The whole way to school, I kept playing that voice in my head. That deep, scary voice. I got chills thinking about it. Ava sat in the front drinking her daily cup of coffee. And by daily, I mean her third cup that morning. Her leg was shaking so fast, I could feel the car moving.
"I'm excited for third period," she smiled. "Its a free day. And do you know what I'm gonna do?"
"What's th-" I started.
"I'm gonna read fanfication and listen to 5SOS." She cut me off.
I smiled. "You have so much energy for such a small person."
"I'm not small, I'm funsized." She shot me the death glare in the mirror and then flashed a huge grin. "But that's ok because you're just tall."
"Maybe." I said, putting one headphone in. Valentine by 5SOS played. One of my favorite songs from the new album. We sat in silence the rest of the drive.

Pulling up outside of the school, I felt uneasy. It could've been the usual "I hate school" mood but today it seemed kinda off. I didn't know what it was but I clenched my jaw and grabbed my bag. By now, Ava was already out of the car heading towards the court yard to our spot. I got out and shut the door behind me, putting both headphones in.
My stomach flipping for some reason, I hated it. I could tell I wasn't gonna have a good day today. I caught up with Ava and my other friends at our hang ou spot behind the wall where we met Carmen, Alex, Justin and Chris.
Carmen was the artist. She was about my height. Around 5'7" with shoulder length, galaxy colored hair. You'd never catch Carmen without her sketchbook. Carmen and I had art class together, first period, not exactly Ava's cup of tea. I'm talented in the art category too, I just don't LOVE to draw. I do it for the credit, not exactly fun for me.
"Hey guys, where we're you?" She asked when me and Ava made it to the group.
"We missed the bus," Ava started. "Jordan showed up so we got a ride instead."
"Well," Justin started, grinning at Ava. "Your presence was dearly missed."
"Yeah, for sure." Alex said, pushing her glasses onto her nose. "You left Carmen and I, stuck with these too idiots."
"Hey now, little lady," Chris said while peeling a banana, his blonde hair covering his eyes. "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."
"Your idea of nice is completely different than mine." Alex said, smiling, her face turning red. Alex and Chris had always liked eachother, it seemed we all knew except them.
She tucked her long, black, hair behind her hair and straightened her books. "So," she started and turned to me. "Will I see you in fourth period today?" Social studies. My least favorite class.
"I don't think I'm feeling it today, I might skip."
"Um, young lady, I don't think so." Ava said. "You've missed a lot of school lately, you're not skipping anymore."
"I'll think about it." I rolled my eyes and looked at Alex.

The bell rang.

Off to first period. We all said our goodbyes and headed in our own directions, Carmen and I walking side by side.
I clenched my jaw as I walked, remembering what had happened earlier that morning.
I started playing that voice in my head, over and over and over again. I felt sick to my stomach thinking about it and I guess Carmen could see it too.
"Jay, are you ok?" She asked.
I snapped back into reality. "Uh yeah. Why do you ask?"
"You seem kinda off today."
"No, I'm fine, just really tired."
"Everything ok at home?" She asked.
I thought about my parents. The fighting, how we hadn't had food in the house in over a week because dad picked up some new habits..
"Yeah, everything is as close to ok as ok gets in my house."
"You know if you have someone to talk to, you have us right? Me, Alex, Ava. Even the boys. We'll listen."
"I know." I sighed.
We headed down the long hallway to the art section. All of a sudden, my heart sunk. My palms got sweaty and I could hardly breathe. I started hyperventilating and dropped my books.
"Jordan, what's wrong?" Carmen asked as she grabbed my books and tried to hand them back. "Should we go to the nurse?"
I tried to call myself, I was having an anxiety attack. I don't know why or what happened, nothing led up to this moment.
Then I saw him.
A boy with dark hair, a bandana wrapped around his head. He had his hands in his pockets and was wearing a black hoodie. He turned the corner by where Carmen and I were standing. He looked down at me and we locked eyes. I started shaking, he kept walking. He disappeared around the corner. Then it stopped. Everything stopped. I could breathe, the shaking stopped. I was ok.
We headed to our corner in the art room, away from everyone else.
We sat in our seats and the bell rang again, the door closing shortly after.
"Jay, what happened?" Carmen asked.
"It was an anxiety attack."
"I know, but why?"
"I don't know. I'm ok now."
"I hope so.." she said, opening her book.

Class started.

I can't explain what happened to me in that hallway or what caused it because if I tried to explain, I'd sound crazy. All I know is that it was the weirdest thing that had ever happened to me.. And that's saying a lot.