WARNING:
EMOTIONAL CONTENT.
Includes mentions of anxiety, stress and panic attacks.

A brand new week had begun, which for most students, would be full of tedious lessons and piles of homework. For Rowan Sterling, though, this week was ten times more stressful. He was a member of the school's debate team, and the annual Debate Competition was being held at the school this year. The usual time slot for the debate was during one session of the weekly year group assemblies. Due to the nature of the event, the whole school was subjected to news about it. In the assembly hall, the debate team and whichever year group that was supposed to have an assembly that day, would gather around. The rest of the students would watch a livestream of the debate from their tutor group classrooms.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

Rowan's alarm blared, making him wake up almost immediately. Over the last few days, he slept through his alarms, and he only woke up because his younger siblings would bang on his door.

He hurried out of his room, barrelling into his mother. He held his arms out to grab her, but she was already on the floor before his brain actually moved his arms.

"Mum! Are you ok?"

"Yes, yes I'm fine!", she exclaimed, reaching up for his hand. "Why are you in such a rush?"

"Sorry, Mum. I was just paranoid I'd be late because I've been sleeping through my alarms lately."

"Yes, I know", she frowned. "Are your teachers working you too hard?"

Rowan shook his head. "No, they're not. I guess it's just the final school year blues."

"I don't think that's a real thing, Rowan."

"This girl in my year—Eloise Bhasin, she coined the phrase and is convinced its true", explained Rowan.

"Ah. I see."

His mother's blunt response confused Rowan. She must've noticed this, because she let out a quiet sigh.

"I remember all the stories you told about her. How she disrupted classes, almost got you removed from the Religious Inclusion club–"

"No, Mum, I never said that. I told you about how she stood up for a classmate when the teacher was picking on them, and how she fought a guy in the RI club who was making anti-sem*tic remarks", he clarified.

His mother's face softened.

"I know that's the way you see it, but–"

"Mum, that's not just how I saw it. That's what happened."

"Rowan... life isn't as black and white as that. She means well, I know. I've spoken to her foster parents a few times and, well, for all that she's been through... it's remarkable that she's as strong as she is."

Rowan's mother paused. Rowan wasn't sure if it was for dramatic effect, or if she was thinking about the best way to word whatever she wasn't going to say. Either way, it made Rowan feel uneasy.

"I don't want you to get mixed up in her antics, Rowan. Not when you've worked so hard to achieve all that you have. I'm not saying I want you to avoid her, or treat her horribly—far from it. I just... be wary, Rowan."

Rowan understood what his mother meant. It was the same thing she always meant. Life wasn't easy for his parents, and they had to endure a lot of hate when they moved to Marleyport. One slip up, one bad day and they'd only just add to the overwhelming negativity surrounding Judaism at the time. People just wanted any old excuse to further their own prejudice views. Actually, not much had changed since those days.

Rowan's parents passed that fear onto their children. They instilled in them the importance of always being the best version of yourself.

But his parents didn't see Eloise as much as he did. They weren't involved in the secret award mission. They didn't see Eloise the way he did. They didn't understand her.

But truthfully, he wasn't entirely sure he did either.

Still, he knew for a fact that she wasn't as bad as his parents thought she was.

"We can talk more about this later, but right now you need to eat your breakfast and get ready for school."

Rowan walked into the school grounds, his textbooks in his hands. His backpack had fallen into a puddle on his way to school, and with no cleaning supplies nearby, he was forced to abandon it.

"Rowan!", called out a boy.

He had curly blonde hair, and the warmest hazel eyes Rowan had ever seen. His pale skin was unblemished, except for his chin area, which had painful looking acne on it. He had silver braces, each bracket turquoise in colour.

"Oh hey, Rydian", greeted Rowan.

"I'm going to be late to maths club today", said Rydian. "Can you let Mr. Morrison know?"

"Uh, I mean sure, but it's not really my job–"

Rydian lightly punched Rowan's shoulder, his smile brightening.

"Thanks, Rowan! You're the best."

Rydian spotted one of his friend on the school grounds. He called out to them before running towards them, just as Rowan was about to speak.

Oh well.

Being a part of a club meant you were part of a team. It was important to have your teammate's backs, otherwise what was the point of joining?

Rowan felt a hand slap the back of his head, making him drop his notebooks. He quickly turned around, a confused expression on his face when he saw that it was Elliott.

