: (Robin) Anxiety

I walked into school to find everyone laughing at me. Honestly, I didn't think my day could get any worse. "Yo, Robin," laughed Axel (one of the most popular guys in the school). "You looked like one of those dying insects from the boys shower," Everyone had crowded around Axel's phone. "What?!" I said, totally bewildered. "OMG, she hasn't seen it!" giggled Brittany and applied several layers of lip gloss. "Someone posted a video of you online! You're soooo lucky, hon. You've already hit 2K views!" Brittany showed me her phone. I gasped. It felt like someone had hit me with a rock. Gulping back my sobs, I raced off into the girls bathroom and locked myself in a stall.

Someone. Someone terrible had posted a video of me online. A video of something I tried to forgot about. Something I tried to pretend never even happened. But it had. And now everyone knew. You see, I have anxiety. It was ever since I kept getting in trouble with the teachers and my parents about exams. Because I'm not very clever, I'd often skip school or manage to sneak my way out of doing exams. But I'd always get caught out. So now the teachers don't trust me. They always make sure I'm at every exam. And that I'm always there on time.

One time, we had a maths exam and right before it I had an anxiety attack. It was horrible. I honestly thought I was going to die. My heart was pounding. I felt extremely lightheaded. My chest hurt. And I couldn't breathe. Luckily, Blair was the only person who witnessed it. Or so I thought. I mean Brittany accidentally found out about my anxiety too. But that's a whole new story. Someone else or Brittany must've seen it and videoed it. Just to humiliate me for no reason. I mean, there was a reason. Something else that I'm too embarrassed to talk about. Anyway, I'm honestly so lucky to know a person like Blair. She made sure I was okay.

I sat in the toilet stall for 5 minutes, just crying silently. For my poor Dad and Brooke and the fact that I was now continuing my reputation as the joke of the school. Suddenly, there was a loud knock on the door. "Robin!" I recognized the voice. It was Blair. "Come out of this stall right now or I'll kick the goddamn door down!" I wiped my face on my blazer sleeve and unlocked the door. Blair took one look at me and hugged me. "I heard what happened! I'm so sorry!" Blair sobbed. "You didn't deserve any of this, you poor thing. Your poor Dad and Brooke were like family to me! And some people are so disgusting! I will murder the person who posted your horrible anxiety attack on YouTube!" "How do you know about my Dad and Brooke?" I asked, for I hadn't told anyone yet. "Um...your Mom told me..." Blair whispered and squeezed my hand. However, something about her reaction didn't feel right. Blair held me tightly. "Come on. Let's get out of the toilets. Man, it stinks in here!" I tried to smile.

Blair had the most beautiful skin of any person that I had ever known. It was smooth and clear, the colour of cocoa. She had dark curly hair which was cut into a bob.

I let Blair lead me out of the bathroom and into the school corridor to collect our things for first period which was maths. I mean, I found Year 7 maths hard enough, but now I'm in Year 10 and maths is killing me.

...

I watched the rain pounding on the windows as the teacher droned on and on about some dumb thing in maths. I didn't even care that Brittany was gossiping about me with the other 'popular' girls. I was worried. I could tell something was up with Blair. Every day, she seemed to some to school with a new bruise or injury. I just thought that she would trust me enough to tell me. Well, my curiosity got the better of me. I poked Blair with the end of my pencil. "Blair!" I hissed. She jumped and gave me a smile. I motioned to her eye which had a new bruise formed on it. "You okay?" I whispered. "Uh...Yeah," Blair stuttered, clearly thinking of a lie. "I fell of my bike.."

She fell off her bike?! And onto her eye as well. I'd never heard anything more ridiculous. I knew Blair better than anyone which meant I knew when she was lying. I gave Blair a nod and turned back to my worksheet. Whoops. I'd forgotten to write down the teacher's notes. Oh well. That would have to wait.