Treehouse

Chapter 5: Chaos

Jonah was sitting at a table, waiting for the rest of the group to show up.

He'd been contemplating whether he should tell them the newfound information. And even worse, he was thinking about telling his parents as well. He finally knew why he was so tired of hearing his dad ask him about girls all the time.

He jumped as TJ and Marty showed up.

'Why so jumpy?" Marty asked.

"It's nothing." He said, shaking his head and taking a sip of his smoothie.

"Hey, you can talk to us, you know? I know we aren't exactly close, but we're here." TJ said.

He faked a smile. "I'm fine. Thanks."

He wasn't. What if they didn't look at him the same? If he didn't calm his mind down, he was going to have a panic attack.

The rest of the group showed up a few moments later. Andi started talking about a puppy she and her parents had found near their porch, but then all the noise began to fade as Jonah continued thinking about telling them. His breathing and heartbeat quickened as he struggled to calm down his mind, and suddenly everything seemed too much for him.

Oh no. Not here. Not now.

He had to leave.

He stood up, his whole world spinning in his vision, and went out the door without saying a word.

They all looked at him, and Andi said, "Is he ok?"

TJ and Marty looked at each other and silently agreed they should go help him.

They stood up, pushing their chairs in. "We won't be long," TJ said.

They found Jonah at the end of the street, leaning against the wall.

"Hey, Jonah!" Marty called out.

They jogged over to him, and as they reached him, he had his eyes closed, struggling to breathe.

"Hey, you remember that one time Amber brought our wrong order. What was it? A kale smoothie and . . ." TJ asked.

Jonah opened his eyes, looking at him. "Fries."

"Yeah, and then she took it to the right person, and the man dipped his fries in his smoothie," Marty said. "Remember that?"

Jonah laughed at the memory, nodding, close to tears as he was still struggling to breathe.

"And the next day, the same man ordered a gallon of mayo," TJ recalled. "What did you say?"

It took him a minute to remember. "I said it reminded me of that guy on that one reality show who put mayo on his head." He laughed.

They kept talking to him, and it helped distract him. Soon, he was breathing in and out like normal.

"Thank you," Jonah told them. "That really helped me. How'd you know to do that?"

"I watched a show."

"Well, thank you," Jonah repeated, breathing in and out

"We told you." TJ said, "We're here for you."

He was about to test that.

"You told me if I ever wanted to talk, you were there for me, right?"

"Yeah, man, always."

"Is there anywhere private we can go? I don't really was to talk about it here."

TJ and Marty looked at each other, and TJ said, "Treehouse?"