The Panic Attack in the Middle of History Class

A heartfelt, voice-driven YA coming-of-age story about anxiety, academic pressure, first love, sibling loss, and learning to breathe againBy Charlie Reeves

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Length7h 29m

About this audiobook

Charlie knows every date, every treaty, every name on the list. She still can't breathe. First period History. September sixth. The pop quiz hasn't even started. And the fist around Charlie's lungs is already closing, slow and patient, like it has all the time in the world. She's been up since four-thirty, running flashcards by the glow of a phone that used to be Bennett's. She doesn't think about whose phone it was. She doesn't. On paper, Charlie is valedictorian material. Tied for number one with Leo Chen, who glances back at her like he's calculating her weaknesses. Underneath, she's chewed her nails past the quick, caked concealer under her eyes, and built her whole life on a lie nobody can see. If she just studies hard enough, controls enough, holds her breath long enough, maybe the panic won't win. Then Jamie Okonkwo transfers in from Chicago, with a real laugh and a quiet way of noticing the things she works so hard to hide. "Nice to meet you, Charlie," he says, and somehow he's smiling, even though she won't turn around. Jamie sees the panic before she admits it's there. He teaches her how to breathe when the spiral starts. He doesn't flinch when she falls apart in front of him. And slowly, terrifyingly, Charlie starts to want a life that's more than just survival. But the secret she's been carrying since the summer everything changed is still waiting. It's hiding in a note she wasn't supposed to find, in the empty chair at the dinner table, in the reason she can't pick up that phone without her chest caving in. And the closer the academic-decathlon pressure builds, the harder it gets to keep pretending she's fine. To stop running from the grief she buried, Charlie has to do the one thing terror won't let her do. Stop holding her breath, and finally tell the truth. The Panic Attack in the Middle of History Class is a heartfelt, voice-driven YA coming-of-age story about anxiety, academic pressure, first love, sibling loss, and learning to breathe again. Perfect for readers who love emotional contemporary YA, anxiety and mental-health stories, slow-burn first romance, achingly real grief, and characters who finally let themselves be seen. A standalone coming-of-age novel with a hopeful ending.

Grief Psychological Healing Coming of Age First Love Family