Danera Rojas & Emma Vein
Last period. Last class. Last hour.
Danera suppressed a groan as she stared up at the clock. The hands moved agonizingly slow, each second lasting a full eternity. The teacher's monotonous voice had faded into the background, becoming nothing more than a buzz to Danera's ears. It was just plain maddening.
With a sigh, Danera looked down at the folder before her. It was the English assignment, and by far one of the few fun things the school had to offer. A majority of the information sheet had been finished. The rest she could easily accomplish at home. She flipped through the pages, careful that each swish of a page wouldn't catch the teacher's attention. She wasn't in any mood to get chewed out for 'being disrespectful'.
She looked up towards Emma's seat. By a miracle, their two desks had been paired next to each other. Emma wasn't just Danera's friend. She was the sole reason Danny hadn't run out screaming into the hall from boredom.
"Psst," she whisper-called, wadding up a piece of paper and tossing it to Emma. "Psssst...Em...!"
Emma had been listening intensely to class and was taking notes. She was looking forward to the English project as it seemed to be fun as they could talk from behind a screen and become friends without knowing it. She smiled slightly down at her desk and read over her notes before looking over her English project carefully before someone called her name. Her head darted around before she realized that it was Danera. "What is it, I need to get more notes down so I can revise this when the testing starts because if I don't revise then I will fail and if I fail then I won't be able to practice at the dance studio that my dad owns which means I will have nowhere to dance and if I can't dance then I have nothing to do" She said in a really quiet voice. She was comfortable with Danera so she could talk to her easily but talking to other people is really hard unless it is through a screen or through one of her videos. She still hasn't told Danera that she does youtube and she works really hard on her channel.
"Go to the bathroom with me. Pleeaase?" Danera moaned melodramatically. "I'm so bored! Look, you can copy down the notes later." Her voice dipped in volume as the teacher turned to face them, but her attention was back at Emma once more when he turned around. "Look, it'll be just one time. He won't even notice!" A sly look glimmered in Danera's eyes. "We can head to the gym on the way," she sang invitingly.
Emma heard about the gym and her eyes lit up and she nodded and asked to go to the bathroom and ran to the gym. She got her phone out and put music on before closing the gym doors, leaving Danera behind as she got lost in her own world as she slowly started dancing. She doesn't notice anyone when she is dancing. She loves dancing and gets lost in the music. She had quickly got changed into her dance clothes and did a jump where you have your back leg bent up to her head and her front leg bent. She kept dancing and was doing pirouettes as she kept dancing and jumping over and over again.
Danera grinned and grabbed her bag, ignoring the teacher's disapproving glare as she followed Emma out. A light chuckle slipped out of her mouth as she ran after. "Wait up!," she called, biting back a full fledged laugh. By the time she had reached the gym, Emma was already in the middle of a dance routine. Danny couldn't help but stare at her friend's elegant movements. They were so smooth, so graceful. She wasn't just dancing--She was speaking with her body in a language only for her thoughts.
Danera ducked into the bathroom, ridding her shirt and jeans in favor of a simple black tank and leggings. She ran out into the dance floor and let the music take over. Her body moved in rhythm of unspoken words, and her legs became wings as she flew. No longer was her mind in control. Her body was a puppet as the music played with her strings.
She grasped Emma's hands, pulling her into a quick twirl as she matched their movements together.
Emma realized she was there when they started dancing together and stopped. She still hadn't danced in front of Danera when she knew she was there. She hadn't danced in front of anyone on purpose. She went to the bench in the gym and watched Danera dancing, she was shy herself so she never did her. It made her clam up and she wouldn't be able to do anything. That is what was happening right now. She had managed to get herself to the bench before having a panic attack. She clammed up and couldn't breathe. She was shaking but she couldn't move otherwise and she couldn't stop the shaking. Her breathing was also really fast.
Danera stopped dancing as she noticed Emma's absence. She saw the girl head to the stands, a panicked expression creasing her face. Concern instantly swelled inside Danera and she hurried to her side. "Emma!"