"Woah, sorry!", he apologised. "I was just trying to get your attention. Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine", replied Rowan.

"Good. Anyway, Ellis wanted me to tell you he's not coming to the Spelling Bee practise", said Elliott.

"What? But we've got a competition this week!"

"Oh yeah he said he's not gonna make it to that either", said Elliott. "You're the captain right? Can't you just find someone else?"

"We already sent off the list of our team members and they approved it. Can you ask Ellis if it's possible for him to reschedule whatever it is he is has on that day?"

"Uh, I don't know. I feel like this is more of a Spelling Bee club thing", said Elliott, not wanting to ruffle any feathers between two people he spent quite a bit of his time with.

Rowan frowned, an uneasy feeling beginning to bubble away in the pit of his stomach. The feeling wasn't unfamiliar to him, but that didn't mean it was welcome either.

Although he wasn't captain of all the clubs he was in, his natural leadership qualities meant that people always looked to him for advice and support. Rowan liked that he could be that supportive presence for others, but he'd be lying if he said it wasn't a little draining.

What was he thinking? His parents would be so disappointed if they knew he felt that way about something as wonderful as being needed by others.

Rowan looked down at his textbooks, his eyes widening when he saw a pair of hands scramble to pick them up. He looked up a little, a smile appearing on his face when he saw who it was.

"Here you go, Rowan", said Irene. "Can't believe Elliott left you to pick your books up on your own."

"Oh, it's not his fault they dropped in the first place", said Rowan.

"Still, he could've helped."

"You don't like Elliott much, do you?"

Irene shook her head. "Nope."

Rowan wasn't really sure why he asked that. For as long as he could remember, there had always been some kind of tension between Irene and Elliott. Not really on Elliott's part—he just saw it as friendly banter, but Irene always seemed more irritated by Elliott than anything else.

"What happened to your backpack?", asked Irene.

"Oh, let's just say it did a Jack from Titanic", said Rowan.

Irene mock gasped, placing a hand on her chest. "You let go? Say it ain't so!"

The pair walked to history class together, despite a lesson not being scheduled for today. Mr. Patel emailed the group about meeting up during tutor time. Apparently he made up some history revision session, so the group's tutor teachers gave him the OK.

Rowan and Irene walked towards their seats, but Irene stopped Rowan when they got to Atlas' seat.

"Hey Atlas", said Irene.

Atlas smiled. "Hey, Irene. Hey, Rowan. You two good?"

"Yeah thanks", said Irene. "Um, have you got any room in your bag?"

"Uh... yeah, a bit. Why?"

"Rowan's in most of your classes today, right? He's got a lot of books to carry, so–"

"Oh, cool, say no more", said Atlas, opening his backpack up. "Pop some in now."

Rowan smiled. He wasn't exactly surprised that Irene and Atlas were willing to help him, and it seemed like the smallest, seemingly insignificant gesture in the world, but he had been under a lot of pressure lately. He appreciated any sliver of kindness he was shown.

Aahan entered the classroom, a large folder in his hands. Whilst most teachers would give their students their marked books back, Aahan opted to do something different.

"Good morning, my people!", exclaimed Aahan.

"My people?", repeated Spencer.

"On the agenda today—rally planning. Irene, Eloise and Spencer—you're on food. Rowan, you're on entertainment", said Aahan.

"By myself?", asked Rowan.

Aahan nodded. "With your organisation and research skills, you're the perfect person to take on such a big task."

"But–"

Aahan exhaled sharply, dragging out the sigh for much longer than he needed to, purely for dramatic effect.

"I thought we were over this attitude?", asked Aahan.

Rowan frowned. "You're right. Sorry, Sir."

Aahan clasped his hands together, grinning triumphantly.

"That's more like it! I'm feeling very good about our chances here", said Aahan.

"What are the rest of us supposed to do?", asked Elliott.

"Oh! Right! Yes. Well, you'll all be on decoration study", replied Aahan.

Rowan furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Decorations seemed like the easiest task, so why have the most people working on it? After praising his organisation and research skills, Rowan thought that Mr. Patel would welcome his feedback, but he couldn't help but think back to when he shouted at the class.

He couldn't risk that happening again.

No, he'd just have to stay quiet and do the task on his own.

