For the past week or so the English class had been preparing for an oral presentation on the holocaust. She had been working really hard on this project and had produced over two sides of detailed text on the subject.
Faye had been terrified in the run up to this was truly dreading standing up in front of the whole class to present. She had tried to prepare herself by reading it aloud for her parents but she just ended up laughing.
Three people had already presented and the small girl was nervously tapping her leg. She was fidgeting with her hands and looking down at the desk.
A hand grabbed her leg and stopped it moving, "stop, you're giving me a migraine. You'll be fine, stop stressing." Kat attempted to calm her down.
Faye smiled in return to the kind words but they didn't help, she was terrified of speaking out loud in class. She was trying to breathe deeply and calm down but she was only getting more anxious. What if she forgot what her project was on or if she tripped on the way up. Everyone would laugh at her and she would fail the class.
She covered her face in her hands and began counting backwards from ten, a method meant to calm her down, but it wasn't making much difference.
"Ouch." She was disrupted from her thoughts by Kat elbowing her.
"Faye, come on, I don't have all day." Miss Pugh said as she summoned her to the front of the class to present.
Faye slowly walked towards the doomed front of the class to begin her presentation. She could feel her palms getting sweaty and her legs shaking slightly.
When she reached the front she turned to face the class, seeing the faces of her class mates all staring at her made her stomach churn. She fumbled with her papers in her hand and found the first word on the page.
Her mouth went dry as she stood trying to start her presentation, she was shaking and becoming short of breath. She looked up to see Kat willing her to begin but she couldn't. She felt her chest tightening and her breathing rate increased. Tears welled in her eyes as she threw her papers down on the teachers desk and stormed out of the classroom.
She ran through the hallways until she reached the restroom where she locked herself in a stall. She tried to steady her breathing but her sobbing was restricting her from doing so.
"Faye?" She heard a friendly voice call. "Faye, open the door."
It was Kat. She reached her hand up to unlock the door, not moving from her position. The door opened and her new friend embrace her in a tight hug. Fayes' hands gripped onto her friends shirt as she sobbed into her, Kat soothed her as she tried to subside her cries.
"Hey, its okay. You're okay, don't worry about it." Faye comforted her smaller friend.
"I messed up." Faye cried.
"Hey, look at me." Kat grabbed the brunettes face in her hands, "no you didn't. It's okay to be scared, you'll get it next time." She consoled her.
They waited the remaining twenty minutes of the class in the toilet before returning to collect their things. Faye was thankful that Kat had suggested this, the thought of having to face the rest of her class again after her storming out in a frenzy scared her to death.
The taller girl grabbed Fayes' hand as they walked back to the classroom. Kat opened the door first as Faye followed her into the classroom.
Miss Pugh looked up from her desk as she heard the door, "come here." She told Faye.
Kat squeezed her hand encouragingly as she pushed the small girl towards her teacher.
"Why did you run out?" She questioned her student.
Faye simply shrugged as she looked down towards the ground, too embarrassed to truly admit her anxiety to anyone except her family or her therapist.
"We all get scared Faye, you shouldn't be ashamed of that. The aim of reading out your projects is to challenge you in front of your peers, not to traumatise you." She explained.
"I'm sorry I couldn't do it."
Miss Pugh sighed, "Faye, I'm not mad at you for being nervous, I'm mad because you ran out, you know the rules."
She was right, the school had a strict policy about not leaving classrooms during lessons.
"Sorry." Faye apologised, still staring down at her hands.
"I don't want you to fear coming to my class, Faye. I don't want you to let your anxiety win." She explained.
"I don't have anx..." Faye was cut off prematurely.
"Don't hide it, Faye. Its nothing to be ashamed of." Her teacher consoled her.
Faye turned to leave but was stopped short, "But i want you to come and see me on Monday at lunch." Faye nodded and continued to leave the room.
As she left she saw Kat sat on the ground outside waiting for her.
She stood up as she saw her friend, "You okay?" She asked the small girl as she got to her feet.
"Yeah." Faye replied as she turned to walk out of the school building.
"You walking home then?" The black haired girl asked. Faye just nodded as they continued to walk away from the school.
They remained silent as they walked until Kat broke it, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and her lighter. She removed one and popped the end into her mouth as she put the rest of the packet away.
She flicked her lighter and brought the flame up to the end of the cigarette, inhaling slightly so it would light.
She blew out the smoke and turned to Faye, "Want some?" She asked as she extended the cigarette out to the girl.
"Um, I've never...I don't..." Faye tried to explain how she had never before smoked, nor been near a lit cigarette.
"Have you never smoked? You're too cute." Kat laughed at the innocence of the girl walking beside her.
She held the cigarette up to fayes' mouth as they stopped walking, Faye put her lips around it, "Okay, inhale it into your mouth, then inhale again into your chest." Kat explained.
Faye inhaled as she was told to and almost choked on the smoke, she coughed it up instead of inhaling.
Kat was laughing at her, "Try again, slowly this time." She instructed as she put the cigarette back to the small girls mouth.
This time when she inhaled it was better, she exhaled the smoke and stuck her tongue out, "Tastes nasty." She complained as she tried to get the foreign taste out of her mouth.
Kat giggled, watching the girl fuss over the taste that had inhabited her mouth.
"You're cute." She told the brunette.
Faye pulled a face at her as they continued walking home. When they reached Fayes' road it was time for the two to part ways so they could both go home.
"I'll see you soon then." Kat said her goodbye as she pulled faye into a hug.
She felt the small girl tense slightly at her first touch, she smiled as she relaxed slightly. When she pulled away the tall girl placed a kiss on the brunettes cheek and turned to walk away. With that she was gone, leaving Faye slightly shocked at what had happened.
