The Boy in the Red Shirt

By: Eli Susman

Part 1

The class sat paralyzed in disbelief, frozen where they were. Everybody’s heart sank, never to be lifted up again. Terror, sadness, confusion, and even anger flowed through everyone’s body. Time stopped.

Just moments ago everything was normal. In class, students were taking notes while teachers lectured. The kids in the back of class whispered to each other and occasionally a phone would buzz. Just moments ago, everyone thought life was going as planned.

With only 20 minutes until the bell rang, James Tunney thought his school day would finish like any other day. He thought he would walk calmly and carefree out of the school gates and get in the passenger seat of his mom’s Hyundai Sonata . He thought he would go home and do his homework, just like the other 2,000 kids at his high school. That is what he thought, and that is what most everyone at the school thought; but at that moment, everything changed.

That euphoria James felt about walking out of school was gone. His heart beat faster and faster; each breath he took intensified the feeling. Sweat formed on his brow and his body grew cold. The hairs on his neck spiked up. He looked around wildly, but everything seemed to move in slow motion.

All around James, classmates jumped out of their chairs and yelled. Some frantically dialed numbers into their phones, as others had tears rushing down their faces. Mr. Whitaker, a short stubby man with a bald head, waved his arms, yelling at the class as students began to rush out of the room and into the crowded halls. He pleaded with them to stay, but it was no use. Students grabbed things from 2 their bags and ran out of the room. Everything around James was chaos and he felt paralyzed with indecision. He couldn’t move.

Mr. Whitaker gave up. He ran to the door and slammed it shut. James was the only student left

inside. James was knocked into reality by his teacher screaming.

“James! James can you hear me?”

James stared at him for a moment. He hated his teacher, but in that moment, all he could do was stare and

listen.

“Yeah… I can hear you. ” James finally responded.

“James, you need to get under the desk right now and stay quiet.” He flipped the light switch off.

“And silence your phone.”

James looked at his phone already in his hand and switched it to “Do Not Disturb”. He looked up and

nodded. Whitaker gave a little nod back and took a deep breath. He climbed under a desk, struggling to

maneuver. They hunkered down for what could be a long time.

“Biiiiing, biiiiing, biiiiing” The sound of the dismissal bell sounded, consuming the silence as it echoed through the quiet and hostile school halls. James sat cross legged under the gum covered desk, across the room from his overweight teacher. James fiddled around with his leather strapped antique watch. His grandpa had given it to him when he was young, and he always wore it.

“Now listen, I’m giving this to you, and when you turn 18 I want you to start wearing it. My grandfather wore it and gave it to me, and now I’m giving it to you,” his grandpa had said

“I want to wear it now,” James’ innocent 3rd grade voice had responded.

His grandpa gave an understanding and comforting smile,

“Hmm. You could wear it now, but it’s gonna be big you know!”

“Yeah I know, that’s okay.”

His grandpa had laughed and given him a warm hug.

James and Whitaker hadn’t spoken a word to each other. The fading sounds of yelling and screaming was all that could be heard from the dark room. Out of nowhere, breaking the silence.

Mr.Whitaker jumped up and yelled.

“Fuck this! You know what? Fuck..this!”

“Mr. Whitaker, be quiet, you’re going to attract the-” James whispered forcefully to him.

Mr. Whitaker continued while pacing back and forth across the room. He was flustered.

“I get paid as much as fucking Spongebob Squarepants yet they expect me to sit here with you! I should

have run out of the class with all the other kids. It would have been better than sitting waiting to be

rescued.”

James just looked at him.

“Screw this! I’m leaving!” Mr. Whitaker yelled again.

“No, Mr. Whitaker you can’t go! It isn’t safe out there.” Mr. Whitaker turned around to face James.

“Oh so now you care about what I have to say?” He paused, “You spend all of class looking at the clock

not listening to me. And now look at you. You’re a piece of popular kid trash left all alone. Helpless.”

James just stared at him, trying hard not to cry.

“And you know what, I CAN go. It’s because of you idiot kids that I’m stuck here, I’ll be better off out

there than sitting in here waiting for nothing. I’m leaving,” he said as he headed to the door. “And I

haven’t heard a thing for almost 10 minutes. I just have to get to the parking lot.” Mr. Whitaker

continued to the door.

“Bye.” James said innocently. Mr. Whitaker didn’t even turn around, he just waved a heartless hand at

him as he swung the door open.

    The intense light from outside blazed into James’ eyes making him squint. Mr. Whitaker took a step outside, looking both ways down the hall. Then he slammed the door shut behind him.

Silence again. James shot up and went to lock the door. He struggled for a moment, but managed to lock it shut. Seconds later, it blared through the halls. The gunshot.

James felt that shock in his stomach. He stopped, dropping his phone from his hand, as warm tears rushed down his face. He let out a loud yelp accidentally, and instantly realized how horrible of a mistake it was. He covered his mouth to contain his sobbing. He heard footsteps approaching his room. The footsteps came closer and closer and stopped, right at the door of the classroom. James could feel and hear every beat of his heart. The slight sound of his breathing sounded louder than anything he had heard before. He looked down, and saw the shadow of a person’s feet standing at the door. A few hour long seconds went by. Finally the feet shuffled away, leaving James breathless. Relieved that the person had left, he dropped to the floor, rolled onto his side and began to quietly cry like a baby.

Thoughts went spiraling through his head. Thoughts of his family, about what they were going to think; his friends…what about his friends? Were they okay? Did his friends run out of their classrooms like all the kids in his class? Were they safe? James stopped himself from going down that road. “Stop! Control yourself.” he said to himself. “Your friends are okay, they’ll be okay.” He took a much needed deep breath as he wiped the tears from his eyes, and sniffled his now clogged nose.

The room was starting to feel hot. A layer of sweat formed on his face. It was summer and the air conditioning at his school didn’t work well. He thought about what he was going to do.

“Maybe I need to try to make it to one of my friends classes. Maybe Phil? He may be in his class.” He stopped “No. That’s too dangerous, look at what happened to Mr. Whitaker….but I could be more careful…couldn’t I? Yes, yes I could, I could be more careful.” He paused. Then he jumped up and began rummaging around Mr. Whitaker’s desk. He found a pair of scissors and grabbed them immediately. He kept looking. He was not even sure what he was looking for. Maybe he was just looking for something that could comfort him. Something to make him feel that the decision he was about to make was a good one.

He continued looking frantically. His hands thrashed around on the desk. He slammed his fist into the desk one harsh time and stopped. The scissors fell on the floor. His eyes were bloodshot, tears and sweat were covering his face, almost indistinguishable from each other. He leaned against the wall and slid down until he was sitting on his butt.

“What is happening? Why is this happening to my school? Why is this happening to me?” James

pleaded, not to anyone specific and not even to God, but more of just a plea, a plea to anyone that would

hear him. He was silent for a second. Until the silence was broken.

“Help.” A sensitive voice was heard through the wall.

“Hello?” James stood up, a spark of happiness and confusion went through his body, “Hello? Is

somebody there?”

“Help me, please, I’m all alone.”

