A/N: this chapter (as for the rest of the story) is a continuation of where we left off in Kendall's chapter. hope you all like this :)
Chapter Five: I Could Really Use A Wish Right Now
"I heard he doesn't talk." Carlos said, leaning across the table, over the pieces of construction paper that they were supposed to be painting on. Currently, the boys and some of the other kids were in a type of group therapy that Kelly used, which was painting. She thought that art was an easier way for them to express how they were feeling, rather than just talking about it. But rather than painting, Carlos and his two best friends Logan and James found themselves more interested in the new kid.
"I heard he's been with Collins since he got here." Logan added.
"I heard that you three gossip more than little old ladies playing bingo." Kelly said, kneeling by their table. James, Logan, and Carlos all exchanged sheepish expressions before looking down at the table. "You guys know it isn't nice to talk about someone behind their back." Kelly chided.
"But we weren't gossiping." James insisted. "We were… conversing."
"Well how about instead of gossiping," Kelly said and James rolled his eyes. "You use some of those colors you've mixed to paint a picture."
"Do they pay you by the number of pictures us kids paint?" James asked.
"Didn't you paint for your last art instructor?" Kelly shot back.
"You're not an art instructor; you're a therapist." James said, a condescending look on his face. Kelly gave him an eyebrows raised, head cocked look, but James just shrugged and looked back down at his paper.
"So can you tell us about the new kid?" Carlos asked Kelly. "What's his story?"
"You know I'm not gonna answer that question." Kelly told him.
"What's the big deal?" Carlos asked with a small pout.
"Well how would you like it if I talked about you with the other kids?" Kelly replied. Carlos sighed, knowing Kelly was right and leaned back in his seat.
"Well can you tell us his name at least?" Logan asked.
Kelly sighed. She had never met three more- for lack of a better term- curious teenage boys in her life. "It's Kendall." she said. "And that's all I'm saying. Anything else you want to know, you talk to him."
"So that means he does talk?" Carlos asked.
Kelly rolled her eyes. "Can't you three for once just paint your pictures like good boys?" she asked, a tired smile on her face.
"I have nothing to paint." James replied. "Or say, for that matter." and without another word, he got up from his seat and walked out.
Kelly sighed and rubbed her temples. James Diamond was one of the more difficult kids here. He never wanted to talk about how he was feeling, making one on one therapy sessions with him completely difficult, as well as activities like this. Kelly wasn't sure if it was because he was hiding something, or because he just didn't want to open up but for the past eight years, you'd think she'd be used to it by now.
"Sorry about him." Carlos said sheepishly. "He hasn't been having the best day for whatever reason. I'll go talk to him." Carlos excused himself from the table and went after James.
Logan turned to Kelly. "I'm almost finished my picture." he said, hoping it would cheer her up that at least one of them followed her instructions. Kelly smiled at him and Logan swirled his paint brush around in the green paint. "So about the new kid…"
"Not you too Logie." Kelly groaned.
Logan chuckled. "I'm just curious. I mean, I heard he doesn't talk to anyone, and that's just kinda creepy. And creepy around here is saying something." he added in a whisper. Kelly rolled her eyes and Logan turned his attention to the paintbrush he was still swirling around in the cup of paint. "I bet he got beat up a lot at home." he said, his eyebrows furring together. Kelly stared at him wordlessly. "I bet… his dad was mad at him a lot." he continued, his voice getting lower. "I bet he beat him with the belt until he couldn't move anymore." Logan shook his head, snapping him out of those thoughts, and looked around the table. "Is there more yellow paint?" he asked Kelly.
"Yeah, it's over on the counter." Kelly said softly.
Logan smiled at her and got up to get the paint. Kelly stared after him, wondering how someone could hurt a sweet boy like Logan.
Gustavo Rocque was a nice man, but he was big and intimidating. Honestly, he scared Kendall a little bit when he came to pick him up from Dr. Collins office, which also frightened him for she couldn't do a proper inspection without touching him. But he managed to make it through the whole ordeal without completely breaking down and now Gustavo was walking him to his room. "You're going to have three roommates." Gustavo told him as they walked down the hall. "They're nice boys. A little crazy but you get used to it after a while."
Kendall nodded, not really replying to anything he was saying. He was still struggling with the will to speak. He had been going so long would really talking to anyone, give or take mumbling a few words. Now he was in a new environment where he didn't know anyone but he had to try to talk to them. They weren't going to hurt him, Kelly told him so herself. So did Dr. Collins and Gustavo. He just had to get used to that idea.
"Here we are." Gustavo announced, pushing open the door to Kendall's new bedroom. Inside, three boys were running around. Two of them were throwing something in the air- it looked like a comb- and the third boy was trying to retrieve it. "Hey, guys, tone it down for a second." Gustavo told them. The boys settled down and looked at Gustavo and Kendall. "Boys, this is Kendall, he's going to be your new roommate."
"Hi." Kendall said in a quiet voice.
"He does talk." the shortest boy whispered to his friends and Kendall blushed faintly. Word had already gotten out about how much of a freak hew was. Great.
"Carlos!" the pale, black haired boy hissed and nudged 'Carlos' in his ribs.
