A/N: General trigger warning for graphic violence as the school shooting happens in this chapter.
On the morning of Eli's thirteenth birthday, he was woken up by his mother.
"Happy birthday baby boy!" Cece said to him with a smile on her face.
Eli smiled back despite how tired he was right now. "Thanks, Mom."
"I bought you a whole tray of cute Halloween cupcakes to share with your classmates," she explained, "And then when you get home from school, Bullfrog and I will take you out to your favorite restaurant. Where do you want to go?"
"Little Miss Steaks," he answered just as his stomach rumbled at the thought of eating a big, juicy bacon cheeseburger.
She pinched his cheeks affectionately. "You got it! We'll even go in costume!"
"Cool," he replied. Since he was born on Halloween, his parents always went out for his birthday. Right now, he can smell the birthday breakfast Cece cooked for him. He just knew that there was an ice cream cake waiting for him in the fridge too.
Today was going to be a good day, he could tell.
Since the weather was warmer than usual, Marisol dressed in a pretty white top with a pastel pink skirt that was frilly at the bottom. She wore matching white sneakers with pastel pink shoelaces to accompany them. Combined with the pink butterfly hair clip she was wearing, she knew she looked cute today.
She smiled as she stepped into her homeroom classroom, where Katie was waiting for her.
"You look pretty, Marebear, what's the occasion?" Katie asked her.
"I don't know, I just felt like looking cute today due to the warm weather," she answered cheerfully.
The bell rung, and everyone who wasn't in their seats quickly got in their seats as Mr. Simpson walked in with Eli following behind him with a tray of cupcakes.
"Morning everyone, today is Eli's birthday and he brought in cupcakes for everyone to eat. Why don't we all sing him happy birthday?" Simpson suggested.
Eli shook his head. "No, no, there's no need to-"
"On the count of three everyone. One, two, three…."
She watched in amusement as Eli blushed in embarrassment while everyone in the classroom sang him happy birthday, with Imogen singing louder than everyone else. When the song was over, he looked like he wanted to run and hide. Simpson pretended he didn't see it as he passed around the tray of cupcakes. They were all either chocolate or vanilla with orange frosting, and sprinkles shaped like bats, ghosts, and pumpkins.
When the tray passed around to Katie, she quickly passed the tray to her without taking a cupcake.
"Come on, Katiekins, a cupcake won't kill you," Marisol urged while taking a chocolate one for herself.
"I can't. I already had a breakfast bagel this morning and I don't want to add any more unnecessary calories," Katie explained while shaking her head. Marisol could only sigh in response as she bit into her cupcake. She was careful to not get any on her outfit.
"Do we really have to go to that stupid Whack-Your-Brain show today?" She asked, annoyed at the idea. One of their teachers was making everyone go to the event instead of their normal class period.
"I don't know. I kinda wish I was able to participate in that," Katie replied.
"Why? It's for nerds," Marisol said.
"And? It would have looked great on my application for university," Katie reasoned.
"Katie, you do know university is five years away from now, right?" She questioned.
"It's never too late to start thinking about university," Katie reminded her and she rolled her eyes while turning around in her seat.
She forgot how nerdy Katie herself can be sometimes.
It's been a few days and Mo did not process that he had diabetes.
"You will have to change your diet and exercise more often. We recommend exercising at least thirty minutes a day to lower glucose levels," the doctor had recommended him while he was still in the hospital. His mother had written everything the doctor had told them down on a piece of paper and watched him like a hawk now along with his father. The atmosphere at home was now tense as his parents were now strict with what he could or could not eat.
He was no longer allowed to eat breakfast or lunch at Degrassi. His mother prepared all of his meals, and personally included fruits and vegetables in every lunch she made for him. He couldn't drink whole milk anymore, and his father made sure he did some kind of exercise routine every day along with taking his medicine.
It was very overwhelming, and school was basically the only place he was allowed to relax these days.
