Love Hate r.s.l

16. It was finally my own

// Cleo POV //

I woke up feeling as sick as a dog. I rolled over, thinking that something had happened but I couldn't remember what. Suddenly, the memories came flooding back to me. How I'd been a bitch to Ross.

I jumped out of my bunk and walked the few steps over to Ross'. I pulled back the curtain but he wasn't there. I was just checking around the back of the bunks when a sharp voice interrupted me.

"What are you doing?"

I turned around to see that Ross had just come out of the toilet. He was in his sweatpants and that was it.

"I I was looking for you," I said.

He glared at me. It was a look I had never seen before, angry and hurt but also sad and as if he had a hope.

"I want to apologise - for last night. I shouldn't have flipped at you like that. Everything I said wasn't true; you don't deserve what I said. The anxiety, yeah it's annoying and it CAN take over your life, but only if you let it. Please I'm so so sorry, and I understand that you're just worried about me. Please Ross," I said looking up at him. I was only about 5'5" and he was roughly 6', so there was a but if a height difference.

He nodded and then pushed past me. This wasn't enough.

"Ross." I followed him into the back lounge. "Please."

He sat down on one side of the sofa whilst I pulled my feet up on the other side. I wrapped my blanket around my legs and said, "I want to tell you something. It's really important to me."

When I said this he looked up and I saw that his features had softened.

I took a deep breath.

// Ross POV //

I looked at Cleo. She looked so utterly gorgeous.

"I was diagnosed with anxiety when I was 11. I was in Year 7 and I had just moved to Secondary School." She paused. "Middle school I suppose for you. I panicked about everything so Mum took me to the doctors. Once I had been diagnosed, it felt as if my life had changed. Suddenly, I was afraid of everything and everyone. As the years went on, it got worse and worse, until I was at breaking point. I had at least a panic attack a day, normally more." She took another deep breath. "My mum was so worried about me, like you guys now but a lot worse. I was so angry and frustrated at myself, for being like this and for not knowing what to do about it. On my 14th birthday, it was exceptionally bad. I didn't even get out of bed. My mum brought up a massive present. I opened it and it was a guitar. That changed everything. I learnt to play and I loved it. I sang and I started my YouTube channel and my blog. My mum gave me a bag of guitar picks. One of them was pale pink, so I punched a whole in it and put it on a silver chain. I've worn it ever since." She pulled it out of her top to show me. "Music changed everything for me. It made me happier, and I finally got the anxiety under control. I was still scared but I decided to face my fears. My life started to feel like it was finally my own to live." She looked up at me. I out my hand to my face to find that I was crying. What she had told me was really important to her, and I felt honoured that she HAD told me. I got up and out my arms around her. I don't know how long we hugged for, but I knew I didn't want it to end.