¤¤¤

Later that day, Rowan was in his room, the lamp on his desk providing the only light. His hair was messy, almost sloping to one side. He still had his school trousers on, but his mother had made him change into his navy blue night top about an hour ago.

A half-eaten hamantash—triangular fruit filled pastry commonly eaten in Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine, was on a plate next to him. It had an orange filling, which was Rowan's favourite.

He was flicking through the rule book for the spelling bee competition, which had a lot more pages than he thought. Next to him, was his open laptop, which had the website of a well-known band open on one tab.

Finding entertainment was proving to be difficult. He considered a balloon artist, firethrower and one of those artists that can paint something that, when flipped upside down, shows an excellent painting of their muse's face. None of them seemed appropriate for the occasion though.

Booking Allergic To Passionfruit for a gig was his next option, but despite them still being somewhat of an underground band, they were becoming quite popular, so Rowan wasn't sure they'd want to perform at a secondary school that had a hole in the walls of atleast three of its classrooms.

Stuck to the frame of his mirror, with bluetack, were his debate club notes. With the debate being tomorrow, the pressure was beginning to creep up on Rowan.

It's ok though.

He was totally prep–

"Rowan! Rowan!", exclaimed his mother, gently shaking her son's shoulders.

Rowan awoke, a line of drool dripping down the side of his mouth and onto his page. His eyes slowly began to open. When they did, he momentarily forgot where he was. This wasn't his bed.

"Sweetheart, get up! You're late for school!"

Those words made him sit up, a cold chill running through his body. He quickly grabbed his phone, his eyes widening when he saw the time.

9:00 AM.

But the debate competition started at 8:30!

"Oh sh*t, sh*t, sh*t...", he mumbled as he scrambled to get his things.

"Language, Rowan!", gasped his mother.

"Oh sugar, sugar, sugar...", he corrected.

"I made you some breakfast", said his mother.

"I've not got enough time to eat it. Why didn't my alarm go off?"

"I checked it and the batteries weren't–"

"Oh cràp! I forgot to change the batteries!", he yelled, his hands on both sides of his head.

"Sweetheart, it's ok! I think I've got some leftover hamantash you can eat on the way instead of breakfast."

"Mum, can you please drive me to school?", asked Rowan.

"Oh, Rowan, I can't leave Holly on her own, she's ill, remember?"

Rowan frowned. "But Mum–"

"How about I call the reception and let them know you'll be a few minutes late? It's only tutor class, I don't think you'll miss much."

"Mum, today's the debate remember?"

"Debate?", questioned his mother, her eyes widening when the word properly registered in her mind. "Oh gosh, your debate! Well you'd better get a move on, Rowan! If you hurry you won't miss the whole thing."

After what seemed like the longest bus ride, then sprint of his life, Rowan arrived at school. He soared through the school grounds, almost slipping when he reached the hallway. Just as he was about to collect his breath, Principal Rogerson walked out of the assembly hall, a look of relief and surprise on his face when he saw Rowan.

"Rowan! Oh thank goodness you're here! I've got a school governor in here that's just about ready to grab me by the–nevermind. You're here now and that's all that matters."

"Principal Rogerson, I'm so sorry I'm late", apologised Rowan.

Principal Rogerson just guided him into the hall. Rowan's entire body tensed up when he saw his whole year group staring at him. He suddenly became a lot more self-aware. He looked down at his attire—clumsily placed tie with orange juice on it from when Rowan's mother tried to get him to drink something before leaving. One blue sock and one red sock. White trainers that were covered in–oh gosh, please say that's mud.

Some students snickered, making Rowan feel even more nervous. He desperately searched the audience, hoping to see a friendly face. Before he could find one, he was being pushed onto the stage by Principal Rogerson.

"Sorry for the delay, everyone! Let's get things started, well, let's resume things. To recap, both teams are debating the question 'is artificial intelligence good for society?', and Rowan is arguing against", said Principal Rogerson.

Right.

Yes.

Artificial intelligence.

The same topic Rowan and his team had been working on for weeks.

Just take a deep breath and speak, Rowan.

Rowan moved his mouth closer to the microphone. He felt his mouth go dry, the feeling of his throat clogging up making him feel panicked. Rowan opened his mouth to speak, but all that came out was an odd strangled sound, akin to a balloon deflating. Rowan froze like a deer in headlights, whilst some of the students laughed loudly.

