As Noah and I danced goofily to the music, neither of us noticed the strawberry blonde girl approaching us.

"Well, if it isn't the orphan and the frog!" Sophie Mcallister spat, swaying slightly.

"She's drunk, just ignore her." Noah told me, noticing how her 'orphan' comment affected me. I took a deep breath and nodded, keeping my attention on Noah.

"Hey! Look at me you bitch!" She screeched, roughly turning me around to face her. "You act like you're so perfect and nice, but you're not! That's right everyone! Saint Athena isn't as perfect as she lets us all believe!"

"Sophie, please." I said, trying to get the angry drunk girl to calm down.

"No! They need to hear this! Everyone deserves to know how pathetic and crazy you really are!" She shouted, causing the gym to go silent. Hannah and the band stopped playing, the new girl giving me a wide eyed expression.

"Okay, everyone, let's start this party back up!" She said into the mic, an awkward smile on her face.

"No! I'm not done!" The strawberry blonde yelled, before angrily stomping up to the stage and pushing Hannah away from the microphone. "We all remember what happened to Athena's parents, right? Well, what you don't know about Jefferson's perfect little orphan is that she's still has mental breakdowns in class quite frequently."

"Hey! You don't know anything about her panic attacks, so shut your fucking mouth!" Noah snapped at the drunk girl, grasping my hand tightly.

"You don't know shit about what this girl has been through! If you were in her position you would have been checked into a mental institution halfway through week one!" Adriana said, standing beside me and placing a hand on my arm.

"Well, we all saw her little psycho episode last week! We all saw her threaten that freshman! If Principle Grant hadn't stepped in, she probably would have killed the kid!" The bitch stated with a smug smile. "That's why we're all so nice to her! The tiniest thing could make her explode and shoot up the place!"

"Hey! Watch it, bitch!" Adriana snapped, glaring at the strawberry blonde girl who stood on the stage.

"Okay! That's enough!" Hannah said, taking the mic away from Sophie and ushering her off the stage.

"You're nothing but a pathetic, crazy, little orphan bitch! You don't belong here! You should have died with your parents!" The strawberry blonde stated with a smug smirk. "Why don't you go home, do us all a favor, and kill yourself."

I felt my eyes watering and a sob threatened to escape my throat, but I refused to let that spoiled bitch see me cry.

"Why do you hate me so much? I don't understand it. I've been nothing but nice to you. So, why? Why do you insist on saying such horrible things about me?" I asked in what started as a quiet croak, but then grew into a confident and angry voice. "You want to know what I was feeling that night? I felt utterly weak. Like I needed someone to come in and rescue us. I felt helpless and I hated it! I hated that I couldn't do anything to save my parents, or to help my little brother. I couldn't even move. That semi truck killed my parents, my brother and I barely got out alive! So, yeah, I've got my issues! Why do you hate me so much to the point where you just have to point it out?"

"Because you're so perfect and you don't even try to be popular, but everyone loves you!" She spat, swaying slightly as she glared at me.

"I think you've made it quite clear to everyone all of the reasons why I'm not perfect at all." I told her, referring to what had happened only a few minutes ago. A rebellious tear escaped my eye, making me wipe it away quickly and roughly. "Thank you for not only reminding me of my baggage, but telling everyone else about it too."

Without another word, I broke away from my friends and ran out of the gym with tears running down my face.

A sob escaped my lips as I leaned against the outside wall of the gym. The cold Oregon air nipping at my skin as I slid down the wall. My eyes squeezed shut as I cried, the memory of that day flashing over and over in my mind.

As the images of the accident flashed through my mind, I started to hyperventilate. I couldn't control my breathing no matter how hard I tried. The accident that killed my parents and put my brother and I in the hospital for a month played in my mind on a continual loop. The only thoughts that filled my mind was 'it should have been me instead', 'I should have died too', 'it was all my fault', and 'she's right, I should have died with them'.

"Athena! Athena!"

"Thee, are you okay?"

"Shit, she's having a panic attack!"

The voices of my two best friends were muffled, almost sounding as if I was under water. I couldn't focus on what they were saying, just on the thoughts in my head and the memory of the accident.

"Oh my god is she okay?"

"She's having a panic attack. That bitch Sophie must have triggered it by talking about the accident like that." Adriana's muffled voice told, who I'm guessing was Hannah, as I felt a hand rubbing my arm in an attempt to soothe me. I felt another pair of hands cup my face and I peeled my eyes open to see Noah squatting in front of me.

