A Flair for the Dramatic

Cesar Antonio Soto Perry was a good kid. Was. Straight A's, good family, good friends. That all changed when he hit the fucked up age of 15, people changed and Tony became the outcast. Developing eating disorders and depression Tony had no desire to live anymore. He was constantly in and out of hospital from overdosing or almost bleeding to death. Almost. It got to a point where his parents kept a eye on him 24/7. Meaning Tony couldn't even take a piss without his father being in the room with him.

So Tony gave up on suicide for the time being and focused on becoming someone people would like. He started to count calories from then onward. 'Too fat, too fat.' He would always whisper. Never did he once think of picking up a blade, but the cold, lifeless piece of metal soon became his friend. Along with the voices.

'Tony you need help mi hijo.' Tony's mother said to him one day. Tony only thought it would have been yet another stuck up therapist tying to pry into his personal life and tell him he's a broken teen until he opens up and shares his secrets. a few weeks after his 17th birthday his parents took him to an institute for broken teens. That's not what its called but that's what it implies.

'Mom, you can't send me here I'm fine!' Tony would try to convince his parents over and over but nothing good came from it. So here he was standing outside of two big wooden doors to a large house in the country.

Tony soon found out that the house was for boys only, with problems ranging from depression to anger issues. The place held up to 12 boys and up to 10 staff.

'Good luck Tony. You'll be fine mi hijo, we'll visit soon.' Tony's mother kissed his cheek and left without knowing Tony was fine with the people there. Tony sighed, picked up his bags and walked into the spacious white lobby. He stood at the large reception desk waiting for the blonde woman to get off the phone.

'You must be our new arrival, Cesar!' Tony looked to his left where the voice had come from. A red head with bright green eyes smiled down at him. Dressed in a black suit with a white shirt, holding a couple of bulging folders. Tony nodded.

'I'm Amy, I look after all of you boys while you stay here.' She smiled a toothy smile.

'So your like a therapist?' Tony couldn't decide whether he liked this woman or not. Her smiled slipped a little.

'No Cesar, I make sure you boys are okay, that you are safe and feel happy here. There are other staff that do therapy sessions. Others that do school lessons. You'll find out soon enough.' The smile never left her face.

Tony followed Amy through the hallway and into a living room. Filled with overstuffed sofas, beanbags, TVs, games consoles, one computer and a phone in the far corner. Nine boys sat on the sofa in front of the flat screen TV. Watching reruns of Friends. Amy stood to the side of the sofa leaving Tony standing awkwardly at the room door.

'Boys we have a new arrival, I expect you to make him feel welcome and safe here, remember when all of you were new here? Be good now, I have to make some calls I'll be back later to see how things are going.' Amy clapped her hands together before giving Tony a smile and leaving the way she came.

All of the boys looked at Tony and smiled weakly. A small boy walked up to Tony and gave him a tight hug. Tony took in his features, brown/black hair that stuck up all over the place, a perfect smile with perfect white teeth and strong arm muscles.

'I'm Jaime.' He smiled again, flashing his perfect teeth.

'Tony.' Tony half smiled back.

'Well Tony this is Austin and Alan,' Jaime pointed to a lanky boy with brown hair and a nose ring and a boy with ginger hair and a nose ring wearing a red beanie, 'Jack and Alex,' A boy with brown hair with blonde in and a boy with light brown hair, 'Oli and Josh,' a boy with longish brown hair and yet another boy with brown hair, 'And Ben and Danny.' A boy with long wavy brown hair and a boy with brown ginger tinged hair. All boys had tattoos on some surface of there body.

Jaime pulled Tony up the stairs and into a empty bedroom. 'This room is yours, mine is next door and the ones opposite are empty. Each floor holds 4 bedrooms and two bathrooms. So me and you share a bathroom and then whoever takes those rooms share too. Oli, Josh, Jack and Alex are on the next floor up and Alan, Austin, Ben and Danny are on the third floor. The only staff that stays are Amy, Matt, Jenna, Tay and Jordan. And they stay downstairs in the staff quarters.'

'Alright.' Tony walked around his decent sized room and thought about his future here, he didn't think this place would help him at all.

'Well its getting late. I'll leave you to get settled in and to sleep, see you tomorrow Tone, breakfast is from 7:30 - 9:30am, I'll come and wake you up if you like though?' Jaime asked, hovering at the door. Tony simply nodded. Jaime smiled and left Tony to unpack.

Tony never slept at all that night.