Irrational Fear

If love could throw stones, they would be very large boulders. Elise Brent-wood, a socially awkward teenager in her sophomore year, the queen of nerds and secretly one the leading players in the mobile gaming community, became love’s latest victim. On most weekends, she would spend her free time at home gaming or reading the most boring scientific works known to any average American teenager. But today the most dreadful thing that could happen to a introvert happened to Elise, neighbourhood barbecue picnic.

“Alright Elise, you have two hours to say hello and make at least one friend. Not a rock, not a plant but a real live person”, ordered her father.

“And then I can go home?” Elise asked hopefully.

“NO!” answered Mr.Brent-wood. “I will be at the barbecue stand flexing my culinary muscles if you need anything. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”

With that Mr. Brent-wood left his daughter to socialize by herself. There was a pretty big crowd. Almost the whole neighbourhood had showed up parents, kids, old people, teens you name it. There was a small pet zoo, a play area for kids, Picnic tables by the lake and an outdoor rock concert. All this terrified Elise. She didn’t even realize she was shaking.

“Calm down Eli strong heart. You can do it. At least pretend to have fun. You can get away with it, right? ” she thought to her self.

Out of incredible bravery or the fear of her father’s wrath, Elise picked the concert. There were a number of people her age, they were all focused on the music and the music performers on stage. No one would pay attention to her. She would just hangout at the back of the crowd.

Ten minutes later, she was in the front. How that happened passed her IQ. Fear and excitement had taken possession of her as teens around her jumped, danced, pushed and sang along with the performers on stage. She tried to escape but to no avail. Elise was beyond terrified. She was distressed. 

With a lot of effort and determination, she managed to maneuver through the rowdy crowd to the back where she clumsily fell to the ground.

“Hey, are you okay? Do you need a hand?” she heard people say. 

Elise’s mind started panicking as she stood up and tried to run when seconds later she slammed into someone and blanked out.

  “Hey, wake up, wake up!” she heard a voice say.

When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was an Adonis of a guy. He was hot, like super model hot. Slightly curly black hair, disturbingly beautiful blue eyes, flawless skin, reasonably sharp eyebrows and a perfect mouth. He smiled when he saw that Elise came to.

“Are you alright? Can you stand?” he asked as he offered her his hand.

“I’m okay…thanks”, responded Elise as she grabbed his hand and stood up. 

 When she saw the small crowd of concerned onlookers around her, her heart started racing…again.

“Sorry about the collision. We both weren’t looking where we were going. I’m Jade. What’s…”

`Before he could finish his question, Elise had bolted. But this time she had a clear perception of where she was going.

Somewhere, near the picnic tables, Greg and Hank watched their sister jump into the park lake. The grins which they had earlier were completely wiped out.

Twenty minutes later, the Brent-wood family were on their way home in their van. Elise was wrapped in blankets and shivering for dear life while her family fumed against her.

“So what happened? What possessed you to jump into the lake Elise?” asked her angry father. 

Her siblings were equally annoyed with her. 

“Yeah, El, what got your goat to day? Hank and I are were having a great time when you messed things up!” snapped Greg.

“Greg leave your sister alone! You are being hard on her”, defended Mrs. Brent-wood. “When we get home Elise, you are going straight to bed.”

The only who seemed to sympathize with her was her mum.

“Honey”, begun Mr. Brent-wood. “You are spoiling her by being soft. Our daughter needs to learn she can’t spend her life running away from life.”

“I know that Henry but she’s still a child and has a long way to go”, responded his wife.

It was the longest drive home and the quietest afternoon. The boys already had plans to hang out with their friends and left already. Mr. Brent-wood was watching a base-ball game between the Chicago Cheetahs and the New York Yankees. Elise had barely spoken a word since they had arrived. Mrs. Brent-wood figured something dramatic must have caused her to react the way she did.

“Sweetie, are you feeling better?” she asked.

“Yes, mum”, Elise answered as she swallowed a spoonful of chicken noodle soup.

“Can you tell me what happened after dad left you by yourself?”

Elise frowned and put her bowl of soup on her side table.

“I did something crazy”, she begun.

“You mean something much more crazier than jumping into the park lake?” 

Elise started explaining how she ended up at the mini rock concert, how she tried to leave and ended up colliding with some guy.

“Then I ran and jumped into the lake”, she finished.

All the while her mother had taken in every detail into account.

“I see”, she said thoughtfully.”So this boy…was he… good looking?”

Elise frowned even more which made her mum’s eyes light up.

“OMG! You like him!”

“Wha…No!..No! He made me panic even more!”

“Sweetie, I’ve been a girl longer than you have. I know that feeling very well.”

Elise instinctively knew where this conversation was going so she covered her ears.

“Please, not your stories of how you met dad” she begged.

“I remember he confessed his feelings to me. It was late in the afternoon and my heart was pounding like a drum. It pounded heavily for three days.”

“Mum? Please…”, whined her daughter.

