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School was shit.
Daniel had always tried to ignore the fact that people hated him for winning the karate competition. But one of the people that didn't was surprising. It was Johnny Lawrence himself. Now that was better then any trophy.
Of course, it was more entertaining than joy inducing, but it was nice none the less. He wouldn't say that they were friends per say, just acquaintances. Or a school friend that's just that, a school friend. So that puts his friend count at three. Mr. Miyagi, Ali, and Johnny. It sounded sad, and honestly it was, but it didn't bother him. He didn't think it bothered him. Having barely any friends wasn't exactly fun though.
Walking around school, occasionally getting names called at or getting tripped. Daniel wouldn't say he liked it. But at least he stopped getting jumped. Johnny's gang had left him alone for the most part. So he dealt with it. It wasn't exactly good for his mental health though.
His mom had noticed he had stopped talking as much, and that he was either never home, or never away. But thankfully, Ms. LaRusso never brought it up.
-
Despite not wanting to get out of bed, Daniel rubbed his eyes and got up. He grabbed some clothes and hopped into the shower. It was cranked up to the hottest setting, it burned but it felt nice in a way.
He got out, threw on his outfit, and biked to school. It wasn't far away. Not far away at all actually. It only was around five minutes away from the apartments. But he always ended up being either a little late, or exhausted by the time he got to school. That's one of the reasons he was thankful for not being hated by Johnny. He didn't have to bike to school, and barely be able to run and hide, and barely being able to breath.
Daniel put his bike in the bike rack, and he headed to class. He scrunched his nose at the noise of the hall, it always hurt his ears. Finally, he came into class and plopped next to Johnny. Honestly, he would've sat next to him even if all the seats weren't filled. He hated to admit it but Johnny was really growing on him. Despite the past bullying, he really wasn't that bad. At least to Daniel.
Daniel flashed a smile to Ali, since it was the only class (besides lunch) they had together. Ali and him had broken up a couple months ago, not really having the connection anymore. Despite them being broken up, Ali and Johnny stayed broken up too.
He went to talk to the blonde, but the teacher came in and scolded the class, so he lost his chance.
-
The last class of the day. Mr. Hamilton's math class. Daniel never liked math. He wasn't even good at it. So he was always stressed during the end of school. Hair-pulling stress, just because of some numbers. He thought it was dumb.
Of course, it was probably common with the lectures constantly about the grades of the class but it still felt stupid. He felt stupid.
Everything hurt, including his head. His chest hurt the most though. Daniel felt like he was going to die. He didn't wanna die yet. He was far to young. He raised his hand hastily.
"Yes, Mr. LaRusso?" He asked, turning away from the board. Daniel's throat like it was closing up.
"B-Bathroom." He choked out.
"Excuse me?"
"Can- can I go to the bathroom? Please- please." The teacher gave him a funny look, but let him go. He almost ran out of the classroom. He rushed to the bathroom, slamming the door open. The room felt like it was closing in. Was this how it felt like to have a heart attack? Can teenagers even have heart attacks? Daniel hadn't had a clue, but at the moment he was just focused that he was dying. He didn't wanna die. Not there, not then. He couldn't breathe, everything hurt, there wasn't a way he wasn't dying.
-
Johnny was bored out of his mind. He couldn't even focus on the math. I mean, who knew what 87 × 108?? Not him, of course. He was surprised he was even passing at this point. If he was honest, half the time he just stared at Daniel. He always seemed to be doing something other then math. Doodling in his notebook, chewing his nails. But Johnny noticed that he did that. Usually in math. Almost like it was a habit or something.
But that day, he wasn't doing anything. He was still, just staring at the desk in front of him. It was almost like he was spaced out or something, but the look on his face said otherwise. And there was something odd about his breathing. It was, rigid? That was how Johnny would describe it. All of a sudden, Daniel's hand shot up.
"B-Bathroom." He choked out. Was he okay? Usually he didn't sound so, scared.
"Excuse me?"
"Can- can I go to the bathroom? Please- please." He stuttered.
"Jesus." Johnny mumbled. If ridgit wasn't the word to describe it then it sure was now. He sounded horrified. Daniel ran off to the bathroom, getting stares from classmates. Johnny just sat in shock. He knew Daniel had looked off during math but what the fuck had just happened?
He sighed before raising his hand.
"Yes, Mr. Lawrence?"
"May I go to the bathroom too?"
"Fine, if you must." The teacher sighed. Johnny hopped up and went for the bathroom. There was only one bathroom on the entire floor, he didn't have many options on where he could be. Unless he left, but he'd never seen the boy skip.
He pushed the door open and was immediately met with Daniel curled up on the floor. He was mumbling something, but Johnny couldn't quite make it out. He ran up to him and kneeled by him.
"Jesus christ, are you okay??" He asked. Daniel looked up at him.
"J-Johnny?? What- what are you-"
"Calm down, you gotta breathe LaRusso." Johnny said, trying to be calm.
"I-I can't-"
"You can- you can, you just gotta calm down."
"I-I feel like I'm dying. I-I don't wanna die- not yet-" Daniel choked. Johnny's heart sunk.
"Hey hey no- you're not gonna die. You're gonna be fine."
"T-Then why can't I breathe??" He felt sick. Daniel started gagging a bit, feeling the vomit creep up his throat.
"Shit- are you gonna be sick??" The blonde questioned, receiving heaving noises back. He took the hint, and grabbed the trash can. It was just in time for Daniel to empty his stomach. It burned, and the heaving made him dizzy. He choked a bit, before spitting and leaning back. Everything felt horrible. His chest and throat ached from throwing up, his lungs ached from the lack of air he seemed to be getting. At that moment he just wanted to pass out. But he could finally breathe a bit better. Now it was just simple panting, trying to catch his breath.
"Holy fuck LaRusso, what the hell happened?" Johnny questioned.
"I dunno." Daniel mumbled. "I just- I felt like I was dying. So I ran off to here."
"Well, good thing you weren't. You scared me, man." The blonde exhaled.
"Yeah, you're tellin' me." There was a pause. It was like the tension formed and blocked all of the noise. He was convinced that you could physically cut it with a knife.
"Do you think that was a panic attack?"
"A what?"
"A panic attack. My uh, mom gets 'em sometimes. She says they feel similar to-"
"Having a stroke?" Daniel cut off.
"Yeah." Johnny nodded.
"I guess you got a point. It might've been? I dunno, I'm not good with this shit. Usually I just talk to Mr. Miyagi."
"Well neither am I, so." Johnny added, making Daniel snort.
"I guess Mr. Miyagi had a point."
"Huh?"
"We have more in common then we think." He mumbled, laughing a little.
"Hell, I didn't need him to tell me that." Johnny laughed too. Another block of silence. But with less tension. They were easing into conversation, for the most part. "Mr. Miyagi is that short guy who taught you karate right?"
"Yup. That's him."
"I remember when he saved my ass." Johnny snorted.
"Yeah, I thought he was gonna kill Kreese." Daniel laughed.
"Me too." The blonde took a breath. Daniel was really not that bad. He was actually pretty funny, occasionally. And he held up conversations.
"Does this make us friends? Cause we've been sitting here together for like- twenty minutes."
"Hell- why not. You're not too bad LaRusso." Johnny let out a breathy laugh.
"You know you can call me Daniel right?"
"Oh, then you're not bad, Daniel."
"You aren't too bad yourself Johnny." Daniel snorted, before pausing. "Hey uh, thanks."
"Huh? Oh, yeah, no problem man."
"Don't tell anyone."
"Wouldn't dream of it."