The Best Kind of Betrayal

Chapter 22

"You don't look good," Kaia walks up to me right before classes and cups my face with a worried expression, "Don't stress yourself, June. Everything will be fine, I'm sure."

I nod and munch on a cereal bar, the only breakfast I'm able to eat that morning. I'm wearing my platform shoes, since they're almost four inches. Still, I feel incredibly small and weak.

It's days like these, when classes that usually take ages to finish pass in mere minutes and I don't register anything. Carlos tells me all about the latest game he's playing during literature and I have no idea what he's even talking about. He notices after I declared yeah, Fallout sounds like a nice band, and pats my arm encouragingly.

"I know you can do it June. Don't freak out."

I don't think I can. I feel like I need to throw up any moment. My face is positively green and my knees incredibly wobbly once I reach Matthew, but he doesn't seem to notice and throws an arm around my shoulders.

"Ready?" he asks with a bright grin.

No, I'm most definitely not.

I feel like I'm drained out all of my energy when I stumble back into the clubroom. Kaia rushes to steady me, holding onto my hand.

"I heard you did well, June," she says and smiles brightly, "Good job. I knew you guys are going to excel it."

I nod slowly and yawn.

"What's going on?" Liling asks curiously and walks over, pressing a hand on my forehead, "Are you not feeling well, June?"

"Just tired," I say and manage a small smile, before I grab my things and move to the back of the room.

I slump down on a beanbag and quickly slip out of my shoes. Presentation is over, presentation is really, finally over, and all the tension from the last days leaves my body rapidly. I yawn again and press my cheek against the soft stuffing of the bean bag.

"Presentations cause June a lot of stress," Kaia explains to the rest, "She can't sleep the night before because she's so nervous. It's all good now though, no worries. She just needs to sleep."

"I see," Liling hums, "We can make tea – and prepare some –"

They start discussing something I don't have the energy to listen to, so I close my eyes and pull up my knees, until I'm all curled up in the bean bag. I take off my blazer and nuzzle my face into the bean bag, and it's warm and so very comfortable and definitely not hard to fall asleep any second.

The door slams open again and there's Duncan shouting.

"What's wrong with June?"

Kaia goes to explain it all over again, and I drift off to sleep.

I wake up because something warm is touching my face. My eyelids flutter, and there are shapes and colors and I blink several times until the club room's all clear again. There's a low buzzing, Liling sits with Carlos and Duncan at their desks and they're chatting animatedly. Kaia sits across from Agatha, both working on their notebooks, and Johnny is discussing something with the VPs, their foreheads almost pressed together as they whisper secretively. I yawn again.

Then, I notice the person next to me.

"Oh, sorry," Matthew says and quickly retreats his hand, a small smile forming on his face, "I didn't want to wake you up."

I turn my head and stare at him. Matthew's crouched down next to my bean bag and he's only wearing a simple white shirt. It takes me a moment to realize he took off his hoodie and draped it over my shoulders.