“Where, where are you, I’m alone too”

James put his ear against the wall. The voice was coming from the next classroom.

“ Please, the people, my classmates, are…here, but no, no they aren’t. But they physically are…I guess. I

survived somehow.” 

James was shocked and excited at the same time. On one hand he was concerned for his safety, but on the other he was glad to be talking to another person.

“You can’t stay in there.” James could now tell that this was a girl he was talking to, “I will…I will be

outside your class in 2 minutes, if you hear 3 knocks on the door, it will be me.” James continued, feeling

his courage building up out of nowhere.

“Okay” she replied with a soft and helpless voice.

James bent over and grabbed the scissors and walked away from the wall without thinking about what he

was doing.

“Wait.” James heard her voice again, “What is your name?”

James turned around, and got closer to the wall.

“My name is James Tunney.”

“Hi James, I’m Peyton.”

“Peyton, I will be there shortly, wait for me.”

“I will.” 

James began walking towards the door again. Oddly, his fear was beginning to diminish. He felt intrepid and ready to protect a girl he did not know. With every step, he felt more regret that he stayed in the class rather than running out with the rest of his classmates. He stopped at the door of his classroom. “What if I died like Peyton’s classmates?” he thought. James shook his head getting that idea out of his mind.

James was standing at the door, ready to head out into the uncertainty that his school halls had become. This moment was a crossroads in his life.

James had always been the average guy at school; never a hero, never a kid anyone would expect to amount to anything. Just a typical popular boy with a lot of friends that would grow up and get a job 7 that paid barely enough to survive. This was his moment; a moment that could either turn him into a hero, or possibly end everything. His heart rate picked up as he began to think about what he was going to do. “It’s now or never,” he thought as he grabbed the door handle and swung the door open into the bright light. As he took his first step out, the day’s warm air blew onto his sweaty body. It cooled him off. Nothing felt real. Papers on the floor, broken phones, backpacks.

Mr. Whitaker.

He knew he should move quickly and go to Peyton’s room; but as he looked at his gutted school, he was overtaken with fright.

He felt like everything was in third person, as if he wasn’t actually there. But the sound of movement coming from around the corner stopped all of that. He was jolted back to reality. He turned his head to the noise, but saw nothing, and realized he needed to move. He did, and he did so quickly, but quietly. He turned the corner where Peyton’s room was. He approached the door, scared of the unknown in the room. He raised his fist to the door and knocked.

The sound echoed through the hallway. The only sound that could be heard besides the quiet movement of trees in the light wind. He waited, his body shook with fear. James remembered something, the last time he was at this classroom. It was the year before, English class…

“Ms. Friedman please! Please let me turn in my essay. I was sick yesterday! I couldn’t turn it in!”

The door went shooting open, “James, I’ve told you this five times now, no late work. Do you want me to

bring this up with the dean?”

“No, but Ms. Fried-”

“No buts. No late work.”

The door creaked open, and James’ daydream was cut short. He was here now, in the bleak present. A girl with short blonde hair slowly stepped out of the room. She had big eyes and lips that stuck out from her face. She was short, with a stubby body and had swollen eyes red from tears, James noticed.

“Are you okay?” James asked. He felt a sense of comfort just being around her.

She just stood there with tears running down her face and nodded her head.

“Okay…we have to stay quiet.” He tried his best to stay calm despite being completely overwhelmed.

“Come, lets get back to my class; there aren’t any…any dead bodies.”

He gestured for her to follow him as he just barely started walking away from the door, the smell of death was emanating from the room. She was hesitant, following a boy she had never met, but she did anyhow. James looked back at her. Realizing she was scared, he smiled at her, trying to make her feel protected. She smiled back. For a second, everything felt normal. But this feeling that both teenagers felt was quickly sucked away by the sound of feet down the hall. Peyton called to James who was a few feet ahead of her, “James.” she whispered nervously, “There is somebody down the hall.”

James quickly responded, “What?”

Peyton pointed in the direction of the sound.

“Hurry. Get back into your room.” James said.

They ran back to Peyton’s classroom and softly closed the door.

The two sat in Peyton’s room. The smell was horrid. They plugged their noses, trying their best to not focus on the bloody bodies that surrounded them. All James could think about was that he was sitting in a room with a girl he didn’t know, surrounded by an army of dead bodies of kids he very well may have known.

He looked at the floor to his right and saw a boy.

Andrew.

They had English class together. Every day they would mess with the teacher who absolutelyhated them. Practically every other week she moved their seats to stop them from talking. That never worked. Blood covered him from his chest to his ankles. He was dead. And just looking at him on the floor scared James. He looked away.

“Hey…Peyton?”

She looked up, tears in her eyes. She quickly wiped them away before she spoke.

“Yeah?”

“Did you think this day was gonna turn out like this…..I mean, when you showed up to school, did you

think that some maniac kid would do this?”

“The simple answer…no. No I did not.”

James rubbed his hair back.

“Yeah. Me neither.”

Just the idea that he would be talking to this random girl baffled him. Any other day he wouldn’t have

even acknowledged her, let alone talk to her.

He looked up at her.

“I thought I was gonna go through my typical day of school and then go home and do some homework,

maybe video games.” He paused, “I thought I was gonna see my family.”

“Hey, Peyton…Peyton.”

She quickly looked up at him.

“Oh, sorry, I wasn’t listening. What was it you said?”

“It was nothing… I was just saying that I thought today was going to be like any other typical day for me,

but it clearly was not.”

“Oh, ya, I agree.” She looked down. James looked up, tapping his feet out of habit.

Silence.

Peyton continued, “I was going to have a dinner with my family tonight. The new Italian place, on the

corner of 3rd and Oak. We haven’t had dinner together in weeks, I thought tonight would end that. I

guess not.”

“Hey,” James got up and started walking over to her. “You don’t have to be sad. Tomorrow night you and

your parents will go and have your dinner.” He put his arm around her in order to comfort her. “I promise.”

He looked at her, waiting for a response, but there wasn’t one. She reminded James of himself just an hour ago, sitting in a chair, responding to nobody. He was in his own world up until now.

She looked up to him with her big watery eyes and smiled. Everything seemed a little more at peace again.

Five minutes passed, and the smell of the bloody bodies was starting to get worse.

“James, we can’t stay in this room much longer. I’m gonna throw up.”

“I know. I know.” James said.

Suddenly, they heard them.

Sirens.

They both turned to look at each other, smiling.

“They’re coming for us!” Peyton exclaimed.

“Come on. Let’s go! Quickly!”

James and Peyton jumped up from their seats and carefully walked to the door, avoiding the bodies scattered around. Some sat in their seats, and others were sprawled out on the floor like zombies.

James opened the door and looked side to side, then he started walking to the front of the school. He could faintly see police cars and ambulances. He checked behind him to make sure Peyton was following. She was.

He walked slowly, trying his best to keep quiet so the killer didn’t hear him. He saw a backpack on the floor, half opened with papers spilling out of it. A binder was on the floor labeled, “Honors Chemistry”. “God, I hate that class,” James thought to himself. Meanwhile, the wind had stopped, and it felt hotter than before.