It was hard to make out exactly who in that sea of noise was laughing, but Rowan would bet his last pound that James was one of them.

Rowan felt a pat on his back, making him turn.

"Here, take a sip", said one of his teammates, holding out a bottle of water.

Taking a sip of water was a technique the debate team commonly used. It allowed them to formulate their thoughts during a debate.

But Rowan was being given one before he even spoke!

After taking a few sips of water, Rowan rummaged through his pockets for his debate cards. His nerves began to quell as he flicked through his cards.

"Right, um, yes. Artificial intelligence is a hindrance to society. Dedicated labourers, people who work away in construction sites, on farms, they are the true backbone of our society", started Rowan.

People seemed to be taking an interest now, which made Rowan feel more confident. Whilst looking at the crowd, his eyes found Irene's. She grinned at him, giving him two thumbs up. Finally feeling comfortable, Rowan reached for his bottle to take another sip of water.

Moving to get his bottle, Rowan's arm collided with the bottle, making it crash to the floor. The water trickled down the podium, collecting in a pool near it. The panic started to set in again, and Rowan tried to move the bottle away from his notes. In all the commotion, he swiped his arm against the table, his notes falling onto the floor as well.

"No!", he exclaimed.

The merciless laughter filled the air once again, making Rowan pray for the ground to open up right then and there. Taking a deep breath, Rowan knelt down and picked up as many as cards as he could without wasting too much time. He quickly stood back up, cradling the creased notes in his arms.

He desperately searched for Irene in the crowd, but stopped when he thought about how badly he must've embarrassed himself. Steeling himself, Rowan cleared his throat and moved closer to the microphone again.

"I-I... uh, um, oof w-well...", stammered Rowan, before letting out the deepest burp he had ever burped. The burp vibrated through his throat, before coming out as an incredibly low sound.

His eyes widened. Gasps jumped out from the crowd, followed by laughter even louder than last time. He felt all the eyes on him, even without looking. It felt like their judgemental looks were burning into his skin. Rowan's eyes began to well up. As his tears clouded his vision, he heard a familiar voice call out.

"Oh, that's nasty man!", teased James, pinching his nose shut.

"Oi, leave him alone!", exclaimed Eloise.

"I swear I saw you eat a sandwich off the canteen floor once", added Spencer.

It was no use. All Rowan could hear were the laughs. The disgusted comments sprinkled throughout the crowd. The groans. Then the boos.

"Get him off! Get him off! Get him off!", chanted James, smirking when a few students joined in.

"Hey! Excuse me, none of that!", called out Principal Rogerson. "Have some respect please."

Unable to take any more, Rowan ran off the stage, abandoning his debate cards entirely. Hesitating for only a couple of seconds, Irene ran after him. Eloise, Atlas and Spencer needed no convincing. They nodded at each other, before taking off after Rowan and Irene.

Elliott was more hesitant. Part of him wanted to stick by Rowan because, despite what had just happened, Rowan was quite an influential person when he wanted to be.
But his friends were laughing, and Zee was still sat in her seat. After weighing up the pros and cons, Elliott jumped up from his seat and left the assembly hall.

"James and his mates are so stupid", said Aurelia to Zee, who was sitting next to her.

Zee had been watching the others leave. Elliott joining them took her by surprise. She didn't know he cared about Rowan. Zee's desire to fade into the background outweighed any chance there was of her wanting to comfort Rowan. She wasn't even sure what she could do to comfort him.

¤¤¤

Rowan locked himself in one of the toilet cubicles. The toilets didn't actually have any seats, so he ended up just leaning against the cubicle door. Every time he tried to forget what happened, a fresh image popped up in his head. He shook his head quickly—something he always did when an embarrassing thought resurfaced in his head. He wasn't sure why he did it, but he always had.

"Rowan? Rowan I know you're in there!", called out Irene. "Please, come out so we can talk."

The sound of Irene's voice made his face get hot. He couldn't believe she saw that fiasco. She saw him crumble when it came to something he was supposed to be good at.

"Irene! Is he in there?", asked Eloise.

Rowan heard a few footsteps, so he assumed that the others had joined Irene. With the benefit of hindsight, he might've been touched, but now all he could think about was how all of them saw him crash and burn.

