rush//5SOS

20

Freya walked slightly ahead of Ashton, breathing in the fresh air she hadn't seen in so long.

Travelling was something she'd always wanted to do, and this wasn't anywhere glamorous, but it was somewhere new. When she was with her family, it was just sets and posh restaurants.

As they walked round the small garden, she was in awe of all the bright flowers and swaying trees.

"You like it huh?"

"Yeah,"

"Can we sit down? I wanna talk,"

The two of them sat down on a bench, Freya bringing her leg up .

"How do you think you've treated me since you got here?"

"What?"

"How do you think you've treated me since you got here?"

"I don't know,"

"Yes you do,"

"Badly,"

"And why do you think you've done that?"

"Because you could hurt me if I was nice to you,"

Jackpot, he thought. He knew it was a defence mechanism.

"Why would I want to hurt you?"

"Everyone hurts me. I may be the daughter of an actor and all, but I literally have no proper friends. I'm home schooled, and I illegally get into clubs. I've become addicted to just about everything there is out there, and I'm snappy. Why would anyone want to be friends with me?"

He was taken back, surprised that she'd spoken about herself like that.

"Luke and Calum want to be your friends. You're recovering Freya, and I am truly proud of how far you have come since you got here. What I'm trying to get at is why you're so snappy, then suddenly not,"

"I'm scared of this place,"

"You don't seem it,"

The girl shook her head, coming closer to tears by the second.

"I'm scared of what my dad thinks, I'm scared of what the media is saying, I'm scared of you,"

"I don't want you to be scared of me, so what's so scary?"

"You know my brain and pick everything apart. You could give me any medicine and lock me away in that room when you please. You could ruin my future,"

"I don't want to lock you up, or ruin your future, or hurt you at all Freya. How many people do you think would work with kids who are confused, or feeling troubled, require a lot of patience and are sometimes quite violent, just to hurt them more. You need passion to get into a job like this,"

"You have so much power,"

"I probably have the least amount of power in here in terms of staff. Look, I promise I won't do any of those things because I genuinely believe you are a nice, hardworking person deep down,"

"Deep down, great,"

"All I'm saying, is that we need to work on realising that not everyone is against you. We need to make sure your immediate reaction to someone isn't to snap at them, it's to ask them what they mean or push it away until later,"

"Is my medicine even working? I still feel tired and you irritate me a lot,"

"It's getting there. The feeling is mutual," the man smiled, watching a small one peek onto her own.

The two of them stood up, walking back inside and feeling very accomplished. Freya was happy it was off her chest. Ashton was happy he had more answers. Both of them were happy they'd not been stuck inside all day.

However, Luke and Michael weren't so happy and happened to catch the attention of both people.

"Hey Luke, lets stop pushing Michael," Ashton said calmly, holding his hand out to keep Freya back as he gently took Luke's.

"I don't want to eat,"

"It's not Michael's fault that you have to. Freya was about to get some food too, so why don't we go back to that room the other day and eat it there?"

"I don't want you to see me eat,"

"I'm such a messy eater, it's fine," Freya said, not understanding why the boy was so afraid. She thought he looked quite good.

"But I eat so much,"

"I ate an entire pizza in like ten minutes once... maybe less. Maybe five actually- I don't remember but it happened,"

Michael and Ashton smiled, amused by how flustered the girl was trying while speaking to Luke. He smiled a little too, even though he didn't want to eat.

"I'm not eating pizza,"

"It's spag bol today," Ashton said, signalling for Freya to move, "if you decide to come, we'll meet you there,"