They rounded the corner and immediately stopped in their tracks. Peyton let out an involuntary yelp that echoed through the halls. They both knew immediately the shooter could hear them. Chills went down James’ back despite the heat. He turned, and this was the first time James could see the shooter in the flesh. He couldn’t make out what he looked like exactly, because he was far away, but he knew that face from somewhere. He was sure of it.

The shooter glared straight at James and Peyton. This was it. Everything they had accomplished, failed, spoken, and attempted to do in their short lives could end right there, in one quick second. With one piece of metal. That is all it took, one little piece of metal that would rip open their bodies, putting an end to everything.

James was shocked. He never thought he would come face to face with the shooter. He was just a boy.

He turned to Peyton, as she turned to him, and they instantly started running the opposite direction.

They were running, but it felt like they were stuck in mud. Peyton had tears flowing from her eyes and makeup running down her cheeks. As they started to round the corner, there was a gunshot. James ducked his head down in fear of the speeding bullet hitting him. It was a sound that nobody should ever have to hear, especially at school. James turned his head as he tripped around the corner. He looked back at Peyton.

He couldn’t believe what he saw. Blood poured from her stomach and smacked the cold floor. She was silent, but her eyes showed her fear. She grabbed at her bloodied stomach as she crumbled to the floor, but it was no use.

Blood instantly pooled around her, leaving her motionless body lying on the ground with no life left inside.

The fear in James’ eyes had changed to anger. But James could do nothing. He turned back, and slipped on blood as he rounded the corner. He looked at Peyton, knowing that she was gone. He wasn’t sure what he was running toward, but he ran anyhow.

He was devastated.

He thought he and Peyton had bonded and they would take care of each other until people came

to their rescue. Rescue was just at their fingertips.

He barely knew the girl, but he still felt like he had just lost a huge part of his life, a part he would have liked to have connected with when this nightmare was over.

As his speed picked up, his watch, the one his grandpa gave him slid off his wrist. It smashed onto the floor. James wanted to stop to pick it up, but he did not. He kept running. He ran past his locker and his Chemistry class. His life as he knew it was gone. His locker, his classes, his friends. Nothing mattered. The math tests, the essays, and the grades where all gone. James only thought of his life.

And how he was going to keep it.

He looked over his shoulder and didn’t see anyone, just emptiness. He kept on running. As he approached another corner, behind him, the boy came around the corner with a demonic look. James ducked around the corner just as the boy fired the gun. James started banging on doors. “Help! Please help me! Help! He’s gonna kill me! Please! Please please! Let me in! Let me in! Don’t leave me out here!”

No response. His throat ached from yelling. His once mellow voice had turned raspy. He cried. He yelled, but still nobody responded. The school that was full of kids just hours before had become an empty void. Nobody to talk to. Nobody to listen to him. Nobody to protect him. The school was grim and James hated it now more than he ever had.

James kept running through the hall, trying to hide from the boy. “Please…..Please.” His voice was filled with suffering and fear. The sound of it scared him. He didn’t recognize himself.

James was scared. He continued banging on the doors of his hollow school and he began to feel more regret. Regret that he had never lived life to its fullest, never told more people that he loved them, never had a chance to spend more time with Peyton. “Please!” He gasped for air to catch his breath…but his breath just turned into tears. He closed his eyes and prayed that he would survive. He prayed to a God he had never believed in. And then he fell to his knees.

“Please! Anybody… help me!” He bit his lip to contain his emotions. Tears flowed into his mouth and his jaw shook.

He yelled again, his voice barely strong enough to be heard.

“Please!”

A face appeared in the window of the door he was in front of.

James jumped up.

“Let me in, let me in, let me in!”

The boy just shook his head. His eyes dropped down. He spoke to James, his voice quiet. But James knew what he said.

“I’m sorry.” He mouthed. James was enraged. “Sorry isn’t good enough! Sorry isn’t going to stop me from dying!”

He was cut off by the sound of footsteps approaching the corner.

“Fuck you! Fuck you! You little piece of shit. Let me in this room!” All of the anger James had ever had was being let out now. From the times when his mom would tell him, “No,” to all the reasons he used to bully other kids. Anger surged though his body.

The boy in the window disappeared into the darkness of the room.

“You just killed me! You and anyone else in that room just killed me!”

The shooter came around the corner.

“Fuck you!” James yelled as he ran away from the classroom. James ran. He ran with everything he had left.

He knew that at any moment, what had happened to Peyton could happen to him. He knew that this might be the end of everything he had lived through; the good and the bad. Bang.

James fell to the floor, eyes open wide in disbelief. He hit the floor. He lied there, trying to move slowly. His head was throbbing and his chest was spouting blood. He heard footsteps and looked over his shoulder. The shooter was approaching. Everything faded to darkness.

Seconds later, James’ eyes opened. He struggled to take in air. A dark, black gun was pointed at .

his face. Never had all of this seemed as real as it did now. The blood gushed from the hole in his chest,

but it didn’t hurt. Everything was going numb. He looked up, squinting.

The boy was wearing a red shirt.

He tried to figure out the boys face and when he did, he knew.

James could do nothing but say one thing to the boy, “I’m..so..sorry….”

And then the boy in the red shirt put a bullet through James Tunney’s head.

Part 2

James sat in the passenger seat of his mom’s car doing homework. They were on their way to school, and James had forgotten he had homework to finish; hence him doing it the morning it was due. The plain Hyundai Sonata trudged across the long and everlasting beach road. The waves crashed on the cold sand beach and the crisp smell of ocean entered the car through the open window. James’ homework was all over the place, and he couldn’t keep it from thrashing around on his lap.

“Mom close the window.” James said.

His mom, Juliet, a tall and thin blonde woman of 48 who looked like she could still be in her early thirties continued looking forward with her big glasses on her face.

James’ face went dull.

“Mom.” He said again.

She looked at him then back at the road to avoid a crash at the high speed she was going.

“Oh, yes?”

James rolled his eyes, “Jeez mom, can you just close the window?”

“What?” She prodded for him to speak louder.

“Close the window!”

She gave him a dirty look then flicked the switch for the window to close. As it was slowly closing she said,

“Maybe if you spoke with less attitude I’d be able to hear you better.”

She was clearly trying to agitate him, and James knew. He didn’t let it get to him.

He went back to his homework quickly, realizing they were going to arrive at his school in just a few

quick minutes.

“I don’t know why you always leave your homework for the morning of.”

“I just forget to do it.” James hated when she criticized him.

His paper was covered in a ton of problems written messily all over the page.

Chemistry homework.

“I don’t think your father would approve of this.”

James tried to ignore her. He hated when his mom brought his father into the conversation. He was trying to write with a dull pencil which made all his writing look like a fourth graders rather than his usual average handwriting of an eleventh grader. His paper was loose and there was nothing beneath it besides his legs. James struggled to write each character on the page.

“Well you should really try to remember to do your…” She looked at his paper quickly, “…Chemistry homework the night before it is due. Not the morning of.”

“Well you should really try to be a little nicer.” James whispered under his breath, his mom couldn’t hear him.

