remember when I knew

JAI PRICE

JUST STOP. Stop. Stop. Stop.

"Please."

"JAI?" Azalea.

The locker opened and he tried to get closer to the wall, his nails digging in his arm. "Help," he tried to whisper. "Please."

Azalea's worried grey eyes softened, and she slowly reached for his hand, wrapping it in both of hers. "Jai," she said. "Come. We're getting out of here, O.K.?"

"JAI?! WHERE ARE YOU, DAMMIT?" Lucas' voice yelled in the walkie-talkie. Azalea just turned the thing off and slowly made him get out of the locker and stand up.

"Help," Jai whispered again. "Please."

She wrapped one of her arms around him, and the other held his hands. "Shhh," she told him. "Everything is fine. I'm here."

Breathe in. Breathe out.

"Everything- Everything is fine," he repeated between two breaths. "Fine."

"Jai, are you crying?" Someone asked. "Are you alright?" "What is it?" "Are you sick?" "Do you need something?"

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Jai's hand tightened on Azalea's, and she groaned in annoyance at the gathering. "It's not a show, people! Don't you have classes to go to?" She protested, and apparently, her glare was enough to make them leave.

"Please," Jai whispered again.

She opened the door for him, and Jai felt the cold, fresh air wash his warm, teary face.

"Everything is fine," Azalea repeated. "I'm here, O.K.? I'm here for you. We're going to walk around. You can do that."

He nodded.

"Steps," she continued. One after the other. You have to feel your feet on the ground as you walk, alright?"

"Al- Alright."

"Good."

They walked together. Jai looked at the trees, the buildings, the school, the cars the few people passing in front of them. He tried to focus about the small other things.

Steps. Steps. Steps.

"What do you want to do?" Azalea asked him as they walked.

Steps. Steps. Steps.

He shrugged.

"There's surely something. Do you want to go home?"

He shook his head. Steps. Steps. Steps.

"Listen to some music?"

He shook his head. Steps. Steps. Steps.

"Do you want to go back inside?"

He shook his head. Steps. Steps. Steps.

She looked at him, her eyes narrowing and her eyebrows furrowing as she tried to think. She licked her lips. "Do you want to go to Sasha?"

Sasha. He needed Sasha.

He nodded and they stopped walking.

Steps. Steps. Steps.

"Let's go see Sasha, then," she smiled at him, her hand gripping his a bit harder. She took her phone out of her pocket. "I'll ask Amy if she's with her or at home."

"She's home," Jai replied. Steps. Steps. Steps.

"O.K., let's go there together then. Does that sound good?"

He nodded.

They walked in silence. Only listening to each other's breaths. Only focusing on each other's hand. Finally, they reached the front door and Azalea rang the bell. They waited a few seconds and Jai's mother opened the door.

"Azalea? It's great to- Jai?" She frowned as she looked at her son. "Is everything alright?"

Steps. Steps. Steps.

"I just need to bring him to Sasha," Azalea said smoothly. "She's in her room, right?"

His mother nodded and she followed them there.

Sasha was sitting on her bed, a book in her hands, her legs crossed and her hair in a messy bun. She didn't hear them directly but when they got closer to her, she rose her head and turned it to face them.

She didn't say anything. Her eyes wandered on her brother, Azalea and her mother. Then, she got up and took his free hand in hers.

She dragged him gently to her bed and made him sit there, on the dark blue blanket with stars on it. She took the book she was reading in her hand and opened it to the first page.

"'Chapter one,'" she read. "'Down the rabbit hole. Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, 'and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice 'without pictures or conversation?''"

Azalea sat gently next to them, and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. He let her put his head in her neck, and closed his eyes, too drained to even feel panicked.

"'So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her,'" Sasha continued. Her voice was clear and decided as she read with no hesitation.

They sat there, Sasha reading with her hand in her brother's, Jai sitting against Azalea, and his mother watching from the door, in a perfect silence except for the reading.

And there, in that warmth, finally, his mind went blank as he felt home.

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A/N: And one chapter, one!

Question: The book you think taught you a lot?

In my case, it would be 'A Short History About Nearly Everything' or 'The Hidden Life Of Trees' or 'Anne of Green Gables'.

Hope you'll have a very good day!

And... I HAVE MY HOLIDAYS IN ONLY FIVE DAYS! YAAAY! Because that means... no more school for two weeks!

Biya!