Emma's ragged breathing and tense form were sign enough she was having a panic attack. The question now was how to help her. Danera took gently took her hand. "Hey now...it's okay..." she soothed, "just take deep breathes..." She wrapped an arm around her in attempt to calm the tense girl, murmuring soothingly.
Emma struggled to breathe normally because she had been panicking. She is a bit calmer now and is not shaking as fast. She gets these episodes a lot and a lot of different things can trigger them. She was still breathing too fast until she managed to slow it down and breathe normally. The shaking started to slow down and eventually came to the stop and the tenseness of her body slowly released so she was relaxed after a few minutes. "I am sorry, I am fine now," She rushed. "That shouldn't have happened, when people see me dancing, well you know and when you joined in I realized that you saw me dancing and I couldn't help it, I am sorry," She quickly said.
Danera gave her a worried smile. "You're alright now and that's what matters." She pulled Emma into a tight hug. "Promise me you'll tell me when you're having another panic attack, alright?" she whispered, "I wanna make sure that you're okay."
After a pause, Danny pulled away. A mischievous gleam glittered in her eyes. "Dancing aside...there's this new restaurant that's opened up that I've been dying to go to." With an energetic giggle, Danera grabbed her friend by the hand and hauled her away.
Emma nodded slightly. It is hard to tell someone if you are in the middle of a panic attack because your mind can only focus on panicking and not much else. She focuses on walking alongside Danera and she keeps her head down just in case of any bunkers like they were doing. She hummed quietly to herself so only she could hear herself humming. She was really alert after a panic attack as her senses went into hyper mode and she was trying to stop herself being able to hear and see everything that is happening around her because of it as she hated it after a panic attack as it only makes her more paranoid.
Danera kept her arms wrapped around her friend as she traversed the halls. Teachers and security guards were carefully avoided with practiced ease. Once or twice she had to pull Emma into the bathroom to escape a passing sentry, but their walk to the exit was for the most part clear. Danera hurried outside and into the student parking lot, still hug-dragging Emma. "It's gonna be okay." Danera gave Emma a gentle smile. "Just take deep breaths, okay? I'm here with you." Danera led Emma to a old, grey pickup and undid the trunk's gate. "Why don't we take a break? Make sure you're all right?"
Emma nodded. She breathed slowly as she tried to calm down her senses. If you didn't know her then you would think she would be a shy girl but it went much deeper than that. She had social anxiety and slight depression but she tried not to show it but her anxiety was hard to hide so she didn't really talk to anyone. Her senses started to go back to normal. "I am fine now, that shouldn't have happened even though I am used to it I do not like it and you can tell but that it not the worst time as you haven't seen that" She smiled to her slightly. She was scared to be bunking as she ha never done it before.
Danera boosted herself onto the trunk, though her hand remained holding Emma's. "Just tell me if it ever happens, alright?" She fished out a bottle of water from her purse and handed it to Emma. "You're my friend, and it's my job to take care of you." She scooted and patted beside her, beckoning Emma to join her. "We can skip the restaurant and head back to class, if we need to." Danera was reluctantly to head back to Mr. Boring's class, but if it meant having Emma feel better, then she was willing to sacrifice what little sanity she had left.
Emma sat next to her and held the bottle of water. "Lets go, I agreed earlier so I will come with you I am not turning back and getting confronted by the teacher, I never want that to happen" She said quietly. She never put her hand up in class and she pretended like she wasn't there even though she worked hard so the teacher wouldn't notice her. She wouldn't say a thing so she wouldn't get told off for talking and she never wanted to get told off as she hated getting told off because it brought everyone's attention to her and she hated that a lot. She focused her eyes on the ground as she thought about these scenarios, hoping they would never happen but nothing is avoidable forever.
Danera wove her fingers around Emma's, a mischievous gleam in her eye. "That's my girl!" She laughed and pulled her friend into a quick, tight hug before jumping off. "Alright, here's the plan." She straightened up, determination flooding through her. "First, we're gonna stea--ahem, borrow my brother's truck." She dangled a set of keys before her. They were technically Jacob's, since he was the more 'mature' (coughBORINGcough) one. But in the eyes of twins, nothing belonged to only one. Danera continued, "Next, we go...well, we go wherever we want! It's Friday, and I am ready to par-tay!"