New Blues [Nykki]

[Milo Jacob Ryder]

Milo had been dreading this inaugural visit. He was to be the new counsellor's first session at the school, according to the rumour mill. Abigail Nykhole Perretta was her name, according to the new mail box in the administrative office. Interesting name. Was it Spanish? He was still figuring out how to pronounce that mouth full name of hers when a door opened and a voice called him in. It was morning, before his first class. Why had he agreed to meet in the morning, again? Oh yeah, because he was an idiot who couldn't say no.

He stifled a yawn as he picked himself up off of the hard bench in the little 'waiting room'. His butt and legs were numb and he needed to stretch. Needed breakfast really, and maybe a cup of coffee. Coffee sounded amazing right now. Coffee was like crack for overachievers like Milo. And, he couldn't do anything right until he'd had his fix.

The office was decorated sparsely, probably because Mrs... or was it Ms...? Ms. Perretta hadn't had time to move in yet. Milo wondered dimly whether she'd have coffee. Many of the teachers and counsellors seemed to have coffee on hand at all times. Sometimes they even had their own personal coffee maker in their office, and would share with you once you got in, if they liked you and you got in on time, that was. There were advantages to even the least pleasant tasks, he supposed.

There was no coffee maker in the room, not yet anyway. Hopefully she wouldn't ask too many difficult questions today, because Milo's mind was not there. He wasn't in the mood for telling anyone about his latest hang ups or the fact that he had a new problem. A new problem that he really really didn't want to talk about, period.

[Abigail Nykhole Perretta]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb= style, width: 450px; background-image: url(http://i1081.photobucket.com/albums/j348/SimiXiamara/TemplateStuff/Purple3.png); padding: 5 5 5 5px; border: 10px solid #C07DEB;] danger in the shape of somethin' wild stranger dressed in black, she's a hungry child tagged: ric || words: 436 || outfit: clicky lyrics: hot child in the city by nick gilder Nykki wasn't exactly a morning person until she'd had her infusion of caffiene. Already, she'd consumed two double energy shots from Starbucks and she was on her third as she walked from the starbucks over to the school, she was also carrying in her other hand a box of chocolate old fashioned doughnuts and on top of the box was a drink carrier holding two Caffe Latte's, all from Starbucks, and she finished up her double-shot energy drink and threw away the container into the trash on her way into the school before moving towards her office. As she reached the outer door to her office, she realized that it was already open, so the student appeared to have beaten her. She mentally shook herself, since when were students early for morning appointments? Moving into the office, she set down the doughnuts and the coffees before looking over at the young male with a smile. "Sorry I'm late," she stated to him, offering a bright smile. "However!" She turned towards her desk and pulled one of the coffees from the cardboard carrier and offered it to him. "I have early-morning beverages annnnnd..." she opened up the box of doughnuts and offered him first pick. "Early-morning chocolate food!" she exclaimed excitedly, grinning broadly as she moved around over to her desk after taking her own coffee and a doughnut. "So... you're Milo then? It's absolutely fantastic to meet you!" she stated, as she used her feet to pull the rolly-chair she was sitting in around the desk so that she was closer to Milo. "Now," she stated, grinning and leaning forward, wrapping both her hands around her cup as she grinned. "I'm not exactly positive on the whole inter-personal relationships between counselors and students at the school but... I want to get to know the person behind the file. So... tell me a little about yourself, Milo, what kind of things do you like to do?" she asked, leaning back in her chair and spinning it from side to side slowly while still watching the other. "Like me for example... I love my caffiene, and I love, love, love nacho cheese doritos," she stated with a smile as she watched Milo. She raised her cup to her lips and took a drink before reaching out and grabbing hold of her doughnut. hot child in the city runnin' wild and lookin' pretty template by emrysdaelan @ caution 2.0 keep credit or angry badgers will nom your face off

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[Milo Jacob Ryder]

"Thanks." Oh, good. Caffeine! What a godsend! Milo always felt one hundred times better once he had some caffeine in his system. He took one of the cups of coffee and didn't even bother to check the temperature before taking a long swig. His mind was really that far gone. He realized his mistake the instant he'd made it and sputtered a bit, but managed to keep from spitting the coffee back out. That'll wake you up! He thought as the coffee scorched it's way down his oesophagus.

