Whose Fault? (Editing)

Chapter Five

"Sounds interesting." I said as I ate a piece of popcorn, then focused on the movie.

The next day, I had a report due in class and I was extremely anxious about it. My head kept telling me that I did everything wrong and that I was going to fail. I was trying to control the urge to cry and I wasn't looking where I was going. Luckily, I didn't run into anyone as I made my way into my English Comp class.

Xavier was already in his spot next to mine when I got there. So, I took a deep breath and made my way to my seat. During the first couple weeks of class I had tried to move around so I was away from him, but he always followed and eventually I gave up.

"Hey Wrennie." He tried to start up with me right as I sat down, but I ignored him. I was way too focused on not panicking to be able to deal with him. "Don't ignore me."

"Please just leave me alone, Xavier." I begged him, I didn't have the energy to do this today.

"Now why would I do that?"

"Because I told you to," I said bravely. I shouldn't have said that. Fuck. What's he gonna do now?!

He grabbed my elbow, pulling me closer to him as he chuckled. It was a sound that I always hated hearing from him, "don't test me, Wrennie."

He grabbed me by my shoulders and shook me furiously, "don't test me, Wrennie." He shook me some more, before punching me so hard that I landed on the floor. He then began kicking me in the gut repeatedly. When he was finished, and I could barely keep my eyes open, he leaned down close and in my ear, he menacingly whispered, "you have no idea what I'm capable of."

Immediately, I ran out of class and out of the building to try and find a secluded corner where I could handle the panic attack without anyone noticing. The tears were already falling, and I was trying my hardest to move as quickly as possible without dragging unwanted attention.

When I found a place, I slumped down and tried to remain as quiet as possible as I struggled to breathe. I felt like my whole world was collapsing in and I didn't know how many times my eyes swiped over the area to catch any threats, well anything could've been a threat at that point. I didn't know how long I was sat there trying to gain control of my breathing, but it felt like a lifetime.

I faintly recognized footsteps from around the corner and my panicking somehow got worse and my breaths shorter, I couldn't force myself to look up when I could no longer hear them.

"Birdie?" I knew that voice... how did I know that voice? Think. Think! Dumbass. I couldn't focus long enough to remember. Out of my peripheral I saw someone sitting down in front of me. No, no, no. This is bad. This is very bad. "Hey, hey. It's okay. You're okay."

All I could do was shake my head back and forth. No, I'm not. This is not okay. I am not okay. This isn't normal. I'm going insane. I might die.

"Look at me, Wren. Look at me. You're going to be okay." He spoke calmly, but for the second I could glance up at him, I could tell he was internally freaking out and wasn't sure of what to do. "Um.. okay. Hey, tell me something I don't know about you yet. Like... like... I don't think you've ever told me your favorite color. Wren, what's your favorite color?"

It took me several minutes to focus on what he said and to think of my favorite color, but somehow, I got it, "g-green."

"Good to know. Mine is orange." He thought for a minute then asked me another question, "how about your favorite movie that's not Disney?" I wrack my brain for an answer but come up with nothing. I'm such an idiot. I don't know. I don't know! "It's okay, Wren. Take your time. Your favorite non-Disney movie?"

As I tried my hardest to concentrate, I could feel my body starting to relax and my mind started to clear up, "Megamind."

Eli. Eli was the one who was trying to help me. Shit. Shit, shit, shit. He smiled and spoke again, "okay. Mine is the first Avengers movie. How about your favorite musical or play?"

"Shrek the Musical," I answered right away, and I could feel my muscles relax. I was finally able to take a couple breaths at a normal pace. It took me a minute to be able to look up at him and when I did, Eli was smiling at me again. It was so wide that if it was possible, it would have fallen off his face. I'm not exactly sure why seeing as this was not a normal interaction that people had with each other but seeing him smile was comforting to me.

Eli slowly moved closer towards me to make sure I didn't have a negative reaction towards his movements, but I wasn't able to process what was going on fast enough. Before I knew it, he had wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug. For a moment, I didn't know what to do, but when he had mumbled, "you're okay, Birdie. I gotcha" just loud enough for me to hear it, I couldn't help but wrap my arms around him as tight as I could in return.

❤️💜

Hey all!

This chapter is 3,143 words. I hope you liked it! Please, leave a vote or a comment to let me know what you think; it really helps me out, especially when it comes to motivation.

Thanks a bunch!

TM