okay."
With that all the teens headed to their respective rooms.
When Tony got to his he went about gathering his clothes for when he could take a shower. It WAS only twenty minutes before Joe knocked on his door and poked his head in when Tony said he could.
"You can come back out of your room now Tony." Joe said and saw the clothes the boy had laid out on his bed. "Wanting to take a shower?"
Tony nodded, "Yeah whenever I can."
"Sure thing, let's go get your shower stuff." Joe led Tony to the hygiene closet and he let Tony grab the Rubbermaid container from the shelf and carry it to the bathroom closest to his room.
He quickly showered, just taking enough time to wash his hair and body. Of course he wanted to take time and pleasure himself but he still felt weird doing that in a public shower. The idea of poor Donny using the same shower as him and finding cum on the walls just grossed him out so it helped keep the urge down. Hopping out of the shower he dried off and changed into straight legged gray jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt. Once he was done he left the shower room and headed back to his own room. There he pulled on a sweatshirt and his slippers. He made sure he had everything in his hygiene box and carried it out of his room and down the hall. There he found Sasha helping Donny get his hygiene stuff.
"Can I put mine back?" Tony asked holding the box out to her. She quickly took it with a smile and then went back to explaining why Donny indeed needed to use his body wash even though he had used it the day before. That had Tony chuckling softly to himself as he headed to the main area where everybody was beginning to congregate. Looking at the clock he saw it was only 7:30am so they had an hour before breakfast. Noticing nobody was on the computer he walked over to what appeared to be an ancient machine and took a seat. He was impressed when he logged onto the internet quickly and went right to his GMAIL e-mail. There he found almost ten million e-mails and right away a friend of him 'messaged' him.
Jake: TONY! Where you been man?
Tony wasn't sure he wanted to talk to the other boy about what was going on but knew he should because Jake was a good friend, his best friend actually, well besides Jet that was.
Tony: I'm in the hospital actually…gunna be here for at least a month…sorry I wasn't able to tell you before now.
Jake: Oh no…I was kinda thinking something like that happened, sorry to hear that.
Tony knew his friend really was sorry, they were close and he had been with him through all his other smaller hospital and treatment center stays.
Tony: **Shrugs** It's okay, I'm doing alright…well sorta.
Jake: Did you try to do it again? I mean…you know…kill yourself again?"
Tony winced, thinking about his most recent overdose.
Tony: Yeah...but hey man why don't you talk with Jet and see if you can come up to see me sometime. Visiting hours are at 5:30-7:00. I would like that.
Jake: **Smile face** Sure thing man you know I will. But hey I've gotta get going to school. Talk to you later.
With that Jake logged off and left Tony staring at the computer screen with a heavy heart. He HATED school but he did miss seeing his friends, especially Jake. He was the only friend he had in his main-steam classes. The only person who didn't think he was insane or something…well maybe he was. Sighing, he wiped at the tears in his eyes and turned to see Anthony looking in his direction.
"Everything okay? Something didn't happen with you and Jet again did it? He's not on drugs again is he?" Anthony asked not realizing how loud he was talking and Ellie seemed rather interested.
Tony shook his head, "Oh no nothing like that. I just talked for a minute with my friend Jake on messenger. Just made me miss being home and going to school and stuff, even though I hate school."
Anthony nodded, "I get that, well I am sorry the conversation made you sad."
"Me too." Jenny spoke up making herself known from her position on the couch with one of her favorite teen romance novels in her hands. "My friends are all idiots while I am in places like this. They don't want anything to do with me, but when I go home they act like nothing happened. Sometimes I like that, other times I wish they would at least show they cared I was sick and in the hospital."
"I have one good friend who sticks by me. We've known each other since we were like eight or something." Ellie said with a smile. "We met while our parents were both heading up the PTA at our grade school."
All the rest of the teens in the room smiled. "That sounds like a great friend." Tony said as he got up from the computer and went to sit on the couch next to Jenny.
Timmy came walking into the room and was surprised to see a new girl sitting at the art table. "Hi." He said nervously.
Ellie smiled at the young teen. "Hey…I'm Ellie what's your name?"
