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“I bet you didn’t even study,” Paul said with a smirk as John argued with him. But he didn’t even notice the worried expression on George’s face.
“I did too study. I’m not stupid enough not to.”
They had a huge history test in their next class. It was the final grade for the semester, and they all knew that if they didn’t study, they would fail.
But as the two of them continued to talk about it, George got more and more nervous. He had completely forgotten about the test.
It wasn’t until Paul looked over at him that he noticed the way his breathing was getting faster and faster.
“Shit, George. You okay?” George shook his head, his knees giving out. Paul caught him before he hit the ground. “Oh, God,” Paul said, knowing that the poor boy was on the brink of a panic attack. “Remember your breathing, yeah?”
When the bell rang and George started to cry, Paul turned to John.
“Can you let Jones know that we’ll be right in?”
“Yeah.”
Paul focused back on George and sat him down against the wall.
“Breathe for me, Georgie. Just breathe.” George did his best to practise his breathing techniques as Paul sat beside him and rubbed his back. “That’s it, George. What’s going on now? Did it just happen or was there something that caused it?”
George kept his eyes glued to the floor. “The test. I d-didn’t study. I forgot there was even one, and now I’m gonna fail, and my parents are going to be so upset with me.”
“Aw, Georgie, it’ll be alright. I promise. It can’t be that hard. And besides, you’ve been paying attention to this whole unit. I doubt you even need to study.”
“B-but, what if it’s r-really hard?” He started to freak out again and mutter things that Paul could no longer understand.
He started to rub George’s back again as the younger boy had a second panic attack.
“George, you’ll do fine on the test.”
But when he looked at his friend, it seemed that he wasn’t even paying attention to Paul.
“P-Paul, I’m… Paul…”
“George? Are you alright?”
He shook his head, and then Paul heard something that sounded like dripping. He ignored it, turning his attention back to George.
“Paul, oh, god… oh fuck. Paulie…”
“Hey, Georgie, what’s going on?”
George covered his face, pushing his legs apart, and Paul saw that he was wetting himself.
“Oh, God.” The puddle spreading out from him grew bigger and bigger, and Paul scooted away from him. “Georgie, good god. What happened?”
“I don’t know… I had to go, but it just started coming out, and now I’ve pissed myself. Oh, fuck.”
“It’s alright, sweetie. Are you done?” George nodded. “Alright, then, let’s get you to the office, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Hey, look on the bright side. Now you’ll probably get to go home and get to study before the test, yeah?”
George laughed. “Oh, shit. I have to go home like this. Can’t we do something?”
“George, I think you should just tell your parents. They won’t be upset with you.”
George shrugged. “I guess.”
Paul hugged him, helping him up. “Hey, it’s alright, yeah?”
“Yeah, it’s alright. Thanks, Paul. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.”
Paul hugged him tighter. “It’s no problem at all. I love you, Georgie.”
“You, too.”