Page 57 of The Story Of Us

“Come on, let’s get you up.” He pulls me up and leads me to the edge of my bed, sitting us both down and then putting one arm around my shoulder and holding my hand with the other.

I’m gasping for air like I’ve been held underwater, my breathing short and shallow, and I know I need to try and get it under control, but I can’t. Luke rubs my shoulder, whispering, ‘breathe in, breathe out’ on repeat, but I can’t seem to focus on it.

They want to take me out of school, away from the only place that really feels like home.

I won’t see my friends who I’ve spent nearly my entire life with.

I won’t see Violet, who I’m planning the rest of my life with.

I have to stop them from calling the school, need to call them back and tell them I was wrong, that I’ll do whatever they want.

I pry myself away from Luke, searching around for my phone, but he stops me by grabbing my hands again.

“Isaac, stop. Breathe first.”

I listen to him this time, following the rhythm he sets until my breathing evens out, and then his arm is around me again.

“They’re going to make me leave.”

I finally manage to get it out and the way Luke’s face drops makes me wish I hadn’t.

“What?”

“They found brochures for other unis. I told them I don’t want to go to Oxford.”

“Oh, Isaac.” He squeezes my shoulder, pulling me closer to him. I rest my head on his shoulder, squeezing my eyes shut.

“I don’t know what to do.”

The phone rings again, and I press myself further into Luke’s shoulder. I’m probably hurting him, but he doesn’t say anything. The sound stops. When I lift my head to look at him, he shows me the black screen.

“I’ve switched it off. You can talk to them tomorrow when they’ve calmed down.”

“What if they don’t? They sounded serious, Luke. I messed up really bad.”

“We’ll figure it out tomorrow. For now, just think about yourself. We can still go and meet the girls for your birthday, or we can just stay here. It’s up to you.”

“I don’t want to see them.”

“Okay, I’ll tell them something came up.”

“What if they do it, Luke?”

“They won’t,” he reassures me, and I try to believe him, but I’m struggling.

For the next few hours, I keep panicking, and Luke keeps calming me down.

He doesn’t leave my side for the whole night.

When I wake up the next day, I try to convince myself the entire situation was just a bad nightmare, but Luke’s leg thrown over mine as he’s covered with the whole blanket tells me it was real. I shove him off me to wake him up, and he groans before rolling out of the bed. He tells me that he’s going back to his room to get ready for classes and that he’ll meet me at breakfast, and then I’m alone again.

I distract myself by getting ready, pulling my focus to anything else that I can as I get dressed in my uniform and pack my bag. But when I leave my room, I can’t help the nagging feeling in my head that I’m forgetting something. I brush it off, though, knowing that my head is full of so many other things right now, and it’ll probably come back to me later.

The walk to the dining hall feels endless as I think about the argument with my parents and the threat now looming over my head. Luke took my phone with him, and I know I need to get it back from him as soon as possible so that I can call my parents and convince them to let me stay.

“Isaac.”

I turn around and Violet’s there and suddenly I remember what I was forgetting. I can’t even describe the expression on her face because it’s one I’ve never seen before - it looks like crushing disappointment.

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