𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗢𝗻 𝗜𝗰𝗲 || Charlie Conway

eleven || amber's anxiety

When Charlie left the hockey team, he also left the school. Not literally, like he was still enrolled but he just didn't show up. Math class was lonely. Amber didn't bother making any other friends in the class since she always had Charlie to talk to. By now, it was too late because everyone had already formed their friendships. So Charlie didn't just leave the hockey team and school, he left Amber... alone. In study hall, the girls were mostly quiet. They were in a down mood due to being in huge trouble with Coach Orion and two of their best friends leaving.
Towards the end of the class period, they had an awkward, quiet conversation. "So, uh- I was thinking maybe I should sit with my other friends for a little while. At lunch." Amber said avoiding eye contact with her friends. She didn't think she could deal with sitting there without Charlie's smile that seems to light up Amber's world whenever she sees it, his occasional hopeless flirting, his usually terrible jokes and his happy laugh. The table would feel too empty and lonely. Of course she wanted to be with all her other friends and not everything was about Charlie, but she couldn't help it. She was started to fall for him and didn't want to be there without him. It would be easier for her to just sit at a completely different table.
"Yeah that's fine." Connie lightly faked a smile. She was sad her friend wouldn't be sitting with them anymore but she knew exactly why. Everyone on the team but Charlie could tell that Amber liked him. She was so obvious but he was so oblivious. But he wasn't the only one, Amber couldn't even tell how obvious she was being. And it was the same situation the other way around, everyone but Amber and Charlie could tell that Charlie had fallen for the girl.
The bell rung and Amber gathered her stuff. She walked to the cafeteria with Julie and Connie but they were mostly silent. Then, they parted ways and went to their separate tables.
"Hey, Amber!" Grace said happily once she noticed her friend.
"Hey! Do you guys mind if I sit here for a while. I don't really wanna sit at my other table right now." She sad sounding a little sad.
"Sure, what happened?" Ross asked.
"It's just-" Amber couldn't think of what to say without basically admitting she likes Charlie. "Uh without Charlie th- Fulton and Charlie there, it seems a little odd, you know? Plus I miss you guys!" Bradley looked down at the table, looking upset at the mention of Charlie. The way that Amber had messed up what she was saying and the way she looked when talking about the boy, it was also obvious to Bradley that Amber liked Charlie.
"Well, what are you doing just standing there? Come sit!" Grace said gesturing to the spot next to her, across from Ross and Bradley. Amber quickly put her stuff down and sat next to her friend.

Connie's POV:
Connie and Julie walked away from their friend once arriving at the cafeteria.
"Hey! Where's Amber going?" Kenny asked.
"She wanted to sit with her other friends." Julie said.
"Are you sure she just didn't wanna sit with us?" Guy said.
"Yeah she probably misses Charlie too much." Russ said laughing.
"Ya know, those two are the most oblivious people I've ever met. How can they not tell they like each other?" Averman said rolling his eyes at his friends stupidity.
"I don't know, but have you guys seen Charlie with that other girl?" Connie asked.
"What girl?" Gee replied.
"Brown hair, pale, always has half-up half-down and sweaters on." Connie explained.
"Oh right! I think her name is like Laurie or Linda." Julie said.
"Yeah, it's Linda." Connie agreed, once hearing the name she knew that was right.  "Anyways, he tries to talk to her a lot. Is there something happening between them?" Connie asked. Charlie was closer with Russ so he was most likely to tell him.
"No, I think they're just friends but if Charlie wants anything to happen with Amber, he should really stop being so close with Linda." Russ explained.
"Well he can't talk to either of them now, I wish him and Fulton didn't leave." Julie said sadly.
"Do you think they'll come back?" Connie asked hopefully.
"I mean, it's Charlie, he'll probably be back." Averman said hopefully.
The team all agreed and continued eating and talking.

