Misfits

When we pulled into the driveway of Jane’s Institute, I felt nautious. Kim started got out of the car and I followed. There was white with blue shutters. It was a mansion so there had to be a hundred people living in it or more. The palm trees surrounding the institute were shaking by the California wind. The grass was freshly cut and watered. There was a flower garden surrounding the front of the house. It looked quite nice.
We walked up the garden path to the front door. Kim rang the door bell and I could hear voices from inside although I couldn’t make out what they were saying.
The door opened and a girl with long, straggly blonde hair looked at me than at Kim. “Hello.” She said. “Please, come in.” It was beautiful inside. There was a wooden spiral staircase. The floor looked as though it was marble. There was a door on either side of the room we were in. I wondered what was behind them.
The blonde girl led us to the right side of the room. It looked like a waiting room at a doctors office. There was a few chairs, a table with magazines on them. “Sit down, make yourself comfortable, please. Dr. Floyd should be down in a few minutes. I’m Elizabeth by the way.”

“Hi, I’m Katie.” I said. Elizabeth smiled. She had a look about her that caught my interest. She had tan boots on which looked two sizes too big. She had on jean capris which were loose at the bottom. They had different colored patches on them. She had on a long sleeved gray shirt. She wore long, aqua colored earrings that hung down to her shoulder and a necklace with big round black beads which had Chinese writing on them. Her eyes were an emerald color. She was actually very pretty. Kim didn’t introduce herself. She simply stared at the pictures on the wall.One painting was from Leonardo Da Vinci. I could not fathom how he could create such beautiful painting such as The Mona Lisa. Even he had to be lonely sometime in his life. Maybe that’s when he painted his most famous painting and sculptors. He couldn’t handle loneliness.
The door opened and I looked around to find a man who had to be in his early fifties. He was very well build. He had on a suit and he carried a folder in his hand. His face was soft but ageing. “Hello Katie. I’m Dr. Floyd.” He nodded toward Kim who exchanged the gesture with a smile.
“Hello.” I said.
“Well, if you’ll both please follow me I’ll take you to my office where we can talk about Katie’s file.You may leave now, Elizabeth. Thank you for keeping them company.”
“ It was no problem Dr.” Elizabeth said. She smiled at me then left the room.
.
“Well, make yourself at home. He sat down at the center of the table. Kim sat in front of him and I sat next to Kim. He pulled out papers from my file and started examining them. After a few moments he looked up at me and said, “You’ve had it pretty rough haven’t you?”
I nodded. I knew this was going to happen. He would go and ask questions about my parents and sibling. About my previous foster homes. I hated this already.
“Alright then.” Dr. Floyd put the papers back in the file and put the file aside. “How do you feel about coming and living here for a while if you accepted?”
“I don’t know.” I said. I wasn’t sure how to answer this. Truthfully I think I may not enjoy it.

“You have read what Jane’s Institute for Misfits is all about haven’t you?” He asked. He asked this all in a very calm way.
“I sort of did. I didn’t really get what this place is suppose to be.” I said. I felt my face grow hot with embarrassment.
“Well.” Dr. Floyd said. He leaned back in his chair like he was getting ready to go to sleep. “ This institute is for children just like you. Who have been in difficult situations in their lives. Either their very depressed, parents died, or have other emotional problems they need to deal with before going out into the real world. We teach school here as well and those who are emotionally stable attend the junior high or high school in the city. You may stay here as long as you wish or until you are eighteen years of age. There are a lot of activities the kids are able to do. There is a tennis court in the backyard, a swimming pool. However, if you do not follow the institutes rules it may result in expulsion from the institute. If it is something, lets say, light, you may just be punished by me or the other teachers here. Curfew is different for certain age groups. You are sixteen, yes, your curfew is at eleven. Hmm, I think I covered almost everything I can think of. Any questions?”
“No.” I said. This didn’t seem as bad as I thought.
“No? Alright, do you think you would like to stay here?” Dr. Floyd looked at me. I still wasn’t sure. Although he did say I could stay here as long as I wanted so that means I could leave tomorrow if I wanted too.
“Ok. Yea, I’ll stay.” I said.
“Excellent, excellent. Will you please hold on a minute while I call on someone to show you to your room.” He got up out of his chair, walked over to the phone and dialed. While he was talking Kim turned to me. “Are you sure you’ll be alright here? You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.”