He regarded the counsellor with less suspicion and more curiosity now. She seemed... bubbly. That was a welcome development. Milo loved bubbly people, even though they often made him feel a bit uncomfortable. They were good for him, since he found their enthusiasm was often catching. And, he was already sold on this woman the moment she said "chocolate". Chocolate was one of Milo's vices, but he didn't care to lose it. Chocolate had to be one of the most amazing things about being alive, really, like it was a more essential part of the human experience than having opposable thumbs, as far as Milo was concerned.

"Like me for example... I love my caffiene, and I love, love, love nacho cheese doritos,"

Milo nodded his head in whole hearted, almost spiritual conformation. Amen! He sang internally. She knew how to get right down to the things that mattered. When she was finished speaking Milo swallowed his coffee and put the now half-empty cup down on the edge of the desk, and then thinking better of it, scooted it in a few inches further from the edge so he wouldn't somehow manage to knock it over. "I like all of those things." He said, with a smile. "And, I also like poetry... I do a lot of poetry slam type competitions. Um... I love music. I play a bit of a bunch of instruments. Granted... I'm not particularly good at very many of them, but I like having that sort of variety in my life where am lacking it elsewhere." Like lacking it everywhere else in his life, thanks to his disorder.

"I write a lot of poetry too... I do a lot of poetry slam type competitions. Um... I write music. Not great music, but you've got to start somewhere, right?" He cleared his throat and took a doughnut. He wouldn't fill up on these. He needed to make certain that Jasper ate at breakfast. Oh, Jazz. Poor Jazzy. He sighed internally. How can I fix you?

He wished more than anything that he knew how to help Jasper to see himself, make him see that he was beautiful but too skinny. That it was scary. That ever since Milo had found out about his disorder he'd stayed up at night wondering whether Jazzy would still be there in the morning. He'd actually sneaked into Jasper's room once just because he had this terrible suspicion, this thought that wouldn't leave his head, that Jasper had died in his sleep. For a long time he'd just sat there in his room, alone coming apart silently because the terrible idea wouldn't leave his head. And, then he'd finally gone into Jasper's room and watched him from the doorway. He could hear what sounded like two people breathing, Nix in his bed and Jasper in his... but even that hadn't been enough to convince Milo.

That was the trouble with obsessive compulsive disorder--- as silly as the thoughts were, as much as you tried to rationalize with yourself, and though you knew with the reasoning part of your mind that they were crazy, you couldn't dismiss them. They wouldn't leave you alone.

So, Milo had tiptoed over to Jasper's bed and placed his hand on his friend's chest. He could have cried for relief when he felt a heart beat, and the steady up-and-down motion of his breathing. He'd stood there for a moment, just feeling that heart beat, feeling the enormity of that moment. He'd realized at that very moment how much Jasper meant to him. That the pulse under his hand meant more to him than the pulse in his own chest.

Sometimes he still was tempted to sneak back into Jasper's room, just to check, when the unthinkable thoughts of losing Jasper came to haunt him at night. He was actually falling asleep in class these days because those thoughts kept him up for so long. It was becoming a real problem. Wasn't it?