The math teacher talked endlessly about polynomials, but he wasn't paying attention. He felt the biggest dumbass for contracting the disease, even if the doctor told him that genetics could be a factor. His late paternal grandfather was a diabetic and a couple members of his dad's side of the family also had it.
But he already was an outcast due to his weight. Now he had something else to get bullied over by other kids.
"Did you see that some junior got his car vandalized yesterday?" Marisol whispered to her as they sat down in some seats along with the rest of the class.
"Really?" Katie whispered back.
"Yeah, they're saying it's that freak Rick who did it," Marisol explained as they both looked up at him. Compared to the other kids on stage, he was sharply dressed in a black suit and tie.
"I wouldn't be surprised, considering what kind of person he is," Katie replied while glaring at Rick. Quite frankly, she thought that he shouldn't be allowed to participate in any school competitions to represent the school and he especially shouldn't be around girls.
As the game started and the host read out loud the questions to the contestants, Katie wished that she was up there instead of Rick. She was a wonderful student, she probably would have gotten all of the questions right if she studied the night before. Every time someone from Degrassi got a question right, she clapped for them. Except Rick.
A tie breaker happened, and one person from each team was called up to answer a string of questions by themselves. It was Rick vs a kid from Northern Tech.
The kid from Northern Tech earned forty points for his team, and everyone from Degrassi tensed as it was Rick's turn.
Despite answering one question incorrectly, Rick won with fifty points. While everyone around her cheered loudly, even Marisol, Katie could not bring herself to give him more than an unenthusiastic clap. She was happy that their school won, but not at the hands of an abuser.
"Well it looks like he's good for something," Marisol remarked. Katie was about to give a rebuttal when yellow paint and feathers suddenly splashed on Rick from above.
Everyone froze for a few seconds, only for laughter to boom around the room.
"The way his goofy ass looked with that paint all over him….oh man I wish had a camera to capture that perfect moment," Mo said before laughing at the lunch table.
Imogen frowned in response. "Yeah, but I don't think that was necessary though, especially in front of everyone," she replied.
"You actually feel sorry for that loser?" He asked her in disbelief.
"No, well I just think that there's a line between protesting Rick and outright bullying him, and I don't think throwing paint and feathers on him was an okay thing to do," she argued.
"That's nothing compared to what he actually deserves Immy, do you remember he put a girl into a coma before we got here?" Mo pointed out. Then she watched as his face shifted in realization.
"Where's Eli?"
Eli was at his locker, getting his books ready for his next string of classes and studying for the first test he was taking for science class later that day. Instead of lunch, he opted to do this since his parents were taking him out to have a nice birthday dinner later this evening.
He overheard Marisol humming a song to herself as she approached her locker and opened it up. Despite his better instincts, he turned away and looked at her as she reapplied a new layer of lip gloss and brushed her hair.
She looked cute today, even if he hated all the pastel pink and white. But those colors really fit her, along with yellow and lavender. He hated to admit it but he was always interested in seeing what new outfit she would wear next. She seemed to treat Degrassi as if it was her runway, and maybe it was.
He was getting ready to turn away from her when Rick came down the hallway with the paint and feathers he was pranked with still all over him. Something about him was…...off.
Marisol turned to face Rick, and started laughing at the sight of him. "You're still here?" She asked him. "What? You a sucker for punishment or something?" She added mockingly with a sneer.
Eli closed his locker and walked over to her. "Leave him alone," he urged firmly. He didn't like the guy but whoever pulled that prank on him was sick in the head.
"Why? He didn't leave that girl alone," she argued before looking back at him. "Though look at him, the only people he can fight and win against are girls."
Years from now, Eli would insist that what happened next felt like it occurred in slow motion.
Rick reached into his book bag, and pulled out a gun, and when he pointed it at Marisol, he acted without thinking.
A gunshot went off, and Marisol's scream rang loudly in his ears as he pushed her out of the way. Rick then quickly ran off.
