Chapter Text
Geoff was doing everything he could do to stay awake. He was sitting in his desk in the back of his trigonometry class filled with juniors and some really smart sophomores as a senior because he had fucked around his junior year. Which is why he was stuck in the class snapping a rubber band against his wrist to keep from falling asleep.
Michael, one of Geoff’s junior friends, was sitting in the desk beside him doodling in the margins of his notebook. He looked over at Geoff and watched the rubber band snap against his friend’s wrist again. He couldn’t help but stifle a laugh, seeing the line of red bruises on Geoff’s wrist.
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Gavin loved art class. He was good at it. He knelt on a stool in the back of the art classroom, kneading a block of clay with the heels of his hands. He was wearing one of his dad’s old white button up shirts over his clothes. His mom got tired of him coming home with his shirt covered in paint or chalk or whatever the class was working with that day and made him wear the shirt as a smock. Gavin didn’t mind much though, he like the shirt. He hadn’t washed it since he started wearing it and it was covered in paint and clay and chalk dust. It was just like another art project.
Griffon was sitting next to him, dragging a piece of coal around a page in her sketchbook. Unbeknownst to Gavin, she was sketching him in profile. Again. A lot of the pages in her sketchbook were filled with drawings, sketches, and paintings of the British foreign exchange student. No, she didn’t have a crush on him, no matter how much the art teacher, Mr. Burton, teased her about it. She was in love with her boyfriend Geoff. Gavin was just an easy subject to draw.
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Ray started as the Spanish worksheet on his desk in front of him, trying to make sense of the words and translate them into English. But it just looked like a bunch of gibberish to him. It didn’t matter that he was Puerto Rican and spoke fluent Spanish, he also grew up speaking English and learned how to read and write in English because they live in America. He took Spanish thinking it would be an easy class, but boy was he wrong. He learned quickly that there was a big difference between speaking a language and reading and writing it. He would need to ask his Nana for help when he got home.
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Lindsay couldn’t help but reach over and hit a few keys on Jack’s keyboard. It was too easy. Jack would flip his shit if anything happened to the project they had been working on for almost a month now. He saved every few minutes. Lindsay hitting a few keys wouldn’t affect the video project, but it made Jack’s face turn fifty shades of red and it never not made her laugh.
"How would you like it if I did that to you?" Jack said, reaching over and repeatedly hitting the delete key on her keyboard.
"Don’t! We haven’t saved yet." Ryan said, punching Jack’s arm away.
Lindsay let out a loud laugh that made their computer teacher look up from his monitor and glare in their direction. Lindsay dropped her gaze back to her screen and tried to quiet her laughing. She batted the boy’s hands away from the keyboard and saved the video editing progress before Ryan started to cry.
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Bang!
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"Was that the bell?" Geoff asked, looking over at Michael.
"Did that sound like a bell to you?" Michael asked back.
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Griffon jumped, her charcoal skirting across the page, leaving a dark line through the middle of her drawing of Gavin. She pursed her lips together in an displeased frown, looking from her sketchbook to the door.
Gavin stared nervously at the door, his dirty, clay covered fingers scarping at the wooden table top.
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Another gunshot rang out, followed by the sound of terrified screams and running feet.
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Within seconds of the second gunshot Mr. Sanchez had the door locked and closed and the lights off. He was going around pulling the few kids who were still in their desks out and shoving them against the far wall, away from the door.
Ray was one of the students who Mr. Sanchez had to move. He was shoved roughly to the floor and against the wall. His bum hit the ground hard when he was shoved down and it knocked him back into reality.
Someone was in the school with a gun and firing. For once Ray was grateful for the fact that the Spanish classroom didn’t have any windows in it. But at the same time he wished it did so they could get out of the school.
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Lindsay was huddled under a computer table in the corner with Jack and Ryan sitting in front of her. She was clutching the backs of their shirts tightly and shaking violently. The two had pushed her under the table after the first shot rang out.
The six other students in the classroom were huddled under the tables as well. Mr. Ryan had shoved one of the heavy computer tables in front of the door and was kneeling beside a wall.
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Michael visibly flinched when two more shots echoed through the halls. Geoff wrapped a protective arm around Michael’s shoulders, pulling him closer.
The two were sitting in the closet hiding spot they could find near their desks. The space between the filing cabinet and the back wall, behind the teacher’s desk. It was a pretty small space for two teenagers, but they didn’t care that they were pressed up against each other.
Michael rested his head on Geoff’s shoulder, closing his eyes and trying to block out the sounds of what was going on.
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Griffon couldn’t stop the tears that steamed down her cheeks as she sat in the corner behind the paint shelf with Gavin. She was terrified. Her father hunter and she would tag along occasionally. She knew what gunshots sounded like and she knew they the shots that had been fired were getting closer to the arm wing.
