"Are you sure you're alright? I can make you some tea. My mom says that helps with headaches." Elijah had already brought me a bottle of water from the fridge in the living room as well as some Advil from my nightstand. He was currently in the process of tucking me into bed after leaving me alone only to change into my pajamas.

"No, thank you. I'm already feeling a little better. I also don't like tea, but I appreciate the thought." He still looked concerned. You'd think I had the flu, but with someone as caring and sweet as Elijah, every little thing is important.

"How about I stay with you until you fall asleep. I don't want to leave you all alone when you're not feeling well." I texted the girls that we were leaving early because I felt under the weather. I remembered to tell them that they should stay as long as they wanted and enjoy themselves. The last thing I wanted to do was spoil their night. It's bad enough I already did that to Elijah.

"You don't have to do that. The night is still young. Why don't you go back to the party and relax with your friends." His expression morphed from one of concern to a soft smile as he pulled my desk chair to my bedside.

"First of all, how many times do I have to tell you the party means nothing to me? Secondly, how could I possibly "relax" when I'd be thinking about being with you instead?" He punctuated that with a kiss to my nose. "Third of all, I'd much rather spend time with you than be around a bunch of drunk kids in the middle of the night into the early hours of the morning." He smirked at his answer, knowing that I couldn't argue against that.

I relinquished. "Okay, but you don't have to stay here with me just to wait until I go to sleep." He grabbed my hand and leaned back.

"Ahh, don't you worry about me. It's not like I have a party to go to or anything." I chuckled, already forgetting about what exactly happened at that party in the first place.

↞↠

"Ohh, Sleeping Beauty is awake! How 'ya feelin', babe?" Elizabeth was eating cereal on her bed with a book on her lap, swinging her legs over the side.

I stretched my back, yawning, before sitting up and facing the enquirer.

"I feel fine. I don't know what came over me last night." I will her not to ask any more questions. I want to avoid discussing Gnat entirely.

"Hmm, maybe you were just dehydrated or exhausted or something. You were standing all day working on clients after going to a lecture. I don't think class, work, and a party in rapid succession works well together." Thank goodness!

"I bet you're right. I'll take that into consideration next time."

"Yeah, you definitely should. Sooo... Guess who was here holding your hand when I got home last night? Or should I say this morning?" My attention snapped awake.

"So he did stay." I spoke under my breath and smiled to myself. Why didn't I know Elijah would stick to his word?

"What was that?" Liz was munching away on her Froot Loops.

"Nothing. So, what time did you get back? I hope he didn't get a crick in his neck sleeping in that uncomfortable wooden chair. He's crazy for even wanting to sit on that thing."

"Oh, he wasn't asleep. I peeked in from the hall when I noticed your desk lamp was on. He kept looking at you as he wrote something down when I came in only about an hour after you left. Spencer had to go because he had an early class, so I had no reason to be there anymore." She was smirking. "I have to say, you guys are pretty adorable, like all the time." I was blushing, not thinking about how adorable we are, but how adorable, charming, endearing, loveable, et cetera he is. That list is endless.

"He is so sweet. He apologized for being in my room so late and explained that he didn't want to leave you alone when you felt so dizzy. He wanted to watch over you so you wouldn't be by yourself just in case you needed anything. I almost squealed like a lunatic when he whispered, 'I love you' before kissing you goodbye on your forehead. He's like a little puppy with the maturity of a service dog. Now that's perfection." Listening to Elizabeth gush about Elijah, her statements emphasized with each animated wave of her spoon, made my heart swell. I hadn't even gotten out of bed yet and I already wished he was there beside me.

I reached over to check my phone as she returned to her book. I was looking forward to a message from Elijah, but the first notification was a voicemail from my mother.

After listening to her excited rapid-fire questions, I decided to check my other messages before calling her back. I knew that would be a long phone call and I didn't want to cut it short, even though I cut last night short. My mom doesn't need to know that, though. I try to only tell her good things out of habit. There's no reason she shouldn't be happy, especially not because of me.

"Did he send you a message?" I didn't realize Elizabeth's book was marked and closed by her side as she leaned forward eagerly awaiting my response.

"I don't know, did Spencer text you?" With that, she sighed. "Come on, Sara. Did you really have to go and ruin my perfectly good mood? I've hardly spoken to him and you think he'd just-" She was casually unplugging her phone as she spoke to me and when the screen lit up, she screeched. "Oh my gosh! Sara! Oh my gosh!"

"See?" I felt a little bad after my somewhat harsh tone made Liz feel bad, so I was really happy that Spencer stepped up. "What did he say?"

"Well first he said 'Hey.'" I chuckled as she read on. "He wants to know if I can hang out soon! Oh my gosh! This is amazing." I couldn't help but squeal with her. She jumped up and pulled me over to her bed to sit beside her as she conversed with her crush.

↞↠

"So, they're going out this weekend? That's great!" I had called Elijah in response to his good morning/ I hope you're feeling better text. I just had to update him on Spencer and Elizabeth's situation because she was already inviting us on future dates.

"It is! I'm really happy for her. I thought this would be something nice to occupy her time and possibly distract her from us, but she already invited us on several double dates." We chuckled at Elizabeth's projections for the future.

"That's fine, but maybe they should have a first date before adding other parties into the equation."

"I agree. I really have a good feeling with this, so make sure you free up your calendar for the near future."