"Timothy, but you can call me Timmy or Tim is fine too." He replied still nervous but did sit down next to her with his coloring book.
"Hey Timmy can we get you your meds?" Loran questioned, coming into the room. "I need you too Jenny."
"Oh joy." Jenny said as her and Timmy headed for the nurses' station.
That was Jimmy, Leon and Donny's cue to join everybody. Donny was actually nicely dressed in jeans a black hoodie and boots that looked a lot like Tony's but Tony figured they weren't the knock-offs. His blonde hair was a wet mop on his head but that was the only thing that seemed slightly off with the strange teenager.
Donny walked right over to Tony and sat down next to him, "Hi Tony." He said to his best buddy in the whole wide world.
Tony smiled but tried to scoot away a little. "Good morning Donny, how did you sleep?" he asked and then added. "You smell nice, I like that shampoo and body wash, is it coconut?"
"Yeah…well the shampoo and conditioner is but I think the body wash is like cucumber something." Donny explained.
Jimmy spoke up which was odd. "I use coconut shampoo too." He said running his hands through his wavy brown hair and then pushed up his glasses nervously.
"So are we allowed to have sex here?" Ellie asked totally out of the blue since the conversation had been around the smell of shampoo.
Her question had almost everybody coughing on their on spit and a few staff members did the same.
"Ellie that is not appropriate, talking about it and no you are not allowed to have it." Mark keeping his cool. "Everybody on this unit is a minor, which means sexual interaction either between peers or with visitors is against the rules."
Anthony giggled and looked at Tony. "Tony knows all about that. You should have been here last night."
Tony groaned. "Don't remind me of that."
Ellie pouted, "Okay I guess that makes sense." She then looked at the clock. "Don't we eat at 8:30?"
"We do," Joe said getting up from where he had been sitting. "Let's go get set up so we're ready when the food gets here." He wanted to get the horny teenagers off the topic of sex as quickly as possible.
Breakfast was uneventful, unlike the day before, and soon everybody was lined up and waiting for Mrs. King to come pick them up. Today Joe was going with the school kids and Mark was staying back with Donny, Leon and Ellie. Ellie had to wait to have a meeting with the school before she could begin classes, this she wasn't too depressed about.
"I don't really like school anyway." Ellie replied from her spot on the couch, ever present journal in hand.
Mrs. King came and grabbed the school kids and when they got there they were in shock. Instead of their normal journals on their desk were cooking bowls and spoons.
"What are we doing?" Jenny questioned as she took her seat and eyed the odd objects in front of her.
"Looks like we're cooking." Anthony said picking up his wooden spoon. "Either that or giving mass spankings." For good measure he wacked the spoon against his hand with a smirk on his face. "Wana go first?"
"Anthony…" Joe said in warning as he took his spot next to Jimmy who needed the most support in the classroom, at least at the moment.
Anthony mouthed 'sorry' before putting his spoon back in the bowl and leaned back in his chair waiting for instructions.
Mrs. King threw up the map on the board showing the whiteboard behind it. There it said 'Chocolate Chip Cookies' and had the recepe for said cookies.
"Ohhh…" Timmy said with a clap and a hug smile on his face. "We're going to make cookies! Is that right Mrs. King? We're making cookies?"
She smiled at the excited teen. "You're right Timmy we're going to work on our culinary skills this morning by making cookies rather than doing our normal drab activities."
Tony let out a sigh of relief. "That means no math for another day, that God."
"I don't want to." Jimmy said quietly from his seat. "I don't want germs."
Mrs. King walked over to Jimmy and crouched down next to his desk. "It's going to be okay. We're all making our own batch of cookies so nobody else, besides me, is going to touch them. And when *I* touch them it's only to take them downstairs and put them in the oven."
It was obvious Jimmy was thinking about this before finally nodding his head. "Okay." He whispered before looking down at his hands in his lap.
"Good job, Buddy." Joe said smiling at Jimmy.
"He fucking asked for it!" Tony screamed at Joe as he kicked him in the shin, hard. "He spit in my bowl!"