His mom put on the right turning signal, and switched into the right turn lane that was always full of cars waiting to turn right towards the school. James started to pack his paper back into his backpack, which really just meant shoving it into his bag, and zipping it up. Within a minute they had pulled up to his school.

“You better get a hundred percent on that homework!” His mom said.

James ignored her, and rushed out of the car, not wanting to hold up the long line of cars.

The air was cold. Each breath James took felt like cold water after a mint flowing through his nose. He

checked his phone and saw that he only had five more minutes to get to class before he was late. He made

a slight right and headed for his first class of the day.

Chemistry.

His school was on a block schedule, which meant that the classes rotated every other day. One day, three classes, the next day, a different three. It always stayed on this repeated cycle. He got to his Chemistry class and a tall skinny man sat drinking green tea in a clear mug at the front of the room. He didn’t look up when James walked in. James sat in his assigned seat in the second row and took a much needed deep breath. The classroom was covered in posters of Star Wars, Anime, and Harry Potter. The bell rang.

Biiiiing Biiiiing Biiiiing.

The teacher, Mr. Van Kuren looked up to the class. His big mouth was smiling and his eye brows were up.

“Good-morning everyone!”

A jaded “Good-morning.” Came back from the class.

“Good morning!” A short girl sitting in the front of the class cheerfully responded on her own.

James rolled his eyes at the girl in front of him.

Susie Salls.

Mr. Van Kuren nodded his head towards her.

James turned to his left, where his friend Phil sat.

18

“Does this girl seriously have to be so goddamn energetic?” He whispered.

“She’s a freshman, give her a break.”

“When we were freshman, we never acted like that..”

“Yeah but-”

“James.” Mr. Van Kuren interrupted.

James looked up, knowing what would come next.

“Would you like to share with the whole class what you and Phil are talking about?”

The typical rhetorical question that every teacher gives. James had heard it a million times before.

James shook his head and Phil pretended to write something in his notebook.

“Well then.” Mr. Van Kuren took a breath, “Let’s get to work.”

In practically all his classes James was labeled as a talker. This meant that the moment his teachers realized who he was, they noted to keep an eye on him.

James took his notebook out of his bag; it was red. He began copying down whatever notes the teacher projected onto the screen into his notebook.

Significant figures.

Balancing equations.

Naming molecules.

Stoichiometry.

His mind was flustered. James had no idea what any of the topics were, and he definitely couldn’t take a

test on them the following week.

“I hate chemistry.” James thought to himself.

Just a little into class, Phil nudged James with his elbow. James turned to him, and saw that he was looking down at his phone. He followed Phil’s eyes to the phone and was unsurprised.

On the phone screen, Instagram was opened. There was a video on repeat of Kenny, their friend, shoving a kids face into the toilet and flushing it.

They couldn’t hear the video, but they knew Kenny was probably laughing his ass off.

James snickered himself, and whispered very quietly to Phil,

“We gotta ask him about this at nutrition.”

Phil nodded his head in excitement.

Mr. Van Kuren went on and on about Chemistry for a little while longer until,

“Okay, now it is time for the lab. Get into groups of three and follow the instructions on the lab

procedure sheet.”

The class slowly got up and created groups of three.

“Shit groups of three? Who’re we gonna get for out third?” Phil said.

“Let’s get Jamie.”

Jamie was a nice guy. Basically everyone liked him. He was short, funny, and never took anything seriously.

They approached him, but when they were only a few feet away someone else called his name and he joined their group.

“Fuck man.” Phil said.

“Okay, let’s get Daniel.”

Daniel was a tall, skinny guy who was a little odd. But if you were in the mood to laugh and do something

random, Daniel was the guy to go to.

“Daniel.” James said.

“Hey what’s up?”

“Wanna be with us?”

He looked behind him, and James and Phil then saw the two other people he was working with.

“Sorry guys, I already got a group.” Daniel said awkwardly.

“You good.” Phil said. They turned around, “Fuck.” Phil said again.

They stood quietly for a second. Both of them looking around the room to find a stray person.

“Hey guys.” They turned to the voice.

Kadin Beninger.

“Oh. Hey Kadin.” James said.

Kadin was a light skinned black kid, with short hair.

“Wanna be a group of three?” Kadin asked in his bothersome voice.

They hesitated. Kadin was a terrible kid to work with. He was weird, he thought he knew everything, and he had no friends.

He turned and walked over to one of the lab stations.

James and Phil looked at each other. James just shrugged his shoulders and Phil rolled his eyes with a huff. They went to the lab station.

“Alright so what’s the first step?” James asked.

Kadin already had his goggles on and looked like a mad scientist ready to find the cure for cancer. “Well, first, grab goggles.” In a quick exchange, James and Phil grabbed the goggles from Kadin and put them on.

At the lab station was a scale, a sheet of paper, and a myriad of different substances.

“What are all these?” Phil leaned in close to the different beakers. Kadin quickly put his hand on Phil and pulled his face away.

“These are a few elements in their natural form. Some are bad to breathe in, so keep your face away from them.” Kadin spoke with his usual bossy and aggressive voice.

“I hate listening to this guy talk.” James said in his mind.

“Yeah. Gotchu.” Phil responded trying his best to play it off as cool.

Kadin took a breathe and then began speaking again, “Okay, let’s begin. James you be the recorder okay?”

James was caught off guard that he was actually going to do something in class. He was so used to waiting until somebody else finished and then copying their work. Or letting the nerd in his group do all the work. His situation now fell into the latter of the two.

“So just write down everything?”

“Just follow the guidelines on the paper.” Kadin handed James the recorder paper as he spoke in a bossy

voice. As if he was better than James. As if he knew more than James. James did not like this.

“And Phil, I need you to help me actually measure all this stuff.”

Phil nodded in return with his lips out, “Yeah for sure. I gotchu.” Phil’s small brain didn’t seem to

understand the situation.

Then they began. Kadin would pour a little bit of a substance onto the scale. Phil would tell him the weight and Kadin would subtract the weight of the bowl it was in. Kadin would give that number to James, who then recored it on the lab sheet. This process repeated for all the elements. And although it was bias towards Kadin, and made him do basically all the work; he didn’t mind, and neither did James or 22 Phil.

When they reached the final element Kadin stopped them.

“Okay listen real quick. This is extremely important.”

James and Phil keened their ears. James rolled his eyes.

“This next element is very dangerous, Mr. Van Kuren said so himself. So no playing around with this

one.”

“What element is it?” James asked.

“It’s chromium. And if it touches you bad things happen.”

“Tell us what!” Phil said.

Kadin looked down, “Okay. If it touches you, your skin will begin to boil, it will seep into your

bloodstream, and will travel to your liver. Where it will ultimately kill you.” He looked up and sternly

said, “So be careful.”

“We will.” Phil said seriously.

Kadin nodded seriously.

He reached for the beaker the substance was in and began to slowly and carefully pour some into the bowl

that was on the scale. 

