Anxiety Attack

Chapter 32

Finley's P.O.V

The bell rang, signaling that the day, and school, was finally over. Ashton, next to me, raised her hands up and cheered.

"Yes! Winter Break!" she celebrated.

Ashton and I have our first our and last hour together, which is English and then German.

"Auf Deutsch, Ashton!" our teacher said.

Ashton grumbled something under her breath, but then she yelled, "Winterferien! Yay!"

I laughed at her as she grabbed my arm and dragged me outside of the classroom. "I swear, I'm going to drop German so fast," she complained. "I hate her."

"Yeah, she p-pretty awful," I agreed.

"So," Ashton turned to me, her eyes twinkling. "I got you something for Christmas."

"You didn't have to-" I began but she cut me off.

"No, I wanted to. Here," she handed me a neat little box.

"Thank you," I accepted her gift. "Can I open it now?"

"Yeah, I want to see your reaction," Ashton said, crossing her arms and watching me excitedly.

I tore the paper, revealing a box and I opened it to see a little charm, a little glass bottle filled with something that was purple with silver glitter and it was attached to a necklace. My name was written across the bottle in fancy loopy writing that I recognized as Ashton's, and it had silver glitter on it too.

I looked up at her and smiled. "Ashton, it's beautiful. Thank you."

Ashton smiled, obviously proud of herself. "You're welcome. I made it. Do you want me to put it on for you?"

"Yes please," I said and handed her the necklace. Her cold fingers brushed my neck as she clasped it around my neck and stepped back to admire it.

I touched it, smiling at it. "Thank you. And guess what? I got something for you too."

I handed her a little bag and her face lit up like a kid that had just met Santa. "Really?! What is it?" She tore open the bag and held up a bracelet made of string with a pattern of colors on it, green, turquoise and sky blue.

"It's a friendship bracelet," I explained. Then I smiled and held up my wrist, showing her that I was wearing the same one.

Ashton squealed and hugged me. "Oh my God Finley! It's amazing! I love it!"

"Fin!" someone yelled and I turned around, a smile already on my face as I saw Eli running towards me.

I was just about to say something when he grabbed me and swirled me around. I squealed as he did so and he kept turning like some cliché idiot out of the Notebook or something. He lowered me to the ground as he hugged me, burying his face in the crook of my neck.

"Happy Winter Break," he whispered.

I chuckled slightly and pushed him away from me. "It's just winter break, not the end of school forever."

"But it feels like it!" Eli said dramatically, swinging his arms around. "And its two whole weeks away from school!"

I laughed and Eli took the opportunity to sneak a kiss against my lips. I shook my head in mock-exasperation.

"Wait, what?" Ashton asked, still next to me, watching us both in confusion. "Why did Eli Sanders just kiss you?"

Eli and I shared a look before he said, "I'm her boyfriend," he said haughtily.

"What?!" Ashton exclaimed. "Since when?"

Eli and I shared another look. "About, a month and a half?" I said. "We're actually not sure," I chuckled.

Ashton opened her mouth and closed it again, speechless. "B-But he's like a delinquent!" she finally said.

"No he's not," I said. "He just pretends to be so people leave him alone."

"I'm actually an idiot," Eli added.

"That's true," I supported Eli's statement.

Ashton was looking back and forth between us; her face was kind of priceless, actually. "But he just got in a fight!" she exclaimed, looking like she'd solved the mystery of the world.

"He was protecting me," I explained.

"Yeah, actually, punching him hurt my knuckles," Eli added helpfully. "But he was talking smack about Finley, so I decided to punch him as he was being a major dick," Eli said, his tone bitter. "Asshole," he added as an afterthought.

Ashton chuckled. "I like you. I approve."

"Did I ask for it?" Eli asked sassily. "Didn't think so!"

Ashton narrowed her eyes. "Well, she's my friend, so I can say whatever I want to you, and you, my unpleasant acquaintance, are sloppy-looking, and your lip ring is completely out of character."

Eli stuck his tongue out childishly. "Fin loves me more," he said.

Ashton's brow crinkled. "Fin?"

"That's my nickname for Finley," Eli explained haughtily, throwing an arm around my shoulder. "Jealous?"

"Extremely," Ashton said dryly, rolling her eyes.

Eli gasped. "Did you just roll your eyes at me?"

"Yeah, I did, got a problem?" Ashton shot back.

Eli opened his mouth, about to fire back an insult when a teacher shouted down the hallway, "Go home!"

"We will!" Ashton yelled back and turned to face me, wiping her hair out of her eyes. "God, they want us to be here all the damn time then they tell us to get out."

I laughed at that. "True, true."

"Hey, let's go to the mall," Ashton said suddenly. "I can drive you home afterwards."

"Cool," I said, knowing that I didn't have to be home. "Let's go."

"What about me?" Eli whined.

"I'm pretty sure you don't want to go shopping with us," I told him, ruffling his hair. "But I'll call you later, okay?"

"Fine," Eli grumbled, like a small child.

He then grabbed me and pulled me in for a quick kiss and I let my eyes flutter shut as he pulled me closer.

"Alright lovebirds, break it up," Ashton said.

I pulled back and smiled at Eli. "I'll talk to you later. Try not to miss me too much," I teased.

Eli grumbled good-naturedly, "Yeah yeah, just go have fun."

"Who're you, my brother?" I called out as I left with Ashton.

We were out in the parking lot when Ashton commented, "He's.... different."

I laughed. "Yeah, that's a true statement."

"Enough about lover boy," Ashton said, her eyes gleaming with excitement. "Ready to go shopping?"

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hey guys, here you go, sorry it's a day late, but I was typing this on my nook on this program thingy and the program closed and I lost at least three hundred words on the chapter and I was almost done -_- so that pissed me off, but now it's here and I hope you enjoy, I kinda like it, eh, it's kind of a filler and eh

anyway, who saw my profile pic? I'm debating whether or not to leave it up bc i'm not sure if people will want to see my face lol anyway bye!

love ya!

-T A Y L O R