Joe winced and prayed that back-up would be there quickly so he wasn't alone in the hallway with the completely and utterly off-track teen. Things had been going so well until Timmy decided it would be funny to spit in Tony's bowl of ingredients. That of course angered Tony beyond belief and he hit the younger teen over the head with his spoon then threw flour at him. Mrs. King had to help Joe get a kicking and screaming Tony out of the room when he got scolded for his behavior and Timmy hadn't.
Now here they were in the hallway and Tony was completely losing his marbles. Joe almost wished there were chairs and tables to throw but everything was either bolted to the ground or prison style chairs that you couldn't lift even if you wanted to. BUT if Tony had, had these things then maybe he wouldn't be trying to attack him at every second. 'Come on somebody…' he silently prayed.
Thankfully somebody must have heard his prayers because only a few seconds later the elevator door dinged and two staff from the adult program came in his direction.
Tony saw this and laughed out loud. "Don't have the balls to deal with me on your own there Joseph?" he tried to lunge at Joe but this time the tow burly men grabbed him and had him in a standing physical restraint before he could.
"Tony you need to calm down" Marcus (one of the adult staff) said to the struggling teen that was fighting for them to drop to the floor, but it wasn't working.
Christopher was on the other side of Tony but didn't say anything. In this situation they knew that two people talking would overwhelm the acting out person.
"You need to fucking suck my cock." Tony yelled trying to kick and bite but the only thing he was able to do was spit but it only got Marcus in the foot. "HAHA!" he laughed seeing the loogy on the staff members black shoe.
Marcus could care less, these were his work shoes after all. Then again they never really had to deal with this much out of control behavior with the adults. Mostly right now they had people wondering around thinking they were Jesus or Captain Kirk. Shaking those thoughts off he turned his focus on the teen that he was holding. "This isn't worth it, Tony."
Tony continued to struggle in Marcus and Christopher's arms, "Let me go you fuckers, let me the fuck go!" he didn't get it…why had he been the only one to get in trouble when it had been Timmy who started the whole thing? This completely pissed him off and he didn't know how to show or speak his emotions besides flipping out like he was.
Christopher signed softly as he pulled Tony's body closer to his as he struggled even harder. It was only a few more seconds before Tony was able to drop his weight and the two adults had to take the boy down to the floor on his stomach. They really need a third person to make sure that Tony didn't kick them in the head by holding his legs still, but that wasn't a luxury they had at the moment.
"Tony we can talk about this. If you would calm down we can talk." Marcus said over the now literally screaming teen. If people didn't know what was going on they would have thought Marcus and Christopher were trying to kill Tony.
Just then the worst thing that could happen did, Anthony came running out of the classroom and right over to the problem. "Let him go!" he yelled at the adults.
Christopher turned to Anthony. "Bud you need to leave us be, you aren't helping Tony at all by being here right now."
Tony turned his head and looked at Anthony. "Dude they are trying to fucking kill me…save me!" he exclaimed to his friend.
Anthony wasn't so enraged he couldn't hear what the staff was saying but at the same time he heard his friend's distress. "Tony they will freaking hold me if I do something…maybe you can just stop?" he said making the right choice which Marcus and Christopher were very thankful for.
"Fuck you." Tony said spitting at Anthony who stood there in shock before running back into the classroom in tears mumbling something about best friends being assholes.
"Christ." Marcus mumbled hoping Joe and Mrs. King could handle the crying teen in the classroom.
Even though it was bad that Anthony was crying it was a good thing in a way. This was because it really got through to Tony. "Shit." He said and banged his head on the floor. "Let me go." He said this time without cursing and not sounding ticked off. "Please."
"Let's do two quiet minutes and then we can work on letting you go." Marcus said softly.
Tony looked like he was going to protest but instead simply rested his head down, stopped kicking and lay there sadly. He was able to do the two calm minutes and then the staff let him go telling him to simply sit up in the middle of the floor for another five minutes and then they would talk.
"Can we talk now?" Tony questioned after what he felt was five minutes…or more like a lifetime to the hyperactive teenager.
Marcus looked at his watch and nodded his head. "Sure." He said and led Tony over to a table that was across from them. They both took a seat. "So what brought that on?"
"Timmy spit in my cookie dough." Tony said pouting and clenching his fists. "Ugh it still makes me mad…sorry."
