She settles into the only empty chair in our circle. “Welcome to Safe Harbor,” she says. “Who wants to be brave and tell me what they’re thinking?”
For a few seconds, no one says anything.
“I’ll go,” says Gray, breaking our collective silence. “I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to convince you that I’vebeen miraculously cured by the end of the day so I don’t have to do this crap again.”
I don’t know if the rest of us would put it like that, but from looking around the room, I’m pretty sure that’s what all of us are thinking. Well, except maybe for Preethi, who seems perfectly content right where she is.
Ms. Waters clears her throat. “You’d only have to convince me you’re cured if you thought there was something wrong with you in the first place,” she says. “Do you think there’s something wrong with you, Gray?”
He fidgets and pulls his booted foot under the desk. “No, I don’t.” His voice is defiant, but it’s obvious he doesn’t mean it. My sympathy for him tries to rise again, but I squelch it.
Ms. Waters turns her attention to me. “What about you, Isabel? Do you think there’s something wrong with you?”
I shrug. “I mean, our parents wouldn’t have sent us here if they didn’t think that, right?”
I can feel Gray watching me. I give him my best scowl.What?
“Thank you, Isabel,” Ms. Waters says, and turns her attention to the group. “How many of you think there’s something wrong with you?”
Lilliam’s nod is delicate and regal.
“I definitely do!” Preethi hollers.
“Me too,” says Joey. He glances up from his phone to see us staring at him. “What are we talking about?”
“No phones,” says Ms. Waters, and holds out her hand.
“One sec,” Joey says, thumbs stabbing at the screen. “My dad told me to tell Mom to tell him sorry for not doing the thing Dad told me to tell her to do.”
Ms. Waters looks at him for a few confused seconds. Wealllook at him for a few confused seconds.
Then Ms. Waters confiscates our phones and puts them away in one of the desk drawers. That done, she addresses us again. “Actually, Gray has it right. There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of you. If you take only one thing away from today, let this be it. There is nothing at all wrong with any of you.”
“Great!” I blurt—at the same time that Gray yells, “Let’s go home!” We share a look of surprise. Then I remember he is my nemesis, and I look away again.
Ms. Waters gives us a smile that reminds us that she holds all the cards. “Keep up this attitude, and we’ll be spending the entire summer together.”
As far as threats go, it’s pretty effective. None of us want that.
“Before we continue on, let’s set the agenda for today. First, we’re going to spend a little time getting to know each other. Then we’ll do some activities to help us work through some of our big feelings. Then we’ll break for lunch. After that, we’ll continue with our big feelings work. During the last hour, you will write me an essay.”
Everyone groans.
She continues as if we didn’t. “Seven hundred and fifty words in neat handwriting.”
“Can we have our phones back just for that?” Joey asks.
“Why, so you can get AI to write it for you?” Preethi teases.
Joey practically blushes. “Noooo,” he says. He definitely means yes.
“You may not have your phone back,” says Ms. Waters.
“What should the essay be about?” I ask.
Before she can answer, her phone dings. She frowns at it.
“Why doyouget to have a phone?” Joey whines.