[Abigail Nykhole Perretta]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb= style, width: 450px; background-image: url(http://i1081.photobucket.com/albums/j348/SimiXiamara/TemplateStuff/Purple3.png); padding: 5 5 5 5px; border: 10px solid #C07DEB;] danger in the shape of somethin' wild stranger dressed in black, she's a hungry child tagged: ric || words: 763 || outfit: clicky lyrics: hot child in the city by nick gilder Nykki was glad that she was able to thrill the young male so easily just by offering him coffee. However, she couldn't help but wince and hiss as he immediately took one huge drink from it. She'd burnt her tongue and lips on hot coffee so many times that she could totally sympathize with him as he sputtered almost immediately afterward. "You should watch out for that, you know. Hate to have a blister on your tongue," she stated, giving him a rather sad look as if it were the most horrible thing that you could ever have done to you. She offered him a very slight smile as he seemed to come back out of it at this point and she leaned back in her seat, still holding her cup close to herself as if it were the last bit of warmth that she would ever experience again. She offered him another smile as he seemed to mull over her question about what kinds of things that he liked and then stated that he rather agreed with her choices on what she liked that those were things that he loved as well. She grinned slightly at the other, tilting her head as she leaned forward again as he actually began speaking. She watched in amusement as he set his cup down and then, as if as an added afterthought, slowly pushed it away from the edge. That would be something she herself would do. She tended to get over-excited about things, though then he was talking finally. She grinned when he confirmed that he did like caffiene and nacho doritos. "My kind of man right there," she stated with a playful grin, laughing easily. She cocked her head as he stated that he liked poetry and would do a lot of competitions with it and that he liked music and liked to play instruments. "Oh really? That's awesome, my best friend is one of the music teachers here, are you in any of his classes? Alaric Jester?" she asked, leaning forward slightly. "What kinds of instruments do you like to play? Do you like singing?" She smiled brightly at him, shaking her head as she set her cup down. "I'm sure you're better than you think, aren't you? Maybe next time you could bring something and play it for me? That would be totally awesome, I love listening to music. I have to admit though, I'm not all that skilled in playing any kind of music. I'm a bit tone deaf, I'm sorry to say." She winced slightly at the thought of how many times she'd assaulted Ric's ears with her off-key singing, she probably drove him completely crazy. She shook her head and came back to the present as Milo continued on to say he actually went so far as to write music. "Wow! See, I couldn't do that to save my life. I swear, Ric keeps telling me that I couldn't tell you the difference between a bass cleff and a treble cleff if my life depended on it, and you know what? He's right," she admited as she picked up another doughnut and took a bite of it. "It's good that you have that much creativity though. I would love to be able to do something like that, unfortunately, that's just not where my talents lay, I guess." She shrugged good-naturedly as she smiled. She watched as he took a doughnut as well and began to eat it before he fell a bit silent. She watched him, wondering what on earth could be going on inside of his head as she took another bite from her doughnut before pushing her chair back with her feet enough to get a piece of paper towel so she could set her doughnut down and then offered one to Milo. "Penny for your thoughts? You're looking awfully pensive over there," she stated with a faint smile. "So tell me about your classes? I take it that you're in poetry or creative writing, right? And at least one music class? What else do you participate in? You in any clubs or anything? You know, I used to be a student here at St. Helena's too, for just your reason too. I was actually a part of the drama club. You into any of that stuff?" hot child in the city runnin' wild and lookin' pretty template by emrysdaelan @ caution 2.0 keep credit or angry badgers will nom your face off

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[Milo Jacob Ryder]

"What... oh, yeah. I am in a poetry club. I take creative writing. Sorry." He'd been too deep in his thoughts, and it took him a moment to catch up with what Nykki was saying. "And, I also do Drama Club... Jazz band, and stuff like that." He smiled a little weakly. He needed to get to breakfast to check on Jasper. He couldn't let him skip another meal. He'd been looking even skinnier than usual lately, and Milo didn't like it one bit. "I do a lot of artsy stuff."

Milo smiled, trying to think of a comprehensive list of all of the musical instruments he played. "I play the usual things... guitar, piano, you know? And, then I've just got a whole bunch of other random things I play from time to time, as needed for my music. I'm sort of a one-man band a lot of the time." He was beginning to feel anxious as his thoughts continued to stray back to Jasper and his precarious health situation. The image of an emaciated corpse--- Jasper laying in his bed with his eyes staring wide open and unseeing, his lips slightly parted--- the terrible image that had been floating around in his mind and visiting Milo at inopportune times flashed up before his eyes and he shuddered. His hands went up to cover his eyes instinctively, to block out the images.