"Don't be, I would be mad too." Marcus said with a small smile. "What did you do after he did that?"
Tony blushed, "I kinda threw flour at him and hit him with my wooden spoon." He bit his lower lip. "Then when Mrs. King and Joe scolded me I flipped out and they had to stop me from attacking Tim further."
Marcus nodded, "I saw you blushing and biting your lip. Am I correct in thinking you feel bad for what you did?"
"Totally." Tony said without hesitation. "But it doesn't keep me from being pissed and not understanding why I was the only one that got reprimanded…I mean Timmy started it." He sighed. "I know he doesn't always understand social stuff…maybe he thought it was funny but it wasn't funny and quite frankly it was nasty."
"Understandable." Marcus laughed. "BUT Tony you really gotta work on controlling your anger. If you had simply raised your hand and told Joe or Mrs. Smith what Timmy had done then you wouldn't have gotten in trouble. Instead you completely flipped your rocker and ended up out here hurting Joe."
Tony looked down at the table and signed. "Did I really hurt him? I mean like bad?"
Marcus shrugged, "I don't know but it looked pretty rough when Chris and I got here to help out."
"Can I do something…before I go back to class? That is if I'm allowed back in class."
"That we will have to figure out, from what I remember if one of you guys do this in class then you have to go back to the Unit and do your work for the rest of the period…in this case the before lunch time period." Marcus said. "But what is it you wanted to do?"
"Well if I can't go back in class I can do it on the unit…but I wanted to make Joe an apology card or note or something. I can't draw very well but I could try to make him something." Tony said sounding like this was something he really needed to do. "But I could just use lined paper and a pencil if I can't have art supplies."
Marcus turned to Christopher. "Hey man can you go check if Tony can go back to class or if he has to go back on the unit?" he got a nod and then turned back to Tony. "I think no matter what you probably can't join for cooking group, but on a positive note I think a card or note would be very nice of you."
Christopher came back a minute later with a grim look on his face. "His teacher and Joe both said it's policy that he is grounded from the classroom until after lunch. The teacher is getting him some bookwork to do on the unit since they are simply doing cooking this morning and he can't do that on the unit. Also Joe asked if one of us could stay with him since Mark is running thin taking care of Leon, Donny and a new girl Ellie. He actually asked if you could watch Ellie and Tony since Donny is having problems."
"Sure as long as they don't need me downstairs."
Christopher nodded, "Speaking of which I am going to go back down before something goes wrong down there and Stacy is the only one to deal with it. When we left Phil was trying to get Colin to clip his ears to look like Spock so he could join the Enterprise."
Tony's eyes went wide, "Whoa okay I thought WE were nutso."
Marcus laughed as he stood up. "Come on Tony let's grab your school work and head back inside the unit. Maybe Ellie will do school with us?"
Tony stood in the doorway while Marcus got his science book and journal from Mrs. King. He was thankful she hadn't been mean and given him math to do when nobody else was doing math. Then again nobody was doing science either but science he could handle.
"She said the instructions are written in your journal." Marcus said as they walked to the unit and he unlocked the door. Sure enough they could hear Donny screaming from the back seclusion room. Leon was pacing the hallways and Ellie was sitting with headphones and writing in her journal dancing around the main area.
"Okay they are having too much fun…well not Donny." Tony said watching Ellie. If he wasn't in a committed relationship he would have found her rather attractive right about then.
Marcus once again laughed. "Okay Tony take a seat at the table and figure out what you are supposed to do. I will go tell everybody we're here and get you a writing utensil."
"Okay," Tony said as he sat down and opened his journal to find the instructions to his assignment. Sure enough he was supposed to read chapter five on Mammals and then write a 150 word report on the Mammal of his choice. Of course he could do the report without reading the material but he didn't. Instead he cracked open the book to chapter five and started reading.
Tony was finished with his school project in forty-five minutes so he closed his book and journal and looked at Marcus who was reading a Harry Potter book on the couch. "Hey Marcus, can I do that letter or card now? I would rather do a card but I know I'm in trouble so I probably can't have scissors and stuff."
Marcus was unsure of the rules on this so he stood up. "Let me go talk to Mark or Loren and see what they say." He then headed off to do that.
