“Too late. Let's go.”
He got out and I had no choice but to follow. We passed Matthew sitting in his car nearby. Guess he changed his mind, like us. His presence didn't register as odd so we kept going, the awful feeling I'd had only growing stronger. The school loomed in front of us, a brick shadow in the darkness.
In contrast, the inside of the school was roaring with life. Music blared from the gym as students hung out, danced, and laughed like tonight was special and they didn't have a care in the world. On this night, we were just teenagers having a good time before the real world crept in.
We paid for our entry and signed in before moving into the gym.
I scanned the room seeing groups of kids sitting with their own, not interacting with those they didn't know. Morgan stood off to the side, arguing with her younger brother Troy. Troy caught my eye and waved. Morgan slapped his hand down. And then there was another brother and sister, standing in the doorway, both feeling on the outside.
Looking towards Colby, he nodded at someone on the other side of the room. “I'm going to find some of the guys,” he said.
I turned towards where he'd been looking to find Jamie's eyes scanning me from head to toe from where he stood by the opposite door. A small, unsure smile appeared on his face. It didn't belong there in place of his usual confidence.
I ran my hands down my stomach nervously, straightening the fabric that now felt too tight. Jamie's words entered my mind. He suddenly realized he'd do anything she asked.
My feet carried me in his direction, stopping a few feet away.
“I want you to kiss me,” I blurted before I could stop myself.
His smiled dropped. “Demanding, aren't we?”
“I thought you'd do anything I asked.”
Confusion rose in his eyes for a moment before understanding dawned.
“I'm asking you to kiss me, Jamie,” I said with a confidence I didn't feel. “Right here. I don't care what anyone says anymore.”
“I thought you liked the excitement of sneaking around?”
“It's not exciting anymore,” I admitted. “It's painful.”
His face was serious and for a moment, I was scared he was going to walk away. Then, before I had time to process, he closed the gap between us and kissed me harder than he ever had before.
His arm came around me to pull me in closer. I worked my hands up around his neck, holding his head in place. It felt different than before. This time we weren't trying to hide. The adrenaline was replaced with peace; my escape replaced with home.
I don't know how long we stood in the crowded gym, kissing as if our lives depended on it. There were sure to be stares and whispers, but I didn't care.
I smiled against his lips, finally pausing to catch my breath as a scream pierced the air around us.
“Gun!”
Part Two
Chapter Twenty-Five
Callie:
We thought we were invincible.
Impenetrable.
Separated from all the evil in the world, high school our protector.
In an instant, the glass surrounding our lives was shattered.
Chaos took no time at all to develop. It just happened. We didn't get a warning.
Cries rose up from the mayhem. No one knew what was going on.
I couldn't think. Couldn't move. My muscles were heavy with disbelief.
People ran to hide under tables, behind the stage, anywhere they could get away from the unknown assailant.
Someone gripped my arm, jerking it back and pulling me from my state of immobility.
“Callie,” Jamie was yelling above the noise. “California.”
I looked into his wide eyes as he forcefully pushed me through the door. He followed close behind, running towards the nearest door as soon as we were in the hall.
“Locked. Dammit.”
“They lock the classrooms during dances,” I said, just needing to say something.
Jamie pushed his hair back out of his face and looked around frantically. A couple other students had the same idea as us, getting out of the gym. No one knew where the gun was or even if there was one. But the terror was real. It was here.
A boy ran past us down the hall, but he wouldn't get out of the school without going to the other side of the gym. We were in the hall that led to the locker rooms.
As soon as I had the thought, it was like Jamie read my mind. We ran down the hall and around the corner.
“Oh thank God,” Jamie said when the knob turned and the door swung open.
We weren't the first ones in there. Two freshman girls I recognized were huddled together near a junior boy. Three senior boys followed us in and shut the door.
“Turn off the lights,” I said, remembering our lock down drills.
They obeyed.
I expected to feel calmer out of the gym, but with nothing left to do, that one word rang in my head. “Gun!”
I ducked quickly past the rows of lockers, feeling my way in the dark, until I was alone and let out a sob. Jamie came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my shoulders, squeezing hard. He buried his face in my back.
“Are you okay?” he asked, voice trembling.
Before I could answer, two bangs pierced the well cultivated safety of our lives. I jumped in Jamie's arms before my legs gave out and I slid to the ground, my knees banging into the concrete. Cries came from the other end of the locker-room, but they barely registered. I choked out a sob as Jamie sat in front of me, pulling me into his lap.
A tear dripped onto my cheek and when I looked up, he too was crying.
“Shhhh,” he soothed, his voice thick. “It's going to be okay.”
His words were empty. We both knew it. But they were the type of words that had to be said.
A few more moments passed and when the third shot sounded, I didn't even jump. I curled tighter against Jamie. He kissed my head, my cheek, the corner of my mouth.
I couldn't tell you how long we sat there in the dark, waiting for more gunfire, listening only to the quiet sobs of the locker-room's other inhabitants.