Amber's POV:
The night before, Grace had called Amber. Amber told her about the fight between her and her brother. The siblings barely fight so if they are fighting, it usually was serious.
"So, you and Henny still fighting?" Grace asked.
"Fighting? What happened?" Bradley asked.
"Yeah, we are. We didn't talk at all on the car ride here. I've barely talked to him at all since Friday, actually." Amber said, responding to Grace. She then turned to Ross and Bradley who didn't know what had happened between her and her brother. "There was this JV and varsity dinner. The varsity team said they'd pay but then they ditched and made us pay like 850$ Henry knew about all of this and never told me. Instead, he just tried to make me stay home but I snuck out. Then, we pranked varsity which was hilarious. They got really mad so we had a JV vs varsity game which just resulted in more fighting. Charlie and Adam were yelling insults at each other, both teams were fighting, and me and Henry were yelling at each other. Then, Orion caught us and we got in huge trouble. That's when Fulton and Charlie left. Henry drove me home and I didn't talk to him in the car and still haven't." Amber shrugged like she didn't really care about her and Henry's fight, but honestly it kind of hurt her. She wished he would just apologize or something, at least try to talk to her.
"Are you alright?" Bradley asked. That's something no one had asked her yet, not even Grace.
"I do-" Amber could hold it together until then, but someone asking if she's okay made her feel worse. That always happens, doesn't it? You're completely fine until someone wants to know. Tears started to drip out of Amber's eyes. She was together enough to not full on sob but she didn't know how long that'd last. She quickly got up and walked out of the cafeteria.
Grace began to stand up to comfort her best friend but Bradley stood up first, "Let me go." Grace nodded and sat back down.
Bradley exited the cafeteria to find Amber around the corner. "Hey." He said calmly and softly.
Amber was standing there, tears slowly dripping down her face, hands constantly shoving her hair out of her way, and sleeves wiping her tears. She didn't bother acknowledging the boy, they both knew she noticed him standing there.
"Do you wanna talk about it?" Bradley asked, stepping towards the girl. She shook her head agreeing to talk but when she opened her mouth, no words came out. Bradley hugged the girl. "Hey, hey, it's okay," he whispered.
When they pulled away from the hug, Amber wiped her tears with her sleeve again. "Thanks, Bradley." Amber said quietly. "You know, I was fine until you asked me if I was alright. It's just when you asked, I was thinking. Me and Henry never fight especially for this long and I'm just worried. What if we're like this for the rest of the year and next year? What if until I'm JV and he's varsity, we argue constantly. I can't deal with that, as lame as it sounds cause he's my brother, he's like one of my friends. I tell him everything and sometimes he's surprisingly good at helping me. I just don't want hockey to ruin my relationship with my brother."
"Am, this won't ruin anything. Siblings fight all the time. Trust me, it's just your anxiety. He's your older brother, he loves you. Nothing can stop that, even hockey. And all this stuff, that you're dealing with, well- Amber Opal Newton, you are the strongest person I've met. I know you'll be okay because you always are." Bradley said in an attempt to calm his friend.
Anxiety. Something Amber Newton had her whole life. A set back that made her overthink every single thing she did. She always thought 'That was a stupid thing to say, why'd I say that?' 'They're definitely mad at me, it's not just my anxiety.' 'They aren't answering, what if something bad happened?' Amber hated it, but there was nothing that ever helped her, well for the most part. Even though Grace was her best friend, Bradley was the only non-family person who knew how much she struggled with her anxiety. That was because Bradley and Amber had been hanging out and Amber started freaking out. Henry was home but couldn't figure out how to help his sister. Bradley immediately knew what to say to calm his friend. Since then, he was always somehow able to help her.
"Thanks." Amber said smiling. Just then, the bell rang and everyone left the cafeteria. Bradley walked with Amber to her english class. The girl sat down at her normal seat feeling lonely. That didn't last very long though, she soon felt sick. She wasn't sure why but her stomach began hurting really bad. She went to the nurse's office and Cassandra was excused to take her home early. Henry just went home with one of his friends which Amber wasn't sure if it was good or bad he wouldn't be in the car ride home.