Atlas and Spencer looked at each other, seemingly saying all that they needed to say through one look alone. Spencer walked into the boy's toilets, with Atlas closely behind.

There was only one cubicle door that was closed, which made it a lot easier for Spencer and Atlas.

"Rowan mate, come out", said Spencer. "We're all on your side here."

"Yeah what happened out there wasn't that bad", said Atlas.

"Not that bad?", questioned Rowan, in disbelief. "I embarrassed myself in front of the whole year–no, whole school!"

"The whole thing will blow over in a week", said Atlas.

Atlas was only trying to help. He always tried to see the positives in everything, whereas Spencer believed that sometimes there weren't any—and that that should be acknowledged.

"Listen, it happens to the best of us", said Spencer.

"What? You've made a total fool of yourself in front of the whole school, quite possibly costing your debate team the win?"

"Ok... no. But I mean I've made a fool out of myself before", replied Spencer.

"It's true! He's the most foolish person ever!", chimed in Eloise, trying to drive home Spencer's point.

"Rowan, what do you think caused it?", asked Irene, her voice getting louder when she remembered she wasn't as close as the boys were.

"Caused it? What do you mean?"

"Well, have you been under any stress?"

"No! The past few days have been a nightmare for no reason. All I did was try and fix a problem with someone from my spelling bee club missing our competition, look for entertainment for the football rally and work on my argument for the debate."

"Hold on, you did all that in just a couple days?", asked Eloise.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Did you even have time to sleep?", asked Irene.

"Yes! In fact, I had even more time to sleep last night because I stupidly forgot to change the batteries in my alarm clock! I've been such a mess lately."

"I'm not surprised you forgot", said Elliott. "Not with all that stuff you had to do!"

"Wait, isn't he talking about Ellis?", asked Eloise, turning to Elliott.

Elliott nodded.

"Why couldn't you have spoken to him?", asked Eloise.

"I thought it wasn't my place", said Elliott.

"He's your friend. When else is it your place?", questioned Irene.

"Mate, you've had a lot on your plate. I know you like to follow a schedule and stuff but... maybe that's the problem", said Atlas.

"What do you mean?", asked Rowan.

"You like things to be a certain way, and that's cool. But when things fall out of place, it'll only make it harder for you", said Atlas.

"Yeah, I'm the same and even I have to admit that it can be a little overwhelming", said Irene.

"But... I can't afford to cut back and take a break."

"Be honest here, Rowan. If you dial your schedule back, what is the worst thing that could happen?", asked Eloise.

"I... I let down everyone that's depending on me."

The group fell silent. In their own way, they could relate to Rowan's fear. Eloise didn't want to let her brother Ivan down. Spencer didn't want to let his father and his soon-to-be sibling down. Irene didn't want to let her dad down. Elliott simply couldn't let his family down. Atlas didn't want to let his family down either.

"I feel so silly. I've been taking on extra responsibility my whole life. Why is it only affecting me now? Why is it today that I completely fall apart?", questioned Rowan.

"Sometimes it isn't just one thing, Rowan", said Spencer. "I... I get panic attacks a lot. I think a lot of people think that you have to go through some traumatic event to have one. Honesty, most of mine come from feeling overwhelmed."

"Really?"

Spencer nodded. "Yeah. I didn't really understand at first, and I didn't know why my brain was making things way bigger than they needed to be. But sometimes that's just what our brains do."

"And there's no cure?"

"If there is I sure as heck don't know it. But... leaning on my parents has always helped me", replied Spencer, before looking in Eloise's direction. "And El's always been there when I need her."

Eloise smiled. "Of course."

"Look, it's normal to feel overwhelmed and a bit helpless", said Spencer.

"But you aren't", said Atlas. "Helpless, I mean."

"Atlas is right. You've got us", said Irene.

"Yeah, we'll help lighten your load", said Eloise.

For the first time in the past couple of days, maybe even longer, Rowan felt at peace. He wasn't looking forward to what the next few days would be like, but he felt a little bit better knowing that he didn't have to face it all alone anymore.

"Thank you. Seriously, I... your support means a lot to me."

As the others started to head back into the hall, Rowan tapped Eloise's shoulder.

"Um, Eloise... can I ask you something?"

Eloise nodded. "Sure."

"How do you do it?"

Eloise furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Do what?"

"Balance school stress and looking after your brother. I mean you've told us all about how hard school is for you, but I've never seen you get overwhelmed."

