The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B

Chuck asks Adam if he did his homework in their one-on-one therapy session. Adam typically does all his homework for school and never misses an assignment, but he doesn’t do the work assigned in therapy or Group. Today, however, he actually completed his therapy homework because he is a man with new goals. Adam is supposed to keep a weekly List and bring it in for review. He thinks, “If doing psycho homework would put him on the fast track to being fixed, then move over, Adam was boarding that bus” (10). The List is composed of 10 statements that Adam believes to be true. He writes about Group, Robyn, his mom and little brother, and his OCD-related thoughts. Chuck says they won’t ever go over a List if Adam doesn’t want to, as long as he completes them every week.

Then Chuck asks about Adam’s mom. He says she’s gotten weirder lately; he saw her angrily ripping up an envelope and hyperventilating. Chuck writes things down. Adam says it’s probably something relating to the divorce. Chuck says Adam’s medication level is working and directs him to keep up the List. Adam feels happy to be on his way to being normal, curing his OCD, and getting closer to Robyn. Chuck tells Adam to keep him updated on things going on with his mom because it’s important. Adam tells him he will, but he is lying.

Last year Adam became obsessed with counting things until it felt just right or until he felt better. Counting is one of Adam’s OCD compulsions. He stresses about awkward pauses in Group and struggles to think of something to talk about. The other group members don’t talk much, so Adam racks his brain for something to say as he walks to Group. He’s worried about the letter he saw his mom rip up but doesn’t want to talk about it because that’s his mother’s business and not his. In the lobby, Wonder Woman, Wolverine, and Robyn are waiting by the elevator. They all go by their superhero alter egos from the Group project. As they wait for the elevator, Adam tells them he has a new resolution to get in shape, and he’s going to eat healthier, walk places, and take the stairs to the Group room all the way on the 13th floor. Wonder Woman and Robyn want to join him; Wolverine thinks it’s stupid, but he follows anyway. They have to take some breaks as they go, so they arrive three minutes late to class.

Adam notices Thor, who notoriously never speaks in Group, glaring at him. Thor scares Adam a bit, but he likes Thor the best. Wonder Woman shares about her eating disorder involving being super picky about the foods she eats. Snooki chimes in that she’s having a bit of an eating problem, too, and Robyn says she is as well, but she swears she isn’t purging. This freaks Adam out. They all share something except for Thor, and Adam thinks they’ve all either shared a secret or all lied, as Adam did.

Adam helps stack chairs after the group meeting. He plans to follow Robyn home again through the cemetery. He followed her home last week, too, but he’s determined to speak to her today so he doesn’t seem like a complete creep. Adam notices that Robyn stops at a particular gravestone under a willow tree. Last week, Adam went to the gravestone but couldn’t tell the exact one she had been looking at. He doesn’t recognize any of the names but figures it must be the grave marked for Jennifer Roehampton, May 7, 1971, to October 14, 2008, even though Robyn’s last name is Plummer, not Roehampton.

Today, Robyn sees him and asks what he is doing here. He says he’s on his way home, which is a lie because he lives the other direction. She asks if he’s Catholic; he nods, and she tells him that she’s fascinated by Catholicism and wants to learn all about it. He goes to St. Mary’s, which is a Catholic school, so he says he can explain Catholic stuff whenever she wants. Robyn tells him it was nice of him to take breaks for Wonder Woman when they climbing the stairs. Adam feels happy and hopeful that he and Robyn could become friends.

Adam feels excited that Robyn is so close to him; he starts to get an erection and has to cross his legs to hide it. He’s never felt this way before. Robyn leaves to spend another second at the gravestone. Adam sees her try to make the sign of the cross, but she does it incorrectly. He blurts out that she’s doing it wrong, and if she wants to be Catholic, she needs to learn to do it right. Adam teaches her how to do it correctly, and Robyn says it’s soothing. Robyn asks if Adam’s friends are Catholic, and he mentions that his best friend Ben Stones is Jewish. When they get to the cemetery gates, Adam lies and says he goes right, knowing he must walk back all the way around the cemetery to make his way home. He feels so excited about the conversation with Robyn that he thinks he might have grown an inch already; he plans to measure when he gets home.