Fast Lane (G/t)

9

Looking deeper into the page, she read paragraphs on paragraphs of details regarding the reason she left her previous school. Even though none of them explicitly said her name, it was obvious that they were all about her and her tragic occurrences over a year ago, most of its information already publicized to the world through pseudonyms unknowingly to her. Seeing it laid out in front of her in much larger font than her usual drilled in that even at such a far distance away with most connections to her past life broken except for a few loyal friends, it still wasn't over.

The next stage - hopefully, the final one - wouldn't come until after exams, seeing Preston give two speeches and turn his tassel, and lastly going back home with Cora once again.

It was good that Ainsley was seated on a cushioned bed because a relapse of her PTSD had started to build, stacked with dizziness, shallow breathing, and tension. She wasn't helping herself when curiosity took over again, and she found herself in a folder of bookmarks all about the same incident, including an archived version of her social media pages from before she transferred schools. She couldn't comprehend how or why Preston obtained all of this information, but she did learn something rather ironic.

Apparently, the rally that would've probably trampled her on the night Preston found her was one on her side during her scandal, speaking out against the unfairness and pain thrown toward her and her family - 'Allies for A', it was called.

There was nothing in particular that made obvious connections to A being her, but if someone on the complete opposite side of the spectrum of life could find all of this stuff and figure it out, then who was to say that no one else knew that 'A' was her? Who was to say that her previous assailants, wherever they may be, or any of their peers haven't been tracking Preston's searches and hacking through his laptop camera, possibly catching sight of her whenever he would tutor her or they would just hang out together? The fear of the unknown along with the fear of the known was too much for the diminutive damsel. Being in a giant bed made that worse, and anyone that saw her would easily see that.

So, when Preston finally came back up the stairs to see her, his protective nature kicked in immediately.

"Maybe it's just early prep for the party, but we actually have fruit in the house for once!" he said cheerfully, still in the hallway, approaching the room. However, his demeanor switched on a dime at the sight of his convulsing girlfriend through the doorway. "I didn't know if you wanted it cut up or anything, but I- Oh, my god!"

Before Ainsley could attempt addressing him - if it were even possible for her at the moment - the human had already tossed the fruit on the farthest end of his comforter, pushed his laptop closed and away, and found himself on top of her, trying to gently tap and shake her into looseness.

"Ainsley, come on. I've got you," he tried to console, being careful enough to do any visible damage.

He was so glad to have majored in health because if it was necessary, there was a specialty first aid kit not too far away from him. However, she looked as though she was in too sensitive and risky of a condition for him to leave her and get it for even that little bit of a time.

"Just breathe for me, okay? C-Can you move? You're going to be fine. Just...say something, if you can - anything at all. Please!" It wasn't the first time her nerves had gone haywire with him around, but it was the first where he couldn't figure a reason for it. "God, damn it! Why now!?"

Preston's finger was hovering over the emergency call button on his phone when a deep inhale escaped his small sweetheart's lips. The breathing quickly turned to coughing - from both the clearing of her breathing way and surprise of someone, especially a human, being on all sides of her - so Preston rose and ran to his mini fridge and found a palm-sized water bottle. It wasn't too long after before Ainsley was bounced up to a sat up position and had a plate-sized bottle cap floating right below her chest that she quickly took for herself.