-Reaching Out-(Treebros)

07

Trigger Warning: Panic attack

Connor was returning to school, and he couldn't dread it anymore.

The second he entered the building, he heard students murmuring to one another, most likely about whatever rumors that were spread in his absence.

"Hey look, it's that Murphy guy everyone's talking about!"
"I heard he attempted overdosing."
"Well I hear he tried hanging himself."
"I bet he just wanted attention."
"God, what a freak."
"For a Senior, he has hella lot of issues."

Connor zoned them out, not willing to give them a reaction. It disappointed a lot of students, while others saw this coming. The most they got was Connor's signature gesture; the middle finger. Some got lucky and got two.

Connor let out a long sigh, already knowing what was going to happen when he went to his first hour. People would throw things at him, tease him, and question him. He was already used to it, it was normal before he left, why would it change?

That's why when he entered Algebra 3, people immediately started throwing insults his way. And their trash, too. Connor ignored them, simply moving to the back where his seat was, plopping down in it with a hard thud. Students laughed at this.

"Now now, quiet, all of you! This isn't how you should be treating a fellow student! If I hear one more insult said, or one more object thrown, said student will be given detention!! Do you understand?" The teacher asked, folding their arms.

One student didn't take it seriously. They threw a paper airplane at Connor.

"Josh! Detention!" The teacher snapped. "Now, let us move on from this topic and to the matter at hand; algebra."

Students tried to keep their insults as silent as possible, they obviously wouldn't stop, and Connor knew this.

"Aw, look at Mr. Tough Guy, trying to kill himself. Oh so sad!" A kid whispered to someone else, loud enough for Connor to hear.

Connor growled, and tightened his fist. He had to convince himself long and hard on why he shouldn't sock them in the jaw.

This pattern repeated for the next three periods, up until lunch. Connor wasn't planning on eating, he was instead trying to find somewhere to be by himself.

The schoolyard? No, students go to socialize there.
Lunchroom? That was asking for attention.
Bathroom? Yeah, that'd work.

Connor made a straight path to the nearest bathroom, not bothering by with the students who snickered at him. It didn't matter to him.

He slammed the bathroom's door shut and dug around in his jacket pocket. God, did he need to get stoned, or what.

But before he could continue, he heard something.
It sounded like crying.

He frowned, slowly walking down the bathroom's tight corridor, hearing the sniffles of a student that shared the bathroom.

At the end of the corridor, he saw Evan Hansen, on the ground, his knees to his chest, red puffy eyes, snot exiting his nose, and a dry stain plastered on his shirt.

Connor slowly approached him, not knowing what to say, or do. "Hey.. It's okay.." He said, slowly extending a hand out to him.

Evan whimpered, cowering away from his hand.

Connor frowned more, and did a quick search on what to do if someone was having a panic attack.

Steady their breathing.

Connor knelt down in front of Evan, gazing at the smaller male. "Evan, I.. I need you to do some breathing exercises with me, okay?"

Evan glanced up at him.

"Breath in for six, hold for four, out for eight."

Evan obliged, doing as Connor instructed, as sometimes Connor helped him count and stay on track. Soon enough Evan calmed down to an extent.

"Now, what happened? If you don't mind me asking.." Connor said softly to him.

Evan exhaled, "Well, m-my teacher told my class that w-we have to work in p-pairs and I didn't get anyone at first so she paired me with some s-stranger I don't even know. Anyways after we exchanged our contact i-information, I went to lunch. Today was spaghetti, y-ya know? Well when I got my lunch I a-accidentally bumped into s-some kid and he got really m-ad and c-cussed me out and I started freaking out because my shirt is stained and people will think I'm a s-slob if I walk around with a stain so I ran here because people'll think I'm a b-big baby for crying over a stain and you probably do t-too so-"

"Hansen, calm down. I can help you get a new shirt."

"Y-you can?"

"You okay with getting something from the Lost and Found?"

"Y-yeah.. Yeah I am.."

A/N-Republishing this because Wattpad was a bitch and cut out half of the chapter (where Evan had a panic attack). So that part is kinda half-assed because I really didn't want to rewrite that part at almost 1:30 in the morning. I honestly wanted to start the next chapter and work on other books but nope. So the next update will probably take a bit longer to get out due to this happening. Thanks for reading if you did.