"Thee, focus on my voice okay?" He said and I nodded. His hands dropped from my face and he held them out in front of me. "How many fingers am I holding up? Count them with me, Athena! Ten."

"Ten." I sputtered, still out of breath. Noah folded down a finger as we counted them together.

"Nine." Down goes the index finger.

"Eight." The middle finger.

"Seven." The ring finger.

"Six." The right pinky finger.

"Five." The left thumb.

"Four." The left index finger.

"Three." The left middle finger.

"Two." The left ring finger.

"One." Finally, the left pinky.

The counting wasn't working, due to the fact that I was still hyperventilating and Adriana seemed to catch on to that too.

"It didn't work, Noah. She's still freaking out!"

"I can see that!" He told her panicked, his brown eyes still boring into mine. He then started to mumble to himself as he tried to think of a way to calm me down. "How else do you stop a panic attack? I don't know! I don't know! I don't know!"

"Try to get her to calm her heart rate!" Adri stated worriedly, as she and Hannah kept their distance so as not to overwhelm me further. "Try breathing techniques or something!"

"Breathing techniques, okay!" Noah muttered at lightning speed, his eyes hurriedly scanning my face. "Think, Noah!"

"Thee, look at me! I need you to breathe with me, okay? Can you do that?" He asked, taking my right hand and placing it on his chest.

All I could do was nod, feeling this heart erratically beating beneath my hand. I focused on the rise and fall of Noah's chest as he breathed, trying to match its steady rhythm.

After what felt like an eternity, my breathing had returned to normal and I was calm again.

"Thanks." I sighed, as I tiredly rest my forehead against Noah's. "Sorry, about that dumpster fire in there. I'm pretty sure Formal was ruined for a lot of people tonight."

"That was nothing, you should see the Thanksgivings at my house. Now that's a dumpster fire if I ever heard of it." The boy before me chuckled, a small grin on his face.

"Are you okay?" He asked, a concerned frown appeared prominently on his lips. "I know it's a stupid question, considering what just happened.... but are you?"

I hesitated and actually thought about the answer. Was I actually okay?

Right now? Definitely not. In the near future? Hopefully, with the help of the people that I care about.

"I will be." I replied finally, content with my answer. Lifting my forehead away from Noah's, as to properly look at him.

"Well, as cute as this is, Hannah and I are going to go inside and give you two love birds some privacy." Adriana said, making Noah and I pull away. We both blushed as the two girls made their presence known.

"Have fun, you two!" Hannah cooed teasingly as she and the curly haired brunette girl went inside.

"Can I kiss you?" I asked bluntly, surprising myself with my sudden boost of confidence.

"W–What?" The Thomas boy asked with wide eyes and a shocked expression.

"Can I kiss you?" I quickly repeated, the temporary confidence draining away as I looked down at my lap. "If you're not comfortable with that, it's fine and we can both just forget that this conversation ever happened."

Before I could ramble myself into a dark pit of embarrassment, I felt my head being tilted upwards.

"Please, shut the fuck up and kiss me already." Noah laughed with a wide grin, as our gazes connected.

"With pleasure, handsome." I replied with a breathy chuckle, before closing the distance and happily complying.

The kiss didn't feel like how books and movies described. There wasn't fireworks or any of the cliche things people tell you about.

What I felt was heat and rightness. My entire body felt warm, like I was standing in front of a massive bonfire. Everything about the kiss and the boy that I was kissing, just felt right.

As we pulled away from the kiss, I could feel a tingling sensation on my lips. As if my body missed the feeling of Noah's lips on mine.

"Be my girlfriend?" Noah asked with a goofy grin, his dark eyes searching mine.

I simply let out a soft laugh, before placing another kiss on his lips. I grinned as I pulled away, letting out a breathy laugh. "Does that answer your question?"

"I don't know, maybe you should do it again so I can fully understand your answer." He told me and I let out a laugh.

"God, you're a dork!"

"But you love that about me." The brunette boy stated with a cheesy grin.

"Unfortunately." I chuckled, before leaning in and placing a small peck on Noah's lips.

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A/N:
Holy shit on a fucking shingle! That was a long ass chapter! Is anyone else crying or pissed as hell? Because I sure was while writing this chapter! But hey! Double update for all you beautiful people!

Edit A/N: 3-28-2020

Yo, so it's been a hot minute and this book was honestly horrible. That's why I unpublished it for so long and why I am just now rewriting/editing it.

So so so sorry for the monstrosity that it was before, lord and readers forgive me.