tw - panic attack scene
"holy shit- why?" mcafee said, looking over to james to see his reaction.
james looked slightly relieved to be honest. "i- it's complicated. i'll explain it eventually-" payton mumbled, not noticing james' relief.
james finally spoke up. "fake that she cheated on you- make a post on instagram about it. just say you found out she was cheating on you with an undisclosed person-"
payton nodded. "what- how would she react to that?" he asked, completely unaware of alice's secret relationship with james at this point.
james just shook his head. "no, it'll be fine. i'll talk to her about it. we can skype after school to figure out the post or whatever-"
mcafee just nodded. "that seems like a decent idea. where'd you think of that?"
james quickly shrugged. "i don't know. a movie or show. i forget." he lied.
mcafee just nodded. "alright, i need to go now." she sighed, getting up.
———
"payton, i need to talk to you." mcafee said, quickly walking up next to payton.
"yeah?" he mumbled, just trying to get to his next class.
"i don't trust james. he was acting really weird earlier." she said, looking over at him as they walked.
"i have no clue what you're talking about. he's fine. what do you mean?"
"payton, didn't you see the way he was acting earlier? it's obvious he was trying to hide something. something seemed off to me."
payton shook his head. "you're overthinking things. we'll skype at 8:30. talk to you then." he said, walking into his classroom.
mcafee sighed, quickly walking away to her next class. she, of course, was right that james was hiding something.
———
"i'm telling you, they said it's a good idea. we're gonna do it in an hour and then you can do your stuff tomorrow." payton sighed softly over the phone.
river shook his head to himself. "that's not a good idea. at all. how's she gonna react to that? she didn't actually cheat, so she's gonna tell everyone that she didn't."
"james said he'd talk to her about it. he said he'd-" payton paused. "he said he'd talk to alice about it.." he bit his lip, starting to think about the flaws in james' plan.
"okay. just- make sure everything goes right, alright? night payton, see you tomorrow." river sighed, hanging up.
———
"what about something like- 'i've just realized that alice, my girlfriend, has been having an affair with an undisclosed person for the past few months. i am very disappointed. after this point, alice and i will no longer be in a relationship,' unless if you have any other ideas." james sighed.
payton nodded, quickly typing up what james had said. he quickly posted it and sighed. "okay. i did it. you told alice, right?" james nodded.
"holy shit. the comments are crazy already-" mcafee mumbled, looking at the various threats directed towards alice.
payton looked at them, his eyes widening. he wanted to delete the post. it was horrible. "oh my- should i delete it? it's horrible-" he mumbled, covering his mouth.
james shook his head. "no. we have no backup plan, people already saw it. can't really go back now."
———
"payton, i am so sorry. i- i understand if you don't forgive me, but please just give at least james a second chance. he's your best friend. it was honestly just me who started it." alice said, her hands on payton's shoulders in the middle of the hallway.
"what do you mean, alice? didn't- did james not tell me something- did he make a new plan?" he said quietly.
alice looked at him, as confused as he was now. "no. what plan are you talking about? your post- who even told you? how'd you find out?"
payton just continued to look at her. "told me what?"
"that i was cheating on you with james. who told you?"
"nobody- nobody tol-" payton paused, feeling as if he was about to just start sobbing right there. "excuse me-" he quickly said, walking off quickly. he grabbed his phone out of his pocket, not really sure who to call.
he ended up calling river, quickly going to the bathroom and looking himself in.
"hello?" river asked. he was just walking through the hallway, trying to put away his things from his last class.
"i think- i'm pretty sure i'm dying. river, i'm dying alone in a high school bathroom." he said. his breathing was quick and rapid. "oh my god, i can't breathe- river, i can't breathe- i'm dying-"
"payton, calm down. you're alright, okay? you're having a panic attack. just breathe, alright?" he said softly, trying to make sure the people around him couldn't hear.
"i- i can't. i can't breathe-" he said, tears now forming in his eyes. he felt both hot and cold at the same time. he felt like he couldn't breathe. he felt like he was going to be crushed to death at any point. he almost wished it at this point. he wasn't really sure what was going on. everything that had happened was just collapsing onto him.
"in and out. slow just calm down. slow down. you're okay, mhm?" he mumbled, shutting his locker softly so it wouldn't make a loud noise over the phone. "where are you?"
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