Gavin was sitting beside her, half in her lap, his arms around her waist. She knew the lad was scared as she was, probably more so. She knew he wanted Geoff. Geoff’s family was Gavin’s host family and Gavin saw Geoff as an older brother. To be honest, Griffon wanted Geoff too. Something about having the slightly crazy lad with her always calmed her down.
Griffon picked her head up off the wall and looked around. The other students were hiding all over the room. Ali, Caiti, Joel, and Nathan were sitting in the small supply closet in the corner. Mr. Burton sat behind his desk with Jade and Jinx. Kerry was sitting in Chris’s lap in the small crevasse behind the kiln.
Her eyes stopped on the table she and Gavin were sitting at across the room, just moments ago. Her chalk and chunks of charcoal were scattered across the floor. On the table sat a wad of wet paper towels, a mug of water, and Gavin’s half sculpted monster that he had been working on for almost a week now. She knew if it sat out any longer the clay would start to dry out and all Gavin’s hard work would be wasted.
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Geoff pulled his phone out and stared at the screen. He texted his dad. His dad was more that just a parent. After his mom walked out on them when Geoff was eight, his dad tried his best to be the best parent that he could. He ended up becoming one of Geoff’s best friends. They may not have lived the best live, living in the small apartment above the tattoo parlor that his father owned, but Geoff wouldn’t change it for the world.
Michael saw Geoff pull out his cell phone and took his out too, sending a text to his mom. He texted her saying that he loved her and that he was sorry. The night before the two had gotten into a huge fight because Michael had broken curfew because he was at Geoff’s playing video games with everyone and had lost track of time. The fight had ended with some harsh words coming from Michael and him storming off and not talking to her in the morning. He didn’t want her thinking that he really did hate her, if something did happen.
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"How long do we have to stay like this?" Lindsay whispered, leaning forward and rested her head against Ryan’s shoulder.
Jack moved back and sat beside her along the wall, rubbing her back gently.
"Until it’s safe." Ryan whispered back.
"I want to go home. I want my mom. I want my dad." she said, wiping her nose with her wrist.
"We all do Lindsay." Jack said quietly.
Ryan nodded, turning around and pulling the younger girl into his lap. Lindsay was like a little sister to Ryan. The two had grown up together and he had always looked out for her. She used to live two trailers down from him, until her father got a better job and moved into a suburban neighborhood. Ryan still lived with his mom in their small one bedroom trailer, where he slept on the pullout couch and his mom worked too many shifts at the Waffle House just to keep them on their feet. Lindsay may have moved into a better neighborhood and there were no more late nights, lying on the roof of his trailer, stargazing, but his protective feelings over the girl never left.
-
For the first time, Ray realized how small the Spanish classroom was. It was one of the smallest class rooms in the whole school and it was full of stuff. Twenty student desks, the teacher’s desk, two filling cabinets, and three bookshelves filled with textbooks. There were ten other people in the room, along with Ray.
Ray tried to keep himself calm, but the room kept seeming to get smaller and smaller. He had been crying and shaking since the first shot was fired and it was just getting worse. He quickly rose to his knees, his shoulder knocking a book of the desk beside him.
"Ray, sit back down." Mr. Sanchez snapped quietly.
"I-I need to get out of here. It’s too small. I-I need to leave." he stuttered, his voice getting louder as the panic made itself very known.
"Ray, you can’t leave." the teacher said, staying low to the floor as he moved across the room.
"It’s too small in here. I can’t breathe." Ray said, tugging at the collar of his hoodie. His breath was coming in short pants on the verge of hyperventilating.
"Ray. Calm down. Take a deep breath." Mr. Sanchez said.
"Look, Ray. I know you’re scared." said the senior quarterback, Burnie said, crawling over to Ray and taking him by his shoulders. "We’re all scared, but now is not time for one of your panic attacks."
"I can’t help it." Ray sobbed, cover his face with his hands.
"I know you can’t. But you have to calm down, okay?" he said, his voice kind, quiet, and sweet. "Take a deep breath. Nice and slow. In through your nose. Out through your mouth."
Ray nodded and did what Burnie said, breathing through his fingers.
"That’s it. You’re doing good." Burnie said, taking Ray by his wrists and pulling him back down so they were sitting together against the wall. "Just keep breathing like that. We’re gonna be fine."
Ray sat close to Burnie, taking his glasses off and burying his face in the fabric of the quarterback’s letterman jacket.
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"Geoff, are we gonna die?" Michael asked, chewing on his lower lip.
Geoff looked from his phone to Michael. This was the first time that he had ever seen the lad cry. He didn’t cry when he broke his arm or when he and Lindsay broke up the first time. But now, the lad had tears rolling down his flushed cheeks.
"No, Michael. We’re gonna be fine. It’s been like half an hour since we heard a gunshot." Geoff said, rubbing Michael’s shoulder with the arm that was still wrapped around him. "The police are probably here already here and—"
Geoff was cut off by the door being shaken and jerked from the outside. A short collective gasp went through the classroom. Geoff pulled Michael closer, holding him tightly. He could feel tears to start to roll down his cheeks.
