Maybe In Another Life

Chapter 7

It was Friday on the first week of the transfers' stay here.

All students sluggishly made their way to the cafeteria, rubbing the sleep out of their eyes and looking to change the taste in their mouthes.

Inside was a sea of navy blue trousers and checkered knee length skirts, topped with white button ups and occasional cobalt sweaters.

Soren blended into the crowd as he walked into the busy cafeteria, tugging at the uniform he had been forced into.

His eyes scanned the unfamiliar faces while his hand loosened the tie suffocating him.

Little groups were formed and few friends hung out, each keeping to his own. "Juvie" wasn't exactly the place to make friends.

Only necessary acquaintances.

He grabbed himself a tray and stood in line. Soren ignored the surrounding stares and snarls as his eyes landed on Manuel who sat at one of the tables with another rat like guy, whom he seemed to know since long.

After breakfast was over, he, lone wolf style as usual, headed to his first class of the day.

AP Physics.

Weird.

He found it weird that students here had advanced placement in subjects such as physics.

AP classes were maybe the only peaceful ones. All others consisted of bullying, dancing on table tops, catapulting objects at each other and being sent to the principal's office.

Somewhere around mid period, a young woman, around her thirties, peeked her head through the classroom door.

All eyes turned to her and several eye rolls were produced followed by huffs and puffs of obvious dislike.

The professor paused his lesson, giving the woman permission to disrupt his class.

She looked down at a piece of paper in hand, then searched the classroom.

"Soren Masalis?" She called out.

All eyes landed on him and his head shot up from the desk.

"Please follow me." She said, once she figured he was the guy she was looking for.

Hesitantly, Soren stood from his seat, and followed the woman out confused, receiving a nod from his professor.

Once he closed the door behind him and turned to face the woman, two other figures stood by her side.

Mavis and Manuel leaned against the lockers side by side.

This was the first time this week he had seen Mavis.

She had her arms crossed across her chest, and she looked down at her arms, bangs almost concealing her tired eyes.

As Manuel reached out and tried to poke her, Mavis slapped his hand away, and the woman gave them both a stern look which stopped Manuel's reaction.

She then proceeded to walk down the hall, wordlessly motioning for them to follow suit.

As the four made their way through the halls, Soren glanced at Mavis in confusion because he refused to talk to Manuel.

It took her a while to glance back at him, but when she did, they held each other's stare, not shying away.

Soren then raised an eyebrow and Mavis shrugged, both equally confused by the situation.

Finally, the woman took a sharp right turn and entered a room.

The word "counseling" was stuck on the door.

Great.

Soren and Mavis exchanged unenthusiastic looks as they refused to take seats.

Mavis's arms returned to their defensive crossed position, while Soren refrained from doing so because he had already been in that position, and knew that gesture wouldn't go unnoticed.

"Okay, now that we're alone, we can finally introduce ourselves!" The woman clapped her hands once giddily.

"I'm Dr. Miranda Josie Turner, but you can call me doctor Turner, or just Miranda, Josie, or MJ. Whichever you're more comfortable with." 

The three silently stared at Dr.Turner who smiled awkwardly at them. You could almost hear the crickets in the background.

"Right..." she proceeded. "I will be your psychologist for however long is required. We will be having group sessions as well as individual ones to help get rid of whatever it was that got you here."

"Why the hell was I appointed a psychologist and by who?" Retaliates Soren. "I'm not some mentally ill child who needs therapy."

Miranda's smile turned into a steel mask as she spoke her following words in a cold tone.

"I am appointed to every single student who is sent into this juvenile center, and judging by your insufferable actions and presence here, you are more than in need of a few "therapy" sessions."

Soren took a few menacing steps towards her desk and Dr. Turner visibly flinched.

"I call bullshit." He seethed.

"Mr. Masalis please calm yourself before I have to call the guards."

As he passed by Mavis, ready to leave once again, she forcefully grabbed his bicep, tugging him slightly downwards and closer to her face.

"Stop with the theatrics. None of us want to be here, you're only making it worse on yourself." She hissed in his ear.

There was a pause.

Miranda observed the two as they glared at each other before Soren snatched his arm away from Mavis's grasp and took his previous place, this time with his arms crossed.

"Good, now let's start with a group session since I already distracted you from class."

The three students dragged themselves to the circle of chairs and each took a seat. Dr. Turner quickstepped towards them, notebook and pen in hand, then took a seat aswell.

"Okay so, what's something that bothers you at home?" She quizzes.

The room remained silent, no-one eager about sharing any personal information.

Mavis looked up at her, eyebrows raised in belittling.

"Alrighty. Seems like a rather personal question to start with, let's s try something else. What's your relationship status?"

As Manuel was about to answer, Mavis intervened.

"Single." She shot a nasty look at Manuel.

Soren scoffed...