Archer's Paradox | Slow updates

Chapter Five

It's a week later and Wednesday and I'm already regretting waking up.

You know how you just get a feeling something is going to go wrong? Well I'm having that feeling.

When I arrive at school, Tori walks with me to my locker and we head to Junior Chemistry together. We have a different schedule each day and today I have Junior Chemistry first.

Noah was pretty weird yesterday with me. I appreciate his help with the Calculus but his actions left me confused. I saw him this morning and it looked like he didn't even notice me.

"Ms Archer, could you please report to the office."

Doris never calls me. Like never.

Something must be up.

Oh no.

Oh no no no.

Maybe he wasn't dead and came back for me. Maybe one of his friends found out about me and came for me. Oh my gosh.

My mind fills with possibilities and I start panicking as I walk into the office doors. Doris points to the principal's office and I hesitantly open the door. Inside is Mr Walter and a lady about twice my age. The bubble in my chest deflates a little, but I still remain confused. Is there something wrong? They see my facial expression and Mr Walter motions for me to sit.

"Layla, this is Mrs Keynes. She's a social worker assigned to your case." I look over at the lady. "We noticed you have no parental reference on your admission report so the school thought we could hear you out on your living conditions. Are you currently staying on your own?"

I thought Josh took care of that?

The principal smiles at me. "I'm staying with someone." I look between the principal and the social worker. "Is it direct family? We would love to get in touch to discuss fur-" "I was kidnapped and I'm staying with the man who rescued me." I blurt out and the principal seems disinterested, like I just told him the dog ate my homework. "Layla, this is a serious matter. We can't play around with these things." He frowns at me and I sigh. "My parents were professional archers and they died when I was nine years old..." I go into the whole story of how I was kidnapped and how Josh rescued me.

We emerge from the principal's office after what seemed like hours. Mrs Keynes and Mr Walter believed every word I told them because we all know I'm not lying.

"We will visit Josh's home to see if it's suitable but from what I've heard, you're in good hands. I will let the principal know when I can put in a visit." Mrs Keynes looks at me with a smile and I nod. I leave the office at lunch and head to the cafeteria. The halls are deserted except for the handful of loners wandering between the classrooms. I'm still getting used to the whole school thing but I think I'm doing pretty well.

"Where have you been?!" Tori exclaims and grabs my arm when I reach the table. I plop down my tray and sit in-between her and Noah. He looks me over before scowling and continues eating his chicken mayo sandwich.

Why is he acting all weird now? Did I do something wrong?

"Just some living arrangements. Don't worry about it." I dig into my marshmallow pudding before she can say something.

I don't feel like being interrogated today. I picked the marshmallow pudding and a fruit salad because I feel sweet today.

Like the whole social worker thing and Noah's bad attitude towards me doesn't have an effect on that. I internally roll my eyes.

Dustin reaches over and steals a marshmallow before I can stab him with my fork. I have French with him and we pester each other now and then so it's all good. Today is most likely not my day because everything goes wrong. Well I'm almost halfway through my day. Noah catches my eye and I glance at him. They seem to darken a tad bit when he smirks and his eyes crinkle at the corners.

What is it with this boy? First he's hot, then he's cold. I can't keep up.

I slide back too fast and nearly fall off my seat. And then I feel Noah's hand slide around my waist to catch me. I start to slightly panic at the touch and feel for my pills. I don't like being touched. It's been too long and I try to hide my flinch but Noah notices and I frantically dig around for the tablets.

He saw. He saw me panic. He saw the struggle.

Thoughts are swirling around in my head and bad memories pop up.

It feels like I'm suffocating.

Before I feel my fingers grazing the white tablet, my mind goes into full blown panic attack. I start hyperventilating and slap his arm away. Noah looks at me surprised before I see his mouth forming words but I'm shaking so violently that my ears are blocked. I get up from the table but my body decieves me once again and I drop down onto the floor. The tablets slip from my pocket and it goes dark around me as my head hits the tiles.

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I wake up in a white room. A beeping sound comes from somewhere to my right and I start to gain consciousness. Gosh my head is throbbing. My vision stables to normal so that I can see the room fully and also notice the dark brown, almost black haired boy sitting in the chair by the window. "Noah?" My voice is cracking and Noah's head shoots up. "Layla. God, you scared us. The doctor said you had a panic attack and it caused you to pass out."

Just as he gets up, Josh rushes into the room. "Layla, why didn't you drink a pill?!" He exclaims with concern lacing his voice and looks at Noah. "Was it you who called me?" Noah nods but stays where he is. My throat is scratchy and I struggle to get the words out.

"I tried to reach for them but I passed out too quickly." I finally squeak out and Josh sighs. He leans onto the bed and drops his head. "There's a social worker who wants to visit the house. I think they want to make you my legal guardian." I manage to say before a doctor comes into the room.

"Ah Ms Archer. I'm glad to see you're awake. How are you feeling?" He smiles at me. "I'm ok." His smile widens. "Well you had a heavy panic attack and hit your head on the floor so we did some x-rays. It seems like you have bones that aren't healed properly." He casts a glance over at Josh before looking back at me. "I wasn't exactly taken good care of for 5 years but I'm in a better place now." I'm hesitant to say more with Noah right there in the corner and my eyes find him quickly.

I plead for him to go. He nods and heads out the door. As soon as the door clicks I let the doctor in on what happened to me. He nods and writes a few things down. "The best we can do is make sure the bones heal properly. It doesn't affect you in any way but it would be wise to keep away from contact sports and so forth." I nod and he goes on about the things I have to do.

I got discharged earlier and I'm headed home with Josh. We talked about the social worker thing and he thinks we have a good chance at him getting to be my legal guardian. The house is clean, we're wealthy, his wife passed away so there's no need to worry about why he isn't married anymore, and I'm happy here. I love my friends, I'm well taken care of at home and Josh is always there when I need him. The doctor also prescribed pills for my anxiety. Strong ones that will calm me down completely.

When I finally go to bed, someone calls again. I look at the number before swiping the green button.

"Hello?"

"Hey Layla, it's Noah."

"Noah? Where did you get my number?"

"I asked Josh. I hope it's ok? I just wanted to hear how it's going."

"I'm good. I was heading to bed anyway."

"Oh ok. I .. uh .. won't keep you up then. You should get some rest. Yeah ... yeah. Good night."

"Night Noah."

The line goes dead and I stare at my phone. He seemed .. nervous? Why is the brilliant, scary kind of guy nervous? Then it comes raining down on me like a stack of bricks.

He actually cares.