A Drop In The Lake

the easiest answer, a lie

Cameron

I lock eyes with her cloudy-grey eyes and push forwards. "Should I be worried?" A light tone creeps into my voice.

Her body relaxes into my touch. "Um. Yeah. Sorry... It was nothing."

"Okay. Well... I just want you to know that you can always come to me if you need... I'm all ears." I add, not wanting to push her too far, yet curious as hell about all of... That.

A smile creeps at the corner of her lips. "Thank you. I'll keep that in mind."

Realizing we're in front of the main gate for campus, I offer to lead Alessa back to her dorm. She looks at me hesitantly as if unsure about whether or not I will drop the discussion of her panic attack.

I reply with a knowing glance, eager to show her she can trust me.

"Sure." She finally relents.

On our way to her dorm, we talk about nothing serious: crew practice, classes, other shit. When we reach her dorm, I say a quick goodbye and then jog back to my dorm to get ready for classes.

As I methodically step into a pair of khaki shorts and a maroon, collared shirt, my mind drifts back to this morning's situation. The hollow look that drowned Alessa's grey eyes, and the numbing shiver that racked her skin into a pumpkin patch of chills was so... Alien.

I'm no stranger to panic attacks, since the whole situation in California I've been tormented by them, but I've never seen someone shut off so fast. The trauma she has must still be raw. But something about the way she folded into my embrace shows she wasn't all lost.

"Ugh," I exclaim, raking my hands up my face and through my hair. Because of the imprint Alessa's panic attack left on me, I don't shower, I just hike up my shorts over my shirt, weave on a belt, and grab at my backpack and a pair of shoes as I leave my dorm.

My morning classes go by in a haze of book discussions, integral equations, and drawn-out historic tales. I find my usual engaged self slipping away into thoughts of Alessa. My teachers seem to take notice as all of them offer me an empathetic look on my way out of the classroom.

I have the last block of the day off and rather than going back to my dorm to get in a quick nap before practice, I head over to the science center. I have a psychology project to work on, and rather than mope around all day like a lump of coal, I might as well put in some effort.

When I walk into Mr. Hamilton's class I see Brooklyn sitting at a table in the back of the classroom.

"Hello, Cameron." Cheers Mr. Hamilton.

"Hey... Um. I'm here to go over my psychology project." I reply dryly, flicking my eyes from Brooklyn and onto my teacher. Stay focused.

"Yeah, I can help you with that in just a second. Let me just finish up helping Brooky Brook here and I'll be all ears." He replies, getting up from his desk and skipping over to the back of the classroom.

As they share a mumbled conversation, my eyes linger on Brooklyn. Her brown eyes glare at Mr. Hamilton as her usual confidence shrivels up. All thoughts pertaining to my project escape me. You really tried, didn't you?

"Thank you, Mr. Hamilton." Says Brooklyn, her chair screeching back from the table.

Mr. Hamilton nods and then turns his attention towards me.

"So Cam. What can I do for you?"

"Um. Yeah. Sorry... can I actually come to meet with you tomorrow during my free period?" I question, realizing my focus has completely derailed in the presence of Brooklyn.

"Yeah, sure. I'll be here during G block. Why you got something else to do right now?" He asks, eyeing me and Brooklyn, who has now stopped at the door.

"Uh. Yeah. Another teacher to meet. Sorry about this." I reply, turning to catch up with Brooklyn who is now attempting to vacate the premises as fast as humanly possible.

Before Mr. Hamilton has a chance to reply, I am flying down the hallway and right to the staircase. I grab onto Brooklyn's shoulder. Not a good idea. In response to my touchiness, she rips her shoulder away from me and storms down the stairs and towards the building's entrance.

"Hey, Brooklyn. Wait." I plead, slowing down her advancement.

"I don't really want to talk right now." She replies coldly, brushing off my advances.

"Brooklyn please, I just have to ask you about something," I beg.

"I don't want to talk about it, okay, just forget that last night happened, would you?" She snaps.

It takes me a moment to understand what she's talking about, and when I do, I correct myself. "Oh, no. Not about last night... I meant, about Alessa."

She pauses in the entryway to the science center and looks at me.

"Wait. Alessa... What about Alessa?" She asks, coming onto the defense.

"It's just... I went for a run with Alessa this morning, and we were just talking about random shit, and all of a sudden she's freaking out and having a panic attack —"

My retelling of the events is cut off by the look of shock that grows on Brooklyn's face.

"What were you talking about?" She mutters, prodding for more information.

"Nothing important." Her growing glare gives warning to how serious she is. "We were talking about living in Harvey Cedars, and she said she's always been going to school with the same friends, and when I asked her about it, she just freaked out."

Brooklyn's whole face drops, and rather than expand on my question any further she deadpans. "Stay away from Alessa."

"What?" I question, not at all expecting her response.

"Just don't talk to her!" She comes back, pushing through the front doors of the science center and leaving me to just stand there, dumbfounded.

With that, I'm left with even more questions than before. More importantly, the realization that Brooklyn's face took on the same dead look as Alessa's, has me fumbling backward.

"Shit," I mutter under my breath.

"What's going on here Cam?" Matt interjects, laying his arm over my shoulders and eyeing the main door that Brooklyn just left out of.
I'm startled by his presence, but without a clue concerning what just played out, I settle on the easiest answer, a lie. "Nothing."
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Hey guys!
A quick note about chapters: so I'm trying to make chapters longer as well as upload more often, and while future chapters are definitely going to be a bit longer, these next few are all about the same length. I'm pretty much doing everything on my own right now so as long as I keep the pace I'm currently going at I should be good. However, I start school in the middle of August so if it turns out that uploading twice a week and the work load becomes too much, I may have to go back to once a week. Please stick with me, and I hope you enjoy the story!