The image lasted for a moment, flashing up like stopped motion, or a grotesque dance illuminated by a strobe light. Milo tried to think of something else, anything else. But, the thoughts remained. Jasper, all bones. Jasper, with sunken cheeks and hollow eyes. Jasper his face frozen in a death stare. A death scream.

He thought about a chord progression. A simple chord progression. Where he'd put the fingers on the frets. The exact sounds that would come out when his fingers danced over the steel strings. His body had been tensed up, and only after his mind got stuck on those chords did it relax. "Sorry." He said, after a moment. "I guess we should probably talk about that..." No escaping it now.

[Abigail Nykhole Perretta]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb= style, width: 450px; background-image: url(http://i1081.photobucket.com/albums/j348/SimiXiamara/TemplateStuff/Purple3.png); padding: 5 5 5 5px; border: 10px solid #C07DEB;] danger in the shape of somethin' wild stranger dressed in black, she's a hungry child tagged: milo || words: 586 || outfit: clicky lyrics: hot child in the city by nick gilder Nykki tilted her head, watching the other as he stated that he was in the poetry club. It made sense if he liked to write music and stuff, because weren't lyrics just poems put to music? It made a lot of sense to the odd counselor. It was good then that he was in Creative Writing. It would provide outlets, and outlets were good things. Especially for teenagers. She smiled when he stated he was in Drama Club and Jazz band. "Ooh! That is so cool. I keep hoping that the Drama club is gonna do like this whole big production, and the whole school would get to watch. It's all very exciting!" she exclaimed, grinning slightly at the thought. She wondered what kind of things the Jazz band did and if there might be some kind of performance for that as well. That would probably be really good for the students too. "Well I think its great that you're into all that 'artsy' stuff. " She smiled brightly at him, glad that she was at least getting to know a little bit about him. She wanted her students to be comfortable with her. As comfortable as she had been with Gibbs whenever Gibbs had been her counselor. She trusted Gibbs completely and absolutely adored him. It was like he was her father instead of the sperm doner who had brought her to this world. Yeah, that sounded much better than that man being her 'father'. She watched as he smiled, leaning back and feeling pleased that he seemed to be relaxing a bit around her. "Oh really? Can you play like... the ukelele? I know there's this one-man band person that I absolutely love called NeverShoutNever. He's pretty awesome." She nodded emphatically, still smiling at him. Though the fact that he was suddenly shuddering and covering his eyes had her sitting forward. She set her cup down, leaning forward. She was hesitant to touch him, unsure of exactly what was wrong. "Milo?" she asked, a tone of concern in her voice. She hated to press, but at this point, she couldn't really afford not to. "Milo, what's wrong?" she asked again as he slowly moved his hands away from his face and he looked up at her. She was glad he seemed to be relaxing a little bit but she was still worried. It had been so sudden and he had gotten so tense that he could have been having a seizure for all she knew, she'd never seen a seizure before. "Are you alright?" she demanded. When he apologized and stated that they should probably talk about that, she moved forward slightly, gently touching his shoulder. "Talk about what, Milo? What just happened? You scared me! I thought you might have been having some kind of seizure or something," she stated, watching him carefully. "I know that I wanted us to get to know one another a little before delving into things, but... I'm kind of worried now." There hadn't been anything in his file about seizures or epilepsy or anything of that nature. Was this a new occurrence? She needed to know either way. Was it a reaction to something? Had she said or done something that had set him off? Whatever the reason, she needed to know so that it could be rectified. hot child in the city runnin' wild and lookin' pretty template by emrysdaelan @ caution 2.0 keep credit or angry badgers will nom your face off

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[Milo Jacob Ryder]

"I know that I wanted us to get to know one another a little before delving into things, but... I'm kind of worried now."