“What do you think is happening?” I whispered.
“I wish I hadn't left my phone on the table out there.” He chuckled slightly, a foreign sound at a time like this.
“This damn dress had nowhere to put mine.”
“Did I tell you how hot you look in it?” he asked, running a hand down my bare leg.
“Jamie,” I warned.
“Why couldn't you have just stayed home tonight?” he sighed. “You and Colby both.”
“Oh God, Colby. Did you see him before we got out?”
“No.” He blew out a heavy breath. “I wish you were safe.”
“How could I stay home after that story you wrote about us? I think you actually like me.”
“Oh, Callie girl, I think I actually love you.”
I didn't get a chance to process his words because there were loud footsteps in the hall outside the locker-room. We all held our collective breaths, not releasing them until the sound was gone.
I shook in Jamie's arms and he hugged me so hard I almost couldn't breathe. “It's going to be okay,” he whispered again. I didn't know if he was telling me or himself.
Colby was out there. I didn't know where. I'd dragged him here, putting him in danger. Had I really only been worried about him finding out about me and Jamie hours ago? Why did that even matter?
Minutes or hours or, hell, days passed in that room before we heard footsteps again. They stopped outside the room.
Time stood still.
The door opened, spilling light in from the hall.
The overhead light was flipped on, revealing two people with SWAT printed across their chests. The man yelled behind him, “We have some in here.”
The woman walked further into the room.
“It's okay,” she said, scanning us. “It's all over now.”
I scrambled to my feet, moving out from behind the far locke
rs.
“We have to take them out through the gym,” the man said.
She gave a sad nod of her head, knowing that was the only exit from this part of the school.
I looked around at the others in the room. I wasn't likely to ever forget their faces or the sound of their cries. We were together when our worlds came tumbling down.
A part of the gym was sectioned off with bright yellow tape. It was hard to miss. My eyes caught two things on the ground shrouded in white sheets.
“You don't want to see that,” the SWAT woman said, putting herself between me and the sight of what happened there.
Leaving the gym behind felt like breathing fresh air for the first time in my life. I looked back over my shoulder as Jamie took my hand. We were the last to leave the building, but we were far from the only ones there. Cameras flashed as soon as we stepped outside. The missing nine as they'd come to call us. They'd gotten a count over an hour ago, and couldn't account for us.
You never think it's going to happen to you. The terror. The helplessness. It's on the news; in TV shows. Not in your own small town. You're safe. We thought we could fly high, enjoying our last year of high school before starting on the next adventure.
We were no longer safe. That'd been torn away with the speed of a bullet.
I looked through the crowd that had gathered outside the school. Students greeted their families with tears. Police officers talked to the media. An ambulance stood by. It was a different kind of chaos than what we'd experienced in that school, but chaos all the same.
The flashing lights made me jump. The crowd made it hard to breath.
And then it all disappeared because standing there searching frantically was my brother, my twin.
I let out a sound somewhere between a laugh and a cry. “Colby.”
He turned, his face transforming from panic to relief as he sprinted towards me. Jamie released me so I could throw my arms around my brother. He lifted me off my feet and we cried together.
“Come on,” he said, putting me down. “Aunt Kat is over here.”
Kat was sitting next to Noah who was having his face tended to.
“Noah,” I gasped. “What happened?”
Kat turned at the sound of my voice, staring at me as if I'd disappear in a moment. She pulled me into a hug that was equally as bruising as Colby's, then did the same to Jamie. “You two had us scared.”
“What happened to Noah?” I asked again.
“He tackled Matthew Franklin.”
“Wait,” I said. “What?”
“Cal,” Colby put his arm around me. “He was the shooter.”
I looked up into his face, for the first time noticing the redness around his eyes. Those weren't tears of relief at seeing me.
“What aren't you telling me?”
No one answered for a long moment. Noah finally cleared his throat. “Matthew took his own life, but not before he shot Morgan Cook.”
“Morgan's dead?” I choked, collapsing into Jamie's chest.
“No.”
I jerked my head up.
Noah continued. “She went to the hospital in an ambulance, but should live. Troy Cook, however, did not make it.”
I staggered away from Jamie. He tried to reach for me again, but I put up a hand to stop him. Troy. The sweet boy I only recently met from the perfect family. This was going to tear them apart. I pictured his mom, with her eagerness to please. Parker with her openness and brashness. Hell, even Morgan.
Nothing would ever be the same. Not in Gulf City. Not in any of our lives.
“Jamie.” We all turned towards the man intruding on our moment, realizing it was Jamie's father and he was as entitled to his reunion as we were.
To my surprise, Jamie went to him, hugging him in much the same way I'd hugged Kat. Mr. Daniels relaxed, even eventually hugging his son back.
“Senator Daniels.” A reporter walked up, camera following closely behind. “Was your son in the building?”
Mr. Daniels released Jamie, but kept a hand on his shoulder. “He was one of the missing nine.”
