I walked down the hallway until I came across a classroom with the number 23 on it. After a heavy exhale, I opened the door to see a group of people sitting together in a circle. I grew surprised to see some of my friends there, but before I could say anything, two girls stood up and approached me.

“Hi, are you new?” One of them asked politely. I nodded. “Alright, what’s your name?”

“Kai.” I noticed my friend Kelly behind one of the girls; she waved at me and I waved back. “Hey Kelly.”

“Ah, you two know each other? That’s great!” I gave her a puzzled face as I started to walk towards an empty seat. “My name is Hope; welcome to Accepted.”

“My name is Faith,” the other girl said. I noticed everyone else stare at me, which would usually irritate me in the hallway, but now I can’t help but feel strange. I guess I’m not the only one here who has issues going on. I dropped my backpack next to a chair and took my seat. Hope and Faith talked briefly, asking everyone to participate and speak how they feel. Their main moto: no one is here to judge, but to feel empathy for you. I sat next to another friend of mine named Rich, who looked tired. I wanted to ask him if he was okay, but something seemed peculiar about him.

“Alright guys,” Hope said. “Who wants to start?” I looked away; I definitely didn’t want to go first. Then, a girl who sat across from me raised her hand. I saw that she was really skinny and pale. Hope nodded and the girl lowered her hand.

“My name is Amy and I have anorexia.” I grew surprised. “The reason why I came here is because I want people to understand me. People always think that people who have anorexia are just attention seekers, or idiots because it can end with just eating a burger or something, but that’s not true at all. It’s a horrible feeling when your body won’t accept food. I hate being so skinny-”

“Shut up…” I froze as I turned to my right to see a girl glare angrily at her. She was overweight and her visage was full of frustration. “I hate people like you. You guys always say how you hate being skinny; I wish my body rejected food the way yours does.” What the hell was her problem? I get that she was overweight, but she had no remorse for her at all. Amy gave her an offended look and I prepared for a screaming match between them.

“It’s true, I don’t like how I look, but every time I eat I feel nauseous.”

“I don’t believe that crap-”

“Cora, please be considerate to her,” Faith said. “We’re all here to hear one another out and to not judge one another on their issue.” Cora rolled her eyes and looked away from her. Amy looked down and didn’t want to talk anymore. “Why don’t you go, Cora?”

“Easy. I’m fat. I hate the way I look, but people always get on me to lose weight and all, but it’s hard when you don’t have time. I’m always stressed out from school and all the clubs that I’m in. I eat a lot to relieve my stress.”

“If that’s your defense, then why’re you getting on Amy?” Kelly asked. Cora glared angrily at her.

“What, you’re going to side with the stick?”

“I’m not saying that I’m siding with her, but understand that people feel a certain way about themselves, even if you don’t agree with them.”

“Why are you here, Kelly?” Cora suddenly asked. Kelly raised her head with doubt. “Since we’re all here to speak, why don’t you go next?”

“I’m here because,” she adjusted her glasses. I noticed that her lenses were thick. “I hate my eyes.” Most of the guys in the room stared at her and didn’t understand why, and neither did I. She had beautiful green eyes, so what could she possibly hate about them? “I hate them because I can’t see right.” Kelly put both her hands on her legs and looked down at them. “You guys probably think that I’m stupid, but I have dyslexia. I’m not able to read and write properly like the rest of you, so I have problems learning. My glasses,” she said pointing to her glasses, “help me a little with distinguishing the difference between letters and numbers, but that’s the most I’m going to get.” In all my years that I’ve known Kelly, she never once told me about her dyslexia, but it made sense though. In class, she asked me if I could read her the notes instead of giving her mine; I never thought anything of it. “So yeah Cora, that’s why I’m here.” Cora didn’t say anything and Kelly adjusted her glasses again. I grabbed onto her left shoulder and she faced me.

“How come you never told me?” I asked with a slightly annoyed look. “I would’ve been glad to help you out, Kelly.” She shrugged and looked away.

“I guess I was afraid you would make fun of me. I mean, anyone who found out about my condition did.” I removed my hand and thought that was bizarre. If someone has a problem they’re ashamed about, why would someone make fun of them? People in the world now are so stupid and selfish, they don’t think about what other people are going through. Then again, have I cared about other people?