James and Phil watched Kadin carefully, scared for what might happen if the substance was to spill. Students had already finished, and nobody was paying attention to their group. The room was loud, everyone was talking. The squeaky sound of all the freshman’s voices were getting mixed with the mature voices of the seniors. With all the conversation going on that James and Phil would usually have been a part of, they were ignoring it. All that mattered to them at that point was completing the lab without dying.

Suddenly, while meticulously pouring the substance into the bowl, Kadin’s arms swung up. The beaker flew out of his hands and the substance splashed all over both James and Phil. The aqueous substance was all over James’ left arm and Phil’s right. They screamed. And tried wiping it off.

“Kadin! Kadin you idiot! What the fuck.” James yelled.

Phil fell to his knees, “We’re gonna die. We’re gonna die!”

Meanwhile, Kadin was dying of laughter. He was cracking up at their reactions.

Quickly, James realized Kadin was laughing. So he calmed down and looked up from his shirt.

“Why are you laughing?” James said. Phil was still on his knees quietly and subtly whimpering trying to

clean himself.

Kadin chuckled his obnoxious chuckle then responded, “That wasn’t-” He couldn’t contain his laughter

and laughed some more.

“Could this guy just shut up with his annoying laugh.” James thought.

“That wasn’t Chromium.” Kadin said simply. He had a grin on his face.

James’ face went stern. Anger filled his eyes. James did not like being messed with.

His breath became harder, and his nostrils flared. His heart raced and his mind exploded. The monster

was ready to be released.

“What-did-you-just-say?”

Kadin quickly realized that James was not finding his joke even remotely funny.

“I-I was kidding, it wasn’t Chromium, it was just water with food dye.”

“Kadin you fucking dumbass”

“No no, I didn’t think you’d get mad. I didn’t think you’d be dumb enough to think that water is

Chromium.”

A fire had been sparked inside James. Kadin was going to get his full wrath.

“Don’t you ever call me dumb, you hear that? I’m smarter than you’ll ever be. Why don’t you go and

24

fucking memorize some table of contents or something.” He paused, “Look at Phil!”

Phil was still on the floor.

“Phil get up, you moron.” Phil’s eyes lit up and he popped up from the floor. He had already realized

nothing was going to happen to him.

“Kadin I don’t know who you think you are. I don’t know if you think you’re important. I don’t know if

you think you have a say in what Phil and I do. I don’t know if maybe you’re just outright trying to dig

your own grave. But I sure do know that you’re a fucking dick that nobody likes. Maybe you should

fuckin’ think about playing a ‘practical joke’ on someone like me before doing it. You don’t even know

me and you do this shit acting like we are best buds just jokin’ around. Go and hang with whatever geeky

friends you talk to. If you even have any.”

“Yeah go talk to those geeks.” Phil added in his stupid voice.

James glared at him then continued, “Do whatever you want kid. But don’t speak or even come near me or Phil again. You don’t know us, and we don’t want you to.” Kids in the class gathered around them with curious looks on their faces. James was loud and there wasn’t a person in the classroom that didn’t hear him. The students’ faces looked as if they were just praying there was a fight.They would all remember the words that James said.

Kadin looked at James with wildfire in his eyes. His heart ached and a lump grew in his throat. “Okay, okay! Everyone get back to work.” Mr. Van Kuren came in the way and dispersed the students. James and Kadin stood staring at each other. As everyone went back to their seats, the bell rang. Biiiiing Biiiing Biiiiing

James and Phil looked at each other then stormed off. They left Kadin standing alone. As usual.

“You don’t know me.” Kadin said menacingly under his breath.

“What was that?” Another student in the class walking by him said.

Kadin’s watering eyes went wide and he gulped, “I didn’t say anything.”

“Oh, I thought you did.” The boy walked off and never thought much of it.

The entire class left, besides Kadin. He stayed back to try and clean up the mess he had made with

regretful eyes.

He was all alone. 

Part 3

James and Phil flew through the halls of their big school to try to find their friends.The main buildings,the ones that James and Phil were in, were two-story outdoor buildings.The hallways were constructed from the separations made by the classrooms.It was cold out, mainly because it was still morning.The smell of beach seeped into everyone’s noses and seagulls always flew overhead around the quad.

The quad was a big oval shaped grass field at the front of the school. All different types of students used the quad as a hangout spot during school.

Including James and his friends.

“Man fuck that kid.” James said to Phil as they turned to walk down the stairs.

“Yeah.” Phil said. 

Phil was James’ best friend, though if someone heard them interacting, it wouldn’t seem as if they were close at all. All of their conversations were pointless and consisted of either an argument about a foolish problem, or James complaining and Phil simply agreeing. In this situation, it was the latter.

“That kid really pissed me off, Phil. We need to teach him a lesson.”

“It was your fault for letting him work with us.” Phil targeted James.

James stopped walking and looked at Phil.

“My fault? How could you twist this onto me?”

“You said he could work with us.”

“I never said such thing.”

“You did; I clearly remember…”

“Come on let’s go.” James cut him off with a huff and started walking again. Phil shook his head in

frustration, but followed.

It was morning still, and the school had been out for a twenty minute long break before their second of three classes started. The cold air stung their noses and James could barely feel his fingers.

“Shit, it’s cold.” Phil said.

James didn’t respond at first. He just kept walking towards the area their friends hung out.

“Yeah. It will warm up by lunch.”

“It always does,” Phil said confidently

They finished crossing over the quad and were under a roof. They turned right and walked up to

the blue bench they sat on. Their group of eight friends were there. Some standing and others sitting on

the bench.

Kenny

Jacob.

Larry.

Charlie.

Tom.

Tony.

Ezra. Stefan.

“Kenny.” James said to get his attention. Kenny turned around and saw them. A smile quickly spread on his face.

“Show us the video, man!” Phil said.

“We already saw it. But who was that?” James corrected Phil.

All the other boys got up until they were all standing around each other talking.

“Alright listen.” Kenny said. James and Phil listened as best they could to try to hear in the loud hallway.

The hallways were always loud despite them being outdoors.

“This guy named Rudy Schlemian was in the bathroom while Tom and I were.” Kenny said.

“Yeah, and as we were peeing, we noticed this dude was taking a look.” Tom added to the story.

James couldn’t help but smile.

“Look at what?” Phil said with a confused look on his face.

Everyone looked at him, disappointed.

“The dude was trying to get a look of their junk, dumbass.” Larry said.

Phil let out one of his big bellowing laughs, “Oh, bro’. That kid’s nasty!”

Everyone shook their head at him.

Phil was a tall kid with an awkward stance and a big face. His eyes were small, but his brain was even

smaller. His laugh always seemed to make him sound like a trombone.

“So what’d you guys do,” James said to keep the story going, “Besides flush the queer’s face down the

toilet.”

Everyone laughed.

“Nah, bro’. That’s all we did.” Kenny said.

“We weren’t gonna screw over the kid that much just for checking me out. I mean who could blame

him.” Larry grabbed his crotch with a grin on his face and thrust his hips in the air like Michael Jackson.

“Let’s do something more to him!” James was getting excited, “What’d you say his name was again?”

Kenny responded, “Rudy Schlemian.”

James nodded and looked over at Ezra, who was casually sitting on their bench, not paying much attention to the conversation at hand.

