Charlie's POV
"You're parents must be really proud"
My body stiffens at the thought of my parents. Memories flicking through my head like some sort of montage going from the best moments of my childhood to the nightmares that keep me awake at night. So many thoughts rush through my head in this moment. I quickly stand up knowing exactly what's coming.
"Ummm yeah sorry but I have to go, it was nice meeting all of you." I manage to get out before exiting the room, not waiting for a reply.
My vision starts to get blurry as I start to sweat trying to find someplace quiet to go. Every second it becomes harder to breathe and every time I blink I have to fight to open my eyes again. I feel like I'm going to pass out. I stumble a little but suddenly someone wraps their arm around my waist and my arm around their shoulder. All I see is blonde hair and my vision goes black. I'm trying so hard to open my eyes but I just can't. It won't let me. I can't breathe. I don't know what to do.
Leah's POV
Katie just said something about Charlie's parents. The young girl just freezes after about like 5 seconds she randomly gets up.
"Ummm yeah sorry but I have to go, it was nice meeting all of you." She rambles whilst rushing out the room.
I turn to face the rest of the girls all of our faces showing confusion. A switch flicks in my head. I rush out following Charlie. I just have to make sure she's alright. She could be perfectly fine but c'mon who acts like that when they're perfectly fine.
I start to call after her as I see her pace start to slow down and her steps getting shaky. She's not walking in a straight line. I don't think she hears me. I start to run after her as worry courses through my body.
As I catch up to her she stumbles and I wrap my arm around her waist making sure she doesn't fall, in the process I place her limp arm around my shoulder to try and steady her. I hear her panting for air and that confirms my suspicions. Her eyes flicker shut and I panic for a second then my instincts kick in. I pick up the girl and walk us towards the changing rooms.
Once I get there I lay her on the bench and grab a towel. I proceed to wet it with cold water and use it to try and cool down the sweating youngster. Don't worry she is breathing, I did check, and her pulse is beginning to even out. She should wake up soon. Well. I hope, she does. If she doesn't I'll have to find one of the medics or something to get her checked out but I didn't go there in the first place because she probably doesn't want to explain what happened. It would probably make her even more upset. So yeah.
After a while I take the towel rinse it out and then put it on her again. As I do that her body flinches a bit then she suddenly jolts awake. She starts looking around panicking then she starts panting again. I quickly pull her into me and place her head on my chest so she can hear my heartbeat. I quickly pick her up and switch us around so that she's sitting on my lap.
"It's okay Charlie, I got you your safe. Listen to my heartbeat. Breathe in. And out. In. And out" I try to reassure the girl coaching her through breathing. "That's it Charlie. You're doing great. In. And out. There we go. You're safe. Everything's going to be okay. Ssshhhh I got you" I say as the teenager starts to cry in my arms. I can feel my top starting to get wet but I couldn't care less right now. I do my best to comfort her, rocking us back and forth whilst whispering sweet things into her ear then every now and then gently placing kisses on the crown of her head. God I can already tell this girls going to be a big part of my life. After a while of this her cries stop and she begins to speak.
"I'm s-sorry" she says in a whisper.
"Hey don't apologise. You can't help it... I'm just glad that I decided to come after you and I found you when I did." I tell the youngster honestly.
"Th-thank you" she whispers out after a while snuggling into me a bit more.
I place another kiss on her head before saying "you don't have to thank me either Char. I'm just doing what any person would do. I'll always be here for you Char from now on. I can already tell that you're going to be a big part of my life." I finish letting us fall into another comfortable silence.
After a while I feel her fidget a bit so I loosen my hold on her slightly. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out her phone. She opens it then goes to photos. I watch her curiously as she goes into the favourites folder then clicks on a video then starts playing it.
Charlie's POV
I feel a bit bad that I took Leah away from her workout and friends to take care of me but I'm really glad she did cause otherwise I would probably still be passed out on the floor somewhere or something.
Anyway I reach into my pocket pulling out my phone is I could watch my favourite video. I open it up and press play.
"I bet you can't score against me" my brother dared as he stood in goal, laughing and running to each post touching it then jumping to touch the crossbar. I smile remembering the memories of how me and my brother used to do this all the time thinking it makes us better or somert.
