The Freaks | Sally Face

Chapter 17: Therapy Session 1

River's POV:-

Well the reception was as warm as ever. I don't know why I was panicking considering no one really reacted to me walking back into the building. I look around the grey, poorly painted hallway to check my surroundings. Yes, some of the "bitchy girls" turned and looked in my direction but quickly snuffed me when I made eye contact.

"Oh my gosh!" A loud shriek came running in our direction. As I turn to follow the sound, I have a pair of long arms wrap around me and pull me in tight. The smell of lavender graced my nose which only meant this could be Ashley. I smile and give her a hug back before we release each other. "Oh River; it's so good to see you!" She smiles widely.

"You too Ash. I'm really happy to see you" I smile back.

"Look what happened before, I should've never..."

"Hey!" I interrupt her. "Please don't worry about it. I guess I'm just not ready to deal with that yet. You were only trying to help and understand. You're a good friend Ash" I reassure her.

Ashley's face instantly picks up when she realises I'm being sincere. I knew full well she wouldn't go out of her way to upset me, she just doesn't know me well enough yet to know my triggers. With Sal it was almost instant because we are very similar. We both have ticks that we latch onto and know exactly how to calm the other down. Ashley was harder to read, she was always so upbeat and full of life that nothing really seemed to bother her. The only time I've seen her upset was during Art class when her drawing didn't go quite right, she really beat herself up over it like she couldn't do it anymore. Don't get me wrong, she picked herself up very quickly but part of me wondered if there was something deeper going on with her that she didn't want her friends to know about.

The four of us began to laugh and joke like no time had passed, I was really glad I pushed myself to return to school today. I needed this time with my friends just to forget about the problems I was having inside my own head. It wasn't long before the school bell rang, indicating first period starting and that's when Sal grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze.

"Ready to go?" He turned and whispered to me.

I nodded back to him and gave him a smile. Everyone else in the room faded away and it felt like it was just us two in the whole school. I felt my worries melt away as his soft hands placed themselves around mine. His long fingers then intertwined with mine and his thumb gently caressed my skin. I felt butterflies in my stomach and a small serge of electricity shoot up my spine, making my skin spawn tiny little goosebumps.

The pair of us said goodbye to the others, his hands not once disconnecting from mine which made Larry and Ashley's eyebrows raise in curiosity but for once I actually didn't care what people thought about me. Only that I had Sal with me to keep me safe. We walked through the corridors and headed straight for Maths. I absolutely detested the subject as I was never very good with numbers or algebra, luckily I sat by Sal who was a whizz with Maths. Sal would always finish his tests early, literally it would be 15 minutes into an hours test and yet he would be finished and wouldn't need to check through his answers. I never understand how he did it but I envied him for it. In a loving way of course. As we walked into our classroom, Mrs Packerton was standing in the doorway greeting all the students as they entered her room.

Mrs Packerton was again, another frail older woman who somehow was still teaching. She was one of the nicest women on the planet, incredibly caring and polite but something about her gave me the creeps. I don't know if it was because she was so overly polite, or that she would give me weird looks across the classroom but Sal would often reassure me she was probably just curious about my features.

"Good morning Mr Fisher and Miss Valentine. It's a pleasure to have you back in school" she smiled exposing her yellow stained teeth.

"Good morning Mrs Packerton, thank you for sending my work home to me. I am sorry to have missed some time off" I smile.