The Story of Vada Munroe

Chapter Nineteen

"M..Michael, I-"

"What are you doing..?" He asked, hurt in his voice. She couldn't find the words to say. She couldn't speak anymore. Michael noticed her panic attack getting worse, so he rushed over to her, grabbing a random shirt from her bed and he pressed it against her forearm. He looked up into her brown, glossy eyes and placed his free hand on her cheek. "You're going to be okay." He reassured her.

"I'm sorry." She managed to get out as she struggled to stop the tears from falling down her face.

"Hey, hey.." He pulled her down with him as he sat at the end of the bed, never losing eye contact with her and he wiped her tears from her cheeks. He pulled her close to him and whispered, "It's okay." Vada sniffled lightly, staring down at the hand that pressed the shirt against her arm and she began to focus on that one thing to distract herself from her panic attack, the only thing that seemed to be her go to distraction for a while now. The feeling of being with Michael, the passion, the joy, the thrill, how real it felt. How safe he made her feel. Things she never thought a human could ever feel all at the same time, especially in this cruel world and at that moment, she realized it didn't matter if Julia or her parents accepted her relationship because the only thing that truly mattered was how deeply and unconditionally in love she was with him, nothing else mattered, as long as she had him.

"How long have you been doing this to yourself?" Michael asked as they sat at her bay window, across from each other.

"About a month." Vada answered, staring down at her hands as she fiddled with her bracelet.

He sighed softly and scooted over to her and placed his hand on top of hers, causing her to look up at him. "Promise me something." He looked down and slightly gripped her hand before looking back up at her and he
brushed his tongue against his lips. "Promise me, you'll at least try to stop. For me." He said.

She gulped nervously and looked down. "It's not that easy..." She whispered as tears began to fill her eyes.

"I know, but please, just promise me..." She looked up at him, he had a look of desperation in his eyes and his voice broke as he spoke. It broke her heart but she knew she had to give at least some peace, so she let out a soft breath and nodded. He let out a breath of relief and pulled her into an embrace. "I love you, Vada, and I don't want anything bad to ever happen to you."

"I love you too." She replied in a gentle voice.

Vada closed her locker and turned towards Chloe as she asked, "So, what are you going to do about Julia?"

Vada sighed softly and looked down. "I don't know." Chloe shook her head lightly and scoffed, causing Vada to look up at her. "What?"

Chloe looked up at her, disbelief in her expression and she said, "Lately that's been your answer for everything."

Vada sighed softly and pressed her back against her locker and looked away from her. "I just have a lot going on. My dad hasn't spoken to me all weekend, I just lost one of my best friends, and Michael just found out something I didn't want anyone else to know about." She looked back at Chloe, she had the same look on her face but Vada continued, "Don't expect me to shoot shots in the dark anymore, okay? Too many people got hurt because of it. I don't want to hurt anyone else."

Chloe sighed but nodded.
"Alright, fine. Bell's about to ring, we should get to class." Vada nodded. "I'll see you later." She said before walking past her and Vada walked into her father's class. She glanced over at him as he stared down at his desk, purposely avoiding eye contact with his daughter. She gulped lightly and looked back down at the ground and she walked to her desk and sat down and looked over to her right to look at Julia, who stared in front of her with a irritated expression on her face.