Ellie chose that moment to stop her dancing, which she had been doing for the whole forty-five minutes he had been there working. He honestly had never seen somebody more manic than him. Then again she wasn't medicated so that probably made her feel like this.
"Hey Tony I thought you were in school?"
Tony blushed a bit, "I flipped out and got held so I had to do my work here on the unit. Missing out in cooking group too."
"Oh that's shitty…Donny and I were playing cards when he shit his pants and was refusing to get cleaned up…so now he's in seclusion. I couldn't take the screaming so they gave me something to listen to so I wouldn't end up in the other seclusion room." Ellie explained and then thought of something. "I thought I heard screaming in the hall too but thought I was just hearing an eco from Donny…but that was you?"
"Yup." Tony said and sighed. "Bad morning I guess…but not too abnormal for me. I am known to flip out."
Ellie smiled a little, "Me too…I got secluded all the time at the treatment center I was at last summer. I have an order to be secluded right away because when I am held I get overly sexualized so they say."
Tony raised an eyebrow. "That's interesting."
Marcus came back with a whole art kit for Tony. "Hey Man, they said you could have all this stuff as long as I sit next to you. They think it's nice you want to make a card for Joe. They did suggest you make one for Tim as well." He said the last part hesitantly.
"Make a card for Timmy? But he was the one that started it." Tony actually whined.
"Be the bigger man Tony. Also, Mark is going to talk with Timmy when he gets back and see if he will make you one as well." Marcus explained.
Tony sighed, "Well okay." With that he got out the construction paper and began making two 'I'm sorry' cards. He did the one for Joe first. It was on purple paper and he put a bunch of colorful geometric shapes on the front. He then used a silver Sharpie to write 'I'm sorry' on the front. On the inside he wrote…
- I'm sorry for kicking and punching you. I was very angry and when I get angry I often lose control. I am working on getting my emotions under control and I hope that it won't happen again but I don't make any promises. I am sure you understand that. Again sorry for hurting you, I really hope I didn't cause any real damage. Hope you can forgive me **HEART** Tony –
Checking his work he was happy with it and then went to work on Timmy's card. This one was harder to make and he didn't take as much time on it. He simply wrote 'I'm sorry' on folded piece of orange paper and then on the inside wrote…
- I'm sorry that I threw flour and hit you with my spoon. I was angry with your actions and am not very good at displaying my anger in a positive way. I hope that we can still be friends, at least I would like that. Again I'm sorry **HEART** Tony -
Again he checked his work and then showed them to Marcus and Ellie. They both thought they were well done. "You have a great written voice, Tony." Marcus said smiling. "You say you cant' verbalize a lot of your emotions but do you journal them?"
"I have in the past." Tony said but then admitted. "I don't really much anymore…it was something my Father used to tell me to do and so it kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth"
"Maybe you could type it out instead of write it? That is different right?" Ellie suggested.
Tony thought about that a second and smiled, "I might try that, thanks Girl."
Just then the rest of the kids came walking into the room from class, some covered in cooking ingredients.
Tony caught Tim before he could go off to take a shower. "Hey Timmy I made you something." He said hesitantly hoping the other boy would talk to him.
Timmy turned when he heard his name. He seemed hesitant too but didn't run away or freak out in any way. "Yeah?"
"Here." Tony held out the card and then remembered something. "Maybe Joe could read it to you."
"It's pretty, you know I like orange." Tim said smiling. "Thanks…I will have Joe read it." With that he headed off to get cleaned up.
Tony looked around and found Joe helping Jenny get her hygiene box. She wasn't dirty but was requesting her toothbrush since she had eaten some of her cookie dough and felt icky. Icky being her words. "Hey Joe can I talk to you when you are done?"
Joe smiled at Tony. "Of course, just two seconds."
Tony went to wait for Joe in the main area. He looked up when he heard him walk into the room. He had a distinct sound because he was wearing dog-tags around his neck. Tony was going to point out how that probably wasn't the safest thing to wear to work with insane kids who could choke you but he didn't. "I have a card for you." He said handing the paper card to the middle-aged man.