“Ezra, you hear this?” James asked.

Ezra looked up, his face looked tired. He wiped his eyes then stood up.

“Hear what?” He said is a dazed tone.

“Isn’t a guy named Rudy Schlemian in our third period class?”

Ezra thought for a second, “Yeah. I’m pretty sure he is. Why?”

“We gotta beat the crap out of him.”

“Okay. But why?” Ezra was used to these conversations. One, because this wasn’t the first time his

friends plotted to beat a kid up. And two, because he was a big guy, so anytime the conversation was

happening, it involved Ezra.

“He did gross shit. And tried to molest Kenny and Larry. Or some shit like that.”

Ezra shrugged his shoulders.

The bell rang.

Biiiiimg Biiiiing Biiiiing.

James and Ezra said a quick goodbye to everyone, then headed to History class. United States History.

As James and Ezra walked through the school to get to their History class, which was at the far back of the

school, they talked.

“I’m confused what this guy did to you.” Ezra said.

“Well, he didn’t do anything to me. He did something to Kenny and Larry.”

“Then why aren’t they doing this shit?”

“Don’t worry about that. Walk faster, we’re gonna’ miss him.” James increased his walking speed and

Ezra kept up. 

The sun was starting to come out from behind the clouds slightly. Just not enough to make the cold day feel any warmer.

As they got closer to their class room, they keened their eyes for Rudy. He was always late to class. And they knew it.

Once they got to their class they knew exactly what to do. They leaned up on the right wall and waited. The classroom was a bungalow, which meant it was detached from all other classrooms. It stood alone. A few minutes passed and still no Rudy.

“Where is this guy?” Ezra asked, frustrated.

“He’ll be here. Don’t worry.”

James said this, though, he was already worrying himself. 

He knew in his head what he was going to do. He was going to talk shit to Rudy, and then beat the crap out of him. He and Ezra both knew the plan. Talk shit, beat him up.

James took a deep breath. Having been tricked and embarrassed by Kadin the period before put him on edge. Anger built up inside him and he needed to let it out. And in this situation the method was beating up a kid who did nothing to him.

Finally, a minute later,Rudy arrived. He meandered around the corner in sight of the bungalow in his usual sloth-like manner. James and Ezra looked at each other and nodded.Then, they both quickly walked over to him. He was just a few feet away and they wanted to intercept him before he got into the classroom.

“Rudy!” James called to him. Rudy turned, and when he saw who it was, he turned to run. He knew their

reputation.

Before he could go anywhere, Ezra grabbed his arm and pulled him around the corner and out of sight.

Rudy tried resisting but Ezra was simply the stronger person.

“Guys come on, I didn’t even do anything leave me alone.” Rudy said.

They were on the side of the classroom. Nobody could see them.

James and Ezra where shoving Rudy around and ruffling his clothes. They pushed him against the wall

and Ezra held him there. James began to speak.

“How’d it feel getting flushed down the toilet?” He snickered.

“You have nothing to do with that. Leave me alone.”

“I see your hair is still wet. At least you got a shower for the first time in months!”

“That doesn’t concern you, James.” Rudy’s voice turned deep and intense.

James and Ezra were caught off guard for a moment.

“Jeez that was creepy.” James thought.

“Let’s see what’s in this fag’s bag.”

Quickly, Ezra complied with his orders and swiped Rudy’s bag. It was black, with a single red stripe

running down the middle. Plain, and to the point.

He tossed it to James, who instantly began unzipping it and going through it.

In a mocking tone James raided his bag.

“First we’ve got, a notebook and a folder. Wow you seem very into school dont’t cha?”

Rudy tried to reach for his bag.

“Please, just give me my bag. I have stuff in there.”

James laughed.

“No shit, and I’m gonna see the stuff you’ve got.”

Ezra still stood laughing at every exchange while holding the resisting Rudy.

“Next we’ve got, oooooo, is this your mug from ceramics class?”

“James…” Ezra said, “Have some mercy.”

James lifted a grey and blue mug from the bag. Remarkably, it was perfectly sculpted.

He held if over the ground with his thumb and index finger.

Rudy was near tears.

“Boop.” James dropped the mug like it was nothing. It shattered on the floor.

“I worked two months on that thing you asshole!” Now, Rudy was crying.

“Awwwe, look at the little baby crying.”

“Okay James enough. He doesn’t deserve this.” Ezra let go of Rudy.

James glared at Ezra. He walked deliberately to them. Only a few steps.

Suddenly, James swung his fist and nailed Rudy in the abdomen.

Ezra backed away, knowing very well that when James started hitting, it always turned bad.

Rudy, hunched over, charged at James. He had no time to react. Rudy crashed into James, and they

rammed against the wall behind them.

James was furious.

“Was this idiot really fighting back?” James thought.

“Oh shit,” Ezra said to himself, “Nobody fights back against James.”

James, being pinned against the wall, used all his weight and all his strength to lift the frail Rudy. He lifted him then turned and dropped him on the floor. There was a loud thud. Before Rudy could react to try something else, James kicked him with all his might on the side. Right on his rib cage. James was pretty sure he felt something move. He stopped for a second. “Did I really just break his ribs?” He looked over at Ezra and practically read his mind, “What the fuck did you just do?”

James was slightly panicked.

Despite Ezra’s look, James kicked him again.

And again.

Rudy coughed, he barely could breathe and his body throbbed. He cried harder.

“Please stop. James please.”

James kicked him again. Before he could do anything else Ezra grabbed him and pulled him back.

“James stop!” Ezra yelled.

 James wiggled away from Ezra’s hold and yelled at Rudy,

“Don’t mess with my friends. And don’t mess with me…whatever your name is,” James said.

Rudy coughed.

“He doesn’t even know my name?” Rudy said to himself.

The bell rang.

“Come on James. Let’s get to class.”

James laughed.

“Look at this guy. Hah.”

James had a smile across his face. His shiny teeth snuck out between his lips.

‘Let’s go,” James said, “See you fifth period!” He and Ezra laughed as they started to leave.

“Yeah…see you fifth period.” Rudy whispered under his breath so they couldn’t hear him.

They went around the corner and slipped into their classroom, unnoticed by their teacher. They sat at a two person table at the back of the class. The table had two seats pulled up to it and was covered in scratch marks and discolorations. They sat down quietly.

“That kid was such a dick.” James whispered. Their teacher had already began talking.

“There wasn’t a problem with him really.”

James glared at Ezra. “Did you see what he did?”

“I didn’t see him do anything wrong.”

“He tried to fight back.”

“What did you expect him to do? Just sit back and let you beat the crap out of him?” Ezra said.

“Well yeah. That’s what most kids do. Kids like him at least.”

“What do you even mean by that?”

“By what?” James asked.

“‘Kids like him.’ What does that mean?”

“I mean. He’s just a weird fucker. I didn’t expect him to try and fight back. That’s all.”

Ezra shrugged his shoulders.

“I hate hanging with Ezra, he’s so…he always analyzes things too much.” James said in his head.

“Everyone take out your homework.” The teacher spoke to the class.