"That... wasn't a seizure." Milo said, mopping his now sweaty brow. Gross. He hated sweat. He'd have to take a shower before class. "It was just..." Chord progression. Chord progression. "Thoughts." He waved one hand through the air in a vague motion. "They're always there, but sometimes they come unexpectedly... or, not all the time, but sometimes I can tell they're coming and I try to stop them but I can't. I've just got bad thoughts... and they kind of just pop up in my head uninvited. And, sometimes pictures too. They're the worst." He let out a slow breath. "Yeah, I'm pretty screwed up." He said, allowing himself a shaky little chuckle. "My god, how did I get this way? This is insane. I'm like... a war vet. Except it's not PTSD or flashbacks it's just... really really graphic intrusive thoughts. It comes with the whole crazy OCD package." He was more frightened than he was letting on. But, how could he not be frightened? He'd just seen his best friend dead, so many times. It was like a nightmare ground hog day scenario, but all happening in his head.

He felt like he'd just run a marathon. He wanted to go check on Jasper right away, to make certain that he was all right and that the dreams--- that's what they were really, terrible waking dreams--- were just dreams and not premonitions. "I've got this friend here... he's my best friend. Maybe the best friend I've ever had... and he's sick." He was breathing hard as he fought the temptation to run out of the room. He needed to see Jasper. "I'm always worried that something is going to happen to him... and, my mind creates these terrible images and I just can't get them to leave me alone... and sometimes I think that he might be dead." Now that it was out there in the open it seemed all the more frightening. He wanted it to seem ridiculous, to be like his suspicions that something would go wrong if he didn't do everything four times. But, the fact was... this wasn't ridiculous. It was completely possible that something could happen to Jasper. Jasper had a weakened immune system because of his low body weight. His heart would be weakened, his internal organs in danger without fat to cushion them. He'd read all about it. These thoughts were the worst because they could actually happen. "And, that's what that was... It's been keeping me awake, to be perfectly honest." No use hiding anything now.

