Anxiety

The young brunette stared down at her paper, horror taking over her. Eyes frantically skimming over the page again and again, she sighed a shaky breath, her hands shaking.

Write an argumentative essay and present it to the class. This will be for a grade.

Topic: Should cell phone usage be allowed in schools?

She trembled, her sapphire-blue eyes flashing with terror. The girl thought she would be sick at any second.

"N-No..." she whispered to herself, "n-not in f-f-front of the c-class..."

Our little middle-schooler had severe anxiety. Just the mere thought of presenting in front of people made her tremble with fear. She closed her eyes, letting it all sink in. The bell rang and she rushed home.

Of course, many people liked her. The catch is... these people did not go to her school. She was quite popular online, the only place she felt comfortable. She had tons of followers on various social media websites, such as YouTube and Google+. She was a very talented author, she'd been told, and loved making poetry. At school, however, was a completely different ballpark.

"Why don't you ever talk?"

"Agh, nobody cares about what you have to say!"

"You're so skinny... you should eat more!"

"Woah, woah, woah! Save some for the rest of us, kiddo!"

"Ew, you listen to that crappy music? It's so depressing and demonic!"

"Why don't you just kill yourself, eh? That'd make the world a better place."

No wonder she had social anxiety. How did she put up with this crap?

That night, with these thoughts running through her head, she buried her face into her pillow as tears formed in her eyes. She sighed shakily and tried to clear her mind to get to sleep.

About a week later, the presentations were up. She had her report well-written, edited, and ready to go. She shifted nervously in her seat as she watched her classmates read their essays loud and clear. Before she knew it, her teacher had called on her. She got up slowly, her knees trembling. She made his way over to his desk.

"I-Is it okay if I just g-give you my e-essay...? I'm t-too nervous to r-r-read it in front of the c-class..." she whispered to him, hope in her eyes as her heart began to pound heavily.

"No," he said, shaking his head, "Everybody gets nervous. Just go up there and give it your best shot, okay?"

She gulped, tears forming in her eyes. She sighed and made her way to the front. Our young brunette began to sweat as she felt her classmates' eyes on her.

The worst part is... her crush was watching her. She took a deep breath and glanced at her paper.

"Th-The use of cellular d-devices... i-in... in schools should... uhm... should b-be... a-a-allowed a-at specific times d-during the school day..."

Stuttering and trembling, she managed to stumble through the paper in a hushed voice. She glanced up every once in a while, terrified of her classmates' bored expressions, as well as her teacher's.

"Right. Give me your report and head back to your seat."

The girl felt as if she was about to cry. She tripped her way to his desk, handed him the report, sat back in her seat, and buried her face in her arms, crying softly. She thought she heard a snicker coming from her crush's direction. The girl cried a bit harder.

That night, the young brunette could not sleep. She was worried about how well she did on her presentation. She knew she did horribly, but she sighed, a light pink tint growing on her cheeks. Even her crush laughed at her. How worse could it have been?

The next day, she headed back to her classroom. The teacher was handing out reports. When the girl's report came to her desk, she felt as if she would burst into tears.

Your essay was good, but your presentation was completely dreadful. You didn't pronounce your words right, you stuttered, and you were so quiet that I could barely hear you! I'm highly disappointed.

What would her mother say? Worse, what would her father say? The girl wanted to run away and never return, leaving all her problems behind and escaping the world. Her crush walked over and looked over her shoulder at her grade, which she desperately tried to hide. Unfortunately, he saw.

"Tsk... bummer. You did pretty well, in my opinion," he mocked as his friends began to laugh. Her face burned crimson red as she buried her face further into her arms. She wanted to die right then and there. Trembling, she got up as the bell rang. She slowly made it to the girl's bathroom and got sick. She hated the fact that her teacher always forced her to present to the class even though he knew it stressed her out. She decided to write to her fans about what happened to her later that day.

When the young brunette got home, confidence at last flashing in her icy blue eyes, she pulled her laptop off of her shelf, turned it on and went to her writing program. She looked at the screen, a smirk on her face as she began to type:

The young brunette stared down at her paper, horror taking over her...