A few moments later, footsteps were heard running down the hall. Geoff let out the breath that he didn’t know he was holding. He loosened his grip on Michael and looked back down at his phone in his lap. He had been texting his dad back and forth for a while now, but his dad hadn’t responded in a few minutes.
Michael leaned into Geoff, a quiet sob escaping his lips. Geoff reached over and took Michael’s hand, squeezing gently.
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"I have a problem." Lindsay sighed, looking up at Jack.
"I know, I’m bored too." he joked, trying to make light of the situation.
"No, I have to pee." she sighed, staring up at the bottom of the table. "I’ve had to pee since class started."
Lindsay was stretched out on the floor with her head resting in Jack’s lap. Ryan was sitting in front of her, trapping her between him and the wall.
Lindsay was still scared and shaken, but it had been almost half an hour since they had heard anything and they were still stuck in the computer lab, waiting for someone to come tell them it was safe to leave.
Jack wasn’t worried anymore, he had heard chaos coming from the slightly open windows almost twenty minutes ago. Police, parents, SWAT, and who knew who else was outside the school.
-
Griffon froze when a sound came from the door. It took her a second to realize that it was someone knocking. Nobody moved to answer the door.
"All clear!" A voice called from where in the halls just as the person knocked on the door again.
Mr. Burton rose and answered the door. A man dressed in full SWAT gear was standing in the doorway.
"Single file line please. Follow me. Don’t go to your lockers, don’t go to another exit. Just follow me." the SWAT man said.
Griffon rose slowly with all of the other students. Gavin clung to her side as they made their way across the classroom. Griffon looked back at their table as they left the classroom. Gavin’s monster sculpture was dried out.
The SWAT man lead them down the hall and out the doors that were further from the classrooms. Something must have happened in the main hall that the police didn’t want the students to know about.
"Griffon!" Geoff shouted, as they left the building.
Griffon pulled away from the group and ran over to Geoff with Gavin in tow. Geoff wrapped his arms around both of them.
Michael was sitting the grass with Ray beside him.
"Mikey!" Lindsay hollered as she exited the building with another group of students.
"Lindsay!" he said, rising to his knees.
Lindsay dropped to her knees beside him and hugged him tightly. Michael pulled back and kissed her.
Ryan and Jack made their way across the lawn.
"Lindsay, why are your pants wet?" Ray asked.
Jack and Ryan shared a laugh while Lindsay’s cheeks turned as red as her hair.
"I had to pee." she shrugged.
"Oh, you’re gross." Michael laughed, still holding her tightly.
"Geoff, can we go home?" Gavin asked.
"Yeah. Let’s go home, Gav." he said, keeping one arm around the lad and the other around Griffon. "I’ll give rides to whoever needs them."
-
Ray lived in a small two bedroom apartment with his mom and grandma. He shared a room with his nana. Usually he found the apartment small and sometimes claustrophobic, but today as he sat on the couch in between his Mami and Nana, with a glass of warm strawberry milk in his hands, it was Heave on Earth.
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Michael was a little surprised to see his mother home when Geoff dropped him off. He didn’t know if she was still made at him for breaking curfew, but ran into her arms anyway.
"I’m sorry, Momma." he said, hugging her tightly.
"It’s okay, baby. It’s okay. I’m just glad you’re okay." she said, kissing his temple.
-
Griffon was happy and content sitting on the couch with her dad and older brother, listening to them talk about the upcoming hunting trip and watching her little sisters play with their dolls on the living room floor. Her mom was in the kitchen, finishing up making dinner. She had written her goodbyes to them, but left the note on the art room floor when the SWAT man knocked on the door.
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It didn’t matter that Jack had six inches and fifty pounds on his grandma, when she asked him to sit in her lap after they had finished dinner and sat down to watch her game shows, he didn’t refuse. He liked that she was treating him like a child. After a few minutes he had moved to the floor at her feet, not wanting to crush her. She rubbed his shoulders as she answered the questions correctly before any of the contestants could.
"You should just be on the show, Nonna." he laughed.
"One of these day, amore. One of these days." she smiled.
-
Normally Ryan hated when he had to go to work with his mother. But he was fine sitting at the counter, talking to his mom through the order window and eating the waffles she had made for him. A few of the cute waitress stopped to talk with him when they weren’t serving the customers.
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Geoff sat beside his dad, watching him design the tattoo he had asked for. Gavin was curled up in the recliner chair in the corner, fast asleep, clutching his sketchbook to his chest.
"I’m glad you boys are okay." his father said, glancing up from the sketchbook.
"I am too, Dad." he said, resting his head on his father’s shoulder.
"Sleep, little one." he said, going back to the tattoo. "You need it."