"Aria, please, take your medication. You know you can't go to school without it."

I kept staring at the counter top, waiting for the motivation to look my mother in her face. She pushed the pill bottle a little closer, more into my line of sight. I slid my hand in front of me, tipping the pill bottle into my hand and unscrewing it.

She handed me an open can of soda while I popped the pills into my mouth. A small sip of soda and the traditional quick, relieved sigh escaped my mothers' lips. She tugged on my shoulder, silently letting me know to go get into the car.

I grabbed my back pack, ignoring the jingle of medication littered in the bottom of it. I slid past my mom, trying to ignore how she stiffened as I passed her. Out the door and into the car I went, pulling my headphones out of my pocket and plugging them into my phone and then my ears.

The drive to my new school was short, barely lasting seven minutes. The front steps reminded me of a cartoon stair-esque tongue. The building loomed over me, carnivorous in every way. I forced myself up the stair alongside my mother, determined to take deep breaths throughout this whole ordeal so I didn't throw myself into a panic attack.

"Ms. Johnson, I don't mean to be rude, but are you sure that Aria is stable enough to be enrolled in public school? Her file states that she's been in three major fights in three different schools, one that she didn't even attend, that ended up in major bodily injury from psychosis in the last two years.. I just want to make sure that you are sure."

I glanced up at Mr. Simpson, while feeling the irritation radiate from my mother.

"The doctors cleared her to go back to public school four months ago. She's had extensive treatments and she's on a plethora of medications. And, no disrespect Mr. Simpson, but all those charges were dropped in regard to the fighting. So, I'm not seeing an issue with my daughter being in your school."

Mr. Simpson straightened slightly, obviously uncomfortable with the situation. I sighed, bringing the attention in the room to myself.

"If I feel that I might be a danger to others, I'll remove myself from the school grounds."

He deflated. "Alright. I'll send out an email to the teachers to let you leave if you say you need to. If you, Ms. Johnson, could just fill out this paperwork, we can get Aria enrolled. Aria, why don't you go look around the school?"

I nodded, leaving the room in only a slight hurry.

I walked around, slowly finding myself in front of a computer room. Only a few people were inside, so I opened the door as quietly as I could and slipped inside. I moved to a corner of the room and sat down, deciding to observe the group on the other side of the room.

The group was made up of three boys and one girl. Two of them of ethnic originality and the other two Caucasian. They seemed to be playing a computer game, headsets and all. Their conversation wasn't making any sense to me; a bunch of yelling about trolls and noobs and other incomprehensible jargon.

The smothered sound of the alarm on my watch in my bag caught not only my attention, but one of the boys. We held eye contact for a moment before I disconnected it and began riffling through my bag. I tried to find the bottle of pills that I was looking for without pulling out all four bottles, but it was becoming increasingly more difficult to read the labels without proper light.

"Are you okay?"

I started at the sound of his voice and looked up, wondering why he was standing infront of me and not playing his game. I hummed a confirmation, blinking a few times at him. I returned my attention to my bag, finally pulling out the correct pill bottle and selecting one pill out of it.

"Well, are you a new student?"

Again, another hum while I took out a water bottle and swallowed my pill.

"Well, my name is Baaz. Baaz Nahir. "

I worried my lip for a moment while returning my attention to him, but then replied. "I'm Aria. What grade are you in?"

He smiled gently, seemingly happy about getting an actual answer out of me. "I'm grade 10. You?"

I nodded my head. "The sam- "

"Baaz! Get back over here! What are you-"

I jumped at the shout, wide-eyed as I placed a hand over my heart. "Jesus christ, what the hell is his problem?" I mumbled.

The boy that shouted shoved himself up from his seat, throwing his headset onto the table with disregard. "Baaz! Because you decided you needed to talk to this-"

I tilted my head, waiting for what he was going to call me, but Mr. Simpson chose that moment to open the door abruptly.

"Ah, I found you. I see you've met our gaming club members. Baaz, Hunter, Vijay, and Yael. Everyone, this is Aria, a new student in your grade. Now that the introductions are finished, Aria, let's get you back to the office to figure out your schedule. Hunter, you can follow us to my office."

The boy that had shouted, Hunter, huffed loudly, but collected his stuff and stalked past Mr. Simpson. I grabbed my bag, sending a half-hearted wave at Baaz, and followed Mr. Simpson.

I sat waiting in a seat next to Mr. Simpsons office. He had informed me to wait outside, that Hunter would be my guide for the school since we'd have the same schedule. I tried to keep my anxiety down by playing solitaire on my phone. I didn't hear the door open, but I heard the footsteps that lead to Hunter standing in my peripheral vision. I continued to ignore him while he began to tap his foot.

"Aria, we're going to be late to class if you continue to ignore me."

I shrugged, but looked up at him. "What were you going to call me, Hunter?"

He huffed, running a hand through his hair. "Can we just go?"

I furrowed my brow, but shrugged again and stood up. He headed into the hallway, a few steps ahead of me the whole time.

Authors Note: Let me know if ya'll are interested in this story guys!