Joe took the card and read it to himself before going over and ruffling Tony's hair. "It's okay Tony you didn't hurt me and I do forgive you. I understand that you guys sometimes can't control yourselves or find a better way to express how you feel. Were you able to talk to Christopher or Marcus about your feelings after the fact?"
Tony almost shouted when Joe messed up his hair but he knew he meant well and was just trying to be 'loving' the only way the staff really could be. "Yeah we talked he knows I was upset over the fact that Tim didn't get in trouble like I did."
"Understandable…BUT just so you know Timmy has to share half of his cookies with you because he messed up yours." Joey said and when he saw a disgusted look come over Tony's face he added. "Mrs. King made them with him. All he did was stir, she put the cookies on the sheet and things."
"Oh good." Tony giggled. "Do I get to go back to class this afternoon?"
"Mrs. King is going to come talk to you before class starts to do her own debrief with you but you should be able to as long as something doesn't happen before then."
Tony shook his head. "I'm cool, nothing is going to happen." He then thought of something. "I may have a meeting with Michael this afternoon though. Not sure if that is after or during class."
"Normally it's after class during like super social." Joe explained.
"Okay good." Tony smiled. "Well I am going to use the bathroom before lunch. Thanks for forgiving me Joe, you seem like an awesome dude."
Joe laughed, "You're an awesome Dude too Tony."
Like Joe had said Tony hadn't been called out of afternoon class for his meeting with Michael the therapist. Instead he got to sit through the whole class which was easy because they were watching a movie on Mammals and eating cookies for most of the time. They were going to do the volcanoes but Mrs. King had forgot some of the supplies, which is why they had made cookies in the morning.
Now Tony was sitting with the rest of his peers for hygiene group and this time it wasn't sleep hygiene but what Jenny explained as 'real' hygiene.
"So who can tell me what a good morning routine would look like when it comes to hygiene?" Pauley questioned with a white-board marker in her hand ready to write down their list.
"Putting on clean clothes…underwear, shirt, pants, socks." Timmy replied smiling because hygiene was not one of his strong suites.
Pauley smiled. "Exactly…gotta make sure we change even if the clothes we have on seem clean. And underwear is very important and that means bras for girls and undershirts if you wear them, boys."
All the kids nodded their heads in understanding.
"It's important to wear deodorant and to brush your teeth after you eat." Ellie spoke up, getting right into the swing of this 'group' thing. "Especially the deodorant…even though toothpaste is like deodorant for your mouth. You know I like paste better than I do gel toothpaste. I don't really care about my deodorant."
'Yup there is the pressured speech…completely manic girl.' Tony thought to himself before answering the question himself. "Some people take a shower in the morning…but you don't have to if you have taken one the night before." He then added. "Some people can go every other day with a shower too and I think that is okay."
"That is true." Pauley said with a nod. "BUT around here we normally try to get you to take a shower every day, morning or night."
"Or the middle of the night if you freaking wet the bed." Anthony mumbled with a sigh.
"Or have accidents during the day." Donny added, nobody really caring that both Donny and Anthony were talking about having potty accidents.
Jimmy held up his hand "Oh I thought of another one." When Pauley nodded at him to continue a smile on her face he went on. "Some boys need to um….change their sheets in the morning for reasons other than bed wetting."
Ellie and Jenny groaned but nodded their understanding not meaning to offend anybody.
"Since we are on the topic of boy stuff than a girl would have to make sure to change HER sheets too if she got blood on them." Jenny blushed a little. "I have that problem."
Donny looked like he was going to ask a question but Tony shoved him a little. "Don't ask." He whispered not wanting to get into the whole 'period' talk with the young teen.
Pauley stood back for effect and looked at the board. "Nice job guys…now it's time for super social and I believe Michael is ready to talk with Tony."
Tony headed out of Room 1 and found Michael waiting for him at the nurses' station. "Ready when you are."
Michael smiled and nodded, "Where would you like to meet? My office, your room? Main area since everybody is going outside?"
"Your office is fine." Tony said as they headed that way. Once in the office Tony took a seat on the couch while Michael took a chair across from it.
"So how is it going, Tony? I am sorry we have not had the chance to talk in a few days. I was out sick and then had to deal with discharges and intakes."
