Those words.
The words that haunt my dreams and take me to a place I never want to be ever again.
I nod quickly as I feel the panic set in.
I turn and run down the hall towards the girls’ bathrooms as my lungs start to close.
I can’t breathe.
I burst through the doors, and I don’t even make it to a stall before I start to hyperventilate as my knees hit the tiled floor. My vision starts to go blurry, and I feel the tears free flow down my cheeks as I try to suck in breaths.
Our little secret
Our little secret
Our little secret
Our little secret
EIGHTEEN
ASHER
Idon’t know what makes me wait outside for Ruella.
Scratch that.
Yes, I do know why.
Because for some ridiculous reason unbeknown to me, I have become annoyingly obsessed with my little Vixen. So much so that I am now waiting outside of the lecture hall, hoping to catch her off guard so I can confront her about why she is now avoiding me. And because I don’t trust our slimy Lecturer.
It is from my position, back pressed up against the cold stone wall in the now empty corridor, that I watch the object of my decent into madness, flee from the hall in sheer panic.
My stomach drops as I push off the wall to run towards her, but she is moving so fast I don’t get to her before she bursts into the girl’s bathroom.
I pause, looking back to the lecture hall.
What did he do?
I am about to turn on my heels and beat the shit out of our teacher for whatever he must have done but change my mind as I hear Ruella’s breathy sobs.
She needs me more than I need to expel this growing fury on Mr. Chapmans face.
Without a second thought I push the bathroom door open but falter when I see the crumpled up, broken girl before me. Her hands are splayed out on the tiled floor, tears falling down her face while her back heaves trying to get in oxygen, her breaths are too fast and short, she’s going to make herself pass out.
Shit.
She’s having a panic attack.
I drop my bag to the floor and slowly make my way over to her, trying my best to not catch her off guard. She is so stuck in her mind that she hasn’t even registered that anyone is in the room with her. Her beautiful eyes are wide with terror, and it’s a sight I never want to see again. It reminds all too well of that night when we found Piper.
I crouch down to her level, slightly behind her, and lift my hand to her back.
“Rue,” I whisper as my palm meets her black cardigan. She may have dulled her fashion choices since that first day, but the blazer never made a comeback. And I am glad. Ruella Griffith is a woman that should never be made to conform.
“You need to try and slow your breathing,” She doesn’t respond to anything.
“Fuck,” I grunt as I sit down behind her and pull her into my chest.
