Best Friend

Chapter 12 : First warbler meeting

Chapter 12

Monday...

Jeff POV

I was in Warbler practice right now. It felt like everyone was staring at me. Maybe because I was new. But I didn't like it one bit!

I felt like they were all going to gang up on me or something.

Before I knew it, my heart was starting to race, and my chest was getting tight.

I slouched down, leaning against Nick. He put his arm around me.

"Jeff, you ok?" He whispered.

"No," I whispered back.

"What's wrong?"

"I t-think I'm g-going to have a p-panic attack."

"Just stay calm. Deep breaths."

I tried to breathe slowly, but I just couldn't. It felt like I was suffocating. I could feel my face getting so red from being embarrassed. I felt helpless and vulnerable, and just plain scared.

"N-Nick, I n-need to l-leave," I said, breaking into tears.

"Ok, come on."

He took my arm, and led me out of the room. We sat down on the floor in the hall. I pulled my knees to my chest, and just let the panic attack take over.

Nick sat down beside me, and put his arm around me. I felt like he was my only protection. So I curled into his side.

Nick POV

The doors opened, and I saw one of the Warbler Council members.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"Jeff's having a panic attack. I know you don't like people leaving the meetings without permission, but he can't help it."

"Stay after the meeting so you can talk to the council, ok?"

I nodded.

He went back in and shut the door.

"A-am I in b-big t-trouble?" Jeff stuttered.

"No. We just need to talk to them after the meeting is over."

"Are t-they g-going to y-yell at m-me!?"

"No, Jeff. We probably just need to explain your situation to them."

"W-what if t-they k-kick me o-out!?"

"They won't, Jeff. They don't want Sebastian in the Warblers."

"Ok..."

He was starting to cry more, which meant his panic attack was coming to an end, and he was just upset now. I rubbed his back slowly until he was silent beside me.

"Do you want to go back in now?" I asked.

"Everybody's going to look at me and laugh at me and make fun of me..."

"They won't laugh or make fun of you, Jeff. I can't promise they won't look at you, but so what? They're going to look at me too."

Jeff hid his face in my blazer.

"Jeff, it's ok. I promise. Everybody in the Warblers is super nice, ok?"

"Promise?"

"I promise."

"Ok, fine..."

I helped Jeff up, and we went back in. We were going over some choreography now. Half the Warblers were standing and half were sitting on the couches. Some of us are better at choreography than others, and usually they like to help out with this part...

Jeff and I sat down on a couch. Nobody really paid much attention to us.

Except Trent.

He came over and sat down on the other side of Jeff.

"Everything ok?" He asked.

"Yeah. He just had a panic attack, but he's fine," I said, putting my arm around him.

"Aw... Poor Jeff. Do you need anything?"

"No, I'm ok," Jeff said, quietly.

"Aw... Do you know why you had a panic attack?"

"Everybody was just staring at me... I felt weird..."

"Aw... Well we're just doing choreography right now, so you can just hang out on the couch for a while if you want."

"Ok."

Later...

Jeff POV

I was literally shaking next to Nick. We were waiting to talk to the council...

"Calm down. I don't want you to have a panic attack while we're waiting to talk to them about your panic attacks."

"Promise me they won't yell at me."

"I promise, Jeff. They wouldn't do that."

"Nick and Jeff?"

We went back in the room to talk to them.

"So can one of you tell us about Jeff's panic attacks?"

I shrunk into Nick's side.

"It's ok, Jeff," Nick said.

"Yeah, don't be worried. You're not in trouble," the council member said.

I met too many people tonight, and I felt bad that I didn't really remember any of their names.

"He gets really bad anxiety and he can have panic attacks sometimes. They can be minor or they can get really bad. They seem to have triggers sometimes, and other times they just come out of nowhere," Nick said.

I leaned my head on his shoulder, and his arm around me tightened.

"Ok. You guys are roommates, correct?" The council member asked.

"Yes," Nick said.

"So you're really close with him, right?"

"Yes."

"Ok. If he needs to leave because he's having a panic attack, will you take care of him?"

"Of course I will."

"Alright. Try not to worry about it, Jeff. We're very accommodating. We've had other Warblers in the past who have had similar situations. We don't want you to feel nervous to be here because you might have a panic attack. If you need to leave at any point, you always can. And Nick can go with you. And if you need to miss a meeting here or there because you're too anxious, that's fine. Just let us know what's going on. Or have Nick tell us. Ok?"

I nodded.

"Alright. You guys can go. Have a good night."

Nick led me out.

"See? Told you they wouldn't be mad."

"I'm surprised. Nobody has ever been that nice to me before. Thanks for looking out for me."

"Of course, Jeff. You're my best friend."

"I am?"

"Of course you are!"

"But what about Trent and David?"

"They're really close friends. But you're my best friend."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Cool."

I wrapped my arms around him super tight, which made him laugh.