“No, its OK, I want to stay.” She nodded her head and turned back to Dr. Floyd when he walked back and sat down again. “ Katie, you will be escorted to your room by your roommate. I hope you don’t mind having a roommate I hope?”
“No, I don’t mind.” I smiled at him when someone knocked on the door. Dr. Floyd got up and went to open the door. A red headed girl with bright blue eyes stood there. “Hello Dr. Floyd. Is she here.” She sounded very preppy.
“Yes Finnin, she is here. Katie this is Finnin. Finnin, Katie.” I stood up and walked over to her. She held out her hand and I shook it. Her smile was very pleasing. She looked about seventeen. She was wearing jeans and a green t-shirt with sneakers. She looked very skinny. She looked as though she weighed one hundred and six. She was about five seven.
“Well, Katie if you please I’d like to have a word with Kim. You may want to say your goodbye now. Your suitcases will be placed in your room later this evening.”
Kim got up and I walked over to her and gave her a hug. She was so good to stand me for the last three years. “Bye Kim. See you.”
“Bye Katie. I’ll have updates on you. I’ll visit once a year to catch up. Call me if you want to leave sooner.” I left with Finnin down the hall. She seemed very happy for some reason.
“I’m glad we’re gonna be roommates. I’ve been wanting one for a while. How old are you?”
“Sixteen.” I answered.
“That’s cool. I’m seventeen. I’m a junior. I go to Seth High School. Do you know if your gonna be going to the high school or staying here?”
“I really don’t know. The only thing Dr. Floyd told me was about this place and rules.”

“Yea. Dr. Floyd is really nice. Everyone likes him. Of course there are the few bad apples. But they know to keep their mouth shut or they get the boot. Here we are.” She opened a door on the left We passed the stairs which Kim and I came up. The room was larger than the conference room. There were two beds of each side of the room. Finnin’s room looked very organized and clean. She had a bookcase which were filled with books and glass teddy bears. I walked over to my bed and sat down. “ So how long have you been here?” I asked trying to make conversation.
“Four years. I’m here because I’m aneorexic. Like you didn’t notice.” She looked away from me and to the floor. She wasn’t smiling anymore. “So why are you here.?”
“My parents and sister were killed by a robber who broke into our house. I’ve been in two foster homes. It didn’t work out.”
Finnin looked at me as though she had pity for me. “Sorry. I know what you mean. But coming here is the best thing that’s happen to me. I’ve enjoyed these past four years. Dr. Floyd has helped me so much. Sure, I may look terrible to you but believe me, when I first came here I weight ninty-two. Now I weigh one hundred and six.”
My mouth dropped open. “Your kidding?”
“Nope. This place will help you out extremely Katie. Believe me.”
I jumped when someone knocked on the door. Finnin went to open it. It was a boy who looked about Finnin’s age. He was very good looking. He had blonde spiky hair with black roots and was nicely built.
“Dr. Floyd wants you to bring the new kid down for lunch. She’ll be able to meet a few people.” He walked away.
“Fine.” Finnin said to herself. “Come on. Everyone eats dinner together so you’ll be able to meet everyone then. Some kids eat lunch out back so you can meet them.”
“Who was that guy?” I asked trying not to sound too curious.

