THALIA RUSHED around the small apartment. Her toothbrush hung out of her mouth as she jumped to put on her jeans.

She could've sworn she turned her alarm on. She couldn't afford to miss any school days. She had plans and missing her first day of school was not on her agenda.

She finally placed her toothbrush down on the sink and rushed out of there and into her bedroom where she grabbed a random pair of socks and shoved her feet into a pair of Nike's.

Thalia swung her black backpack over her shoulders and heavily sighed as she grabbed her phone from the bed and made her way out of the door.

But the car was gone.

She looked down at her phone, messages from Miguel flooding her screen which she chose to ignore. She wasn't ready to talk to him just yet, but the sooner the better. She knew that, but for now, she ignored it and texted Tory and hoped that she would respond to her.

Why the hell would she leave without her? Why didn't Tory try to wake her up? And if she had, why didn't she get harder?

It seemed like Thalia was overreacting, but she wanted to get into a good school. She wanted the perfect record. She wanted this. She needed this.

Without a second left, she rushed to West Valley High School.

She had been given a quick tour of the school after she and Tori enrolled, but finding her classroom wasn't as easy as she remembered it to be, especially since the halls of the school seemed to be heavily crowded during a passing period.

"What's going on?" Thalia asked a passerby.

"Two chicks fighting upstairs." He smiled. "Apparently Sam LaRusso kissed Miguel at this party."

Thalia shut her eyes and sighed.

This had gone too far.

Thalia, along with the crowd of students, rushed upstairs to see the fight or in Thalia's case, stop it.

Thalia pushed through the crowd and found students pushing themselves back in order not to get hit by anyone who'd been fighting.

There were people everywhere. Some standing by to watch the fight, some were fighting, and others lying on the ground in agonizing pain.

Thalia continued pushing through the crowd and found Miguel, Robby, Tory, and Sam fighting nearby.

It was stupid. She knew that, but she did it anyway.

Thalia stepped forward, calling out for Tory, but in return, her sister quickly turned, throwing a punch towards Thalia and pushing her back from the fight.

It wasn't until someone from the crowd (kind enough to do so) caught the girl from falling that Tory realized what she'd done.

"Thalia-"

Tory couldn't apologize fast enough as Sam sideswiped her and knocked the eldest girl to the ground.

This had gone too far. Thalia didn't know why the others were fighting, but it was clear why Tory and Sam were fighting and why Miguel and Robby tagged along.

As Thalia was pushed back to her feet, she felt light-headed. Tory had never, ever hit her, but God did she have an arm on her. Thalia closed her eyes as she winched in pain. Her head pounding from the punch and from thoughts that circled in her head. She didn't know what to do.

For some reason, she felt at fault. That she could've prevented this sooner. That maybe, she should've stayed away from Miguel.

Thalia blinked rapidly, her eye in pain and would, no doubt, become blackened and bruised later on.

She had lost sight of Tory, the eldest making her way downstairs with Sam, but from down the hall, the fighting continued with Robby and Miguel.

It wouldn't be the time to talk about any of this. She wouldn't step in between the two of them. She didn't know how. She didn't want to get hurt again.

Thalia could fight. She knew how to protect herself, but she would like to talk about the problem and hear both sides and come up with a solution that way, but it was too late for that.

Thalia began to breathe heavily, she didn't know what to do. She felt like her heart was beating at a thousand beats per minute. Her head was pouncing and her ears felt like they were on fire.

She needed to leave, she needed to get out of there, but where was the exit? She felt like she didn't know where she was.

Her sister had hit her, the guy she liked kissed another girl, and it seemed that every person in this school had been physically attacking the person who looked at them wrong.

Her throat felt dry... why was it dry? Thalia raised her hand and rested it against her neck as her breathing became unstable. She was lost, she was scared, she needed someone, anyone at this point.

People pushed themselves around Thalia as they spread off to see the fight continue on.

How long had she been standing there? It couldn't have been long, but mere seconds felt like hours as she stood there trying to calm herself down.

She wasn't used to this. Why was this happening? Why was this happening right here, right now? She was lost in more ways than one.

Thalia felt dizzy as she made her way down the hall with the other students. She felt like she couldn't see as she searched for any familiar face. It could've been the guy at the party who'd given her the drinks, she didn't care, she needed someone.

She felt harsh hands against her shoulders, turning her in a way that she felt like she could've fainted right then and there.

"Thalia!" Miguel shouted. "Thalia, you have to understand-"

Thalia felt like she couldn't see. Everything seemed so blurry and so loud. Why was it so damn loud?

She was shaking, Miguel could feel her shaking. Thalia wasn't cold, she didn't feel cold. The opposite in fact. She felt hot like she was sweating bullets.

