The Eighth Breakup ✓

Chapter 7 Was Punching Vince Necessary?

Chapter Unedited.

Chapter 7: Was Punching Vince Necessary?

Nolan looked like he was suffering badly. His whole face turned crimson, muscles tightening. Since I couldn't pinpoint the problem, I couldn't give any treatment. As a last resort, I yelled for help, banging my hands against the wall of the vents but in vain. I had forgotten we sat in a soundproof zone.

Nolan coughed and tried to change his seating position, hands still attached to his chest.

"Nolan, what's wrong?" I asked for the tenth time. Was it a heart attack?

"Chest pain," he managed to croak.

I wasn't much familiar with handling chest pain cases. My knowledge from anatomy class was all I had. I told Nolan to hold his breath for as long as he could. He met my eyes for a second before complying. I hope it worked. He did relax. It was stuffy where we sat and Nolan wore a huge hoodie. I ended up forcing him to take it off. It wasn't like he was naked underneath. He had a plain green polo shirt on.

"Do you have your cell phone?" I asked. Nolan shook his head. "Mine's in my backpack!"

We were in an awful situation. His hands were still on his irregularly rising and falling chest. This gave strain to his whole torso. I reached out and did what my anatomy teacher did around her classroom: give a shoulder massage. She said it helped loosen a lot. Nolan followed the breathing less advice and sat up straight as I massaged his shoulders.

After a while, he finally relaxed and I pulled back. The sweating stopped and tightened muscles freed themselves. He sat with his head tilted up.

"Thanks," he muttered. Nolan reached in his pants pocket and pulled out his iPhone.

I stared at him in disbelief as he handed it over. Unbelievable!

"Why did you lie?" I asked.

"Call someone for help, Hel-en. Don't mention anything about what just happened," he said coldly.

I hated how he just ignored me. Out of anger, I straight up called the school main office number. As an aid, I was required to know it. Ms. Gibbons picked up at the sixth ring. I didn't explain anything except for telling her where I was. At first, she didn't believe me, but then I made her talk to Nolan. She told me to wait (as if I was going anywhere).

As we waited for the rescue, my mind began thinking of convincing lies. Nolan was sitting with his eyes closed, taking short breaths. He seriously needed medical assistance.

It took a while, but a school janitor soon opened the panel, letting us get a grasp of fresh air. The relief only lasted for a fair minute or two until I saw the principal standing there. The bald assistant principal was with him. Nolan and I exchanged a look. He seemed much better, physically. He had hid his camera and map in the hoodie bundled up in his hand.

"What exactly were you two doing in the air vents?" Mr. Pallardinneti asked, crossing his arms.

I tried to make up a lie when Nolan said, "It was me. I came down here to--er--to . . . to--"

"To do what?" Mr. Casey, the assistant principal questioned. Nolan was speechless. I looked at the vents and thought about all possible excuses. It was a long, heated and crammed passageway. What lie could I tell?

"Physics!" I said suddenly. All the males--including Nolan--turned to me. "Physics. Remember we were checking air flow?"

I was nodding my head at Nolan. He went along also nodding his head, catching my lie.

"Yes. We wanted to check for the ventilation system," Nolan further lied.

I added on, "Following the pressure rule, we came to check the variables that are involved in our school's ventilators. The 'seal' state of the case is negatively pressured--"