One More Time...

Chapter one

"I said leave me alone!" I scream.

"Come on man," Why won't they just leave me alone! "It's prom! You have to go."

My friends have been begging me to go to prom every day and I don't even get why. It is not like I have a strong dislike towards prom, I would actually go if I found the right girl but it is just so fun watching them beg me like that. John and Bryan groan for the millionth time and I just smile.

"How about Lily? You're just going to dump her?" John asks. Lily is my girlfriend, but I just don't see anything in her. Her friends begged me to be with her but although I really didn't want to, I don't like the idea of breaking someone's heart much more. I just sigh for an answer and they get it so they don't nag me again.

"Oh, guys i forgot to tell you. I can't go to the movies tonight. My dad has another teenager." I explain.

"Ugh, Zack. It's like you are never with us anymore. We miss you man." Bryan says. He was the one that explained his feelings more than us. He would tell us he loved us and not be embarrassed at all. Weird guy but ofcourse I love him too although I will never say that out loud.

"I'm sorry but I really have to go or my dad won't let me out of the house again." Its true. One time I cancelled a session with one of his patients, I was grounded for a week. It is not like I don't want to see the patients, I really enjoy my time talking to them, some of them are still even my friends but dad wanted me to choose between that and the Christmas party of last year at Bryan's place and who am I kidding, parties were my thing.

We talked for a while and rescheduled our movie night for Wednesday night which was two days from now and I went to Westville mental hospital.

My dad is a psychiatrist and has a lot of patients since he is some kind of pro. So he gives me responsibility to cover some of the sessions with the teenagers because they are my age he thinks I would relate more would be better at the job. But every word with them had to be careful so he started trusting me only this year which is my second year of treating them. I wouldn't exactly call it treatment, I guess talk to them about movies, books, and my stupid school would be more appropriate.

I reach the hospital, turn off the engine of my grey truck and go inside the hospital.

"Good you came" my dad greets me with a smile right when I enter the big doors.

"Yeah ofcourse I came, don't want to be grounded for another week of school." I say mockingly. He even grounded me from school, that is just weird. I enjoyed every minute of no-school until the next week when the work was piled up on my desk. Brrrr.

"Would you please forget that." He says annoyed and I stay silent, smiling to myself. And he starts leading me. "So, today you will spend just an hour here. The patient is 17 years old and has OCD. Her name is Ava"

"Nice name. Is the OCD bad or just a little bit of counting and not liking mess?" I ask. OCD was common here and some of them would be cured with just a little bit of treatment, but there were those that counting was totally ingrained into their normal life that they couldn't stop easily. But with a little pushing they had made them slow the symptoms down a bit Dad was giving me a look that said this one was one of the hard ones.

"You will... see for yourself." He wheezes on the last words. We reach the room he hesitated on the doorknob.

"Dad" I say impatient.

"Zack, don't be too cheery like you are with the others. Fix your shirt. Brush your hair back. Straighten your pants. Tie your shoes properly. And your eyebrows..."

"Whoa, dad I get it." I interrupt him and start to do the stupid things he wanted me to do. I could see in his eyes and expression that he was very worried about this girl and I'm not sure why. Guess I'll have to find out.

He opens the door while I'm straightening my messy black hair and pulling it back and I see her.