“I haven’t even reached the part where we shared our first kiss”, Mrs. Brent-wood said innocently.

She promptly tickled and kissed her daughter on her head causing her to laugh and smile.

“There’s the Elise I know” she said with a smile. “Don’t worry about. It’s a great feeling to have. Next time don’t jump into the lake. Instead, face your deepest fears with courage and bravery. You never know when you would make a friend.”

“Thanks mum”, Elise responded as she embraced her mother. “I’ll think about it.”

Three weeks later, summer vacation was over. Elise was back at the Eagle High. Principal Kelly stood at the door to welcome the students and was especially enthusiastic to his Elise.

“Look who made back alive from summer vacation. I thought you wouldn’t show up for the first day.”

Elise could sense a tiny hint of sarcasm in his voice. But brushed it off. 

“I’m here to get an education”, she said grimly.

“And…?”

“Enjoy the rest of my high school life”, she finished begrudgingly.

“Very good. Now get to class. I will check on you later to make sure you don’t disappear.”

Elise entered the school hall way. It was bustling with students and a few teachers. Everyone was busy talking about how great their summer vacation was which was perfect because no one bothered her. She put her back up in her locker, picked her math books and got to her class.

Everything was going well until…she saw a familiar face. Immediately, she hid behind her text book. Her heart was racing. “Please, don’t let him see me”, she wished in her chest.

Luck was on her side. He walked past her to his seat in the back while chatting with his friends. Best of all the teacher walked in which signaled the beginning of first period. So as long as she kept her mouth shut and her face hidden, she would be fine. 

Second period was literature. Elise simply swapped books and pretended to be busy. This time he sat in front. So far so good. She might get away with it by third period. 

Third period was Biology. This time Elise sat way in the back row with a Biology book in her face. A few students chuckled at this sight but forgot about her immediately when the biology teacher should up. The guy she was avoiding was seated in the second row in front.

“Safe”, she whispered to herself.

However, Principal Kelly showed up and called out her name.

“Elise Brent-wood? Are you here?” he asked as surveyed the room.

Like machines, all eyes turned to the girl seated in the back hiding behind a text book. 

Elise lowered the book slightly and was again was terrified. 

“There you are! Glad to see you are still here”, he said cheerfully.

Elise could barely hear his voice because her crush was looking directly at her with his amazing smile. How was it possible that such a beautiful face would be her down fall? 

“See you later, trooper”, was the last thing she heard Mr. Kelly say as he shut the door.

What happened after, Elise could not remember. Except that she was in the nurses office during fourth period.

“What happened to me?” she asked miss Lacey.

The nurse sat on the edge of the bed. “Well, for some reason you went into shock. Normally, when that happens you faint but in your case you turned into a vegetable?”

“For how long?” Elise asked.

“An hour”, replied Miss Lacey. ”How are you feeling?”

“Much better. I’ve been tense whole morning.”

“Whatever you are worried about can be sorted out. Are you feeling well enough to go back to class?”

Elise dreaded the question but she knew she had to go back and face her classmates. She will be the talk of the school for a while. Her powers of invisibility completely crushed. 

“Can I just have five minutes?” 

Lunch break was just an hour long. The hall ways of Eagle high were full chatter and excitement. Elise had escaped before anyone could stop her. She went to the school yard in a secluded space under a groove of an overgrown tree. She hid behind it and started unpacking her lunch a red apple, a tuna sandwich, a packet of spicy tortilla chips and a bottle of juice. 

Suddenly, a shadow loomed over her. 

“Hi, Elise”, greeted the person she wanted to see the least.

Elise was paralyzed with fear once again. Her big green eyes blinked and her mouth felt dry.

Her visitor noticed the fear..

“Please, calm down and try not to run away! I’m mean you no harm”, he said. “Ever since the incident at the park during summer vacation I’ve been trying to get a hold of you. I hope I didn’t offend you in anyway.”

Elise was torn between running and staying put. She had no logical reason to be afraid of him and yet she was. She took a deep breathe.

“Its…its not your fault”, she croaked. “I’m an introvert. I’m terrified of people, of…of being noticed, of making friends or…or even making light conversation.”

“Wow that must be intense”, he responded astonished. “Is it….an illness?”

“No! No its not. I’m just different from most people”, Elise explained. “I’m sorry for avoiding you ever since the barbecue. My social skills….are really bad compared to academic skills.”

“All is forgiven on one condition. We eat lunch together.”

“What?! Even though I’m a weirdo and probably the talk of the school right now?” she asked in disbelief.

“Talk of the school is a bit of an exaggeration but yes I want to eat lunch with you and hopefully by the end of the day we could become friends.”

By now Elise had changed her mind about fleeing the scene. Who knew that human nature was intriguing. Could this be her first friend that her mum talked about?

For the first time all day, she smiled and looked a bit more relaxed.

“Okay, we can eat lunch together”, she said. “By the way…I missed your name at the barbecue.”

“Oh, you mean when suddenly bolted like a race track runner? It’s Jade.”

End