Saving Grace [discontinued]

{chapter 4} - breathe

I threw my bag onto the ground and rushed over to my best friend's side. She was still breathing heavily, desperate to swallow as much air as she could. Her whole body was shaking, and her usually tan face was turning a deep shade of red. She clutched her throat, indicating that she felt like she was suffocating. I quickly grabbed her bag from off of her lap and scrambled through it, trying to find her inhaler. When I finally found it, I helped her shaking hand bring it up to her face. She inhaled deeply with her nose and let out a large exhale. I gripped her hand until it stopped shaking and the red faded from her face. I helped her stand up and led her to the passenger's side of the car.

"Last time I heard, you had to wait at least 15 minutes after almost dying before driving," I said with a teasing smile. She gave me a weak smile and handed me the keys. I ran back around to the driver's side and grabbed our bags that were still on the ground. I tossed them in the back of the car and closed the car door with a soft thud. Turning the keys in the ignition, I backed out of the dorm parking lot and sped towards the university.

As I slowed down at a stoplight, I glanced over at Sana to make sure she was okay. Her breathing was still a little bit irregular, but her face was calm as she stared out at the palm trees lining the California street. As my head turned back to look at the road, I caught sight of the car's clock in my peripheral vision. 9:01 a.m. I cursed under my breath and firmly pressed my foot on the gas pedal, jerking the car forward at the sudden burst of movement. "Agh, sorry," I apologized. Sana simply nodded and stared out the window again, clearly concentrating on regulating her breathing.

After what seemed like an hour (but was only another 8 minutes), our car turned into the University of California campus. My eyes scanned the parking lot for a space to park, but I grimaced when the only available parking space was a long walk away from our first class. I glanced at the clock again. It was 9:09 a.m. I sighed and was about to turn into the parking space when I noticed a fancy black car pull out from a space that was much closer to the school and drive away. I stepped on the brake and high-tailed it over to the now vacant space.

"Wow, they might still let us into class if we get there in two minutes," I said in a joking manner. Sana smiled, but the smile didn't quite reach her eyes. It looked like she had to put a lot of effort into moving her pink lips into an upward curve. A deep pit of worry started to grow in my stomach.

"Sana?" I asked softly. "Are you okay?" Sana thought for a moment and then put on another fake smile. "Don't worry, I'm perfectly fine," she said in a cheery yet strained tone. "We should just get to class, we're already 10 minutes late," she added, stepping out of the car and pushing the door shut. "Sana, I'm sorry but I'm calling BS on you," I said, crossing my arms and sitting in my hip. I looked like a complete mom, especially in the jeans I had worn today. "What? No! Grace, I'm fine!" Sana protested, shuffling her feet. After I'd stared at her with a disapproving look for a minute, she took a deep breath and sighed.

"I don't know what happened, but that asthma attack really got me good," she explained. "I genuinely thought I was going to suffocate. I think it's getting worse," Sana said with worry in her eyes. She looked like she was about to cry from fear.

"Hey, don't worry," I said, giving her a side hug. "As long as I'm around, you won't have to worry about dying. At least from asthma," I added with a playful smile. Sana smiled a genuine smile. "I know, I'm sorry. I don't know what I was worried about," she said, releasing from my hug and fixing her backpack strap. "We should get to class before Professor Seung-Eun goes off on us for being late," I said. "I swear, if she makes us write a paper in Korean on why we shouldn't be late to her class like she did to Min Kang-Hee I might stab someone," Sana said with fear and anger in her voice. With that, we got into a heated conversation about the possibilities of punishments our professor would give us for being tardy as we slowly made our way to our classroom.

ur girl is finally going to start updating regularly because its spring break betches