Jamie tried to step away, but his father held him in place as he answered question after question.
Our statements were taken, interview requests received and denied. The only thing left to do was try to make sense out of something so senseless.
“Come on,” Kat said, once Noah was ready to go. “Let's go home.”
The reporters moved on and Jamie's dad said something in his ear.
Jamie walked over to me. “I have to go home with my dad.”
I nodded, threading my arms around his back and tilting my head up, not wanting to let go. His kiss was soft, the reassuring touch I sorely needed.
As we walked to the cars, Kat raised an eyebrow at me, but I just shook my head and got into Colby's car. Tonight was not the night for those discussions.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Jamie:
Dad didn't have much to say to me once we got home. That was nothing new, but this time it seemed different. He seemed different. It was as if he'd actually been scared standing out there waiting to hear where I was. They'd all been scared, the reporters had told us.
When they realized nine kids were still missing, they'd feared the worst, not knowing what state they'd find us in.
I knew that by tomorrow my father would be planning how to use this for his political advantage, but tonight he was just a dad.
We stood at the bottom of the tall staircase, looking anywhere but at each other. I shifted from foot to foot. He was still as a statue.
“Son,” he finally said, taking a long pause. “I …” He scratched his chin in thought. “You should get some sleep.”
Before I could respond, he reached out to grip my shoulder. I flinched slightly. Pretending he didn't notice, he gave me a few quick pats on the back and then walked into his study.
My brain was still working on overload from the evening. I shook my head and trudged up the stairs.
Alone in your room, it becomes more real. It happened. There's no escaping it. Nothing to hide behind.
I turned over in the dark, unable to close my eyes without hearing the gunshots or footsteps pacing outside my door.
Rubbing my fists against my eyes, I let out an exasperated groan. A door opened down the hall, making me jump. I couldn't do it, couldn't be there. With a sudden certainty, I knew the only thing I wanted to do was be with the two people I cared most about. The two people who'd gone through the same thing as me.
Whatever happened with me and Callie, we'd always be connected now. I don't think I could ever look back on this day without remembering that the feel of her in my arms grounded me, kept me together. For that, I'd always be grateful. For that, some part of me would always love her.
Because I knew now. I was in love with Callie McCoy. It should have scared me, but in light of everything else, it just didn't.
Kicking off the covers, I got up and pulled on a pair of sweats and a hoodie. I was on auto-pilot as I got in my car and drove the short distance to the house that felt more like home than my own.
The TV was on in the living room, its sounds drifted past the front door. Using the key I'd had since I was ten, I unlocked the door.
Shutting it behind me, I walked in to find brother and sister, my best friend and my girlfriend, sitting side by side on the couch staring at me. Callie had the blanket pulled to her chin and a death grip on Colby's arm that she relaxed when her brain finally registered it was me and not some intruder.
I saw in them the same fear that brought me here.
“Couldn't sleep?” I asked them.
Colby looked to his sister, an exhausted sigh escaping his lips. “I don't think I'll ever sleep again.”
“Me either,” Callie agreed, scooting over and folding her legs beneath her. She held up an end of the blanket, inviting me to stay.
My shoulders sagged in relief as I sunk into the couch and instinctively wrapped my arm around her shoulders
. Colby didn't say anything and it was then that I remembered he'd come with Callie to the dance so she could confront me. Our friendship was safe.
He caught my eye and nodded solemnly. “It's good that you're here, man.”
None of us said it, but the real reason we were there was because we couldn't bear to be alone.
Colby flipped through channels, settling on an old John Wayne movie on TMC and the three of us sat together all night, knowing full well that although one night stole away our peace, it'd take a lot more to bring it back - if that was even possible.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Callie:
Exams were postponed and school was closed early for the holidays. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a mistake. It gave all of us way too much time to think, way too much time on our own.
I threw myself into working at the diner. The holidays increased business enough so there was always something for me to do.
Those first days were the hardest. News crews hung around town. People made speeches. We were the talk of the nation. To them we were another school in a long line to use to advance political agendas. Should we have more guns? Less guns? I didn't care. Not at the time. All I wanted was to forget. To feel like life could be good again.
Jamie's dad was everywhere. I swore, he only saw us as his way to Washington. He was using his son to get there. Every time he spoke, he insisted on having Jamie by his side, wanting to remind people that his son was there. The son he'd kept hidden before. Now he was the family man, only wanting to keep his boy safe. It made me want to vomit.
Jay called. It took over an hour to convince him I was okay. What a lie.
I threw another set of rolled silverware in the bin, glancing up at the clock. On a normal day, Seth would come lumbering in right about then, ready for his early dinner. He'd give me life tips, talking in a soft tone that was surprising coming out of such a large man.
His stool was empty, only reminding us of what happened. Seth's grandson did that to us. I wrung a towel between my hands, crushing it and squeezing it. I hated Matthew. I couldn't help it. Maybe things could have been different if we'd helped him, but that didn't stop the heart-bruising anger at what he'd done to us.
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