“Shit, I forgot to do my homework.” James whispered to Ezra. He quickly started getting paper out. He

figured he would try to get as much done as possible.

“You always forget to do your homework. Do it at home for once.”

James didn’t even respond.

“God, he sounds like my mom.” He thought. 

They sat through the rest of class without a sound.The boys who usually talked nonstop, stopped.The class seemed ten times quieter without their noises. Their teacher lectured and gave notes.Through the entire period they didn’t speak to each other. And through the entire period Rudy never showed up to class. Neither James nor Ezra thought anything of it.They had no idea what would happen the next period.

Fifth period.

Part 4

The bell rang and James left his third period class without even so much as glancing at Ezra. They were heading to the same spot, and they both knew that inevitably they would have to see each other. But until the inevitable arrived, they wanted no part in it.

James wasn’t quite sure exactly why he was ignoring Ezra. He had stopped him from escalating the fight with Rudy. That was for sure part of it. He thought it was more than that though. James had never really enjoyed Ezra’s presence. He was more of a, “friends-because-it makes-sense-to-be-friends” kind of friend. Almost everything Ezra said gave James a headache, everyone knew that.

In the situation they were in, there wasn’t much of a choice. Whether they liked each other or not they were gonna go to beat up Rudy. It was, inevitable. After having done it though, their dislike for each other was on full display. They both knew that their friendship had dropped from, “friends-because-it makes-sense-to-be-friends” to, “complete-and-utter-dislike-of-each-other, but-fake-it-to-appease-your other-friends-and-not-cause-trouble.” They were both completely content with that form of friendship.

James took the same route he always took to get from third period to lunch. Around the corner of the bungalow. Down the hall. Across the open area between two buildings. And across the patchy green brown quad until he got to the bench they all hung around.

The air had a dead feeling to it. The sun had finally come out, and the day was warming up. The cold air was no longer cold. It was neutral. In the sun, it was hot. In the shade it was cold. The typical weather of early lunchtime in Los Angeles.

“Hey.” James gave a little head nod to Phil as he approached.

“Where’s Ezra?” Phil asked.

James rolled his eyes. He didn’t give a shit where Ezra was.

“How’d I know?” James was rude. Phil responded slightly offended.

“Because you guys had third period together.”

James just shook his head. He knew Phil was right. But he didn’t want to respond. Phil gave him an odd look, then shrugged his shoulders and went back to eating his PB&J sandwich.

The rest of his friends were crowded around the blue bench as usual. Everyone besides Ezra. Kenny was a tall guy, with big teeth and shaggy brown hair. Practically every other day he would have a new story about something stupid he did. The stories never got old.

Jacob was skinny and tall. And seemed to always stand in an awkward position. Didn’t matter where they were. They could count on Jacob to be standing awkwardly and making them all look weird. He was, simply put, the smartest guy of their group…by a lot. They weren’t really sure why he hung out with them. He didn’t talk much. But they loved him, and they knew how awesome of a guy he was. It was just that he was usually not part of the conversation.

Larry was average height, had thick black hair, and was Kenny’s partner in crime. Their parents may as well have had a conjoint conception of their kids. Because what they created was two little boys with brains the size of walnuts, that agreed on everything one another said. They were the same person. Charlie was about as average of a person as you could get. Average height. Brown hair. Brown eyes. Jeans 36 with a plain t-shirt. An occasional joke here and there. The common laugh. He was a straightforward guy. Everyone knew what they were getting from him. A supportive person in whatever they were doing. That’s the real reason they were friends with him.

Tom was by far the tallest of their group. Nearly six foot five. He towered over the rest of them. He had a deep voice, that blared over everyone else. When Tom was talking, they were listening. He tried in school, and was a good student. But when someone gets smashed into so many times when playing football on the school team, It really doesn’t matter how hard they try in school. They aren’t gonna do well.

Tony was the shortest of their group. He played soccer and that was the extent of what he cared about. He was always fun to talk to, and had interesting takes on everything. But what really got him going was soccer. If the sport of soccer could be turned into a sex toy, Tony would be the first guy in line to buy it. Stefan was the comedian. There was never a word uttered from his mouth that didn’t make people laugh. He wasn’t funny for the things he did. That was Kenny and Larry’s role. But rather Stefan always knew the right moment to tell a joke. He’d stay quiet, until the perfect moment to say something that would make everyone pee their pants.

Phil, who besides his roaring laugh and childish personality, had nothing going for him. Every once in a while he had a clever remark, but that was all.

And of course there was Ezra. Who wasn’t there at the moment.

“Dude some weird shit happened in third period today.” James said to Phil. Everyone else around them was in their own conversations. Probably about video games or girls. Video games and girls, the two most important parts of any averagely popular teenage boy’s life.

“What do you mean ‘weird shit’?” Phil, of course, was highly interested.

Before James could answer, Larry leaned in and jumped into their conversation,

37

“Did someone say ‘weird shit’?” That got a laugh from both James and Phil.

“I was just telling Phil that third period today was really weird.”

“What was weird?” Larry asked.

“Ezra and I both went and beat up Rudy.”

“Right.”

“And it went kinda fine.”

“Right.”

“Until the end.”

“What happened at the end?” Phil leaned in closer and his eyes looked like those of zombies. But instead

of being hungry for brains he was hungry for a juicy story.

“Well Ezra and I didn’t talk, which is semi usual, you guys know that, but there was something different.

I don’t know what it was.”

“I wouldn’t think much of it.” A new person had entered the conversation. The three boys swung their

heads to see who was talking. It was Jacob, he continued,

“Ezra is like that sometimes. Just cause you guys didn’t talk, doesn’t mean anything is wrong.”

“I guess.” James shrunk down. James knew he was right. There wasn’t much reason for him to feel that anything was wrong. He just felt in his gut that something was wrong. James was a gut kind of guy, what his gut wanted is what happened. Not what his brain thought most logical. Still, Ezra had not shown up. James looked over at the rest of his friends. He thought they looked like complete hooligans. He noticed something “off.” Out of the ordinary. There was a boy. He was standing right on the outside of their circle, not talking, not trying to join. Just ominously standing there. His dark black hair covered his forehead.

“Yo, Phil. Who the fuck is that kid?” James leaned over and asked Phil as discreetly as possible.

“No idea. He pulled up and started standing there a little before you got here. We asked him what he

wanted, but he didn’t really respond.”

“We’re too scared to say something.” Larry added.

James’ eyebrows crunched,

“Why is he just standing there?”

“I just said, ‘I don’t know’.” Phil tried defending himself even though there was no reason to.

James started to get up but Larry pulled him back down.

“Hey. Chill out. We don’t know what he’s thinking. Just let him be.”

“Yeah don’t mess with him.” Phil and Larry seemed to be on the same page. But James wasn’t having any

of that. He got up, despite Larry holding his arm, and he went straight up to the boy.

“What the fuck are you doing?” James was straight up. As he always was.

The boy turned to him and stared, like a lion analyzing its prey.

“Hey I just asked you a question. You gonna answer it?” Again the boy didn’t respond. Now, all of James’

friends had turned to watch.

