Chapter 1:

Sitting in his seat with chin resting in his folded arms, Talal sighed. He couldn't wait for the day to be over. It was a Friday, in his sixth period (which included his sixty year old, angry italian, weeaboo teacher, Mr. Dimauro) with crisp weather biting at his toes even into the afternoon.

He sighed again, his pupils sliding over towards the maroon door's window as he investigated the gloomy cold air outside. His eyes caught a tall brown boy walking suddenly as his guts pirouetted inside his tummy―was that Ajmal? His lungs gasped suddenly, as the boy turned around only to reveal that it was not his old best friend. Talal scoffed, shaking his head slightly. Ajmal poser.

Casting his brown irises downward, he fiddled with his pencil as Dimauro droned about the lab sheet and how students have become regressive. How had he let this happen? He remembers the days where he'd wake up every morning, excitement vibrating through his veins at the thought of playing basketball with Ajmal and the others. How had they grown so far apart? They were so close to one another... he thought they had something... different? Talal shook his head. No, Ajmal would never consider that. Especially when Bella had always been in between them.

Talal twisted his fingers around his pencil. Bella. Ugh, if only she had left them alone, then maybe, just maybe him and-

"TALAL!"

He gasped suddenly, his head snapping towards Dimauro, "...yes?"

"OH MY GOD! Were you listening to a word I said? I swear to god, if you say no, I will WHACK you across the head!"

Talal snickered slightly, but mostly tried to control his laughter as her stared into Dimauro's soul-devouring eyeballs.

"Say, 'Yes, Mr. Dimauro.'"

"Yes, Mr. Dimauro," Talal repeated.

"Good boy," Dimauro paused, glancing at Giarmo as he strutted across the door (presumably to go to the bathroom), "Giarmo!"

The blonde paused, turning his head towards Dimauro with a headphone stuffed into his left ear, "Yes?"

"Remember that we..." Dimauro paused, Talal examining the hard eye contact between the two.

Giarmo gasped softly suddenly, his green eyes widening with a slight nod towards Dimauro's direction, "Oh, yes, okay. Yeah, I'll be there."

Talal frowned. Be where? He didn't have time to process the intense conversation he had witnessed because soon Dimauro was screaming at everyone to hurry and do their lab. Talal rolled his eyes, grabbing his lab sheet and pencil, then headed towards the black lab table at the right of the classroom. He contemplated if he should join a group, but quickly nixed the idea―he could work more efficiently and accurately if he worked alone, that's just how good he was in Physics. Or any science for that matter.

Perhaps if Aaron (Chloe) had been in his class, he would work with a partner, but for now, as he finished setting up the lab, he would have to work alone.

Talal screamed, as an abrupt force trembled him towards the ground. His forehead pulsed heatedly as it hit the edge of the lab table. His fingers tapped it lightly, raw wine blood cloaking them in streams. What's happening?

"Get under the goddamn table, everyone! It's an earthquake!" Dimauro screamed.

Talal crawled under the nearest table, covering his head and squeezing his eyelids shut. His ears rang loudly at the crumbling chaos surrounding him―it felt as if he was in a crashing vehicle, only it was louder, more amplified.

He heard a scream somewhere―that was a scream, right? He wasn't able to tell, everything felt as if it were screaming all around him. He jumped abruptly as something crashed on the desk above him, followed by the lights fluttering on and off.

He didn't know how long this went on, it could've been a couple of minutes to long sets of hours, but when he felt the ground had finally stopped shaking it almost felt like a dream. It was surreal.

Talal's legs wobbled as he stood up. The sides of his thighs and knees ached from sitting cross-legged for so long. He struggled to walk and his arms were bleeding with scratches tearing through his long-sleeved shirt. At the thought of blood, his fingers darted towards his injured forehead where it stanched the half-dried injury.

"Hello?" His voice was hard against his throat, it was rough and quiet.

"Hello?!" He tried again. Talal jumped when he heard a small groan at his right. He dashed towards it, his pupils running for the source of the noise. He gasped, seeing Dimauro laying under a broken desk, red ink surrounding him, "Holy shit, are you okay?"

Dimauro laughed, making Talal scream internally because he was currently dying, and then weakly said, "Oh my god. Of course I'm not okay, you regressive bitch."

Talal would've kicked Dimauro in the face, but had to stop himself because, again, Dimauro was dying. Instead, he hurriedly grabbed the broken desk and attempted to pull it off Dimauro.

"AHHHHH," Dimauro screamed in pain, "STOP THAT HURTS ME, YOU BASTARD!"

"Wha-" Talal stopped, peeking under the desk to see the desk's leg was shoved through Dimauro's body, "OH MY GOD! I-it's like- sh-shoved into your body... Oh, god, there's a hole i-in your body."

"Yeah, I'm like spongebob," Dimauro chuckled/coughed up mucus and blood. He groaned, "Ugh, I'm going to die... I need you to do me a favor."

Talal's ears perked up, "A favor?"

"Yes. I-" He coughed again, "I want you to find Giarmo... He has to be around here somewhere... and when..."

Talal blinked his lashes, "Dimauro?! A-are you... are you okay?"

He coughed suddenly, "Sorry, I don't feel that great... ugh... oh, when you find Giarmo... I want you to tell him..."

"...Tell him?"

Dimauro sighed, closing his eyelids for a bit, "I want you to... I want you to say that... Linkin Park wasn't that... bad... and th-that I... I..."

Talal sat up, staring at Dimauro's ugly face, "D-Dimauro? Hey... h-hey this isn't funny. Wake up... Dimauro, wake up," He shook his shoulders, "Di-Dimauro?"

He sighed, "You're dead, aren't you?"

No answer.

Talal got up, his legs and arms still aching, and lightly kicked Dimauro's head, "You deserved that for making us redo the lab."

His eyes searched around him, seeing a picture of Jeffree and Dimauro's other fake cat. Talal grabbed it from the wall and covered Dimauro's face with it, "You were an okay teacher... not really, you sorta sucked but you were a good person... actually, nevermind, you aren't- I mean weren't. You were funny though."

After Talal gave Dimauro a moment of silence, he got up and began his search for Giarmo. He headed out of the ruined classroom (after much trouble with opening the door due to the wreckage) and glanced around himself.

It was a mess. The trees had twisted off and down the walkway, the pillars had crumpled down onto the concrete. He choked as he eyed a girl lying on the floor, a dirty bloody gash spreading from the small of her back to the tip of her shoulder.

"T-Talal?!"

"SHIT!" He yelled, whipping around. His eyes grew wide, his ears burning as his stomach churned. He could feel heat spread across his stomach to his limbs towards the tips of his fingers and toes.

"A-Ajmal?"