Chapter 20-

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March 25 for those keeping track-

"M-may I be excused." Lilly says half way through a lesson. The teacher dismissed her and she runs out into the hallway. She has no new friends yet, and so she goes to the band room hallway which was around the corner from the history class. Lilly sits down against the wall and buried her head in her knees, hyperventilating and crying. The band director, Mr. Markley, comes out of his classroom and sees Lilly in the hallway.
"Hey, my favourite student!" Lilly is startled and doesn't look up at him.
"What's wrong?" He says, sitting beside her.
"O-oh, n-nothing." Lilly says, looking up, quickly wiping the tears of her face, still hyperventilating a lot.
"Hey, are you having a panic attack?" He asks softly. Lilly nods in response and starts crying again.
"It's ok, just breathe. Can I call your parents to come pick you up?" He asks. Lilly shakes her head frantically.
"N-no!" Lilly stutters out.
"Ok, do you have any siblings? Can we call them?" Lilly nods.
"M-my br-brothers."
"Ok, do you have their numbers?" He asks, trying to limit the questions as much as possible. Lilly shakily pulls out her phone from her hoodie pocket and unlocks it to give to Mr. Markley.
"A-Adam." Lilly stutters out. Mr. Markley nods and clicks on Adams name. The phone rings for a second and Mr. Markley puts it on speaker mode. Adam answers a second later and says,
"Hey."
"Hello Adam. My name is Mr. Markley and I am the music teacher at the school. I found your sister in the hallway, having a panic attack, so I was wondering if you would like to come pick her up."
"Oh no, is Lilly ok?" Adam asks.
"Not at the moment. I have been trying to calm her down but for school reasons I can't do much." Mr. Markley says.
"Ok. Me and my brothers will be there as soon as we can. Which hallway are you in?" Adam asks.
"The band room hallway. Do you know where that is?"
"Yes, my brother went there a few years ago." Adam answers.
"Alright. Well, see you in a bit then."
"Thanks." And they hung up the phone.
"Alright Lilly, they're in their way. Try to calm down, alright?" Mr. Markley said. Lilly nods and continues crying into her knees. Within 4 and a half minutes, Adam, Ryan and Jack come walking in the hallway, Jack leading the way.
"Hey it's Jack! You two are related?!" Mr. Markley said.
"Hey!" Jack answers quickly, before turning to Lilly.
"Hey Lil, it's ok." Jack says, sitting down, pulling Lilly into his lap. Ryan sits down beside them and rubs Lilly's back. Adam stays standing as Mr. Markley stands up.
"Thanks for calling us, Mr. Markley." Adam says.
"Of course! Lilly's my favourite student, how can I not help her out."
"Lilly's your favourite you say?" Jack says. "What about me?" Jack says.
"You were my favourite, Jack, but man is Lilly ever special. Her natural talent is impeccable! I am blown away by both her creativity and her knowledge of music. She must've learned from the best." Mr. Markley said.
"Hey, Lil, settle down." Ryan said, noticing Lilly's not calming down.
"How long does it usually take for her to calm down?" Mr. Markley asked.
"Depends. Usually a few minutes of us hugging her and rubbing her back and then she settles down." Ryan answered. "It also depends on who." Jack added.
"Yeah, my girlfriend tried a while ago and she couldn't. It's only with us three." Ryan says.
"Well," Adam added. "Usually only the two of them. I can't do it very well."
"That's just cause she's not used to you." Ryan says.
"Lilly, relax, we're right here, settle down." Jack says. Lilly finally takes a deep breath and melts into Jacks arms.
"There ya go, good job Lil." Ryan adds.
"Alright, I should get Lilly's stuff out of her classroom. What class did you just have Lil?" Adam says.
"H-history." Lilly responds.
"Ok. I'll be right back then."
"Thanks Adam." Ryan says, and asks Lilly, "Why were you panicking this time Lil?"
"I d-don't know." Lilly stutters out, still trying to calm down completely.
"Do you want to stay for your last class or do you want to go home?" Jack asks, already knowing the answer but asking anyways.
"Go home." Lilly responds as Adam came back.
"Alright Lil." Ryan says.
"I will tell the office you are leaving, have a good day everyone." Mr. Markley says.
"Thanks." Jack says, and Mr. Markley walks away.
"Alright, can you stand up Lil?" Ryan asks.
"I guess so. I'm p-probably too sh-shaky though." Lilly says.
"It's ok Lil, we've got you." Adam says. Lilly stands up with the help of Jack, and Ryan hugs her as they walk out of the hallway, out of the building. They eventually get home, and they sit down on the couches. Jack grabbed Evan from their room and gave him to Lilly.
"I'm sorry for calling you.." Lilly says quietly after a few minutes.
"What's that Lil?" Jack asks, unclear as to what she said.
"I'm sorry for calling you and asking you to come help." Lilly says.
"Why are you sorry Lil? You didn't have Evan, you didn't have us right away, you had every reason to call us." Jack says.
"Yeah. Don't ever be nervous to call us, ok? We want to help you Lil." Ryan says.
"I know, but I feel bad taking you away from whatever you're doing." Lilly says.
"Lilly we were literally doing nothing. We were sitting on the couch, half watching a movie. You didn't take us away from anything." Adam says.
"Ok.." Lilly says. "But I still feel bad. Plus now my teachers are gonna be mad at me for leaving class.."
"I talked to your history teacher, and she was very understanding." Adam says.
"Yeah, and we can even get you on a plan that will allow you to leave class whenever something like this happens. I forget what it's called, but it just means you have a little bit more ability to do things like get out of class when you panic." Jack says.
"I'll talk to the office about it when we drop you off tomorrow, ok?" Ryan says.
"Ok." Lilly says. "I'm sorry I couldn't calm myself down." Lilly says.
"Lilly, don't be sorry. It's not your fault." Ryan says.
"Ok." Lilly says.
"Want to watch a movie until dinner?" Jack asks.
"Sure." Lilly says. "Only if we get all of the blankets and I can sit between Jack and Ryan." Lilly says smiling.
"All of the blankets?" Jack says. "Is that a challenge?" Lilly giggles and runs to her room to get some blankets, Ryan and Jack doing the same while Adam set up the movie. While Lilly was in her room, she found the bracelet that the bros gave her for her birthday. She puts it on and runs back out with lots of blankets in her arms. They sit down on the couches, Lilly in between Jack and Ryan, all covered in blankets. Lilly was playing with Evans legs again, and Ryan notices the bracelet.
"What's that Lil?" Ryan asks.
"Oh, it's the bracelet you gave me for my birthday. I forgot where I put it and I just found it." Lilly says.
"Do you like it Lil?" Adam asks.
"Of course!" Lilly says.
"Alright everyone shush. Movie time." Jack says starting the movie. About half way through the movie, Lilly tenses up, but is too involved in the movie to realize it. Jack and Ryan notice immediately and look at each other, debating whether or not to stop the movie. They subconsciously decided not to, but Jack puts his arm around Lilly and Ryan rests a hand on her leg. She seemed to calm down a bit, and they continued watching the movie.

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