A Heart Worth Loving

The first few lessons seemed to drag, but finally, the bell rang for lunch and Layla followed Stefan outside to where the others were already waiting. Hearing someone call her name, she turned around to see who it was and frowned when she found no one in sight.

Sitting down next to Stefan, Layla listened to the conversation going on around her and grimaced as a sharp pain shot through her head. Closing her eyes, she heard the distant sound of Stefan's voice and gasped as flashing images filled her mind.

She could hear the roar of fire and feel her lungs begin to struggle as she inhaled the smoke, but there was no way out. Unable to breathe, Layla began to panic and snapped back to reality as someone gently shook her shoulder.

"Lay?" Stefan called as she fought to gain control of her breathing, "Are you okay?"

"I..." Layla started, standing up and taking off towards the history classroom.

"Layla, what can I do for... hey," Ric said, jumping up from his desk as soon as he spotted her and immediately pressing her hand against his chest, "It's okay... just breath with me, in and out."

It was nearly ten minutes, before Layla had calmed down and was sitting at one of the desks with her head in her hands. Looking up as Ric tapped her, she accepted the bottle of water that he was offering and took a sip.

"Thanks," she mumbled, placing the bottle on the table and fighting back the tears that were threatening to fall.

"What happened?" Ric asked, crouching down in front of her with concern clear in his eyes, "I haven't seen you like that in a while."

"I had these visions of fire and I couldn't breathe," Layla explained, lowering her gaze to her trembling hands, "I panicked... I felt like I was losing my mind, Ric."

"Hey," he replied softly, taking her hands, "You're okay."

Nodding, Layla heard the sound of footsteps approaching the classroom and looked up to find Tyler standing in the doorway.

"I saw what happened and told the others to wait where they were," Tyler told her, dropping his bag near the door and moving to sit in the seat next to Layla, "I thought you'd stopped having panic attacks."

"Not completely," Layla stated with a shrug, "They weren't as bad, but this one caught me off guard... I'm fine, Ty."

"Perhaps you should go home for the rest of the day," Ric suggested, "I could get Damon to come pick you up."

"Yeah," Layla agreed, knowing that her gran had taken Brandon away for a couple of days and not wanting to be alone, "I don't want anyone to know, they'll just worry and make it into a bigger deal than it is."

"Stefan and the others already know, but I can tell the office that you weren't feeling too good," Ric added, earning a nod from Layla and pulling out his phone to text Damon.

Lunch was just about to end, when Damon arrived to get her and drove her back to the Salvatore house. Feeling exhausted, she sat on the sofa to watch television and curled into Damon's side as he joined her.

"How are you feeling?" Damon inquired, wrapping his arm around her and resting his hand on her hip.

"I have a pounding headache and I still feel a little panicky, but I'll be okay," Layla mumbled, keeping her gaze on the television, "Thank you for picking me up from school."

"My pleasure, do you need some painkillers?"

"Yes please."

Shifting so that Damon could get up, Layla rested back against the sofa cushions and closed her eyes to try to relieve some of the pain. Hearing her name echo inside her head, she flinched and jumped a little as Damon sat back down.

"Here," he said with a look of concern, handing her two painkillers and a glass of water, "What's going on with you?"

"I don't know," Layla admitted, swallowing nervously and looking over at Damon, "I'm scared, Damon."