BLEEDING HEARTS ☆ liam dunbar | UNFINISHED

☾.˚˖⁺✦[Back To School]✦˙⊹˚☽

Alina walks alongside Shay through the familiar halls of Beacon High. The two best friends had barely seen each other all summer long since Shay had gone to New York to spend the majority of the summer break at her father's house with his new girlfriend. In common situations like theirs, the stepmom and the daughter would hate each other, or at least that is what you would expect or see in films. Though, Shay found herself and her dad's girlfriend getting along very well, sharing a lot of common interests. And, now that Alina and Shay are reunited, Shay cannot help herself but tell all the exciting stories and adventures she had endure while in New York.

Shay finds herself rambling on, not even realizing that Alina is not paying attention to a word she says. Alina takes slow and steady strides, Shay matching her pace subconsciously. Alina feels a throbbing in her head while her bones ache with every movement- the lack of sleep really getting to her. She just hopes that the makeup covers up the sleep bags under her eyes.

Her gaze moves across the hall in sudden realization, an overwhelming feeling of nerves and anxiety hitting her as she begins to feel surrounded by people. By too many people. Her lungs begin to squeeze slightly, and her throat closes up. She tries to push away the pain of not being able to breathe, however, it only grows. She looks for something, anything to focus on.

One. Two. Three, she counts the books in her arms that she is currently holding with a death grip. One. Two. Three, she counts the rings on her right hand. One. Two. Three, she counts the bracelets on Shay's wrist. One of those bracelets is an identical one that adorns Alina's wrist as well. Alina tries to focus on the memory of when the bracelets were made; it was the last night before Shay was going to go to New York. The two decided to have a sleepover at the McCall household, wanting to spend every last second together until Shay had to leave. Of course with Milo and Alina sharing the spare bedroom together, Milo joined in on all the night's activities. One of those activities being making friendship bracelets. Intertwining assortments of colours together along with beads of different shapes. The three of them made probably close to a hundred, though three of those bracelets were all the exact same. Each one of the kids now wears the bracelets every minute and every hour of every day.

Alina smiles softly at the memory, the pain slightly eases, but when she refocuses on her surroundings the anxiety skyrockets once again.

"Alina?" Shay's quiet voice rings through the other girl's ears. "Alina?" She repeats, "are you okay?" Her eyes move to meet her best friends, worry and fear brimming the edges of Shay's hazel eyes.

"No," Alina shakes her head, her body beginning to tremble slightly.

"O-okay," Shay carefully takes Alina's hand, leading the girl to an empty classroom nearby. "Sit down," she instructs to which Alina does as told. "Okay, um- take deep breaths."

"I-I can't," Alina stutters out. "I can't breathe. I can't-can't breathe, S-Shay." She begins to panic more with each second passing by. She grabs at the collar of her shirt, trying to pull it away as if it was the cause. Alina leans forward and places her head in the palms of her hands, gripping slightly at the strands of her hair, trying to calm down her breathing.

Shay, in a panic, takes Alina's hands into her own, kneeling in front of her. "Come on, Alina. It's okay, it's okay. I'm here," she's not entirely sure of what to say.

Both of their focus are taken away when the door to the classroom opens up. Alina and Shay both move to look, finding a girl standing in the doorway, she walks in and closes the door behind her, having not noticed Shay and Alina's presence. That is until she finally moves her gaze from the ground. "Oh, I'm sorry-" She is caught off when she notices Alina. The stranger moves over to the two blondes in a hurry. "Is she having an anxiety attack?" The brunette asks while kneeling beside Shay.