“Thank you for sharing that, Kelly,” Faith said while walking past her. “I bet that was really hard, but like Kai said, we’re all here to help each other out.” She walked over to two boys I knew and stood behind them. They both looked up at her. “Harry, Troy, would you guys like to share with the others?” I wondered why it was both of them and not just one, but they looked uneasy.

“I rather not; it was Troy’s idea to bring me here,” Harry said. He noticed me staring at him and he grew annoyed. “What’re you looking at Kai?”

“Nothing man; I’m just wondering why two guys like you would be here. Aren’t you the captain of the basketball team?” Harry nodded. I looked over at Troy. “Wait, Troy aren’t you the captain of the swim team? What problems could you guys possibly have?” Everyone else stared at them. Even Hope was interested in their reason, not to mention that it was Troy’s idea to bring both of them here.

“You really want to know, Kai?” Harry said sitting himself up properly. Something about his voice scared me, but I nodded in response. “Well, I’m not saying anything-Troy you tell him.”

“Oh my God. Harry, why are you so ashamed to tell people?”

“You want to know why, because I don’t like seeing you get hurt! Every single time someone finds out, it causes trouble for you. I hate seeing those bastards gang up on you and hurt you.” Harry stood up and kicked his chair away from him. “I’m not here to tell these people about my feelings, you can do that if you want-”

“Harry, please don’t leave now,” Faith said grabbing onto his arm. “I know things are awry for you at the moment, but it would be best to speak from your heart and stay here with Troy.” Harry sighed heavily.

“I think you guys have a clear idea why Troy and I are here.” They both said enough that I knew they were in a relationship. I would’ve never guessed it though because they have dated girls before, especially Troy, but I never would’ve imagined that they had feelings for each other. Not to mention, Harry said that it was always trouble for Troy. I can only imagine the hardship they had to endure for one another. “So yeah, we’re in a relationship. I don’t know why I fell for this idiot, but I feel that people in our school won’t see us as normal, but rather as-” Harry stopped himself from speaking. I already knew that heinous word, he didn’t have to say anything else. “The girls who know about us don’t give us trouble, but the guys who found out always get on us. They get on Troy more because they know that he’s weaker than me. Whenever I’m not around, that’s when they get on him. I’m not ashamed to be seen with him. Other guys who don’t know would find it hard to believe anyways. Troy wanted to come here and actually find some people who would be understanding and I forcefully agreed to his terms.”

“Well boys, you came to the right place because I support you guys all the way,” Faith said with a warm smile. Hope smiled too and interlocked her hands. She raised them up to her chest and giggled lightly.

“I support you guys too. In fact, I think you guys are adorable together.” Harry looked at everyone else, where they smiled at him. He faced me last, where I smiled lightly too.

“You guys have my support,” I said. “Don’t be afraid to tell people how it is. Let them know that you’re happy, no matter what they say or do.” Harry stared at me with ambivalence; I guess he didn’t hear this too often from other guys.

“Thank you, boys,” Faith said pushing Harry’s chair back to him. He noticed her and sat back down in it. Troy smiled at him, but Harry gave him an annoyed glare. “Ike, would you like to go next?” We turned towards a boy who had his arms crossed and held tightly against his chest. He wore loose clothing that looked worn out, like he wore it all the time.

“I think you guys can see what’s wrong by what I’m wearing.” Everyone else stared at his clothing; I know that it’s worn out, but is that really an issue? If he doesn’t like his clothes, why didn’t he buy new ones? “All of you kids are clueless. My family struggles with income.” He uncrossed his arms and leaned forward. He rested both his elbows on his legs and looked directly at me. “My parents are divorced. I have a younger brother and sister and my mom has custody of us. Not only is she a single mom working a full time job for us, but my old man is pathetic and won’t provide anything for us. Even though he pays child support, that’s still not enough to raise three kids. So, I started working, and taught myself how to drive a car and I don’t ask for much because my younger siblings need more than I do.” I slowly turned away from Ike, which made him snicker in amusement. “You guys can’t assume things; I bet you guys would’ve never guessed that was my reason. A lot of kids in this school have divorced parents and people think it’s nothing big. Well, it’s a hassle that’s for sure.” I felt bad; I didn’t think all of that could be behind simple clothes. My parents are together, so I can’t understand what he’s going through right now. He said he was working and already knew how to drive a car, but he was just fifteen. “That’s all I have to say. I don’t need anyone’s pity right now. I just want you guys to understand that people can struggle in life in many different ways, not just your school clique and social problems.” Harry looked at Ike with a cold glare.

