Cold || A Sincerely Three Fanfiction

Chapter 4-Here We Go Again

TW: a slight panic attack

Evan's POV

Jared and I got up and got dressed. He went to the bathroom while I dressed in my room. He knocked before entering out of uncharacteristic politeness.

He came in and I said, "H-hey, you u-usually d-don't knock. W-what's up? Y-you don't have t-to answer.... I-I'm j-just asking... "

"I just wanted to alert you of my presence. I didn't want to scare you. You know, I've done that a lot," he replied.

"O-okay. Th-thanks. For kn-knocking. I g-guess we sh-should go. We'll be l-late." Why am I stuttering so much? It's just Jared.

"Yeah. Let's go." He turned and walked out of my room.

We grabbed our backpacks. Both of decided to skip breakfast. Neither of us said why, though. I wasn't hungry, but Jared looked almost sick.

"A-are you okay? Y-you l-look sick," I said.

"What? Oh, yeah. I'm fine. How are you?" He hopped into the driver's seat of his car. I got into the passenger's side.

"I-I guess, I'm o-okay. K-kind of a-anxious." Which was true. I was very fidgety this morning.

Jared glanced over at me before looking back to the road. He seemed concerned, which I was still getting used to. He reached over and patted my shoulder, making me feel slightly better.

"Are you going to be okay today? Without me?" Jared drove into the school parking lot.

"Y-yeah. I think. M-maybe. I d-do have s-some classes w-with you. I won't be a-all alone," I said. I don't know if I believed myself.

Jared parked and we got out of the car. I looked at the ground as we went inside. I could see Jared repeatedly looking over at me.

We got to homeroom and sat in the same place as yesterday. Connor was already there, which was kind of surprising.

Jared looked over at him and said, "Hi, Connor."

Connor looked up from staring at the desk. He looked startled to have someone talking to him. He didn't say anything, but he did waved at Jared and me. I waved back before looking at my lap.

Making eye contact with anyone was difficult just then. Jared leaned toward me and asked, "Ev? You okay?"

I couldn't answer. I was suddenly overwhelmed. I tried to sit still, but I couldn't. I started tapping my fingers and bouncing my knee. My chest felt tight. I tried to breathe but I just felt my heart speed up by doing so. I felt a hand on my shoulder. I didn't look to see who the hand belonged to.

Feeling someone touching me grounded me, though, and I was able to breathe a bit better. A bit. I was able to make myself look back and see who's hand was on my shoulder. It was Connor.

"Are you okay?" He looked concerned.

I nodded. I still couldn't say anything. I nodded again and Connor removed his hand slowly. I laid my head down on the table and waited for class to start.

I heard Jared and Connor exchange a few words before Jared knelt down next me. He grabbed my hand, the one not in the cast, and squeezed it. With each second that he was holding my hand, I was able to breathe better. Jared noticed and he held on.

Neither of us said anything. Neither of us had to.

Connor's POV

I don't know what just happened. Evan seemed to stop breathing for a second.

I put my hand on his shoulder and it seemed to help. When I asked if he was okay, he nodded, so I took my hand back. I don't know why I was concerned about someone I didn't even know.

Jared knelt down by him and held his hand. Okay, so, he was able to help Evan. It seemed like Evan had some anxiety problems. I could understand that.

I leaned down, so Jared could hear me. "Is he okay?"

He leaned farther toward me. "I'm not really sure. He gets like this, sometimes."

I nodded my head, then the bell rang, signaling the beginning of class.

"Hey, I have my next class with him. I could walk him there," I said to Jared.

He nodded. I leaned down, next to Evan and said something very quietly. I caught a few words. "Connor.... walk you.... Okay?"

I saw Evan nod his head. Jared stood up and helped Evan up. Evan didn't look at anyone. He kept his head down. I lightly touched Evan on the arm and lead him out if the room.

I walked him to class and sat down next to him in the back of the classroom. We sat through an hour of boredom before the bell rang again.

I turned to Evan, who still hadn't said anything. "Is Jared in you next class?"

He nodded. "That's good," I said. "Oh, I'm Connor, by the way. I don't know if you know that."

He nodded again and quietly said, "I-I'm Evan. N-nice t-to meet you, Connor."

"It's nice to meet you, too." Okay, I wasn't normally this nice to people, but Evan was already scared and I kind of had a crush on him, so I wasn't going to be snappy.

Did I just admit my crush? I guess I did. Well, I think I kind of like Jared, too, which made everything a bit harder. God, what's wrong with me?

I walked Evan to class and was barely able to get to my class before the bell rang. It's not like I cared about being late, but I was thinking that I would be a good little boy until at least two weeks into school. This was going to be hard.

Jared's POV

After Evan's small panic attack this morning, I was worried about him for the rest of the day. He seemed on edge whenever he came to class, but when he saw me, he calmed down a bit. I tried to smile at him whenever he came in.

Finally, the day was over. Evan jumped when the bell rang. I drove him home and walked him inside.

Heidi was home, and when she saw Evan, she ran over asked if he was okay.

Evan nodded but didn't say anything. He quietly excused himself and went to his room. I explained to Heidi about this morning and Evan's condition the rest of the day. I also told Heidi that Connor helped Evan, as well.

She thanked me for helping him, then I followed Evan upstairs. He was curled up on his bed. I sat beside him and rubbed his shoulder.