[Abigail Nykhole Perretta]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb= style, width: 450px; background-image: url(http://i1081.photobucket.com/albums/j348/SimiXiamara/TemplateStuff/Purple3.png); padding: 5 5 5 5px; border: 10px solid #C07DEB;] danger in the shape of somethin' wild stranger dressed in black, she's a hungry child tagged: milo || words: 836 || outfit: clicky lyrics: hot child in the city by nick gilder Nykki tilted her head as she listened to Milo stat that it wasn't a seizure, but it was only thoughts. "Must've been some pretty serious thoughts for all that," she commented slightly, reaching over to grab a bag that had scented cleansing wipes inside and offered them to Milo. She knew that she herself couldn't stand being sweaty or dirty, which was why she always carried around wipes. "What kind of thoughts could bring about such a... strong reaction, Milo? Or do you not want to speak about them just yet?" she asked, leaning back in her chair slightly. "Whatever it is, I'm sure we can work something out about it..." she stated before he stated that they were always there and came unexpectedly. Uninvited words and pictures. "You're not screwed up, Milo. Everyone has unpleasant thoughts, you know," she stated easily, smiling at him before he stated that he was like a war vet, 'cept it wasn't PTSD or flashbacks. She frowned slightly, tilting her head slightly. She could tell that he was seriously stressed about whatever was really flashing through his head. "How do you mean graphic? What is it that you're seeing?" At least he was aware that whatever it was that he was seeing was only in his head and not something real. Delusions would be something completely different, however piled on top of his OCD, it was a bit much even for her to handle. She kept a close eye on him, tilting her head slightly. "Can I get you anything, Milo?" she asked softly. When he began telling her that what he had been seeing had something to do with his best friend who happened to be sick. She wondered who it was. Was it someone here at the school or someone he'd left back at home? "What friend is this? Does he go here? Or is he someone from your old school?" she asked curiously as she leaned forward to maintain her attentiveness. She got a bit antsy sometimes when she was sitting for an extended spell. It was the ACHD in her, she supposed. As it was, she began to wave her pen slowly over her paper as if making to tap the pencil on the folder in her hand, yet never actually hitting the folder. She'd learned long ago that people tended to get irritated with her making noises like that. She reached out, gently touching his hand sympathetically. "You know though, that this is all just in your head, Milo. Just fears that your mind is bringing to life. While rational, because everyone has fears for their friends and worries about them, they aren't real. They're just things that you're afraid might be real someday. It doesn't help to worry over things in the future right now. What will be will be and there's nothing you can do about it right now." She pulled her hand away and watched him carefully. "It's great that you care so much about your friend, and I'm sure he's probably greatful to have such a wonderful friend as you," she said, smiling at him. "But all you can do right now, instead of worrying yourself into a stupor, is to help prevent that which you see. You're of no use to him if you can't even control your own thoughts... you can't make him feel better or help him to get better unless you are of sound mind and body in order to lend him your strength." She tilted her head slightly. "You know, I think I understand a lot of what you're talking about. You see... I went to St. Helena's when I was a teenager, just like you. And my very best friend was here at St. Helena's to. He had a problem with drugs... and I was terrified that he would relapse and overdose or something, so I knew that I had to be the strong one... I had to be strong and lend my strength to him in order to let him know that he could beat his addiction." She offered another smile towards the younger male. "You see I, like you, suffer from being a bit obsessive compulsive..." she said, nodding slightly. "So I used my strengths to help him. I have a thing about schedules... I like to plan everything and make lists, you see..." She reached onto her desk and pulled down a book that was her daily planner. "So I made lists and for my friend... and schedules and I helped him stick to them." She smiled slightly. "Maybe you can do something like that to help your friend. It's a start anyway..." hot child in the city runnin' wild and lookin' pretty template by emrysdaelan @ caution 2.0 keep credit or angry badgers will nom your face off

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[Milo Jacob Ryder]

"What friend is this? Does he go here? Or is he someone from your old school?"

"He goes here." Milo said, quietly. He closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, allowing the weight of his head to rest on his shoulder. His arms were opened wide, gripping either arm of the chair. It was like being crucified. He needed to see Jasper. If he didn't see him soon, he was going to go completely mad. He ground his teeth in frustration. "He's got an eating disorder... he looks like a skeleton. Sometimes I think he's dead already. But, then I can see him breathing, and it is so faint that it barely tells me anything. And, I hate it. I can never be certain. His heart could stop at any moment, and I could be on the other side of the school... he could be alone when it happened. I couldn't survive that."

He slumped forward, bowed down with the weight of his own words. It was the truth--- Jasper could die at any time and Milo couldn't do anything to stop it. He'd have died a million times, crucified himself, been run over by trains if he could only know that Jasper was alive and healthy, would always be fine.

Milo listened to his councillor's words and they touched him deeply. So, she had been here too? It put a lot of his troubles into perspective. And, then she showed him the lists. He knew how personal they were--- his own lists were kept safe and hidden away in a locked suitcase when he was gone for too long to watch over them. Lists were like direct windows into the mind. You could see the thought process in lists. You could read it in the very shape of the writing.

"Maybe you can do something like that to help your friend. It's a start anyway..."

"How could I list it out for him? Task number one, don't die? Task number two, please don't fucking die on me?" His voice was shaking. Oh, god damn it. He scrubbed at his too-damp eyes and kicked himself internally for this unwarranted display of weakness. He wasn't ready to wear his vulnerability on his sleeve. "Sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm not usually this much of a pussy."

It took a moment for Milo to finish collecting himself. Maybe it was because he was tired. It was still quite early in the morning. Yes, he'd blame it on that. And a lack of sleep.

