Disclaimer: I don't own anything besides the idea for this story. I only borrowed the characters.
It's been three weeks since Danny last saw Laura in her lit class and Danny's anger and grief slowly receded.
Maybe she switched to a different tutor class after all.
Danny did her best to distract herself from the fact that Laura had invited her over to her room and instead of talking about their messy argument, she asked her for a favor, an extension of the deadline of her paper.
She went on Summer Society hunts twice a week instead of just once, she doubled her track running distance, hell, she even signed up for a second class she could tutor just to keep her mind busy. Danny started avoiding LaFontaine and Perry altogether, because she knew they would mention Laura and it would eradicate her hard work of the past weeks to get over her in a split second.
She was already explaining Emily Dickinson's nature metaphors for fifteen minutes, when Laura entered the classroom noisily and took the last vacant seat in the front row.
Danny's neck grew hot, a bolt struck through her body causing her limbs to prickle, her throat clogged, her legs turned into boneless sticks of meat. She wanted to throw up at the mere sight of Laura. It made her tremble with rage. An immense and all to familiar pressure started building up rapidly behind her eyeballs, she was on the verge of crying.
Think, Danny! Give the students some group work assignments, so you can get out of this room!
Hastily, she scribbled her task for the class on the whiteboard and gave them twenty minutes to figure out the actual meaning of the sea and water metaphors in "I started Early – Took my Dog –".
Danny tried to keep her composure on the hallway, but the tears started to spill uncontrollably. She was breathing rapidly, but very shallow. She locked herself inside a stall and crouched on the floor. Her sobs turned into hysterical gasping, she had trouble breathing and Danny's heart was racing. Her whole body shook violently.
Why did I think she was actually interested in my person at all?
She tightly hugged herself and tried to calm down with little success. She was still uncontrollably gasping for air like a fish on the land.
If hell broke lose at this very moment, she wouldn't have cared. After all what she's done for Laura's well-being, in return she was being treated like garbage. Like an unwanted and ugly pair of socks two sizes too big.
Danny felt like ripping her chest in two and letting all her intestines fall out like the viking ritual "blood eagle", she felt trapped inside her body.
Get it together, Lawrence! Go back and let the students leave early and then you can run until your legs give in, your lungs burn and you're too exhausted to cry any more.
She unlocked the stall, took a look at herself in the mirror and was glad for a moment that there was no make-up to ruin, because she didn't wear any.
Danny let her hand rest on the handle, tried to even her breathing and opened the door.