"Oh yeah, you sure 'bout that?" I ask teasing my older brother, Ben.
"Nah Ben, I bet you your 100 club Petr Cech that she scores" My dad says from behind the camera backing me up.
"Nah don't be silly dad. He's too much of a wuss to accept that deal" I say about his prized match attax card that he doesn't let anyone near. "And plus he knows I'll score anyway." I add trying to wind my brother up even more.
"Hey! I'm not a wuss." He pauses for a second then walks up to my dad holding his hand out. "Deal" my brother says with his game face on, taking the whole thing seriously.
They shake hands then my dad turns the camera to the left to show 13 year old me juggling the ball and doing around the worlds, then just balancing it on my foot then flicking it up and balancing it on the back of my neck. I laugh slightly at the memory then hear my dad's laugh. I stop immediately and a single tear falls down my cheek, I quickly wipe it away.
"Alright kid stop showing off" my dad laughs out and little me let's the ball drop to the ground. "Okay you got one chance here champ" he says to me. "So make it count." I nodded and took the ball back to the spot it was before, then I took a few steps before looking up already knowing exactly what I'm going to do. I ran up and struck the ball perfectly sending it slightly towards the left watching my brother dive then the ball curls all the way to the top right leaving my brother sat on the floor gutted at the thought of losing his precious card. My dad started cheering and going crazy while I just stand there smiling. My dad comes over and picks me up beginning to celebrate like we just won the World Cup. Then he sets me on the floor then kneels down in front of me so we're the same height "That was incredible kid. I can't wait to see you do that when you grow up. You're going to play for Arsenal, be there star player and same for England. You're going to win the World Cup and the euros I can see it now 'Charlie Carpenter ballon d'or winner, best player in the world" he says and I smile as I remember the look on his face. He looked proud. God, I hope he's proud now.
I turn the video off and begin to sit up. I look up to see Leah with a sad smile on her face I'm guessing she connected the dots but she obviously doesn't know all of it.
I take a deep breath in then started speaking. "I was 14-" I started to say.
"Char you don't need to tell me anything." Leah interrupts me.
"No, it's alright. I want to." I take another deep breath. "So I was 14 and it was my first game for the under 16s, I'd just been promoted to the new age group. We won and I ended up getting two goals and one assist. Then on the way home, it was all dark and raining and that so dad could barely see. Then all of a sudden we saw this guy walking in the middle of the road towards us and my dad swerved so he didn't hit him. We hopped the curb and yeah. Everything went black. Turns out we crashed into a tree. I woke up in the hospital two days later with a concussion and was told that I had some internal bleeding but they fixed it or whatever. Then later on I was told that my brother died on the scene and my dad died in surgery. Then I was left with just my mum. We weren't close, our relationship was never the best. Then she died when I was 15 and now I live with my grandparents." I ramble out quite quickly not putting too much detail in the last bit trying to rush through the story.
I'm pulled into another hug by Leah. We just stay there for a while in silence.
"Thank you for telling me" she says and I just nodded against her in reply. "Your dad would be really proud of you right now he literally said that you'd play for arsenal and look at you now you're about to sign for the first team. And jeez that goal in that video was insane. How old were you then?" She asked obviously changing the subject which I'm kinda happy about.
"13" I respond.
"Jeez that's actually crazy. I can't wait to start playing with you properly." I smile at her words.
"Me too." I whisper.
We fall back into a comfortable silence then all of a sudden my belly rumbles. Like really loudly. If she hadn't just seen me in like one of my worst states then I would've been hella embarrassed.
"Hahahahaha" Leah laughed. "You hungry?" She asked I just nodded. "Okay. I'm just gonna get changed real quick then we can go get some food, yeah?"
"Sounds good" I reply smiling at her.
A/N- okay here ya go. I was struggling a bit writing it and I think I got a bit carried away at times with some parts but oh well. Also with the panic attack bit, I didn't really know how to word it or whatever but like I just tried to base it off a personal experience and like other books I've read so yeah. I hope you enjoyed. Bye :) Love ya <3