"He's so small. I'm afraid I'll break him if I try to touch him... but I just want to hold on to him forever. I want to shake him, and make him see that he is being stupid, and he's perfect and he doesn't need to change himself in any way... that he just needs to get healthy. But, he wont listen to me. He can't see himself the way I see him. This sounds so dramatic and cliché... but it's the way it is. I can't seem to change anything. I'm completely useless to help him. I just want to make him better. I know that I should take care of myself first before I even think about helping anyone else... but that's just it! I can't be all right until he is. He's my best friend." And more.

[Abigail Nykhole Perretta]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb= style, width: 450px; background-image: url(http://i1081.photobucket.com/albums/j348/SimiXiamara/TemplateStuff/Purple3.png); padding: 5 5 5 5px; border: 10px solid #C07DEB;] danger in the shape of somethin' wild stranger dressed in black, she's a hungry child tagged: milo || words: 731 || outfit: clicky lyrics: hot child in the city by nick gilder Nykki nodded slowly as Milo told her that his friend did, in fact, go to St. Helena's. She watched him lean back, though the movement was hardly an indication of relaxing as he still seemed exceptionally tense. She wondered what on earth she could possibly do for this boy who was so distraught over the wellbeing of his friend. He reminded her a lot of herself in a way. When he stated that his friend had an eating disorder, she understood perfectly. He was worried about what his lack of eating would do to his health. "Unfortunately, we cannot allow the weight of someone else's decisions rest on our shoulders, Milo. I know its hard to understand, but your friend... its not exactly as though he really wants this. Doesn't want to put himself in this danger, but he worries about how people see him." She watched as he changed position again, leaning forward at this point. She hoped that by relating to him on a personal level would help her to understand him, and help her to help him through this horror that was plaguing him. She herself had nightmares about Ric's health when she had been here. Worried that he was going to overdose and kill himself accidently or even on purpose just to make it all stop. You could never really predict what all was going to happen. She watched as her words seemed to touch something inside of him and she hoped that maybe she was making some kind of a connection with him. It was essential to really be able to help someone, to know how they thought, and why they thought those things. She smiled briefly at him as he asked how he could list it out for him. "Set a schedule that you help him to follow. If its at all necessary, shadow him. I used to do it to my friend all the time. If he's never alone, then he can never wallow in his own self-destructive ways, and helping him may be a way to help you as well." She smiled slightly, knowing that when she had been here, Ric had been her rock. Helping him through his problems had helped her see the advantages of what she herself could do and how to turn things around. "Does he share a room with you? Or is he somewhere else?" she asked simply, leaning forward. "You could do something so that you are with him whenever possible. At meal times, make sure that he eats, and then after each meal, you stay with him for at least an hour." She got to her feet then, moving towards her desk and pulling out a blank notepad and a pen before returning to her seat. "After an hour, the digestion process has already begun, and regurgitation, if that is his method, is much more difficult, because the body has already started to absorb the nutrients from the food that has been taken in. You can't regurgitate that which has already been liquified by the stomach acid and moved into the intestine, which, as I said, takes about an hour." She wrote that down on the paper, starting a small list of her own as she wrote down in steps what actions could be taken. "If you need me too... I can rearrange your schedule so that this is possible for you... put you in classes together or something if that's what it takes..." she stated with a smile and handed the list over to the other male. "Now... I think that this is a very good start, Milo. I'm glad you trusted me enough to tell me this. She leaned over, writing down a number on the edge of the paper. "This is my cell number. Feel free to call or text me any time you might need me. And since your sessions with me require you to be away from your friend, perhaps we need to work out a different scheduling time. Go back to your room and work on your lists and your schedules, get back to me as to what time next week would be good to meet with me, alright? How does that sound?" she asked with a smile. hot child in the city runnin' wild and lookin' pretty template by emrysdaelan @ caution 2.0 keep credit or angry badgers will nom your face off

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