Chapter 20 – Shooting Pt one

Harmoni

I had been distracted for the past two days. I mean, who wouldn’t be after the guy they had been crushing over for the past months finally kisses them and then runs away saying it was a mistake?

That kiss had been fantastic, but the aftermath had been heartbreaking. I had barely seen William since then, and he even canceled a few shifts, saying he had SWAT work.

He said it was a mistake, but I’m sure that even he couldn’t deny the chemistry that existed between us and how right it felt to be with each other. I didn’t believe he genuinely thought it was a mistake. He couldn’t, could he? Had everything that I felt happening between us since the Gala in my head? No, right?

That kiss had intensified my feelings towards him. I liked him. I liked him a lot. He was funny, charming, and caring. He could try and hide it all he wanted, but I could see that there was something between us. That time we went to get ice cream, during our sparring, at the meteor shower. I wasn’t crazy. I needed to confront him.

Making up my mind to talk to him tonight after school, I focused back on the conversation the girls were having.

“Did you hear about the pregnant women on the news?” one of my cheerleading teammates, Amelia, said. The girls had asked to join us for lunch. Although I was mostly with Emily, we did get along with most of the people in the school.

“You mean the woman that is being sued for losing her fetus after getting shot?” I asked. I had been completely shocked when I heard about this.

“Yeah, her!” she confirmed. “Crazy, right?!” she said astounded.

“I know, I mean she was shot, lost her child, and now she might go to jail with more guilt than she probably already has,” Emily said.

“Yeah, I mean no one deserves to be shot during an argument. That’s just all kind of wrong,” Jessie added. “I need to make a quick phone call, I’ll be back,” he continued before standing up. I had caught Jessie on the phone quite a few times since we came back from the Christmas holidays. I wondered what it was about. I needed to remind myself to ask him later. Who knows, maybe he found himself a girlfriend?

The girls and I continued talking about the woman for another few minutes.

“I wonder what the end re—“ Amelia started before being cut off by a sound I hoped I would never hear out of training. The alert was ringing loudly through the whole school.

“There are no drills planned for today.” I looked at Emily and Amelia, who were seated across from me with wide eyes, seeing the shock on their faces, which probably reflected my own. Just as I said that, the broadcasting system turned on.

“This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill.” We could hear the principal’s voice, panic laced around it, even though we could tell she was trying her best to keep her voice steady.

We were looking at each other with dread before quickly getting on our feet and running. There was an active shooter in our school. This was not a drill. Students were running in all directions, screaming and panicked. I had aimed to get out of the school when the first shots were heard. We needed to get to safety. Now. The cafeteria was on the second floor, and judging by where the shooting sounds came from, the exit was no longer an option.

I held onto Emily’s hand like my life depended on it, looking left and right hoping to spot Jessie, but he was nowhere to be seen. Hopefully, he had taken cover already. This was not the time to lose Emily in the crowd, I thought to myself as my hold on her tightened. She was completely paralyzed by fear, the only thing keeping her going was my hand pulling onto hers. She was in autopilot.

We had had many drills about this, so we all knew what to do. Head to any place which has a lock and lock yourself in. Then don’t move until security comes and gets you out.

We had finally made it inside a classroom. A few students followed us in before I locked the door behind us. We sat on the floor next to the wall and made sure all the lights were turned off.

David and Logan were supposed to be patrolling the perimeter. I hope they were alright. The thought of how the shooter had managed to pass their security made my blood run cold. It couldn’t be, right? They couldn’t be hurt or worse, right?

My hands were shaking slightly. I tried to remember my training from William. The training was never for a school shooting, but it should be relatively the same. Stay quiet, hide, and if they find you, do everything they ask you to do but stay alert to any possible contact ways. For now, I still had my phone on me. William. I had to call William. He would know what to do or at least bring help.

“I’m going to go in the closet and call William,” I told Emily as silently as I could. She quietly nodded, still shocked by the events happening. The random shooting sounds we could hear were definitely not reassuring either.

Going into the walk-in closets where equipment for the art class was stored, I quickly turned my phone on. Realizing it was still on flight mode due to the exam I had earlier that morning, the signal was feeble in this part of the school, but I hoped it would be enough to get in touch with him.

Turning off the flight mode, I immediately received the notification that I had 5 missed calls from William. Clicking on the call back button, I quickly placed my phone to my ear.

“Harmoni!” I heard him, clearly relieved to be hearing from me. “Are you okay? Where are you?” he started questioning worriedly.

“I’m alright. We are in the last classroom in building B, it’s an art class. There were shots. So many shots have already been fired. At least 10,” I started, my voice shaking as I tried my best not to panic as the reality of what was happening began to hit me.

“Stay calm and stay quiet. We are almost there.”

“Yes, we locked the doors. I’m in the closet right now. The lights are off, and no one is uttering a single sound. Please get here soon. I think the shooting is getting closer,” I said after hearing a shot that seemed to be at the other end of this same corridor. They were coming this way. “William, he’s coming this way.”

“Dammit, step on it!” I heard him tell the driver. “We’re almost there, just hold on.”

I was about to answer when another shot came. I placed my hand over my mouth to muffle the small cry that escaped. This was too close. This was right here. I watched from the small gap under the door as the door handle fell to the floor.

“He just blew up the lock. He’s here,” was all I managed to tell William. I felt like my heart would beat out of my chest, seeing how fast it was going. The students on the other side of the closet were screaming.

“Shut the fuck up!” the man said, while lining them all up against the wall. Emily was petrified, she was sobbing loudly, clearly scared out of her mind. She was the first one on the right side. Although he had his back towards me and was blocking my view partly, I could see him asking Emily to kneel and put her hands behind her head.

“I have to go. He’s going to kill Emily. I wish we had more time. Thanks for everything, Wil,” I blurted out before cutting the call.

Simultaneously cutting off his plea for me to stay put, I couldn’t let my best friend die today. Over my dead body, literally.

Everything after this happened in slow motion.