*The next morning.

“Mom I’m off, Ethan already left” Caroline hurriedly took her backpack and her jacket and was about to dash through the door. “Max is here too”

“Alright, take care and tell max to drive safe” Mrs. Owen called out from the kitchen

“Mom! We’re basically adults now, don’t need to worry”. Caroline said closing the door behind her before letting out a big sigh.

Max sat at the driver’s seat of a blue car and waved at Caroline “hey you’re gonna make us late you know”

“I’m coming”. Caroline rushed to the car and sat on the passenger’s seat. “Geez I’m so sweaty.” Max shook his head, started the car and drove off.

-----------------------------

“Hey guys!!!” Bridget, a friend of both Max and Caroline was approaching them.

“Oh she’s back” Caroline groaned. She had never been a fan of Bridget’s hyperactivity as it has always exhausted her “I thought I got rid of her during the weekend”

Max laughed and pulled Caroline back as she was about to leave “You can’t leave me alone with a dynamite, you shrew” Max playfully glared at Caroline who sighed and shook her head.

“You sure are bubbly today, what’s the tea?” Bridget in her ever curious state asked making Caroline roll her eyes. There was always tea to spill when it had Bridget involved and she could never understand where she ever got the energy for these things.

“You’ll never guess what……” Max was cut shut when Caroline placed her hand over Max’s mouth and passed him a knowing look.

“Guess what?” Bridget looked to both Max and Caroline in expectation but was rudely left behind as Caroline pulled Max and they started walking again.

“It’s nothing” Caroline said. She had never been fond of Bridget and her antics but tolerated her anyway because of Max. “Let’s head to class” she continued dragging Max along with her .

“What was that about, if I didn’t know you I’d think that you were a snob” walking through the hallway Max asked confused about Caroline’s action. It wasn’t the first time that Caroline had acted rude to Bridget.

“Geez Max quit telling everyone everything” Caroline finally said. She had a clue of what Max would have wanted to say.

“But she’s our friend” Max folded his arms and pouted. He knew Caroline was trying to protect him but he thought she was acting too paranoid at the moment.

“Your friend, not mine.” Caroline continued. “Besides a lot of people don’t know about your sexuality and you know how Bridget can be”

“Well you’re kinda right” Max said hugging Caroline’s arm. “When did you become a mom anyway?” He said as they continued to the class but Caroline swatted him away.

“oh quit it, the bell rang already” Caroline said which made Max only burst into laughter.

--------------------------------------------------

(Trigger warning: panic attack and self-harm)

*Huff huff*

‘Damn its starting again’. Caroline thought to herself, she felt the usual pain in her chest as she struggled for breath. No matter how frequent these pain tend to be she could never get used to them.

It was early in the evening after school and she was having a panic attack again which wasn’t very unusual. “I’m scared” she whispered to herself as the tears fell down her face. Her head spun and everything became blurry.

Loser, worth, you’re just useless.

 The words came flooding her mind and she tried to fight them. She screamed as loud as she could but that that didn’t help as she was home alone. Disgusted by herself she felt like peeling off her skin which only led to scratching her arm and she started bleeding, again.

You really have no purpose, freak, shameless

Caroline hurriedly ran to the bathroom, she suddenly felt dizzy and fell to the floor but was able to get there on time and threw up the bile that had risen up in her throat. At least it made her feel a lot better. She struggled to get her phone and called the first number on her call log, Max.

“Hey girl what’s up?” Max cheerfully said from the other end not expecting Caroline to be in a bad state.

“Max” she struggled to say, her voice was weak and muffled and it shook with every effort to speak.

“What’s wrong, are you crying?” He asked, his voice sounding a lot lower than the first.

“I’m scared” Caroline managed to say, her voice still shook and it too a lot of energy to keep the phone close to her ear.

“Wait, I’m coming over” Max said and immediately hung up, he got his keys and left the room. It wasn’t the first time he had been called for situations like these so he hurried.