Eloise chuckled. "Oh man, I definitely get overwhelmed. I guess I've just learned to hide it better."

"How do I do that? How can I be more like you?"

"You want my advice?", questioned Eloise.

Rowan nodded.

"Don't be like me. You're pretty amazing as you are, Rowan."

¤¤¤

After making sure he had all of the correct books and notes for the next school day, Rowan slid into his bed. He replaced the batteries in his alarm clock, clutching the old ones in the palm of his hand. An unfamiliar, yet welcoming sense of calmness washed over him. It was like he could finally breathe. He still felt stressed, and he wasn't sure how he was going to balance all of the things he had to, and wanted to do... but he could start to see the light at the end. It was dim, and he had to really focus to be able to see it, but it was there.

His phone screen lit up, and a video call request from Irene took Rowan by surprise. He just stared at her face for a few seconds, a stunned expression on his face. After a couple more seconds, he accepted the request.

"Hey, Rowan!"

Irene was laying on her side, a lilac duvet pulled up to her chin. Strands of hair covered her face, until she blew them out of the way, her expression making Rowan chuckle. She didn't usually wear much makeup to school, but it was still shocking to see her face look so... bare. The dark circles under her eyes were more noticeable, but so was the natural sparkle in her eyes. He couldn't help but smile at the way she scrunched her nose up when strands of her hair had fallen against her face again.

"Hey. Is everything ok?", he asked.

"Yeah, everything's fine. How are you?"

Rowan exhaled sharply. "Well, I've been better. Today definitely wasn't my best day. But yeah... I feel a lot better than I was before."

"That's good. Well, not the first bit, but you know what I mean. Are you in bed right now?"

"Uh, well I'm on it. Does that count?"

Irene shook her head. "Nu-uh. Nope. You gotta get in the bed now, alright? Come on, get to it, Sterling."

Rowan let out a chuckle, and despite being confused, he did as he was told. Once he got into his bed, he gave Irene a thumbs up.

"I'm in. Call off the attack dogs."

Irene giggled and playfully rolled her eyes.

"Good. They're standing down now. I just wanted to make sure you were actually resting, and not trying to do work or something."

"Oh. No, I literally just finished working a few minutes ago."

Irene nodded.

"Ok so I was thinking we could talk until you fall asleep? I'll end the call as soon as you fall asleep, don't worry."

"Wait, why do you want to do that?"

"Because I know you. You'll probably remember some paper or online research tool a teacher mentioned weeks back, and you'll start looking it up. You need to sleep, Rowan. This way, I can make sure you're actually resting."

"But I don't sleep straight away. I kind of just stare at the ceiling for a bit to help me sleep. You could be on the call for a while."

Irene shrugged. "That's fine by me. I'll stay as long as I need to. Ooh, I know! I could tell you about a cool book I've been reading?"

Rowan leaned his phone against a wall, before turning onto his side so that he was facing the phone. He placed his head on his hands, which were on his pillow. Rowan smiled softly as he listened to Irene whispering about the new book she had been reading.

_____

Hi.

This chapter is very special. I feel like I say that about all of my chapters, but I'm very fortunate to have been able to connect with many of your characters in different ways. The feeling of being overwhelmed, and the path that gets you there, is awful. For a lot of us, school has already started, and things are probably quite hectic. Even for those who have finished school and are looking at employment, or maybe they're doing both—it's a lot to deal with. But, like Rowan learned, you're not alone. Others are going through similar things. So lean on them and support them. And remember—you can't give to others if your cup is empty. Take care of yourself, and that way, you can help others out without doing any harm to yourself.

Rowan and Irene's final section was really nice to write. I feel like it played out better in my head, but hopefully it still made sense to read. I liked looking at the friendships. In an earlier chapter, we saw Eloise and Spencer meeting up with each other whenever they needed to talk. Here, we see a similar version of that support, but between Rowan and Irene.

I liked exploring the whole group dynamics more. We've seen pairings such as Spencer & Eloise, Rowan & Irene and Atlas & Zee, but I haven't done a good job of showing them as one group. I do have a few plot lines that showcase this coming up though!

What are your thoughts on this chapter?

starryeyedturtle

DoodleYeet

LeMystical-Puffle

ejsandfarkleslovebot

Tornado-Jockey