“Don’t make it seem like you’re the only one who has issues though. My parents are divorced too, and you’re right, it’s a hassle, especially on my end. You seem like a reasonable kid, but you seem to have a lot of spite towards your old man-”

“Oh shut up Harry. You don’t know a thing about our relationship.” Harry raised both his hands up before throwing himself back into his chair. Troy sighed softly, but said nothing to either of them. Faith walked passed Ike and over to a girl who sat next to him.

“Thank you, Ike,” she said. He didn’t move, but the girl who sat next to him looked surprisingly nervous. She had really short hair, almost like a boy, and she wore loose clothing. Okay, so she seemed tomboyish. There’s nothing wrong with that in my eyes. “Arthur, would you like to go next?” Her name is Arthur? That’s a little strange for a girl in my opinion. She nodded in response to Faith.

“I see that a lot of you looked confused, probably because of my name.” She smiled and turned to Harry and Troy. “I’m in the same community as you boys.” They looked at each other for a moment, then Troy gasped softly and turned back to Arthur.

“You’re a transgender?” He asked. Arthur nodded and she grew scared. “Well, why’re you so scared?”

“Huh, you guys don’t think I’m disgusting?” We were all outraged. How could she think that? Even though she’s the first transgender I’ve ever met, I found nothing wrong with it. She just wants to be a boy. A lot of us shook our heads, but her eyes showed that she was still scared. “It’s just that, everyone who finds out that I’m a transgender, thinks I’m weird. They think I’m a disgrace to this Earth and some people think I’m disrespecting God. My real name is Abigail, but when I decided to become a boy, I believed that Arthur was the right name for me. The thing is, when I told my parents…” Arthur’s voice started cracking, which concerned us all. Hope grabbed a box of tissues and walked over to her. Arthur started crying, she covered her mouth with an ashamed look. She whispered something that changed the look on Ike’s face. He grabbed onto her shoulder. “I’m sorry,” she said grabbing a tissue from the box Hope held in front of her. “When I told my parents about how I felt, my dad didn’t want to deal with it, so he divorced my mom and left us. I haven’t seen him since then and that was two years ago. I feel like I broke my mom’s heart; I know she would’ve been better off if I just kept my mouth shut.” Harry and Ike gave her solemn looks. I had no right to, they all had divorced parents unlike me. “So yeah, I’m a boy. I’m no longer Abigail, I’m Arthur.”

“We all support you, Arthur,” Faith said. “There should be no fear here in this room, we’re all here to accept one another.”

“Don’t worry about your old man,” Ike said. “He’ll realize eventually that he was wrong for walking out on you and your mom.” Arthur smiled, which made Hope sigh of relief.

“Thank you Arthur,” she said. She walked over to Rich, who sat in between Arthur and I. Something about him scared me, his eyes looked heavy and I saw the veins on his forehead pop out. “Rich, would you like to go next?”

“This is worse than detention…” He glared angrily at Hope, who didn’t understand why he was so mad. I think he was forced to come here. Everyone else spoke to the group, but he was quiet the entire time. “Hope, let me go home.”

“Rich, you know I can’t do that. The principal asked me to help you with your problem-”

“He forced my ass to come here or else I’ll get suspended! What the hell is telling others about my problem going to do for me? I don’t care what these people think.”

“Drawing attention to yourself won’t help you man,” Harry said. “Why don’t you just tell everyone about your problem?”

“Shut up Harry, no one needs your intel.”

“Just tell us what’s wrong, now you’re getting on my nerves,” Ike said. “We all said our story, so just tell us. Unless you’re ashamed of it.”

“You want to know what my problem is?” Rich shouted as he stood up abruptly. Hope, who was behind him, backed up as Faith stared at him from the other side of the room. “Okay, I use drugs. There, I said it. Oh, you guys want to know what kind?”

“Rich, that’s enough of the sarcasm. Hope and I take this club very seriously to help those who want to be accepted, but you’re just making a mockery of it. I understand that you have a drug problem, but no one is here to judge,” Faith said.

“Well, what about you girls? Why are you here as our advisors?”

“I’m here because I suffer from depression,” Faith said. “I have to take medication for it, but this club helps me ease my depression. Nothing makes me happier than helping those in need.” She looked away from all of us. So, that’s why she’s here. I didn’t think that Faith was depressed, she was always so lively whenever I saw her in the hallway.

