I was OK on my own. Why is she forcing me to come down here? I questioned myself, frowning and staring outside the window of my mother's car. Well, she's not actually my mother. Stepmother.

"This is gonna be good for you, Kenna" she repeated, trying to convinced myself. I rolled my eyes and focused on the street again. Didn't she realize I wanted to be alone?

"Like you care" I muttered under my breath. I heard her sigh while driving. After a couple of minutes, she stopped at the entrance of an old building that it's the community center. Looks really abandon from outside, but I see the hundreds of people coming out and in of it.

"Why don't you try?" my stepmother cut my train of thoughts. I rolled my eyes (I tent to do that a lot as a reply to her), but I walked out of the car, slamming the door, not waiting for her to tell me how I'm going home or when this thing ends. Maybe, I can find a quiet corner around here...

After several tries, some people found me and dragged me to the meeting. I huffed and walked to it, but I didn't actually care. As long as nobody bother me, I wasn't gonna care.

"Ah! Looks like we have a new member!" The voice of a young man spoke up, after I sat down in the circle. It was pretty big, all the people in it was wearing sad faces, black clothes and scars all over their expose skin "Hi! My name is Zak and I'm your councilor" he introduced himself, and I gave him a quick look: too optimism for my taste "So, today we'll do the same we do when we have a new member. We'll introduce ourselves and, if we want, we share our story and our progress, OK?" he checked with everyone, who simply nodded their heads and didn,t look up from their laps. He gestured the guy to his left (the furthest from me), to make him start.

"Hi, my name is Nick and I do selfharm" he started. He was slim, but also a bit buff and strong.

"Hi, Nick" everyone chorused, except for me.

"I started to selfharm myself when I was in middle school. At that time, I had friends and good grades. I cut myself for the first time when I heard my then best friend saying I was worthless behind my back. I did it for three years before coming here. I won't lie about thinking it, but I haven't hurt myself in six weeks" he explained, sinking back down in his chair.

"Thanks so much for sharing, Nick" Zak (Why do I have to have a good memory when it comes to faces and names?!) thanked him.

"Hi, my name is Marcia and I'm a chocoaholic" a pretty fat girl picked up.

"Hi, Marcia" everyone else greeted her.

"I started to eat chocolate as a way to deal with the anxiety, the bullying and the stress. And I couldn't stop. I exchanged everything for chocolate. I used to ate twenty chocolates a day. After a year of rehab, it went down to two a day" she sat back down, looking proud of herself.

"Hi, my name..."

After a while, it was time to leave. Thankfully, I wasn't force to say a word and I preferred it that way. When I left the Center, my stepmother was waiting for me with a sufficient smile that I hate.

"So, how-?"

"Don't bother" I cut her, walking into the car, slamming the door close. A few minutes later, I hear her close her door too.

"Kenna-"

"Just drive!" I snapped at her, not even looking. She started the engine and drove home without saying another word. Once we arrived, I prepared myself dinner and carried to my room, where I did my homework at the same time. When I finished, I took the dirty dishes downstairs and put them in the dishwasher. Lastly, I went back up and went to sleep.

Don't know how, don't know why, my stepmother managed to drag me out to the Center, again. It was a week after my first meeting. Nothing had changed in my everyday life. And I wanted to stay that way.

"Honestly, Kenna, I don't understand why are you being so difficult about this" she started her monolog, because there was a pretty good chance that I could ignore her comments and opinions for the entire ride "This is a way to help you, to allow you to connect with others..." I rolled my eyes "Don't you dare on roll your eyes again at me, young lady!" she scolded me, but I wasn't paying attention to her "You're a really ungrateful child, you know that?" How could I forget? You remind me everytime we have this conversation "After all your father and I have done to you, you're not just hurting yourself, you're risking your siblings, your father and me!" she finished. That sticked a nerve. So that's what she's worried about? I stepped out of the car and slammed the door closed, walking to the center "Kenna! Kenna, come her this instant!" she called me, but I did no motion in returning. I reached the meeting point and plopped in a chair.

"Good afternoon, everyone!" Zak greeted us, trying not to sound to cheerful. I really did appreciate his effort "OK, today we'll-" he was cut by the door barging open. As instinct, we all turned to the door, watching the two people that walked in.

The first one was a girl with asian features. She was tall, with her silky black hair loose behind her back. She was wearing a simple jeans and orange T-shirt with black sneakers, but with the perfect amount of make-up and jewelry that made her outfit look stunning and her common brown eyes, out-of-the-ordinary. She looks like she's shopaholic or something...

