Melanie

Chapter one

Chapter 1

Walking fast down the hallway, she was racing to her locker. Melanie's hands were sweating, she could almost feel her heart beating faster with every step she took. Her mind was full of a small sentence that meant way too much for her : "please, don't see me.".
Melanie put her books in her locker ; her breathing slowly started to calm. As she reached for her bottle of water, a loud 'bang' echoed through the hallway and causing her to spill her drink, covering herself with water.
When she realized what had just happened, she hide herself as much as she could into her locker, waiting for the bell to ring. Once she was on her own into the empty corridors, she ran into the closest toilets she found. Suddenly realizing that she would be late for her class, her panic came back.
'oh no, oh no, oh no' she repeated while she desperately tried to dry her soaked shirt.
After what felt like forever, her shirt was finally dry. While she turned to look at herself in the dirty Mirror behind her, she felt horrible. Within seconds, her vision became blurry and she felt her legs giving up on her. She fell on the cold hard ground of the restrooms, almost unconscious and trying to found back her breath that was slowly fading away.
The bathroom doors slowly opened as Melanie was still gasping for air.
"Oh Mel, are you okay?" softly ask Tanya, Melanie's best friend while she put her back on her feet, pushing Melanie's black hair out of her eyes.
Still trying to find a way to get some air in her lungs, Melanie only breathed a quiet 'no' before suddenly bursting into tears. She gripped Tanya's arms harder while her deep blue eyes flooded with silent tears. The agonizing pain she felt in every nerve of her body was once again too much to handle for the sixteen years old girl.
Tanya reached for a bottle of water she kept in her bag and passed it to Melanie, letting her best friend take a couple of sips before taking it away.
'What happened Mel?' she asked quietly, patiently stroking Melanie's dark hair in an attempt of calming her down.
When Melanie had finally found her breathe again, she began to tell the story of what had happened to her only friend. Tanya understood how serious it was : she knew how much Melanie's anxiety was important.
When the dark haired girl broke into tears once again, Tanya decided to stay a little bit longer into the bathroom, before heading back to their English class.
As they reached the classroom, side by side, Melanie suddenly felt her heartbeat going crazy. Her hands were covered in sweat within' ten seconds and all the air she had left her lungs.
"Tan, i can't! Everybody is going to stare at me and maybe laugh... i can't i'm sorry." Melanie spoke quietly, rubbing her hands together in a nervous way.
"Don't worry Mel, nobody is going to stare nor laugh. I'll stay with you, right next to your side. If someone dare laugh, i'll punch them." replied Tanya as she placed one of her arm around Melanie's shoulders. "I'm here to protect you."
Tanya slowly reached for the door handle and opened the classrooms door, walking in first to hide her best friend.
They both walked to their seats in silence, Miss Millbrook, their English teacher, turned around in a loud noise, her squeaky voice growling into the silent room.
"Where have you two been exactly?" she launched in an angry tone.
Melanie froze in fear. Her heart was beating fast again, the palms of her hands were wet and her legs threatening to give her up. The whole class turned around on their chairs to look at the two teenage girls while Miss Millbrook was still rambling about how important punctuality was. All the sounds echoed in Melanie's brain at the same time, leaving the poor girl in the middle of another panic attack. She was as white as a ghost and Tanya felt worried.ack.
"We're sorry Miss, the traffic was horrible and we got stuck on the bus." Tanya explained quickly, trying to get Melanie out of embarrassment.
"You'll be sorry in detention, both of you!" shouted their English teacher from the front of the room.
"What? But it's unfair! We can't help the traffic!" screamed Tanya while she felt anger slowly rise in her.
"Another word and you get 2 weeks of detention, am i clear enough? Now, sit."
The death glare Miss Millbrook send to Tanya dissuaded the teenage girl to add any word. She took Melanie's sweaty hand in her and led both of them to the back of the room to the only free desks.
Tanya then pulled the chair from under the desk and helped her shaking best friend to sit down.
"Everything is okay Mel, don't worry. I'm right by your side. Take a breathe and count to 3. Just like we did back in the toilets. Do you remember?" whispered Tanya while she also seated at her own desk, taking her water bottle from her bag and handing it Melanie.
"Is she okay?" asked the girl on Tanya's right, her voice quiet to not get the teacher's attention.
"Yes Jess, she's alright."

When Melanie's brain calm down again, the bell rang and echoed into the silent hallways.
'The first class is finally over. It's going to be a long day.' though Melanie to herself while she packed her bag and got out of the room, heading to her next teacher who is supposed to give them back a test they had done a week ago.
"This test was hard, i know it. I'm not really surprised by any of the grades you all got." said Mr Boris. "Some of you need to work a lot more though."
He then walked in between the desks and handed their tests back to his students. Melanie was impatient. She nervously draw a few lines on her notebook while she waited.
"Melanie. I'm really proud of you, you did really good on this test." Mr Boris congratulated her with a little smile. She always had been his best student and he knew how anxious she could be about her grades sometimes.
"Thank you." she shyly replied, trying her best not to show how relieved she was. Bad grades were a real nightmare for the teenage girl.
That evening, when she came back from school, she was a lot happier than she was when she had left the house in the  morning. She entered the kitchen, excited to tell her parents about this math test.
"Mom! Dad! Guess what!" she smiled, dropping her bag on the floor.
"Not now sweetheart, we are busy." replied her dad, not even moving his eyes from the computer to look at his daughter.
A look of pain passed through Melanie's face. She was used to those words but today, they had hurt a little more. She whispered a quick 'i'm going to my room' as she escaped the kitchen before letting her tears roll down her cheeks.
Her parents were always working. Her mom was a lawyer and her dad worked at a big company, as the vice-president. They never had any free second for their daughter, even when she was a little kid.
That evening, Melanie fell asleep around 7PM, exhausted and sad. She had cried on her own, remembering how alone she was and how terrible this day had been.

We truly hope you liked this chapter. If you find a mistake somewhere, feel free to inform us. See you soon for the next chapter!
-Megan & Manee.