“Mom, I’m going to Line’s and it seems something is wrong. I’ll be back soon” He said when he passed by his mom who had been in the living room going through some papers.

“What happened is everything ok?” Mrs. Brenda asked Max who was almost at the door.

“I don’t know yet mom, later” Max replied

“Oh ok, call me if you need anything and try to be home on time, your mommy will be back from her trip soon ok?”

“Ok mom, got it” Max finally said and walked out the door.

-------------------------

“Are you feeling better now?” Max asked as they both lay on Caroline’s bed. Caroline was finally able to calm down but she still shook a bit from her attack earlier.

“Yeah” She said trying to stay as still as she could which was just completely useless.

“ok, I know you’re against this but why don’t you go and see a therapist”. Max got up and went to Caroline’s desk searching for something and finally brought out a small first aid kit. “I don’t like seeing you like this” He sight and opened it up.

“It’s always the same, they all see me like a broken maniac and I don’t lie talking about it with them” Caroline sat down on the bed facing Max who drew a chair close and sat. it was all a repetitive action and they both knew it.

“Hmm…., so what are you going to do” Max already got a cotton swab soaked in alcohol and started to dab on Caroline’s wound which causes her to flinch. “You won’t get better like this and I can’t keep doing this either. I mean look at you full of scars” Max continued to clean the wound, he had seen worse things that Caroline did to herself, this in fact was the mildest.

“I don’t know” She said looking away to the far end of the room.

“Hold on” Max said as he picked up his phone that started ringing. “My Mom is calling but I can’t leave you alone now” Max thought for a while and decided to take her home with him. “I think we should call your mom and tell her that you’ll be skipping therapy today” He didn’t like her skipping her sessions but he knew Caroline would be skipping anyway as she never felt comfortable speaking with literally anybody including therapists.

“Really?” Caroline gave a hearty but weak smile.

“Yeah, so are you coming?” Max said getting up from the chair. He was already done with nursing Caroline’s wound and had covered them with bandages.

‘I guess I don’t want you taking my presents” Caroline gave out a small laugh

“OMG she laughed, I thought I almost lost you.” Max got up and started calling Caroline’s mom

“Oh please, don’t think you can escape from me that easy” Caroline said through her shaky voice that had started getting normal.

------------------------

Back at the salon Mrs. Owen, Caroline’s mom was adding some finishing touch to her last client of the day when she received a call from Max. She intended on closing earlier than usual and was already getting prepared since she would take Caroline to therapy today.

“Why? Did she give any reason?” She said with an expressive frown on her face.

“Mostly that she doesn’t feel comfortable, I’m really sorry”

“You don’t have to apologize… but this is the third time this has happened, what exactly is wrong with this girl”

“Ma’am… is it ok if she sleeps over at my place?” Max asked hesitantly.

“But you have school tomorrow”  Mrs. Owen spoke calmly now her frown had been reduced to a more sympathetic look.

“She’ll get ready and leave to school from my place” Max tried to explain.

“Alright, how is she let me talk to her”

“Oh ok ma’am” Max said and nudged at Caroline’s shoulder and handed her the phone. She was reluctant to take it or say anything because she knew she couldn’t refute whatever her mom told her which was the reason she told Max to call in the first place.

“Caro?... Caro” Mrs. Owen called out almost in a fret as she didn’t receive a reply on time.

“Mom… I’m ok” Caroline said almost whispering from the other end of the phone.

“Oh ok dear, I’ll be at the salon a little longer then and please take care of yourself”

“Ok mom” Caroline hung up the phone and handed it over to Max who was already stacking up her backpack. “Seems you’re excited.” She said when Max placed the bag on the bed and took the phone from her. She didn’t need a lot of things, she had them at Max’s place.

“Of course mommy is almost home and we only have about….” Max paused to check the time and took out his phone again “ten minutes! We need to hurry Line, if we don’t get there on time I’m seriously confiscating your presents” He said hurriedly reaching for the door and Caroline giggled from behind him. Her emotions were somewhat stable now and she felt much better than before.

They both left the house and drove off to Max’s place.