“Hey faggot I just asked…” Tom touched James on the shoulder.

“Chill out James.” James glared at him, having to tilt his head up at practically a 90 degree angle to look

at Tom’s face. He turned back to the boy.

“You gonna say something for yourself?”

The boy managed to squeak out a word, “Hello.”

“That’s all you’ve got? Hello?”

Before James could say anything else Jacob spoke, “What’s your name?” He asked curiously.

“My name is…”

“Nobody gives a shit what your name is. Why are you standing here like a fuckin’ demonic child?” James

cut him off.

“I have nowhere else to stand.” All of the boys’ hearts ached when they heard the boy speak. But before

any of them could say something, James did.

“What does that even mean? You can stand anywhere but here.” James looked at his friends. They were

all chuckling a little bit.

“I’m gonna…” The boy tried to speak up, but James’ antics had gotten Larry and Kenny involved. The

dynamic duo of being mean high schoolers.

“You’re gonna what?” Larry said.

“You’re gonna pull out a gun and shoot up the school?” Kenny continued. The boys burst into laughter.

It had begun, his friends were joining in.

“Look at him guys.” James said, “Little dude looks like the fag from Parkland. That shooting in Florida.”

His friends practically died of laughter. “I wouldn’t be surprised for even a second if he pulled out a

gun.”

“The second amendment is my right!” Tony chipped into the conversation for the first time. They were

practically on the floor laughing.

“What you got in the bag, a Glock?”xe3

“AR15?”

“The fag’s probably got an AK in there!”

Through all the teasing, the boy stood still. No emotion on his face. Cold as a stone.

“Fuck you.” The boy said under his breath.

“What’d you say? I couldn’t hear you over the sound of your guns firing.”

The boy didn’t say anything.

“Get out of here.” James said plainly, “Just leave.”

The boy stood for another second. Then he took a quick step forward and shoved James. Right away, the boy looked as if he regretted his decision. He turned to run, but before he could make it anywhere, Tom was in his way. All six feet and five inches of him. He turned around again, and faced James. “Who the fuck does this kid think he is?” James thought.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” James threatened the boy. “You better get your irrelevant school shooter ass out of here before I fuck you up!”

The boy turned again, but Tom was still standing there. He felt trapped. Anger was building inside him. It was fire. Fire was burning his heart and tears were forming in his eyes. A lump in his throat didn’t let him speak. He felt like everything inside his body was on fire. His brain. His eyes. His throat. His heart. He felt like screaming.

“I said fucking leave you freak!” James yelled again. He’d caught the attention of some neighboring groups of students. Lucky for him, no administrators were nearby.

“If this fucker doesn’t turn and leave in the next five seconds I’m going to beat the shit out of him. I don’t care what happens to me.” James screamed in his head. He began counting down in his head. “Five.”

Everyone was staring waiting for something to happen. Every high schooler’s dream.

“Four.”

The boy wouldn’t budge. James looked into his eyes. He felt like he was staring into the pits of hell.

“Three.”

The boy stood as if nothing was going to move him. Not an earthquake, not a wrecking ball, not even a tsunami.

“Two.” The boy didn’t move. James didn’t think he could feel more angry than he was at that moment.

He was surely wrong about that.

“One.”

James practically leaped at the boy, but at the same instant the immovable structure that was the boy turned and ran around Tom the way a small mouse would have done. James grabbed at nothing. The boy had run. They all looked past Tom who had spun around as the boy swerved around him. He was already halfway across the quad. His big backpack bounced up and down on his back with each stride he took.

James and his friends looked at each other, baffled by what had just happened. James’ heart beat began to slow. Just by looking him in the eyes the fire that the boy felt seemed to transfer to James himself. He felt the heat cooling down the farther the boy went.

“What the fuck just happened?” Phil asked. Nobody was really sure.

“I don’t know.” Tom said. The other groups that had slightly crowded around had left and gone back to wherever they had come from. The show ended and the audience had gone back to their homes. All of his friends looked at James.

“Don’t look at me! I didn’t do anything wrong.” He shoved his way through his friends and sat down. He opened his bag and started eating the lunch his mom had packed for him. After a second, his friends joined him, and within a few minutes, they had all virtually forgotten what had just gone down. Like it never happened. As if it didn’t have any future implications.

The bell rang and they all headed for their classes. Only a few had classes together. James was not one of those few. James walked off alone. To fifth period.

He entered his class about a minute before the bell rang. It was on the second floor and centrally located, but he and his friends always talked for a little after the bell. So they usually made it to their classes nearly late. When James entered he looked around. It was his least favorite class.

The fact that it was math was bad enough. Not knowing a single person made it even worse. He walked over to his seat, glancing at everyone he walked by.

“These kids are all such freaks. Why are they in my class?” James thought, even though his thought had no true meaning or reason behind it.

He sat down in his seat and prepared for the same hour and a half class that he had to sit through every other day. He looked around and saw the terrible posters all over his teachers wall. Geeky math jokes, a clock with math problems for numbers. James ran his hands through his hair. His nice, almost perfectly wavy brown hair. Usually girls loved it, but in that class, there were no girls of any interest to James. The bell rang.

Fifth period had officially begun.

The teacher didn’t stand up from his desk. A minute passed, and the class was quiet. Another minute passed and still, the class was quiet.

“Jesus these kids are weird as shit. Do they even know how to speak?” This was a thought that reoccured in James’ head every time he sat in his fifth period math class.

Finally, his teacher stood up and walked to the white board. He started writing math problems onto the board. He titled them, “Warm-Up.”

The shuffle of notebooks and school supplies erupted. Everyone got out their notebooks and began answering the problems on the board. When the teacher was done writing the problems he went back to his desk.

Ten minutes later he stood up and started answering the questions on the board. He gave no explanation of how to do the problems. He just did them.

“Wow our education system is so great.” James said sarcastically in his head.

A random girl spoke up, “Mr. Whitaker, I have a question about number two.”

Mr. Whitaker looked at the girl with his tired eyes. “Talk to your neighbors.”

The rest of class went on. Quietly, as that class usually was. James kept checking the clock. He would split up the time.

“Only an hour left.” He would think, “That’s four more sets of 15 minutes and the school day will be finished.”

Mr. Whitaker stood at the front of the classroom writing notes on the board as the whole class copied.

James still just sat staring at the clock. Just waiting for the first 15 minutes to pass and for only 45 minutes to be left on the clock. Finally it passed.

“Only 45 more minutes.”

He stopped looking at the clock and watched what Mr. Whitaker was writing on the board for a few minutes. It looked like another language to James.

Again, 15 minutes passed.

“Only 30 more minutes.” Some more time passed, and James checked the clock again. And after some quick math calculations (he was in math class after all) he came to the conclusion that there was only 20 minutes left in class.

“Almost there, James. Just twenty more minutes and you’ll be out of this shit hole.” That was the same thought that was going through the minds of hundreds of other students at his school. Then, out of nowhere, like fireworks on Fourth of July, a gun fired. It rang through the ears of every student, teacher, administrator, and janitor on campus. Within seconds, the school descended into complete chaos.