saved

14

three weeks later

Luke.

"I don't think I can do it" she mumbled to me as I made her sit on my bathroom floor, head to her knees.

First day of actual school anxiety.

I sat with her, glancing to the uniform that she was staring at.

"Why don't you think you can do it?" I asked her slowly.

"I've never had to make friends before, Luke-" "you made friends with me." I reminded her quickly.

"Yeah, but that's because no one but you gave me attention." She spoke firmly.

"Look, let's try it for a week or two and if you completely hate it, we'll go back to online school." I spoke to her.

"Why do I have to?" She whined, finally looking up- anxiety written across her face.

"You wanted to do this, princess, no ones forcing you, but this is something you wanted a few weeks ago" I reminded her slowly.

"I can't do it" her voice cracked, tears pooling in her eyes- threatening to spill over.

"Tell me what you're most nervous about" I spoke slowly.

"People are mean" she spoke the truth.

"But not all people are mean-" "but it's private school- movies never make private school kids nice." She spoke quickly.

"We're not in a movie, Aaliyah" I told her, holding her hands gently, trying to get every once of anxiety out of her system.

"What if no one likes me?" She asked slowly.

"They'd be insane not to like you, you're a walking ray of sunshine." I smiled.

"I just want to stay with you." She spoke.

I exhaled, not knowing how to handle this situation.

I knew she'd regret it if she didn't at least go one day, but I also didn't want to say 'Aaliyah, you're going to school.'

"Look, it's seven hours" I mumbled slowly.

"Seems like a long time, but before you know it,  I'll be in line to pick you up." I told her quietly.

"I know it's scary, but I also know that you're going to regret it if you don't at least see what it's like." I told her.

"You text me throughout the day, if something happens and you absolutely want to come home, you tell me and me or one of the guys will come and get you." I spoke to her.

I watched her rub her eyes slowly.

"My chest is really tight" she mumbled to me.

"Let me show you how to handle that secretly, because we can't always sit on the ground." I spoke with a smile, moving beside her.

"So, you think of something that makes you happy." I spoke to her, feeling her lean her head on my arm.

"Get your mind off of what's bothering you, and count while taking slow breaths" I instructed her before slowly counting to ten, taking slow breaths as I did to show her what I meant.

She copied me

After about three rounds of counting, she told me she was okay.

I left her for her to get dressed.

I went downstairs, seeing the guys

"How's Aaliyah?" Ash was the first to ask.

"Fighting that first day anxiety, but I think we got it handled"