But she could hear Miguel. She could. She didn't know what to say or what to even do. But she tried to look at him with her eyes glossed over. She already knew what she wanted to talk about prior, but now? She couldn't even process.

She licked her lips, they were dry, like, extremely dry even though she had put lipgloss on before she walked into school mere minutes ago. Her face was flushed, not like a blush, like she'd run a marathon.

"Oh my God." Thalia muttered.

It felt like it was all coming down. Like she'd crashed into a five-foot tidal wave.

"Oh my God." Thalia repeated.

Miguel, with blood dripping down his nose and lip, didn't know what to do. Everything was at an all-time high. Adrenaline was at an all-time high.

School staff hadn't done anything and if they tried they were attacked as well.

"She hit me." Thalia muttered. "She hit me. Oh my God."

"Who?" Miguel questioned. "Who hit you?"

Thalia didn't answer his question. She could try all she wanted but couldn't get the words out, especially since someone had pushed the two apart.

It was like she could hear every punch that was thrown. Every punch that Miguel and Robby shared. It was a back-and-forth game and she could only hear it.

Thalia tried to stand upright as hot tears ran down her face. She was confused. She didn't know where to look or what to look at.

Tory was nowhere in sight and Thalia didn't know if she wanted to see her at the moment, but she knew, at this moment, she needed her. No matter what, Tory was her sister and she needed her.

Thalia still felt dizzy but was able to stand upright as she drew closer to fight, but it was too late. It wasn't like she could physically do anything to stop it at that moment.

Her eyes widened as she watched Robby raise his leg and kick Miguel.

He kicked him over the railing on the banister causing Miguel to fall and hit the bottom of the banister from a story up.

Thalia stumbled over, her hands resting over the banister as she looked down at the boy who now lay cold.

His eyes closed, blood dripping from various places.

Thalia's hands began to shake as she slid down, her back pressed against the banister as she audibly cried.

She couldn't see, but she could hear everything.

"Robby, what did you do!?"

Thalia shut her eyes tightly as hot tears ran down her face. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know what to fucking do.

     THALIA SAT in the hospital bed.

She had a panic attack.

The silence of the room along the squeaky wheels and gentle footsteps had been very different from the destruction at school.

What a way to start her first day.

Overall, she was fine. She could leave whenever she felt ready, but she continued to sit there in damning silence as people passed a room they could've used.

She didn't remember how she got to the hospital, but she remembered why she was there. She knew who was there and she knew why.

The bruise around her eye did form and the doctor said it should heal within two to three weeks.

She could go whenever, but she sat still in her hospital bed that someone else could use.

Her mind was racing. She had a million thoughts running a mile a minute in her mind and she only landed on two to think about the most.

How was Miguel?

Why did Tory do this?

Of course, the second question was easier to answer than the first.

There was a gentle knock on the door and she believed that it was the nurse finally kicking her out, but Tory stepped inside the room. Her face was heavily cut and slightly bruised.

The two of them only stared at each other.

Neither one of them wanted to speak, but they had to. One of them had to talk.

"Why'd you do it?" Thalia asked.

Her throat was dry. She hadn't drunk anything since arriving at the hospital, she needed to but decided against it. She wasn't really thinking about it.

"Thalia-"

"You hit me."

Tory held her head down, licking her lips to bring herself some comfort. She stood there as her sister sat in a hospital bed because of a panic attack that she believed she caused. Which in part, she had.

"I didn't mean to."

"But you did." Thalia muttered.

She stood slowly from the hospital bed. She was already dressed to leave. She grabbed her backpack, slung it over her shoulders, and made her way out of the room, Tory following closely behind the girl.

"Thalia!"

"No!" Thalia shouted, turning to face Tory. The two of them standing outside of the hospital. "You did this! All of this!"

Tory stepped forward. "I was trying to protect you!" She argued.

"I didn't ask you to do that!" Thalia barked. "I didn't ask you to do any of this! Miguel could've died and all because of a fight that you unnecessarily started because he kissed another girl at a party! I could've handled that on my own."

Tory chuckled. "Could you? Because last I saw, you went home crying like a-"

It was loud.

Like a crack of lightning hitting a tree.

She had slapped her. She slapped her hard.

Thalia shakily moved her hand back towards her and stepped back from Tory as the girl licked her lips and held her hand over her stinging cheek.

"Find your own ride home." Thalia muttered.

Thalia turned, leaving Tory in the parking lot of the hospital. They had never really fought. Sisters fight all the time, little pissy fights that were never that serious to begin with, but this was different.

Everything... Absolutely everything had changed.

— lucy has something to say !!

"like that move? i learned it from your dad!" i would've kicked his ass over the banister to the fuck

anyways, i've written panic attacks before but i think this was written better than the others because i... did research 🤩 was it good be honest

also YIKES sissies are fighting so sad :sad_face:

bye :))))