AN: Okay so I've got somethings in store for this story and I hope you'll enjoy them when they come up. :) And this chapter contains more CarlosxAlana interactions and there will be more of them in future chapters as well as her interacting with the other boys. And one of Alana's personalities makes an appearance. The next update will be soon. Enjoy this chapter!
Alana clutched her journal to herself tightly as she gingerly walked into the brightly colored room full of chairs. She saw Carlos sitting next to that tall beautiful brunette she's seen him walk into the cafeteria on her first day here.
'Go sit with them!' Elektra prodded poking her in the back roughly.
'No… I can't!' Alana thought chewing her lip and glanced at the Latino who was animatedly talking to the brunette.
She slowly made her way deeper into the room hoping the boy wouldn't notice her but the skittish raven haired boy she'd remembered seeing nudged the blond next to him who also looked at her with pained green eyes; both boys turned to the Latino who gazed at her with those wide excited doe brown eyes.
"Aly! Come sit with us!" Carlos all but yelled to the chocolate girl excitedly patting the empty chair beside him.
"Oh okay…" she replied giving the boy a gratefully but nervous smile as she made her way past the other empty seats and sat next to the beaming boy.
"Aly I want you to meet my friends. This is James, that's Logan and Kendall's the broody one," the caramel colored boy said introducing the boys who waved politely to Alana.
"Hi, it's nice to meet you," she replied feeling her throat instantly dry at three pairs of eyes staring at her intently.
Carlos smiled brightly at her once again, making Alana feel like she was being warmed by a tiny sun, the lump in throat melted letting her breathe a little easier.
"So what are we supposed to do here?" she asked focusing on the caramel boy's excited brown eyes.
"This is group therapy it's where we talk about our feelings," the Latino explained rolling his eyes dramatically.
"Oh… does everyone have to talk?" the petite girl inquired her nervousness setting in deeply.
"No… Kendall and James never talk," Carlos replied as he bravely reached for her hand taking hold of it gently.
Alana's heart raced rapidly as the raven haired boy's soft hand engulfed hers into a comforting pocket of warmth. A smile bloomed to her face as she looked at his blushing countenance.
"Your hand is soft," she whispered to him feeling some of her shyness evaporate.
"Yours is warm," he whispered back a bashful smile drawing itself onto his face.
It seemed for that tiny moment that the world had melted away and only its smoldering embers were left as evidence. They scooted their chairs a little closer to each other, their fingers twisting into each other's desperately as they sat next to each other, the 3 boys next to them and the other patients filing into the room went unnoticed.
"Hey guys you can flirt later, the "healing process" is going to start," James said breaking the two teens back into reality.
"Oh...right," the pair muttered as they reluctantly let their hands slip away from their previous entanglement.
A pretty African American woman with long dark hair stood before the room full of teenagers as a tall dark haired woman with piercing blue eyes stood next to her, both had wide smiles on their faces.
"The black lady's name is Kelly, she's really nice and the one with the scary blue eyes is Heather… she's interesting," Carlos said softly as he leaned into Alana his lips pressing gently against the shell of her ear.
'But will they make me talk?' she thought biting onto her lip gazing at the two women who stood in front of the room which felt so much smaller.
"Hello everyone, as you can see we have someone new to group, Alana could you introduce yourself please?" Kelly said her sparkling smile shone brighter than all the stars in the sky almost blinding the petite girl into oblivion.
"Ugh…hi, my name's Alana, I like to paint and write… I used to play the piano," the green eyed girl said giving all who had turned to stare at her with wide curious a nervous wave.
"Okay, now Alana since you're new you don't have to talk unless you want to," Kelly said with a kind smile as she looked back to the other patients in the room. "Now who would like to start today?"
"I would!" a blond boy said arrogantly as he stood up from his chair near the front of the room.
"Jett you always want to talk about yourself, why don't we let Alana talk," Logan suggested in an uncharacteristically assertive voice.
The raven haired boy squirmed slightly with everyone's shocked scrutiny and Jett's combination of lust and aggression seeping from his ocean blue eyes.
"I think that's a very good idea, Alana why don't you start?" Heather asked her eyes full of curiosity.
"Um… I don't know what to say, what am I supposed to tell you?" the petite girl inquired clutching her journal to her chest as if it would shield her from the woman's prying eyes.
