Anxiety Attack

Chapter 7

Finley's P.O.V

I was sitting on the bench in the courtyard at school when my world was rudely interrupted by a force otherwise known as Eli.

He plopped down next to me, making my books shift and almost fall before he caught them and he set them carefully. "Almost could have been bad," he joked.

I shook my head, laughing at him a little. "W-Why are you h-here?" I was getting better at talking to Eli, I just stuttered in the beginning and after about ten minute I was fine.

"Just eatin' lunch with my new best friend," Eli said and bumped me with his knee.

I tensed at his touch but didn't say anything. I simply continued eating my sandwich, which was actually quite good. Eli chomped on some chips that he got from a vending machine and watched me. My eyes flicked up to glance at him before I looked back down at my food. We kept doing this until I was slowly running out of food and Eli broke the silence.

"If I may, Fin, why were you on your roof last night?"

I instantly glanced up at him, concerned that he even saw me up there. "H-How did you k-know I was up t-there?"

"I was driving by and happened to glance out the window and I saw you lying on your roof," Eli explained.

Oh, yeah, just let me explain that I'm depressed and I need pills but I don't take them and my family thinks that I do but I'm really actually lying to their faces and if I tell them I'm not better and sad all the time, they're going to die internally and my mother will cry and make me feel guilty and I'll make a promise that I can't keep, I thought but all I said was "Oh."

We were simply staring at each other before Eli spoke. "So are you going to tell me or..." he said expectantly.

"I l-like the view," I half-lied, not willing to tell him that I was really just kind of depressed. Besides, I did like the view.

"Uh-huh," Eli nodded slowly, clearly not believing me, but letting the matter drop. "So did you have a lot of homework last night?"

I shrugged. "N-Not really. I d-don't get a lot of h-homework to begin w-with, and if I d-do have it, I d-do it b-before I get home."

"Oh," Eli said and glanced down and fiddled with his fingers.

I narrowed my eyes at him. I fiddled with my fingers whenever I was nervous or had something to hide. "W-why do you a-ask?"

"I just had a lot," Eli glanced up at me. "And honestly I didn't have a clue how to do half of it."

"Oh," I said, feeling slightly foolish. It's not like I had issues with my work, I actually thought it was rather easy. "D-Did you do it t-though?"

"Yeah," Eli answered. "Even though most of it is wrong."

"Oh," I said again, not knowing what to say. In my defense, I didn't know what to say in these situations. I basically lived in my room.

Eli laughed, making me feel like an even bigger idiot. "Fin, that was my way of asking you to tutor me."

"Oh," I said yet again, feeling completely stupid.

I'm such an idiot, I thought. This is why I stay on my roof, where I can't embarrass myself.

"So will you?" Eli asked, looking earnestly at me.

I didn't want to say yes, as I'm a horrible teacher, but something about Eli's begging face made me change my mind. "A-Alright."

"Yes!" Eli cheered. "Thanks Fin!" He leaned over and pecked my cheek before running off.