(not proofread)
(tw: panic attack
Gabi thought she'd be able to handle being back at school after everything, but damn how wrong she was.
Two hours in and she was ready to run out of there. All the stares and whispers she kept getting when she walked by; some even coming from teachers.
She wanted to disappear from it all.
Sierra did say when she was dropping her off, that if Gabi believed she wasn't ready to return to school, she will come to pick her up early and she can continue with online schooling.
Yet she wanted to at least try and hold out before throwing in the towel.
But that didn't seem to be the case anymore.
She was now hiding in the bathroom stalls, running from everything. The teasing, the whispers, the pointing, the gossip between teachers about what happened to her.
It was all too much.
She was shaking.
She was crying.
Breathing heavily, with her chest feeling tight.
And she wanted to go home.
Her still shaking hands grabbed for her phone that she had to sneak with her, for fear of getting caught by a teacher, and fumbled to dial Luke.
It rang twice before it was immediately sent to voicemail. A text from Luke came in a minute later.
Hey Gabs,
About to scrub into surgery. Is everything okay?
Great. She couldn't beg Luke to come to get her when he was busy and had lives to save.
Next, she tried Sierra, but to no avail, her phone went to voicemail as well.
"Ugh," she groaned and stood up from her crouched position on the floor. She walked out of the stall and over to the sink, splashing her face with water a couple of times so her blotchy face wouldn't give away her crying.
The next best thing she could think of was the school nurse.
"Can I help you?"
"Um, y-yes, I need to go home. I'm having chest pains and I-I can't breathe."
"If you're having chest pains and can't breathe then you should probably go to the hospital. Let me call you an ambulance."
"No!" Gabi groaned. "It's fine, never mind. It'll probably go away." She didn't want to give Luke and Sierra a heart attack just because of some tight chest pains and people at school.
"Okay, well if you'd like to sit here and try to contact your parents to go home, you are more than welcome to."
"Thanks." Gabi took a seat on the little bed in the room and grabbed her phone. She didn't have too many contacts in there, considering the way she grew up, but Luke and Sierra had added some of their friends' numbers to her phone.
She clicked on Michael's contact first.
"Gabi?" Thank hell he picked up.
"Dr. Clifford- er, I mean Michael? It's Gabi."
"Yes I know, hun," he chuckled. "I have your number saved. What's going on? Shouldn't you be in your classes right now?"
"I- I can't do it, Michael. I tried so hard but everyone keeps staring at me and talking about me and, my chest feels tight." She was starting to hyperventilate.
"Okay, Gabi, relax. Take a breath in and out." She did so. "There we go. Listen, I will come get you, hun. If you're not ready to go back to school then that's perfectly fine."
"Thank you." She sniffled.
"Of course, I'm going to hang up now so I can drive but I'll be there shortly. Are you able to go gather your things?"
"Yes, I think so."
"Alright, then do that then. I'll be there in about ten minutes.
Gabi thanked him again then hung up as instructed. She told the nurse that she was being picked up and then went to gather her things.
Sure enough, shortly after Michael was buzzed into the school and signed her out. "Hey," he smiled and grabbed her backpack from her, giving her a quick hug. "I didn't know you get panic attacks, hun."
"Huh? Panic attacks? I don't."
"Gabi, hun, I'm pretty sure that you um had a panic attack. At least that's what it sounds like when you described your symptoms. But it's okay, there are lots of people that have them and I'm sure Calum wouldn't mind talking to you about it, or even Luke could."
"No," she shook her head. "I don't want to talk to them about it."
"Okay, then you don't have to. Here, why don't we get you to the hospital to see Sierra. She didn't know you had already contacted me, but she saw your call and asked me to go get you since she was stuck with a couple of patients that came in.
Gabi shakily stood up and followed Michael outside to his car. "Thank you, Michael."
"Of course, it's what we're here for." He grabbed her backpack and gently lead her out to his car, helping her into it. "Do you want to go anywhere before we head to the hospital? Starbucks? Maybe get some ice cream?"
"Um... I've never really had either, but I heard Starbucks is supposed to be good if we could maybe try that."
"Starbucks it is," Michael smiled.