Tony shook his head, "It's all good." He then added. "I am doing okay I guess…been in quite a few incidents since I've been here. Was in one this morning even."
Michael nodded, "I heard, I'm sorry you're having a rough time. Is there anything we can do in our session right now that you know will help you?"
"Not really." Tony admitted. He sighed, "I freaked out last night because I couldn't have sex with my boyfriend. I am not doing so hot with 'boy' problems."
"It's rough when you are used to having regular sex and then have to be abstinent." Michael agreed. "And this place isn't the best place for…taking matters into your own hands."
Tony was surprised that Michael was okay with this topic but went with it. "Yeah I will admit I have done that in the shower a few times but I just feel wrong. But that tension just piles up."
"I get it Tony." Michael said but did change the subject. "So how are groups going? You just got out of one, yes?"
"Yeah…they are going well. They are rather simple actually." Tony explained. "Not that I want anything hard. I think they are just trying to make something that we can all participate in and not all of us are on the same level right now."
Michael nodded his head, "That is exactly what is going on. You are a very perceptive young man." He praised.
Tony heard the praise in the older man's voice and smiled. "Thanks, I kind of had to grow up fast."
"I heard you talked to your father on the phone earlier in the week, how did that go?" Michael questioned, pen and legal notepad in hand.
"Ugh." Tony groaned shaking his head. "He wanted to come see me and I pretty much told him to F-off."
Michael raised an eyebrow, "You don't want to see him?"
"He disowned me when he found out I was gay, that is why I am living with my 17-year-old boyfriend." When Michael gave him another odd look he added. "His parents are both dead so he got emancipated. I wouldn't say he's my guardian or anything but he takes care of me." He added some more. "My dad still sends me money though but I try not to use it because I want nothing to do with him. Thankfully the state is paying for this place because I couldn't even begin to think of what it would be like to be here knowing he was paying for it."
"What does your father think of your mental health challenges?"
Tony shrugged, "He's cool with it…I mean he was never the really supportive father but he got me the help when I needed it."
Michael smiled, "Well I am glad you have had support in your life. I hope you feel supported while you are here."
"I do, the staff here are great." Tony sighed, "I almost beat the shit out of Joe today thought…but he accepted my apology card and forgave me so I feel better about that. I hate hurting people though, both physically and emotionally or whatever."
"That is understandable, Tony." Michael said. "It is a good sign you can show remorse for your actions."
Tony nodded, "I know…and I didn't used to feel like that, so I guess I'm either maturing or these meds are really helping." On that note he thought of something. "When do I see Dr. McCallum? Or the Internist? I asked to talk to the internist yesterday because I am having trouble with sweating all the time, I want to talk to Dr. McCallum because he changed my meds around and I'm not sure if they are working. I mean shouldn't I not be flipping out in class if my meds are working?"
"Well I am not a psychiatrist Tony but I do know that it's not just medication but behavioral modification that helps with problem behaviors. THAT is something you and I can work on." Michael tried to explain to the beginning to get worked up teen. He didn't fear Tony would actually explode per-say but did see him starting a manic episode. It was fascinating when his kids were so raw in their treatment that they would display their illness right in front of him.
"Can we do that next time we meet?" Tony questioned and blushed. "I have to use the bathroom and I want to go do some of Super Social I need to get outside I think." He said his leg bouncing in attempt to control how hyper he felt. "Damn mania."
Michael chuckled. "Sure Tony we can take a break for today. I hope to meet with you either tomorrow or the day after. Now, use that mania for good, don't get ticked off at little things. I don't want to hear you flip out tonight." He smirked. "Yes 'flip out' is a clinical term." He then added. "There is also something the clinical team wanted me to talk to you about, but we can do that next time as well since you have to use the restroom."
Tony laughed and stood up. "Thanks Michael…I didn't really like talking about my Father but it was a good talk over-all." With that he headed out of the room and down the hall to his bedroom.
The rest of the afternoon went well but Tony got bad news around dinner time. Jet had to work overtime and wouldn't be able to visit him. He did say he would try and call before bedtime so Tony was able to take it in stride and tried to find something to keep himself busy while everybody had visitors.
