"Ok, here we go," Carson came to a stop at on the third floor of the museum. Dwayne looked around the area.
"Oh my god," he smiled a little bit. "Thanks guys," they had come to their stop just in front of a flight simulator. They all piled in, and Dwayne was, without question, the pilot.
"You'd better not crash this thing," joked Roxanne.
"I'll try my best not to." Dwayne grinned, it felt so right to him to be sitting in the captains seat. As the simulation started, Dwayne took a deep breath, then let go, and for the first time flew his heart out.
"Good job!" Roxanne congratulated him as he landed the "aircraft."
"Thanks," Dwayne felt really happy and fulfilled now.
"Ok, my turn," said Julia excitedly.
"Oh no!" said Carson.
"Don't you listen to him." Julia whacked Carson, and then switched spots with Dwayne. Once all five of them had gone, Dwayne twice, they all tumbled out of the simulator, considerably dizzier then when they had gotten in.
"So, did you enjoy that?" asked Crystal.
"Yeah, I really did, thanks."
"No problem, you looked like you needed it." Carson spoke to Dwayne, then turned to Julia and kissed her.
"Ok, here ya go." Crystal tore off a piece of paper from the notebook that she had been writing in, and gave it to Dwayne, stopping him as he exited the car.
"What's this?" he asked her.
"Contact information," said Crystal. Dwayne looked at the piece of paper in his hand. There was a cell phone number, at least one home telephone number, and an email address for each one of them.
"Oh, thanks." Dwayne got out of the car and pulled his back pack out of the trunk of the car.
"See you tomorrow!" Julia called after him. Dwayne nodded, and then entered his house.
"So, where did you and your friends end up going?" asked Steve when Dwayne walked in his door, and sat down in the living room.
"The Museum of Science and Technology." Dwayne let his backpack slide off of the chair and on to the floor, and then he kicked off his shoes.
"Oh, was that fun?" Steve sounded very interested.
"Yeah, it was amazing. I have got two words for you that sum it up, Flight Simulator," Dwayne smiled.
"Of course! I had forgotten about that," Steve exclaimed. "So you enjoyed that?"
"Absolutely, it was great, I've honestly never done anything quite like it." Dwayne couldn't even begin to describe how it had made him feel.
"Wow, that's incredible." Steve smiled at his son, please that he had enjoyed himself. "On a little bit of a different page, I think I found you a therapist. He wants to see you as soon as possible, so I made an appointment for you right after school tomorrow, meaning that I will pick you up right after classes end, and drive you."
"Oh, ok good," Dwayne was relieved at finally being offered a hand at dealing with all of his psychological problems. The rest of the day was spent getting Steve to sign forms for school, and doing homework. This was followed by eating, and watching 24 on TV.
The next day Dwayne was walking down the hallway after weight training class had ended. "Hey Dwayne, Dwayne Caulbury, wait up." Dwayne turned around to see who was calling his name, and saw Coach Winger, the weight training supervisor/instructor running towards him.
"What?" Dwayne spoke to the coach in his what-do-you-have-to-say-that-better-be-really-really-good tone of voice.
"Have you thought about joining any athletic teams here?" asked his instructor.
"Uh, no." He couldn't be bothered with sports, he simply didn't care about them.
"Oh, well you should definitely give some thought to wrestling. You see, I'm the coach, and well, so far, we are a little on the weak side this year."
"Why would I wrestle?"
"Why? Dwayne, you are bench pressing at least twice what the other guys in your weight training class are, and more then most of the guys on the wrestling team. You could be really great at wrestling."
"I'm just not interested, sorry." Dwayne started to walk away, he wasn't used to being wanted for anything.
"Well, at least think about it, ok?"
"Ok," Dwayne said this simply to get the coach off of his back. He walked away with no intention of joining the team.
Again, he ate lunch with Crystal, Roxanne, Julia, and Carson. They were always happy, or it seemed that way to him. He had never been around people like that, who were happy all of the time. Whenever one of them smiled, so did the rest, it was like it was contagious or something. It didn't make any sense to him at all. "Ok, I just gotta know, why do you guys always seem to be so happy?" he asked, curiosity finally consuming him.
"We aren't always happy, but we usually are, and that's because we surround ourselves with the people who love us, and the people we love, not the people that society wants us to worship, that's what makes us the misfits," explained Roxanne.
"You seem you need the people who care about you around you to tell you how much they care. It gives you a sense of worth, and not a false one either," explained Julia. This conversation had Dwayne thinking for the rest of the say.
"Are you alright?" Steve asked when he picked Dwayne up from school.
"Yeah, I'm just a little tired," Dwayne smiled and got in to the car. They drove to the doctor's office, talking about Dwayne's classes and how he had been approached about wrestling.
"Ok, well I'll be back in an hour to pick you up, then we can go get something to eat, sound good?" Steve parked the car and walked Dwayne up to the office.
"Yeah, sounds great actually." Dwayne went in, waving goodbye to his father as he entered.
"So you must be Dwayne Caulbury, Hello, I'm doctor Winger." Dwayne turned and saw and old man, about 65, behind him sitting at a desk.
"Yes, I am. Hi."
"Make yourself comfortable." The doctor waved Dwayne into his office. "So, your father tells me that you have been having some problems?"
"Pretty much, yeah, did he explain?"
"No, he said that you would tell my yourself if you wanted to."
"Oh, ok. Well, I guess I should probably get that started then." Dwayne shifted in the chair.
"Well I have one question for you first, may I?" asked the doctor, Dwayne nodded. "Do you actually want help Dwayne? Or are you parents making you come here."
"I really want help, you have no idea how much." Dwayne was slightly taken aback by the question.
"Good, that's what I though, now you may begin." Dwayne spent the next 45 minutes explaining virtually everything to Doctor Winger, who seemed to under stand everything, he didn't even bat an eye when Dwayne explained about Britta and Joanna.
"So yeah, and now I'm here." Dwayne finished telling him about leaving Albuquerque.
"Well, that' quite a tale you have young man. Are you adjusting well in Florida?" he asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Do fit in, are you making friends? Do you like it here?"
"Oh, well I don't fit in really, but I am making friends, I have four pretty good friends already, and yeah, I do like it here." Dwayne didn't lie, he didn't have to.
"Well that's great. It usually takes new students a few weeks to make good friends."
"These guys just kind of walked up to me my first day and said 'hey, we're going to be your friends whether you like it or not,' literally." Dwayne smiled, remembering that exact quote.
"How do they compare to your friends back home? Do you miss them?"
"I didn't have any friends back home except for Olive." Dwayne had already explained about Olive to the doctor.
"Oh, well then I would have you say that you are already on the way to recovery."
"Why? How so?"
"Friends, you need friends if you are going to be healthy, it's the way things work Dwayne."
"Yeah, I think I'm learning that actually." They talked about school for the next 5 minutes, then it was time for Dwayne to go.
"Alright Mr. Caulbury, I shall see you next week?" asked Doctor Winger.
"Same time, sure thing." Dwayne left, and walked out to his father's car, feeling so much better about his life.