One in A Bil~ion // B.E. agere

2

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~+~ Author's Note ~+~
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The comments on my first chapter have inspired me to post this one, tyty :]

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~+~Third person POV~+~
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As the gym period was close to reaching an end, the girls of the PE class quickly shuffle into the women's locker room to change out of their gym uniforms. As Billie walks up to her locker, her heart drops as a realization dawns upon her. She forgot to lock it.

Just as she had predicted, her locker was wide open and very much empty.

Her eyes begin to well up with tears, panic quickly spreading through her body. She remembers the last time this had happened. She had to go the rest of the school day in her gym uniform. She ended up finding the missing items after the kids responsible posted a picture of her clothes in the toilet with the caption "too bad they wouldn't flush" and, of course, basically the whole school uses social media so Billie eventually found the clothing articles.

The worst part was that nobody even offered to help her. She had to locate a janitor to dig her clothes out of the toilet at the end of the day for her. But the worst part was explaining it to Finneas when she showed up at home in her gym clothes with a garbage bag filled with her outfit of the day. Before that point, he was unaware of her troubles she faced at school.

That was the most helpless situation that Billie had ever experienced. And now it was threatening to happen again.

This time, she figures it would be no different. She sprints into the bathroom just outside of the locker room —the same bathroom where her clothes were found last time. Sure enough, her belongings are in the toilet of the last stall. Her favorite sweatshirt is submerged in the water. She is unsure of what to do and, once again, feels quite helpless.

The small girl sits down on the bathroom floor, this time allowing panic to fully consume her, manifesting itself through her shaking body while silent tears fall. She buries her head into her knees, hugging her legs close to her chest.

Her extreme emotional reaction to the situation at hand results in her mind beginning to feel a bit fuzzy as she finds herself regressing to a younger mental state. At this point, small Billie could care less if someone were to walk in. All she could think about were her drenched clothes.

Billie didn't want to go through that again, but figured it was inevitable at this point seeing as all of her belongings were currently submerged in a toilet. She wanted to disappear into thin air because, if that were to happen, it would allow her troubles to disappear with her entirely as well.

Although quiet and muffled, Blaire's ears pick up on the small, muffled sobs. She quickly gathers her belongings before following the sound to investigate the barely audible sniffles. As she walks into the bathroom, the sight she sees breaks her heart. She immediately drops her stuff and runs over to the girl balled up in the corner. She then places her hand on Billie's knee to get her attention.

Billie snaps her head up at the unexpected contact with a fear-ridden expression but her features soften in relief when she realizes it was Blaire, the only girl who had been nice to her since... well... forever.

"Billie? Are you okay? Hey hey, breathe with me."

Blaire gently picks up Billie's hand and places it on her chest in a manner in which Billie can feel her chest moving up and down as she slowly breathes.