Setting Ourselves Up

Panic attacks and ..Gracie Abrams ?

Jade

This whole week went by fast . I spend it all going shopping with Avery ,holding hands with James after we walked in our schools halls and having people cheer for us ,and forcing Xander to listen to Gracie Abrams .
He actually listened without complaining and apparently liked a few songs ,he won't let me know his favorite song yet ,though.

Right now we're all walking to our lockers together and we planned to wait for Noah to arrive later so we can give him a tour of how our school looks now .Thank God we have a new principal now .

Im listening to Av talk about this new book she started reading when a voice stops me in my tracks.

"Vampire girl ,hi!"-Evan .How ?How is he here ? This cannot be real .I look over at James and he's staring at Evan as if he's planning his funeral.He then pushes my hair from my shoulder to my back and whispers to me as he holds a firm grip on my neck
"Everything is okay ,look at me"-but I can't.I stare at the eyes of the person who tormented me all throughout my childhood .
"Hey "-James cups my face ,forcing me to look at him .

"Why is he here ?"-my voice comes as low as a whisper.

"Cause he's a jerk ,whatever he says don't pay any attention to it ,okay?"-James instructs me as he plays with the ends of my hair.
All I can do is nod .

Avery holds my hand while Xander gives James a worried look.

I walk straight into Evan's direction feeling confident and safe .As long as I have my friends ,his words don't have a hold on me anymore.

"Sup guys ?"-Evan says ,grinning .He then puts his hand up for a high-five ,his hand almost being in my face .

I roll my eyes and keep walking ,I notice Evan start following me and Av but then both James and Xander put their hands in Evan's shoulders to stop him . Evan's grin widens.
"It's nice to see you have people who are there for you Jade "

"Thanks Evan ,it's sad you don't " I give him a wave and walk away with Av by my side .I may have pretended that this whole situation didn't bother me but in reality ,it crushed me .

"Are you okay?"
"That guy is an ass "-Av says ,hugging me .
This hug is nice ,until i start to feel myself not breathing . A cold dread snakes through my back  constricting through my chest.My breath hitches .Av immediatley breaks apart from me and holds my arms so i don't fall.

"I -i can't "-i try to speak but it comes out as a whisper .I haven't had a panic attack in a long time .Not ever since freshman year when i found out that James is in my class.
I forgot how fucking terrible it is.

I feel my head spinning and i start seeing double .Now Av's (four hands come to my sight) hold my head from falling on the floor.

"Look at me Jade ,focus on me okay?"-Av tries to smile but her face is filled with tears .I hate seeing her upset because of me.

Just as im about to close my eyes ,someone else comes to view.James.He's running torwards us ,Xander following behind.

He crouches down on my level and cups my cheeks .
"Come on Jade open your eyes please!"-but i can't .

"Hey ,hey "-his hand goes on my neck and i notice his hands are wet .He put water on them.

"Give me more water dude ,why are you just standing there ?"-i hear him panic as Xander pours more water on his hands.He repeats the same action ,cupping my neck again.

I can feel myself slipping away .
But James touches my cheek again and i slowly open my eyes .
"Look he's gone okay ?"-the look on his face shows me that everything he's doing is sincere .He's not just doing this to put on a show in front of our friends ,he's doing this for me .To help me .
I can't help but smile at him .
He chuckles ,moving my hair out my face.

"That's it Jade happy thoughts "-he smiles.
My breathing turns back to normal.I smile again .Happy thoughts .If only you knew .

~<3~~

We all skip our last class to sneak Noah inside the school and give him a quick tour.It was hard for him to walk without getting recognized every second .Even people who have never met him knew who he is.
After that he invites us to the bar and I wanted to disagree at first but anything sounds better than going home and crying over what happened.

At the bar ,we tell Noah everything that happened and the look on his face actually scares me .It's worse than Jame's look towards Evan.

"Just say the words and I'll beat the living shit out of him Cherry"-he says through gritted teeth.
I laugh.Even tho it's not been long since we've met him Noah is so protective of all of us.

"She doesn't need you to do that when her boyfriend is right here "-James slings his arm around my shoulder .I give Noah my best disgusted face as he laughs .
"Yeah ,Jade is a lucky girl "-he chuckles

"I'm the lucky one "-James looks down at me with a grin .I smile up at him .

I let out a sigh of relief .Even though I'm gonna have to face Evan everyday at school ,I'm not really dreading it .Maybe it's cause I got these amazing people in my life who make sure I'm never hurt or maybe because I have changed.Things that bothered twelve year old me don't matter to me anymore .And most importantly maybe cause for the first time ,James Henderson is on my side .