ocd || knj

chapter five: jc pov

"Dani, where are you, exactly?" I ask, worried that she's about to break down somewhere where no one will find her, like she used to in like elementary school in like a janitor's closet,

"Um, I-I'm in, I'm in the, the living room, y'know, how like I just, I got the-through my first class, and then I j-just came back here because I didn't know where to go because what if they know I'm here or something I don't know," Her voice speeds up so much by the end that I don't even think it's possible for her to stutter anymore,

"Okay, okay, Dani, okay, that's good, that's good. I want you to try and sit up for me, and slowly breath in as much as you can okay, eight seconds in, hold it for four seconds, then breath out for seven, can you do them for me?" I know she's laying sideways in a ball, I can't even count the amount of times I've found her like that before. I hear her move again, and for a few minutes the only thing I can hear is a shaky version of my instructions, until I hear a door. I furrow my eyebrows as I try to listen,

"Heeyyy- Dani, really? Honey, come here, get up, did you spill that? Dani, stand up, you can't lay there, the couch is soaked from your water bottle, oh my gosh, that makes me cold," Cara. That's Cara. She's the nicer of the two. I guess that's good. But that's what happened earlier. Awesome. She's so dissociated and panicked she didn't even know her entire water bottle spilled all over the couch and probably her. Or she just doesn't care, I don't know, "Did you even sleep? Actually don't answer that, I don't want to know, you need to lay down honey. Please?" She begs back and forth with Dani, who all I hear from are mutters and mumbles, until I hear her phone fall of and cringe at the sound of the phone hitting the metal legs of the table in front of the couch, "Oh! Oh, you're on the phone, oh! JC! Hold on JC, I'm gonna get her into her room, hold on," I sigh, sitting back down and setting my phone on my own coffee table before clicking both the mute button and the speaker buttons so they can't hear me but I'll know when Cara comes back,

"Oh my god," I rub my eyes, leaning forward to rest my eyebrows on my knees, "This cannot be happening," I shake my head, as if it's going to take me out of here somehow.

"That bad?" I hear Christian first, but I look up and see both Christian and Kevin at the bottom of the stairs, walking toward me. I nod before shaking my head,

"I don't even know bro," I look directly at them, "She's been skipping classes pretty much since last September off and on. She pulled a 3.5 somehow last semester but that's not gonna happen again this semester from what the lady I talked to said. She's not taking any meds, and there are just so many... issues," They both look shocked, all of us knowing how good of a student Dani has always been. Christian shakes his head, turning around and walking a couple steps away with his hands behind his neck. Kevin swallows, clearly trying to keep himself together,

"Um, okay, um, you should know that Chelsea is on the phone with Bobby because I guess he has plans with Kian, which... Christian or Nezza or someone knew about. He's gonna try and distract Kian at least until you can talk to him I think," I nod, hoping he understands the silent thank you. He slaps my back supportively before turning around, leading Christian back upstairs. I sit in that position for a few seconds, watching them walk away until I hear some rustling coming from my phone,

"Hello? JC? You still there?" Cara sighs, and I reach forward, grabbing my phone and unmuting myself but leaving the speaker button on,

"Yeah. Hey," She sighs tiredly and I rub the side of my face, "Is she okay now?" I ask, knowing the answer is pretty subjective,

"I mean, she's as okay as she ever is. You know why right, like you saw everything?" I chuckle darkly at her question,

"Yeah, no, we found it today. Dude, this is why we've kept it a secret, I just, I can't even..." She sighs again,