The boy that was walking next to her was also tall, but he was in between chubby and bulky. His hair was also black, but it was curly and a bit long for my taste. His eyes were very weird. Not because he had something in them, but the color violet is not something you see everyday, unless they're contacts. He looked like he hasn't been sleeping in days and around the irises, it was red. His clothes were the same as his partner, but his arms were an exhibition of scars and gashes. Maybe, another self-harmer...

"Ah! Two new members! Welcome!" Zak pulled me out of my mind, to realize I wasn't alone in a corner "Would you like to introduce yourselves?" he encouraged them.

"What should we say?" the boy asked, after he and the girl sat. Zak shrugged "OK, um... Hi, my name is Pollux-"

"Hi, Pollux" everyone chroused.

"-and I'm here because I'm an alcoholic" Well, you mistook it... "It runs in the family, actually... My father, well... has the same problem and my grandfather placed him in a rehabilitation center, if you can call it that..." he shared a look with the asian girl, like it was a private joke, because she smirked "I had a twin brother, Castor... He- he died when we were sixteen" he stopped, sad. The asian girl hesitated, but started to rub his back "Anyway, I didn't resource to wine until I met another of my father's children, six months ago... My last drink was, um... When was it?" he questioned the asian girl.

"Three days ago" she supplied, dryly.

"So... that's it" Pollux finished, with his head down.

"Thanks for sharing your story, Pollux" Zak thanked him "How about you?" he turned his attention to the asian girl sat next to Pollux.

"There's nothing wrong with me" she replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Drew..." Pollux's voice was a warning, like he knew were to push her. The girl sighed and got up.

"My name is Drew-"

"Hi, Drew" everyone cut her. She frowned.

"Don't interrupt me!" she growled at everyone. I suddenly had a very strong urge in sealed my lips.

"Drew!" Pollux repeated. You could see he was getting either exasperated or frustrated by the second.

"Fine" she gritted the word, like it was hard to say "I have a, um, problem..." she sounded embarrassed, like she knew she has a problem, but it's nothing wrong with it "Or problems, as my dear sister puts it" she muttered. Apparently, she's not very fond to her sister "She was the one who persuaded us to come her. I have a problem with authority, ego, fame, orders and power" she numbered. Wow, those were a lot of problems...

"When did all started?" Zak interrogated her. Drew huffed and crosses her arms and Zak understood "You're right, you shouldn't answer questions you're not ready for, my mistake" he apologized "So, today we're talking progress. If you had any impulse or anything-"

BLAM!

The door flew open and we all turned to it, shocked. But no one was more shock than me when I saw my stepmother walking through it.

"There you are!" she said, with that fake sugarcoated voice I always hated. It makes me wanna puke. I rolled my eyes and faked gagged, like sending a clear message to everyone: 'don't fall for that act' "We need to go" she stated, grabbing my arm and tighten her grip around it. I glared at her.

"Um, Mrs..."

"Smith, dear" she completed for him "I'm Kenna's mother" That's it! I got loose of her grip and locked the door, so she couldn't miss what I was about to say.

"You. Are. Not. My. Mother!" I screamed at her. Her eyes widen at my reaction. I bet she never thought of me answer back like this "I was happy with my father and my real mother, but you! You, evil, treacherous, skunk had to come and seduce my father, making him to leave my mother and me! In the misery! You never allowed him to spend time with me! You never allowed him to support us, like he was meant too!" I was releasing all this feelings I had for almost ten years and I liked seeing the fear in her eyes "Thanks to you, my mother died trying to feed me! She did the lowest of the jobs just to keep me feed and healthy! You twisted my family and NOW, you expect us to be the perfect family when you're practically leaving me alone all the damn time! I don't have a problem with isolation, like you made my father believe! YOU are my problem!" I could see the worry, the fear, the hate in everyone around me. But no one was sending a worst dead-glare to my stepmother than Drew. Like she understood what I was going through. I felt relieved it wasn't something that only happened to me. That other people went through it.

"I think you hurt Kenna enough" Drew spatted at her, disgust "Now, go to your house, pack your suitcase and leave her life forever and don't even think of contact her or her family again. Ah! And you'll forget they ever existed" she ordered. The persuasion in her voice was so convincing, I want to do it myself. But, it was kind of funny to see my stepmother leave the room without saying another word.

"Drew, you have a problem" Pollux joked after a while, trying to free the tension it was in the air. Drew simply rolled her eyes.

"Oh, shut up, Wine Boy!"

I actually like the idea of these people together next won't be exactly like usually though...