"Anyway…" Gustavo said loudly, causing all four of them to jump. "Kendall, this is James, Carlos, and Logan." each of the boys waved when Gustavo said their name so Kendall could acknowledge who was who. "I hope you boys will make him feel right at home." he added.
"You know we will Gustavo." Carlos smiled and Kendall relaxed. He seemed nice.
"Alright, then I'll leave you boys to it." Gustavo smiled and turned to leave.
"Hey, Gustavo." James jumped off of his bed and rushed over to the doorway. "D-did the mail come today."
Gustavo hesitated. "Yeah it did." he finally said.
"Did I get anything?" James asked hopefully.
Gustavo sighed. "Sorry James…not today."
James sighed and nodded, turning back to his bed and flopping down on it. Gustavo let out another pained sigh; it killed him whenever he saw how hopeful James would get, thinking his parents contacted him, and then how sad he looked when he found out that they didn't. Quietly, he shut the boys' bedroom door, leaving Kendall alone with his new roommates. Kendall took a seat in the bed next to James's and James turned his head towards him and offered a smile. "Hey." he said softly.
Kendall smiled in return but didn't offer and verbal greetings.
Carlos jumped over on James's bed, making the brunette boy bounce a bit. "You don't have to be afraid." Carlos told him. "You're gonna like it here."
Kendall just bit his lip and stared at the floor, only to look up when he felt Logan go sit next to him. "Don't mind Carlos." he said. "He's just very blunt."
"Better than beating around the bush." Carlos shot back.
Logan rolled his eyes. "But he is right. You are gonna like it here."
"And the four of us are going to be the best of friends." Carlos added, a wide smile on his face. Kendall felt a little more at ease whenever he saw how happy Carlos was and managed a small smile in return.
"So what do you think of this place?" James asked. Kendall shrugged and looked around the room. James, Logan, and Carlos all exchanged a glance. What was it going to take to get this kid to talk? "Uh…" James tried again and Kendall turned to look at him. "How old are you?" he tried.
Kendall hesitated. "S-sixteen." he stuttered in a quiet voice.
"Cool, so are we." Logan said.
"I'm turning seventeen in September." Carlos said with a smirk. Kendall nodded, and another silence filled the room.
James reached for Carlos's arm, flipping it around to look at his watch, and then said, "I think it's time for dinner." he said.
"Ooh, and it's fish stick Friday!" Carlos said happily. "With tots! C'mon Logie!" he leaped off of James's bed and grabbed Logan's arm, dragging him out of the room with him.
James chuckled and shook his head, getting off of the bed. "You get used to that." he told Kendall as he stood up as well. "Carlos has never-ending energy." the brunette paused in thought. "Except when he's asleep, then he's pretty calm." he said and Kendall chuckled softly. James smiled at that. "Well, c'mon. Let's get some fish sticks." he reached out to put his arm around Kendall and the blonde boy immediately backed away from him, looking scared. James started at him confused, and Kendall looked down sheepishly and mumbled an almost inaudible "Sorry."
James raised an eyebrow but smiled at Kendall. "You don't have to be." he told him. "One thing I learned about staying here- you never have feel like you need to say sorry anymore." Kendall visibly relaxed when James said that and the two boys went down to the dining room for dinner.
"Hey guys!" a voice whispered. Kendall scrunched his face together and nestled deeper under his covers. "Guys!" the voice whispered again. James pulled his pillow over his head. "Guysssss!" the voice was no longer whispering. Logan rolled over and buried his face in his mattress. All three of the boys let out startled cries when they felt something jump onto their beds.
"Carlos, what is your problem?" James groaned, sitting up in his bed and turning on the lamp. Kendall threw his covers off of him and sat up in his bed, watching the scene curiously.
"We gotta go outside now!" Carlos cried, bouncing up and down on his own bed.
"We're not allowed to." Logan said. "It's past curfew."
"But there's shooting stars!" Carlos insisted. "There's millions of them! And millions of wishes need to be made so let's go!"
"We're never gonna make it out the front door." James said with an eye roll.
Carlos considered this. "So we'll go on the roof!" he exclaimed. "C'mon, let's go!"
"The roof?" Logan asked incredulously. "What if we fall off?"
"Then I'll embrace my cat like reflexes so I land on my feet!" Carlos said as if it were obvious and then ran over to the window, opening it and then climbing out.
"What the- Carlos, wait for me." James jumped out of his bed and ran after Carlos. He paused at the window and turned around. "You two are coming right?" he asked Kendall and Logan.
Logan rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah." he threw his covers off and got out of his bed. Kendall followed his lead. It took a few minutes but the four boys were laying on the roof, watching the stars in the sky. They all laid there in silence, just watching the stars fall from the sky.
"Did you make your wish?" Carlos asked quietly.
James nodded. "I wished my mom and dad never left me." he said quietly.
"I wished I met my mom." Logan whispered.
Carlos closed his eyes. "I wish my mom and dad were still alive."
A moment of silence passed and all three of the boys were startled when Kendall whispered, "I wished my parents loved me."
A/N: Kendall speaks! All is right with the world :D so this chapter was kinda ehhh in my opinion :p but I wanna know what you all thought :D review perhaps and tell me?