My Therapy Sessions (Wattys2016)

Chapter Eleven

I was in English Class, Mrs Elton looked tired and sad for some reason but I decided to leave it be for once. "Today, class, you will be splitting into groups of three for your first English project of the year." She announced, and I felt my stomach drop; I really didn't like the sound of that.
Why?
Social anxiety, remember?
Just making sure. (That makes me suspicious, why was he being so vague?)
"Hey Keira," I heard someone call my name, I slowly turned around. Riley was sitting a few seats behind with a boy, she was gesturing for me to come. When I got there, I noticed that the boy wasn't too pleased to see me.
"You can't seriously want her in our group?" He said, not at all caring that I was in hearing distant.
"Yeah, why not?" Riley folded her arms, she didn't seem all that happy by what he said.
"Because she's weird!" He hissed, gesturing towards me.
"Then get lost." Riley replied curtly, leaving no room for arguments. The boy left, taking whatever dignity he had left with him it seemed. I turned my gaze away from the fleeing boy to Riley, who just shrugged. "He deserved it."
"Now that I disagree with you," I put my bag on the remaining desk and sat down. "But now we're short one person."
"Oh yeah," Riley admitted but she didn't look all that concerned.
"Of course, you wouldn't care." I sighed, earning a shrug from her.
"Hey, can I join you two?" We both looked to find an olive-skinned girl who looked somewhat familiar.
"Sure." Riley grinned, causing me to roll my eyes. Somehow, things always seem to go her way; it pissed me off.
"Nice to meet you, my name's Emily." Emily greeted, offering the friendliest smile I've ever seen.
"Riley," Riley pointed to herself before gesturing at me. "Keira."
"Yeah, nice to meet you." I said, returning the girl's smile with a slight one of my own.
You didn't stutter?
Well, Riley was there so I wasn't all that nervous.
"Well, now that all the groups are sorted." Mrs Elton quieted all the students before continuing. "For your projects, each group will have to pick any monologue from any genre and act it out in front of the class. How you do it is up to you." With that, she went back to her desk; rubbing her forehead. Something was definitely off with her.
"Geez," Emily sighed, putting her head to the desk before looking at us. "Do you guys know any easy to do you yet while-worth monologues?" Riley shook her head while I shrugged. "Well the, looks like we have some research to do."

"Why are we here?" Riley groaned, folding her arms.
"Because I don't want to fail English for some stupid project." Emily retorted, looking through some of the recommended section. "Keira, you help too."
"Hmm?" I looked at her before nodding. I had no idea what they were looking for and its not like I was going to look through all those book to find a single monologue so instead I went to one of the computers and searched for it.
"Keira, what are you doing?" I heard Emily ask only for Riley to answer.
"She's searching for the monologue online. Smart." She said, before putting the book she was holding back to its place and sat next to me. "This shouldn't take too long."
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"Why exactly are we going to my house?" I asked nervously, as Emily, Riley made our way out of school.
"Because Emily wants to get everything done today. Also, you went to my house, twice, and thrashed it once. It's time for payback." She grinned mischievously making me all the more nervous.
"It was your fault." I pointed out.
"How, exactly?"
"You "pressured" me into taking the pills, remember?"
"You totally just used my apology against me, didn't you?" Riley stared at me wide-eyed. I pulled my tongue at her, being the playful one for once.
"Wow." Emily interjected. "You guys are closer than I thought." She observed.
"Huh?" Riley looked at her, puzzled. "Oh, forgot that you were here." I resisted the urge to laugh, but a chuckle escaped anyway.
"Gee, nice to know I left such an unforgettable impression on you two." I sent Emily an apologetic look. Suddenly remembering something, I took out my phone.
"What are you doing?" Riley inquired.
"I need to tell my mom that I'm having friends over or else she might have a heart attack." I mumbled, receiving an elbow to the ribs from Riley. "Ow." I clutched my side. "What was that for?" I looked at her accusatorially.
"Don't mumble."
"Sorry." I apologized. I forgot that that got on Riley's nerves.
"So who's our ride?" Emily asked, searching around.
"My sister." I answered, at the moment our eyes met; she had a confused look on her and it didn't take me long to discern why. "Oh there she is." All three of us hurried to the white Ford. I was in shot gun while Emily and Riley sat in the back with Riley staring boringly out the window.
"Who are they?" Dem asked, her confusion still intact.
"Hi, I'm Emily." Emily waved, smiling sweetly at my sister.
"Riley." Riley spoke lowly, not bothering to look Dem's way. Their introductions didn't ease any puzzlement still in the air.
"We're working on an English project together and decided we should finish it at Keira's house."
"Oh that explains it." Dem let out a breath. "For a second, you had me worried." This actually caught Riley's attention as she pulled her gaze away from the many passing buildings to glance at Dem, she was furrowing her eyebrows as though in deep thought.