"So Veronica, how did you do adjusting yesterday?" Dr. Fleming asked, smiling at Veronica who thought it was stupid and wanted to slap if off the therapist's face.
"It happened," Veronica stated dryly. Dear Diary, she started mentally.
I don't think any of us slept last night, we all eventually just passed out and hoped to wake up and find this mess a dream.
"Yes but was it good or bad or a little bit of both?" Dr. Fleming pressed.
Today's the first private therapy session. Dr. Fleming's asking how I liked being ripped away from everything familiar without being allowed to bring anything with me and forced to interact with people I've never met who also have problems and are just as miserable about the situation as I am.
"It happened," Veronica repeated with no more emotion than the last time.
"Well let's walk through everything that happened," Dr. Fleming suggested. "You met the other kids, what did you think of them?"
Dr. Fleming has the voice where you're forcing yourself to sound nice and patient while you were internally strangling the person you were talking to. I have the luxury of going last which means she's totally fed up with all our teen angst bullshit. I would have loved to have sat in on JD's or at least Heather's session. It would be golden to watch her try to manage the perfectly polished girl, her sharp wit, and red scrunchie.
"They're here too," Veronica gave Dr. Fleming her own smile back.
Dr. Fleming must never know I don't absolutely hate all of them.
"Okay what about Heather, she's very sweet," Dr. Fleming tried.
"There are three Heathers," Veronica pointed out. "And all of them are the preppy girls you'd expect to rule the school."
Dr. Fleming's trying to get me to gossip, I'm not going to gossip with her. Is she trying to get me to tell her about Heather's stuff?
"Yes, but Miss. Chandler is an exceptionally polite young lady." Veronica stares are her in shock.
Heather's nice? Heather?! Oh she's so playing Dr. Fleming like violin. Damn, now I really wish I could have seen what happened. Does that mean Heather had another freak out and tried insisting she didn't need to be here?
"She's definitely exceptional," Veronica equivocated.
"Oh and Martha, Martha's also someone I hoped you'd get along with," Dr. Fleming continued, hopeful she might finally have Veronica talking.
"Martha's sweet," Veronica conceded, her hands twitched in her lap. She needed to write.
"Does she seem like someone you could possibly be friends with?"
If I played along, would she let me go early?
Veronica shrugged, "More than anyone else," which wasn't a lie.
"That's wonderful to hear! So I would like you to try to talk to someone today-" Dr. Fleming droned on and Veronica tuned her out.
I'm beginning to wish JD had actually killed me yesterday.
"So," Heather asked, her red lips popping against her impossibly white teeth. She looked happier now that she'd be able to put makeup on. It was probably a good thing her sessions were first. "What did you end up telling that nut job of a woman?"
Dear Diary
We've been instructed by Dr. Fleming to "talk and feel" after our individual sessions. Sometime last night the chairs have been replaced with actual furniture. The guys have taken the couch, Heather and Heather claimed the love seat, and Martha, Heather, and I took the remaining chairs and a kitchen barstool.
I'm so glad to have you back, which means they're probably not eavesdropping on our conversations. I took a leaf from Heather and buried you under my bras and panties. Now if they find you, I can claim the staff was perving through my stuff. Which is also not something I want to think about.
"You guys make me want to throw up," Heather answered.
"You girls are the reason I'm gay," Ram snorted.
"There's a bullet under his pillow for everyone one of us," JD added, his feet kicked up at the coffee table as he laid back and looked at the ceiling.
According to Heather we make her sick, according to Ram I make him gay, and according to JD he's still plotting our death.
"I told her you guys were all very nice and I was happy to have some friends," Martha said more than slightly horrified, Heather laughed and Heather giggled.
"It's a joke," Heather said with fake exasperation. "But really, what did you tell her? That woman's easier to play than a triangle."
Easier to play than a triangle, I'm not joking when I say Heather and I will get married.
"That she makes me want to throw up," Heather deadpanned. Heather continued laughing, almost falling out of her chair.
"That JD has a cute ass," Kurt snickered. JD sat up, winked, and finger gunned him.
"That I hate all of you," Veronica piped up.
When in fact Heather hates it here, Kurt's not taking this seriously, and JD might actually be into gay threesome shower sex (I swear if Heather is right about one more thing).
Heather groaned. "Seriously? None of you took the opportunity to mess with her?"
"What did you tell her, Heather?" Veronica asked. "I hear that you're "an exceptionally polite young lady"."
Heather grinned wickedly. "Just exactly what she wanted to hear, that 'being here was really going to help me and having other people who I can talk to was great with easing the pressure I put on myself'. She ate if off the floor like a dog."
Lick it up, Dr. Fleming, lick it up.
"Should you really be lying to her?" Martha questioned.
"What does it matter?" Heather asked, having recovered from her laughing fit. "What do you think will happen if we actually try to tell her what's going on? It's her fault for thinking we'd tell the truth in the first place."