"I see you've got a journal with you… you could tell us something about that," Kelly suggested giving Heather a stern look.
"Okay… the journal's just… just something that doesn't matter, besides it's not like you care," Alana said her shoulders tensing as she looked up at both of the woman standing in front of the room.
The two of them both gasped their eyes widening at the girl's vicious snarl and cold blue eyes glaring at them intently. Kelly gulped quickly gathering herself while Heather still seemed slightly perplexed by the girl sitting next to the young pyromaniac who looked at her with wide eyes.
"Aly… it's okay if you don't want to talk," Carlos said softly hesitantly rubbing the girl's arm, before Alana was like the tiny flickering flame of a candle, but now she was like the roaring flames of a forest fire.
He half expected her to look to him with aggression and rage in her green eyes, but like everyone else in the room he was surprised to see shockingly blue eyes staring at him.
"Okay… Alana was getting scared anyway, poor thing was about to have a panic attack… I'm Elektra by the way," Elektra replied with a smirk but whispered the last into the young pyro's ear.
"Hi…um… can Alana come back now?" the Latino asked softly as Jett began to talk loudly about himself.
"Sure… she really likes you by the way," Elektra whispered with a wink and winced, her hands clutching the dark blue journal as her shoulders relaxed and then leaned back in the chair.
"Aly… are you okay?" he looked to her with concern brewing in his eyes as the girl next to him breathed heavily as if she'd just been brought up from the deep end of a pool.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she mumbled giving him a tiny smile. "What happened?"
"Nothing, don't worry about it," he reassured her taking her hand in his again and gave it a gentle squeeze.
'He's really cute, he didn't get scared of me like all the other boys,' Elektra whispered to Alana and poked her in the side. 'And I don't think those counselors are going to make you talk anymore.'
'What did you do?' Alana thought looking down to her lap and tried her best to ignore the pulsing migraine beating against her skull.
'Nothing that would make anyone think any less of you,' Elektra replied with a smirk as she faded from Alana's side view.
"Well everyone I think that's enough for today, you all can go to your activities or study hall," Kelly said breaking Alana out of her thoughts.
"Where are you going to next?" James asked surprising Alana with his direct question.
"The Doctor said I was supposed to go to either art, music or to the library," she replied as the boys all stood up, Carlos pulling her up with them.
"Come to art, Logan and I are going there next," Carlos suggested excitedly his hand twisting tightly with hers.
"Okay, that sounds fun," she replied with a wide smile as the caramel skinned boy gazed at her with pure adoration and happiness.
"Awesome, let's go Logie, see you guys at lunch," Carlos chirped giving James and Kendall a blinding smile as he pulled Alana out the room with him.
"Does he even know anything about her?" Kendall asked the tall brunette next to him as he, James and Logan stepped out of the room.
"No, but he obviously likes her a lot and she likes him," the hazel eyed boy replied with a slight shrug.
"But did you notice how she changed… like she shifted into another person?" Logan said with a curious look on his face. "I think she might have DID…"
"DID? That's cool, maybe you should let Carlos know, and I think he's waiting for you," the blonde said pulling on the sleeve of his sweater with James nodding in agreement.
"Yeah I think I should… anyway I'll see you guys later," the raven haired boy said walking down the hall to where Carlos had run off to with Alana.
"Bye Logan," both the taller boys said turning in the opposite direction to their respected therapies.
Yet what Logan didn't realize was that Carlos was perfectly aware of the other personalities that lived behind Alana's bright green eyes. He simply chose to act as if they weren't real; it was almost as if he understood just how the petite girl's mind worked. But at the moment her disorder didn't matter, what mattered was getting the girl an easel next to his.
"You'll like the art teacher, he's real weird, but he's awesome," Carlos said with a grin reluctantly letting go of the girl's hand to let her wander around the art room.
"Okay… did you paint the ones with fire in them, they're beautiful," she said looking at one of the large painted canvases with flames consuming an entire house.
"Thanks, everyone else thinks they're weird," the Latino said with a bashful smile.
"Everyone's weird, and you're welcome," she replied leaning to give him a gentle kiss on the cheek.
The two smiled at each other as they walked back to their easels just as the other patients selected for art therapy strolled through the door. Both of them felt a gentle warmth bloom in their hearts like a tiny fire sparking to life.
Leave me some reviews please! Next update will be soon. xoxo