Mistrust by Margaret McHeyzer Page A

nerves, tension building to a point where I think I’m about to lose my mind.
    Suddenly everything starts blurring as my throat closes and I can barely breathe. Sweat snakes down my damp skin, creating an uncomfortable sensation. “Damn,” I whisper, lifting the hem of my t-shirt to wipe away the moisture gathering at my temples. Everything inside me begins to seize. Panic is rapidly rising and choking every one of my senses. “What’s happening?” I mumble and try to stand from seat.
    “Miss Bennett, sit back down,” I vaguely make out Mrs. Walker yelling from the front of the class.
    “I’m not feeling well . . .” Crap, my legs go completely weak and wobbly as the room spins in every direction.
    “Miss Bennett?”
    “Dakota,” someone calls in a desperate voice.
    “I . . .”

    “Dakota.” A warm hand gently strokes my face. “Can you hear me?” Blinking my eyes open, the first face I see is Reece. He’s holding me against his chest with one arm, and his other hand is slowly stroking down my cheek.
    “What happened?” I try to sit up but Reece holds me even tighter to his chest.
    “Don’t try to move,” he orders me. “You passed out, Dakota. You stood up and started swaying, mumbled something, and collapsed.”
    “Did I?” I ask as I look around to see all my classmates’ faces staring back at me, not even trying to hide the whispering behind their hands.
    “You did. I noticed how you were unsteady on your feet and got to you just as you collapsed.”
    “You did?” Reece comforts me by smiling. “Thank you.”
    “Any time.”
    “Dakota, can you stand?” Mrs. Walker asks.
    “I think so.”
    “You need to go to the nurse. Reece, can you help Dakota?” Mrs. Walker asks him.
    “Yes, Ma’am.” Reece moves me away, and jumps to his feet. “Here, take my hand.” He stretches his arm down and offers me his hand so I can pull myself up.
    “Thank you,” I say and turn to grab my books and clear my desk.
    “Here you go.” Mrs. Walker holds out a slip for us to take to the nurse.
    Reece and I leave and he grabs my books. “I can carry them,” I say while we slowly walk down the hall.
    “I’ll take them.”
    “Thanks.” I pull my hair out of the now messy ponytail and fix it. “I’ll stop off at my locker first so I can get my bag.”
    “Okay.” We walk in an awkward silence until we get to my locker. “So.”
    “So.” I say the same time Reece says it.
    “What happened back there?” He points toward the classroom. “Are you okay?”
    “I forgot to have breakfast,” I lie. I’m not going to tell him I got so wound up that I pushed myself to breaking point and passed out. Because if I say I panicked, then a whole new line of questioning opens up, and I don’t want those questions to be asked.
    “Can I ask you something else?”
    “Um, sure.”
    “Why did you and Levi break up?”
    Sighing, I figure I may as well tell him the real reason, because the way Levi’s been acting toward me, I dare say he would’ve told Reece whatever he wanted. “Because I wasn’t ready to have sex with him.”
    “What?”
    “We were supposed to have sex after the prom, but then I . . .” I stop myself in time before I confess the truth to him. Reece is easy to talk to, which means it’s even easier for me to slip up and tell him exactly what happened.
    “You what?” he pushes me to finish what I started.
    “I felt sick and I went home. But, besides the fact I left, I’d told him on our way to the prom how I wasn’t ready. I thought he understood and accepted it, but I guess not.” I shrug my shoulders and look down at the floor in the corridor.
    “Hang on a minute.” He stops walking and reaches out to grab my elbow so I stop walking too. I’ve been jumpy and jittery when people have come close to me, but I’m strangely okay with Reece’s touch. “You’re telling me Levi broke up with you because you wouldn’t have sex with him.”
    “That’s exactly what I’m