"But she's supposed to be helping us," Martha pointed out.
Oh Martha, sweet naïve Martha who still has faith in adults.
"Adults are too dumb to know what we really need help with," Heather said lazily, examining her nail polish like there might be a chip (there wasn't, it was absolutely perfect). "And even if they knew they still wouldn't help us. Because that's the adult world, you have to grow up and deal with it yourself."
"We already do most of it on our own, you'd think the least they could do is help us with the little bit we actually ask for help on," Kurt laughed humorlessly. "They only care when it inconveniences them."
The secret to life is knowing how to take care of things yourself and not bother inconvenience someone else with your problems because they've got their own.
"But what about your parents?" Martha insisted, receiving more mirthless laughing from Ram, JD, and all three Heathers.
"If you're lucky, they're actually do give half a damn," Veronica spoke amongst the bitter laughter. "But even then you wonder how much of it was also to save face."
"I'm bored," Heather suddenly announced, getting up and stretching. Her attire for the day was a emerald tunic with black leggings, it somehow made her look skinnier. "There's absolutely nothing to do here. They've moved us to the middle of nowhere, there's no phone, no cable for the tv, and not even a damn pool for the whole summer."
Heather's right, the place they have us at sucks. I don't know if they build it or what, but it reminds me of a single level college dorm. Everyone has their own separate barely legal-size room, there's a main space, and kitchenette/dining area. There's a tv in the corner with no service and a small yard with no pool.
"Yeah, give a group of unsupervised suicidal kids access to a pool!" JD exclaimed with fake enthusiasm.
"Not suicidal," Heather reminded him in a sing-song voice. She had on a pastel yellow blouse tucked into a pair of white high-waisted shorts. Veronica didn't take her for a girl to wear shorts, but on the other hand they showed off her legs well.
She watched him closely at Heather's statement, but he showed no indication that he cared or had even heard her.
"Gonna be if this is what my summer is," Heather mocked her (again JD gave no reaction).
"Pop some Jiffy Pop and watch a movie," Veronica suggested.
"The Princess Bride!" Martha gasped happily.
Martha looks like the type of person to have memorized the whole script to The Princess Bride.
"Wouldn't you have that memorized?" Heather teased, her curls bouncing as she turned to look at Martha.
Damn Heather.
"I like happy endings, kind of a sucker for them," Martha flushed.
"Princess Bride it is then," Heather said to Martha's excitement. "Big strong boys, move the furniture to face the tv, would you?" she fake flirted at Kurt and Ram.
"I'm going to find some Jiffy Pop," Veronica volunteered.
"There wouldn't be any," JD told her, "stove's not working."
"What do you mean the stove's not working?" she asked, a little thrown off at how normal he currently sounded. "And how do you know?"
"It's not plugged in, nor is it attached to a propane tank," he answered her, defeated Veronica plopped back down in her chair. It hadn't even occurred to her that they would've cut the oven.
"And again you know this how?" she demanded.
"He checked it last night while we were asleep," Heather spoke for him, giving him an unamused look as she straightened out her skirt which it didn't need (obviously being pressed and starched like her dress).
"Lord knows what else he does while we sleep," JD said, Veronica blinked at him.
You know, I get that JD still kids about murdering us, even after Heather "comfortingly" assured us that he wouldn't actually, but he still says stuff and I don't know if he wants us to take him seriously or not.
"There should be regular microwave popcorn," he added.
"But the microwave doesn't work, I already tried it yesterday," Ram said, starting to push the couch over. "I guess it's unplugged, I'm surprised it was even in there."
"Should work now," JD replied nonchalantly.
"Because you plugged it in?" Heather asked sarcastically, going over to the bin with the movies in it, her hair was still curly from yesterday.
"Because they replaced the metal utensils this morning," he informed them, moving to help Kurt and Ram with the furniture.
They replaced the metal silverware…
In exchange for a working microwave we now eat with plastic forks you get from fast food restaurants.
I feel like we deserve this to some degree, making fun of how adults have no idea about the shit we get up to and how they're shocked when we're left unsupervised. Well they've finally taken note and it's ruined any change for big fun or fun in general.
"Just someone go find some damn popcorn," Heather muttered in the tone that they all felt.
AN:: Yes of course Mrs. Fleming had to be the therapist.
Fun fact: JD's line "I'm not okay" was really close to being "Can you tell I'm not okay" but I thought it sounded too mean, and he wasn't being mean to Heather (at least that's how I took it).
I'm sort of tempted to sneak in other theater references when I can, what other musicals do you guys listen to? Also, have you watched the movie? Like I said Christian Slater is closest to my mental image of JD even though all of the references I've been making were musical .
Oh and comments! I love comments! Especially long ones, I'm always fascinated about how other people interpret things. And it also helps tell me what I need to clarify when I'm writing.
Anyway, thanks!