"Hey Rocky is there anything I can do for you? I am so hyper and Jet isn't here and I want to stay out of trouble." Tony questioned the nurse.
Rocky thought for a second and then smiled, "Would you like to organize medical supplies? I know it's not a very active job physically to work on being hyper but it would be good for your mind and my poor time management."
Tony laughed, "Okay I can do that." He looked around. "Want me to just sit here?" he questioned pointing to the floor.
"That would be good." With that Rocky brought him a box that held cotton balls, tongue depressors, Q-tips and a few other things.
Tony spent a good half an hour putting the various things into their respective containers and then handed them back to Rocky so he could put them away. He got a lot of praise for being a big helper. He kind of felt like a two year old being called a 'big helper' but took it for what it was. Once he was done he thanked Rocky for the project and went and sought out Pauley or Sean to hopefully get another task. He found Pauley first and smiled at her.
"Hey Pauley do you have any work projects I can do? Like you saw me working on organizing Rocky's supplies." Tony questioned the dark haired young woman.
Pauley thought for a second. "If you promise not to bother Jenny and her parents while visiting you can sweep and mop the dining room."
Tony was hesitant about taking on THAT big of a job but he agreed and waited for Pauley to get him the stuff he needed.
Thankfully the cleaning project only took him the rest of 'visiting hours' and so it kept him busy and missing Jet less. He understood his boyfriend had to work so he tried not to let it bother him. Once he was finished with the mop and broom he took the items to Pauley and she put them away.
Now he was sitting at the main room table talking with his peers about the therapy dog that was due to come visit them the next morning during school. Tony was particularly happy about this because he missed his dog very much.
"What kind of a dog is it?" Tony questioned.
"The last one that came was a poodle, but we've had a border collie too." Jenny replied as she started drawing a rather good drawing of said border collie.
"Better make sure you don't flip out again tomorrow man. We've got therapy dog in the AM and volcanos in the PM." Anthony said really thinking about his friend. "Not that you did it on purpose today or anything. I totally get flipping out."
Tony smiled at his friend…maybe new BEST friend. "I know what you mean, Anthony it's okay. Plus yes you can flip out I've witnessed it."
"You should have seen him in the beginning like a few weeks ago. He and I got here at the same time and he was in seclusion like 24-7." Timmy said not realizing that wasn't something he really should share.
Anthony glared at Timmy a little and mumbled something under his breath but didn't really get angry. "Sometimes life just sucks and we've all been drawn a short straw recently."
"I would rather be here then out there." Jimmy spoke up pointing to the door when he said 'out there'. "At least in here it's controlled and we get our meds and are taken care of."
"Your mom and dad would take care of you Jim." Tony said gently. "They seem to care a great deal for you."
Jimmy actually smiled a little, "They do…but they don't really get why this is happening to our family. We're really strong Christians so my parents are curious why God is punishing us. Then again I don't see it that way."
Everybody in the room was sitting there with their mouths open wide. Nobody had ever heard Jimmy talk so much at one time.
"My family is Catholic." Ellie said. "But they never thought I needed an exersist or anything. Probably because they come from a psychology background. They have mentioned finding it ironic that they are psychiatrists and work for the FBI in a psychological way that their daughter would end up kookier then a kookaburra."
Ellie's term had all the teens in the room laughing. She even had Sean laughing from his place on the couch with Donny, reading him his normal bedtime story.
Tony was thankful that Donny hadn't asked him to read to him tonight. He just wasn't really in the mood to get mixed up in somebody else's' stuff right now.
The teens talked for a good hour, staff even letting them go to bed later than normal but soon everybody was yawning with their meds in them so it was time for bed.
Tony took another shower so he wouldn't have to in the morning and then went right to his room. Taking out his phone he dialed Jet's cell phone number and tried to see if the older teen would be home.
Jet answered on the third ring and sounded exhausted. "Hey Tony," he replied and then yawned.
Tony chuckled. "I just wanted to say goodnight, are you still at work?"
"Just got home and heading right to bed. They need me back at work at five in the morning. I should be able to see you in the evening though." Jet replied.
"Awesome, well have a goodnight, I will talk to you tomorrow." Tony hung up the phone, put it on his night stand and respectively fell right to sleep.