You're not alone

Part 19

Meredith grabbed her backpack before walking back down the stairs into the kitchen, looking at Jolene who was sitting at the table with tears in her eyes. "Mom?" Meredith asked carefully, making Jolene look up. "Y-you o-o-okay?" Meredith asked, cursing herself for stuttering so much. Her stuttering always got worse when she wasn't feeling well. And now that it seemed as if Andrew had cancelled their friendship completely.

"I just don't understand what has been going on with Andrew lately. Did you two have a fight?" Jolene asked, looking up at Meredith. "I-I d-don't know. M-maybe I-I did s-something wrong?" Meredith said carefully but Jolene just shook her head. "No, you didn't do anything wrong Mer. I'm sure he'll calm down in a bit. Come on I'll bring you to school." She replied, laying a reassuring hand on Meredith's shoulder.

They drove to school in silence but Meredith was so tired while at the same time she wasn't able to stop overthinking what could have caused Andrew's weird behaviour that she was sure she wouldn't survive the day without at least one panic attack. She quickly said goodbye to Jolene before walking over to the building, waiting for her to drive away before stopping. She still had ten minutes before her first lesson would start so that she used the time to walk over the schoolyard, trying to calm her thoughts down a little that were getting worse by the second.

Did they had a fight and she had just forgotten about it? Had she done something wrong that had caused him to act like this and be mad at her? She tried to think back about two months in time because that had been the time his weird behaviour had started. Or wasn't he behaving weird and she was just overreacting? Probably. She was the weird one, the one that acted unnormal. She had no right to question Andrew's behaviour while she herself was the one having anxiety attacks and also the one who couldn't drink coffee because she was taking medication.

Quickly wiping her eyes, she walked back to the entrance and towards the classroom she had biology in and sitting down in the back corner of the room where no one would notice her. Luckily the others didn't have time to acknowledge her presence since the teacher walked in closely after Meredith had sat down and started to get her things out. She was determined to try to focus on today's lesson since they would have an exam in two weeks and she needed to be able to explain everything to Andrew in case he would have questions.

But even if he would have a question he probably wouldn't ask her but rather Jasper. And maybe it was good like that because Meredith would probably explain it the wrong way anyways. Because she never did anything right. She was useless in any kind of ways. Maybe Jolene blamed her as well and just didn't want her to know.

"Meredith are you listening?" Mr. Fitz asked, ripping her out of her thoughts. She noticed everyone staring at her, making it hard for her to say something without stuttering. "Y-yes." She said quietly, hoping that would be enough. But of course, it wasn't. "Then please explain the major differences between the cell of a plant and an animal."

"Uhm- the- the p-plant c-cell h-a-has a v-vacuole a, ch-chlorop- plasts a-and a c-cell wall and t-the cell o-of an an-animal d-doesn't" she said, her hands starting to shake as she wasn't able to get through the sentence very neatly and it felt as if it took her forever to finish it. Everyone was looking at her and she could hear laughter coming from the first row where Sarah, Corinna and Lisa sat. "That's right, good. Do you know anything else?" he asked, raising an eyebrow but somehow he was also satisfied with Meredith's answer. Meredith just shook her head quickly, looking down as the teacher went on with his speech.

Meredith took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. She had never ever felt so anxious and nervous in class ever before. But with Andrew being mad at her and her being mad at herself it made sense that she couldn't concentrate. She looked down at her notes, realizing that she hadn't made any yet so that she quickly copied what the teacher had written onto the board.

The lesson went by quickly now that Meredith tried to focus on the lecture and realized that it was actually pretty interesting. She used her inability of multitasking and hyper focusing on one thing to make sure she would write down everything the teacher said to actually get a good grade for once.

She heard the bell ringing and quickly packed her things, following her plan to avoid her classmates as good as possible. She grabbed her backpack and literally ran out of the room and through the hallway until she reached her locker, putting her things for biology back in and getting her things for English out. But as she closed the door she was face with Sarah who had a big smile on her face. She quickly turned around but there stood Lisa and Corinna, grinning as well.

Meredith tried to walk away but Sarah stopped her. "Not so fast weirdo." She said. "Now that your night in shiny Armor isn't here right now we'll finally be able to have some fun." Lisa said and Meredith suddenly noticed that everyone else in the hallway had stopped walking and was staring at them. "I-I- h-have to g-go." Meredith stuttered, trying to walk pass them again with no success.

And then Corinna pulled out her phone, starting to record Meredith as she was starting to hyperventilate. Not a second later both Sarah and Lisa had started to pour out two bottles of cherry juice over Meredith's head, drenching her in the red fluidity. Tears were rolling down her cheeks as everyone was laughing at her and she just stood there in shook.

"That's so good." Corinna laughed as they had emptied both bottles and she stopped recording. Everyone was laughing at Meredith, pointing at her, whispering about her. "I'm going to post this on YouTube." Corinna said as the three girls watched the video, proud of their work. And that was Meredith's opportunity to escape, what she did. She had trouble controlling her breathing what made her extremely dizzy. She ran into the bathroom, closing the door behind her and praying that no one would come in. She was crying, sobbing quietly as she started to wash of her face. Her whole body was trembling as she was starting to wash her hair over the sink, determined to get the sticky juice out.

All she wanted to do was go home and sleep. Forever. She wanted to fall asleep and never wake up again.

_________

Andrew was still at home, laying on his bed and playing on his phone. He went through Instagram and YouTube until he stopped scrolling, seeing something that made his heart stop. He immediately sat up straight, clicking on the video and watching it with his eyes and mouth wide open as his pulse started to get quicker. "No, no, no. Meri" he whispered as he saw the video of Sarah and Lisa pouring juice over her head while she was hyperventilating and everyone was laughing at her.

He jumped up within a matter of seconds and started getting dressed as fast as possible. He ran down the stairs, calling for his mother but quickly realizing that she was at work. He hurried out of the house, closed the door and got his bike from the garage, starting to drive faster than ever before.

It took him about fifteen minutes until he arrived at school. He threw his bike onto the football yard, sprinting past it towards the entry of the school, completely out of breath as he reached the hallway upstairs where he saw the puddle of juice on the floor near Meredith's locker. "Where are you Meri, where are you?" he asked himself, turning around. The girl's bathroom.

He ran down the corridor and into the bathroom. But no one was there. He sighed and was about to leave as he heard whimpering coming from one of the stalls. He bent down to look under the door and in the last one he spotted Meredith's shoes.

"Mer?" he asked, pulling on the handle but the door was locked. After a few seconds of silence, the door suddenly opened and Meredith stood in front of him. Her hair and sweatshirt completely wet, her face red from crying and shock was written all over it. "Hey." He said, not sure what to say after what happened tomorrow. And then she just broke down, not being able to hold herself together anymore. He quickly caught her before she hit the ground, sitting down with her on his lap sidewards, cradling her into his chest. "Shh, it's okay." He said, rubbing her back, making sure her left leg wasn't bend to far so her prothesis wouldn't cut into her skin.

He didn't care that she got all of his clothes wet and just continued comforting her, hoping that she would calm down soon.