Chemistry - A Sander's Sides Fanfiction

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By senior year, it was no secret to Virgil that he was an anxious mess. Everything he did required extreme calculation, and often after, his brain would run through all of the possible consequences. His breathing would become excessive, heartbeat would speed up, and general common sense would go out the window.

So after his seemingly-casual confession to Roman the day prior, saying that Thursday morning was a nightmare was a huge understatement.

Virgil arrived at school with a nervous pit in his stomach. Though he knew Roman would not likely have anything bad to say, logic rarely quelled his anxiety and nothing he thought made much of a difference. The thing that did help was deep breathing and attempting to focus on other things. He could distract himself from his thoughts but the anxiety remained present.

As expected, fifth period came and went without complications. Other than a few knowing, intrigued looks from Roman, Virgil was unbothered.

At lunch, Patton had asked if something had happened. For a moment -- after he had instinctively answered, of course -- Virgil contemplated spilling something. But he knew that it was Roman's call in the end; there was no way for Virgil to say anything without it sparking the necessity for the entire story. He didn't want to force that on Roman so kept his mouth shut.

So they didn't talk about it again and nothing more came of it.

-     -     -

By the time fall break rolled around, Virgil was content. In all honesty, he had thought that getting to a stable state of mind at a new high school would be difficult, but it had turned out to be not so bad.

He had been forced by Patton -- top advocate for any and all fun -- and Roman -- theater fanatic and friend of kids in the show -- to attend the fall play, Witness to the Prosecution, which had actually been interesting. It was about a man on trial for the suspected murder of an old, wealthy woman in order to gain her fortune. Despite Virgil's initial unwillingness to go, he really did like the play -- the audience even got to vote at the end on who they thought did it and the ending was adapted.

Other than the play, Virgil did not go to any school events. He avoided the loud football games and awkward dances, hanging with Logan while the others flocked actors, actresses, athletes, and musicians.

Virgil found Logan's calm, calculating presence soothing -- especially after dealing with the two others, who were loud and energetic.

The chemistry group had gotten a lot closer. They sat together almost every day. Virgil had been surprised by Roman's immediate willingness to abandon his other friends. Upon Virgil asking about it, Roman had merely replied that "they had been different ever since Cecelia" and Virgil dropped it.

It was on Sunday, October 22 -- the second day of fall break -- that Virgil was sat in the backseat of Logan's sedan with Roman. The four of them were chattering on their way to the town's "Harvest Festival" -- which was a new concept to Virgil. Patton had convinced the group to come with him to the fair, where there would be vendors and rides.

Virgil had agreed to go but immediately regretted his decision upon waking up Sunday morning with a jolt of unprovoked anxiety. He had spent the rest of the day attempting to calm himself down, but nothing seemed to work; he was still choking on butterflies as he leaned up against the left car door.

When they arrived at the fairgrounds and got out of the car, Logan gave him a concerned look. Virgil only stared at him while Roman and Patton talked about the day plans. It had become a regular occurrence for Logan to notice Virgil's off moods when the others were too occupied. Clearly, all his time spent with Patton had worked wonders, for he had become better at identifying emotions in others than he had likely ever been able to. It was comforting to know that the logic of the group had started to empathize.