“ That was Jason. He’s one of the popular guys. He goes to my high school. He’ll be a junior too. Cute huh.” She said winking at me.
“Sort of.” Why do I have to lie. He’s gorgeous.
“Well, he’s pretty nice. He has a girlfriend though so don’t get your hopes up. She’s a nasty one though. Rude to everyone around her. Everyone tells Jason to dump her but he won’t listen. He sort of dates girls for their looks and nothing besides that.”
“Does she live here?” I said hoping that she didn’t.
“Yea, she does. Her names Mary.”
“Why is she here?”
“Nobody knows. She won’t tell anyone. She tries to be miss perfect when everyone knows if you live here your far from perfect.”
I knew it too well.
When we walked into the kitchen there were three kids sitting at the kitchen table. They were dressed all in black and had hard makeup on. They looked up at me and simply went back to eating their lunch like I was a ghost they thought they’d seen.
Finnin walked over to the counter, “ Here. Look in the refrigerator and grab some lunch meat. Theirs all types of meat so pick. I’ll get the buns.” She opened the pantry and took a package of subway buns out. It was very unnerving. I could feel the others eyes on me. Like a lion ready to leap at its prey.
After Finnin and I finished making our sandwiches we went out into the backyard. It was beautiful. There was a huge pool, plenty of space and beyond the pool was a tennis court. We walked over to the patio where a bunch of kids were eating and talking. When I was near enough they all stopped talking and stared.

“Hey everyone. This is our new kid, her names Katie.” Finnin grabbed a chair for me and one for her. We sat down. I recognized the boy, Jason. He was sitting by a girl with dirty blonde hair. She introduced herself as Mary, his girlfriend. I also recognized Elizabeth, who said hello. She was sitting by another girl with black hair and pretty green eyes. She had terrible acne. Her name was Valencia and a boy with a Mohawk and piercings on his nose and eyebrow was Jake.
“ So where are you from Katie?” Jason asked as he took a big bite of his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He was even cute chomping down on food.
“I’m from Anaheim” I said.
“Did you go to Disneyland a lot?” Jake asked. He grinned at me.
“Stop with the stupid questions Jake! Ignore him Katie, he’s never been to Disneyland. He asks everyone if they’ve been there.” Elizabeth said. Jake flushed.
“ Changing the subject.” Jason said looking from Elizabeth to me. “ So why are you here?”
I could feel my cheeks growing hot. The way he looked at me was piercing.
“I’m here because I’m...well, I have severe depression.” I looked down at my sandwich hoping no one was looking at me. I’ve always embarrassed easily.
“ Well, that’s ok. I’m here because my parents are going through a divorce and I’ve been handling it pretty bad.” He smiled at me then turned to Mary. “Well, I might as well go upstairs and start on my homework. That is why they call it homework Jake”. Jake gave him the finger. Jason walked back through the patio doors.
“ Well, anyways.” Valencia said, getting up as well. “I’m going to the mall. Jake you wanna come. I can pick you out a new wardrobe.”
“Shut it Val.” Jake said defensivly. “ Go find a new face to plaster on.”
Valencia looked shocked. She stormed away from the table and went inside.

“You know, that wasn’t very nice. She was just kidding.” Elizabeth said. Her eyes were very protrudent.
“Well, it serves her right. She’s always looking at me in biology class as if I’m some kind of freak. I’m sick of it. I’m sick of this place.” He got up and left as well.
“Well.” Finnin said exasperated. “Katie, if your done you can go unpack. I’m sure you want to be alone.” She looked at me.
“Uh. Yea. That’s a good idea. I’ll see you guys later.”
“Bye Katie.” Elizabeth said. Mary just stared at me.
As I walked back into the kitchen the goth kids were still there. There eyes fall on me once more and I hurry out of the room. I wonder why there here? I walk back up the stairs and into my new room. I look around once more, thinking. This place doesn’t seem very bad. Most of the people are nice. Finnin seems like she’ll be a really cool roommate. Although half of them go to the public school. I hope I don’t get stuck here.
My eyes focused on Finnin’s bulliton board. It was filled with pictures of her and friends and models cut out from magazines. I caught something that was disturbing. Finnin cut out models body parts and pasted them to a sheet of printer paper. There were arms, legs, faces, stomaches, chests. It was disturbing in all ways. Why would anyone cut body parts out and hang them on the wall. I thought I was better off not knowing.