"Definitely." After several more minutes of light conversation, Elijah had arrived at his class. He had practice afterward so I wouldn't be seeing him today. Hearing his voice, though, was a happy compromise.

I decided to spend the next few hours working on some research for Mrs. Nielsen that she wanted by the end of the week. I've really been enjoying this work study program. I was a little apprehensive about adding this program to my plate alongside schoolwork and hair, but my time management skills are kicked into high gear.

While compiling different studies comparing the behavioral development of children from single-parent households with that of children who grew up in dual parent households, I was texting Bree, who was analyzing statistics for the same subject.

At first, we were comparing our data, but that somehow turned into a conversation about her and Will.

"Oh, he is such a gentleman! He held the door open for me and everything and blushed when I acknowledged it. He blushed!" I smiled to myself, happy to hear that things are going well for them.

"So I guess it's safe to say there will be a second date?" She responded almost immediately.

"Yes! We already spoke about it!" Bree took the initiative to ask him on the first one, which he shyly accepted according to her quick explanation. I wish I had even a bit of her confidence. She seems so laid back, yet so in control of her life. I admire that about her.

"So, how was the party last night? It was your first, right?" My heart sunk. After getting by so easily with the girls, I should've expected the topic to reappear sometime.

"It was alright. We didn't stay for the whole thing. It got really crowded and loud."

"Lol! That's how parties are, silly girl!" I rolled my eyes at my own stupidity.

"Haha! Reading that back, it does sound like I didn't know what I was getting myself into. It was nice meeting all of Elijah's teammates, but things kind of took a turn when Natalie showed up." There goes my racing heart.

"Omg, did she say something to you?" At this point, I was biting my lip raw.

"Hey, maybe we should all meet up to discuss our assignment. I think Will would have some good insight with our findings."

"Oh, yeah. We can also talk in person. I'll text Will. Book Trader Cafe?"

"Sure. Meet you at 3." Why does she make me so nervous? I don't want to talk about her, but at the same time, I want to know why she has such a negative effect on me.

↞↠

We spent all of two minutes discussing our work before Bree brought up the party.

"Wait, so you started feeling dizzy and lightheaded right when you saw her?" Bree was asking all the questions as Will sat quietly beside her, contemplating the whole situation.

"Not exactly. When I saw her, I started thinking about all the ways she could hurt Elijah. Also, all of my roommates were there. She made them feel horrible after we all had dinner together after Elijah's meet." I couldn't even mention Elijah's blow-up. That killed me. "That's when I started feeling overwhelmed and the somatic symptoms began."

Bree sighed and shook her head dejectedly.

"Did I even mention the way she looked at me when we were leaving? It was like she won. Like she wanted me to leave. It almost reminded me of-" my breath caught in my throat and my gaze shot to my lap. I hadn't thought about her in a while and the memories were painful.

"Sara, I don't want to push you to talk about it, but maybe it'll help us figure out why Natalie has this much of effect on you from her presence alone." She reached out to grip my hand on the table, which made me realize I was fiddling with my fingers.

"If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to." I was thankful for Will's understanding of my consternation. I've never spoken about the extent of Addison's bullying. There were so many traumatic experiences I just decided to lock away in the fear that it would hurt my mom. I wanted nothing more than to move on with my life, but now looking at everything from a psychological perspective, that could've made everything worse. Maybe if I just touch on it now, I could at least figure out what it has to do with Natalie so I could have the upper hand.

"Back home, there was a girl who said and did really horrible things to me, and my mother for that matter. Things that I never told anyone because they're embarrassing and-" This is not working. I tried to speak quickly, but it wasn't making things any easier. "When she asked for that hairstyle, I-" Why am I on the verge of tears? I feel humiliated, and the confusion is making it worse. "I really can't talk about it." I could feel my heart beating a mile a minute and my spine went stiff, just like last night. "I can't talk about it. It's too much." Bree's concern was evident, but Will was slightly more controlled in everything he did, so as not to make me feel worse.

"Okay, it's okay. Just breathe. We shouldn't have asked. It's none of our business." Will spoke softly and slowly. I was trying not to panic, but after almost spilling everything I've held back since primary school, saying I felt overwhelmed is a vast understatement.

"No, it's not you. You're my friends. I just can't talk about this to anyone." I know it sounds wrong for a psychology student to be against talking about their feelings to someone, but I physically can't. To be honest, I've never even tried. I just never thought about my pent up memories and emotions coming back to haunt me once I went to college and left behind all of the people who ever made my mom or I feel inferior. I promised myself that if I could just hold it together until graduation, it would all be in the past, never to be thought about again.

"Listen, I'm not a doctor." Bree rolled her eyes and scoffed at Will's assertion, making me laugh. He smiled. "Which you guys apparently knew. Anyway, objectively speaking, this looks and sounds like PTSD. From what I've read, it seems possible. Once again, I'm not an expert, as everyone else in the universe now knows. If there was any confusion before you so kindly pointed it out, it's all cleared up." He playfully nudged Bree's shoulder. At this point, I could tell he was trying to make me feel better by being goofy, but I didn't miss his claim. That's definitely something I need to research when I get home.

****
Thank you for reading! Please remember to VOTE and COMMENT if you enjoyed this chapter.

Things are getting a little more intense for Sara as she tries to gain an understanding of what exactly is going on... But it's just the beginning and there's a lot to be unraveled!

I really want to know what you guys think! I know you have opinions, thoughts, and predictions, so let 'em rip! I'm all ears!

****

Well,