“I’m here because I’m weak,” Hope said coldly. She furrowed her eyebrows and glared angrily at herself. “At one point in my life, I was suicidal; I hated who I was and thought that I didn’t deserve to live. Not only that, in the area I grew up in, girls were always mistreated and picked on. I was bullied by many boys in my neighborhood. They picked on me because I was weak.” Rich raised both of his eyebrows. Wow, to think these two girls had issues of their own; I sighed softly because I knew it was my turn. “Are you satisfied Rich?” He slowly sat back down.

“I get it Hope, I really do. I was picked on back in the day, but now I’m associated with people who could care less about me; I just wanted to feel accepted. If I had to do bad things to get accepted, then that’s what I did.” Hope walked up to him from behind and grabbed onto both of his shoulders. “I hate this school…”

“Don’t hate the people in it though, there are a lot of good people in this school, you just have to take a good look and find them.”

“Thank you, Rich. I’ll tell the principal that you’ve completed your part.” Faith said. He nodded and sighed with relief. Faith walked over to me, where I looked down. “Kai, you’re the last one…”

“I change my mind. I don’t want to go.”

“Kai, what’s wrong?” Kelly asked. I raised my head to face her.

“I don’t know why I’m here anymore. I’m already accepted, it’s just that, I want to just talk to someone. After hearing all of you guys share your story, my issue can’t compare to the emotions you feel. I shouldn’t even be here, I have to go to a-”

“Kai, it doesn’t matter what issue it is, we just want you to be able to speak from your heart. Anything that’s bothering you, I want you to speak about it and let it out. No one is here to judge you.” Faith said. After I stared at her for a couple of seconds, I let out another sigh and faced everyone else.

“The reason I’m here is because-” I jumped in my seat when I heard my phone go off. Everyone stared at me as I grabbed onto it. As I was about to silence it, I saw that it was my mom calling. “Sorry, it’s my mom, let me take it real quick.” I stood up and hurried into the hallway. I answered the phone just outside the door.

“Kai, your father and I are heading to the school to pick you up,” my mom said with a voice full of consternation. “We’ll bring you home so you can get ready.”

“I thought we have to be there at five? Why two hours earlier?”

“I’m afraid things have changed. Everyone else attending already knows about it.” I sighed, agreed to her terms and hung up. I walked back inside the room to find everyone staring at me, as if they knew what was going on. I walked over to my seat and picked up my backpack.

“I’m sorry girls,” I said in a low voice. “I’m afraid I have to go.” I put on my backpack and I saw Hope walk up to me.

“Before you go, tell us the real reason why you came here.” Her face was desperate; I guess there was no backing out now, these people wanted to know the truth. I slowly turned away from her and everyone else and looked towards the wall.

“I came here because I lost my way in life. Something horrible happened, which made me lose sight of my bright future. I’ve been going through a lot of stress and tears lately, but when I heard about this club, I thought it would help me out emotionally. The type of person I was before, was so selfish and arrogant. I never cared about people’s feelings or had any empathy or sympathy for people, until I sat in that seat. All of you have so many problems, it’s not fair of me to act callous towards any of you.” I realized, that everyone in this world has issues. “Everyone in this world wants friends, to be accepted and to never fear being alone; I want the same too. It doesn’t matter if the issue is about how you look, what you have, who you love, how much you have, what you change, or what you do; I believe it’s an issue that can affect anyone. I guess the one thing I learned today, is to express your feelings, because anything in this world can be solved if you face it head on.” I turned back around to face everyone. Faith and Hope both covered their mouths with awed faces. Kelly, Cora and Amy started tearing up. Ike, Rich and Arthur smiled at me, as if I answered all their prayers. Troy and Harry smiled at each other and then at me. My phone went off again. I grabbed it and it was a text from my mom, saying that her and my dad were outside. I walked towards the door, but I stopped and turned back to Faith and Hope. “Hope, Faith, thank you for everything.”

“No, thank you Kai. You’re always welcomed here,” Faith said.

“If you don’t mind me asking, where are you going in such a hurry?” Hope asked. I felt my throat clench up.

“If you’ll excuse me, but I have to go home and get ready for my little sister’s funeral.” With that being said, everyone in the room stared at me in horror. I left the classroom and went into the hallway without saying another word.