Eli looked at Marisol, who was covered in blood and was staring at him in horror.
He didn't realize that it was his until it was the last thought he had before he fainted.
Katie didn't know why everyone was suddenly locked in the lunchroom but all she knew was that Marisol wasn't here with her.
She looked around wildly while kids around her panicked. It was a madhouse. Teachers were trying to calm everyone down, but it wasn't working. 'Where the hell is she?' She thought to herself in worry. She knew she should have stopped Marisol from going to her locker to freshen up.
"I got a call from my dad, he says there was a shooting inside the school," she overheard some kid whisper to his friends from a table near her.
'Shooting? Who would shoot at a school?' She thought again, appalled at the idea.
"I heard some people got shot, including a seventh grader," someone added.
Katie felt her stomach drop at the revelation.
'Eli got shot and it's all my fault.'
Marisol just sat in her father's embrace as the investigator tried to talk to her. He arrived before her mother did, and despite his normally aloof personality, he immediately hugged her.
The investigator gently tried to get words from her on what happened in that hallway but the words were just noise to her ears. Nothing was registering.
'Eli got shot and it's all my fault.'
Her mother stepped in with her older brother following behind her. She kissed all over her while crying in relief that she was still alive. Both of her parents wrapped their arms around her, while her brother awkwardly watched.
"Are you hurt in any way, baby?" Her mother asked in concern.
"No," she answered numbly. But Eli was, and so much blood poured out of him that there was a possibility he might not live. The last she saw of him, the ambulance workers carried him out of the school on a stretcher, and he looked just as unresponsive as his friend did last week when he passed out at the dance.
If she had just said nothing to Rick, he wouldn't have tried to shoot her, and Eli wouldn't have stepped in to save her. Now he was in the hospital fighting for his life.
All because she opened her big, stupid mouth.
'Eli got shot and it's all my fault.'
It was a while before it was safe enough for everyone to be let out of the classrooms, and all Mo could think about was that Eli was not with him or Imogen. He heard that some seventh grader got shot, and only Eli and Marisol were missing from their class. Then he heard that it was Eli.
It was Rick who shot him, and he was later killed in the process of struggling with some other kid for possession of the gun. Mo wanted to say good riddance, because Rick was a total creep, but couldn't find it in him to do. Not when his main thought was that he could lose his best friend.
Imogen was sobbing as they waited outside for their parents, and there was nothing he could to comfort her. Even as her father pulled up and took her away, she didn't let up and he had a feeling it was going to be like that for her all night.
When it was time for his parents to pick him up, Mo numbly got in the car and didn't say anything. They asked him all kinds of questions, but he only nodded or shook his head in response.
For weeks, he watched and laughed as Rick got bullied by the older kids, and not once did he feel any sympathy or think the bullying went too far.
Now, Mo felt guilty even though he never did a single bad thing to that guy.
Because everyone had their limits, and his friend was in the hospital because Rick reached his.
Monday
Eli was going to live, but that wasn't enough for Imogen. He was still in the hospital due to the wound he got in his chest, and he was going to be in there for a while to undergo a few more surgeries. The seat next to her in classes was going to remain empty.
She walked in the classroom for homeroom, and the atmosphere was eerily quiet. Usually, students would talk animatedly to each other until the bell rang, but today no one wanted to say anything.
Marisol's silence was the most notable, as she would always flap her lips to Katie every morning. But the other girl was sitting silently for once, as she looked out the window with a faraway look in her eyes.
Imogen approached her as anger bubbled inside of her. Marisol turned to face her, and there was a blank look on her face. She wasn't wearing her usual makeup and accessories, and her hair looked like crap. Her outfit was just a long sleeved shirt and some jeans.
"You need something?" The other girl asked her, and there was a lack of cheer in her voice, or the bite she usually received.
Imogen stared at her for a few seconds to think about what she wanted to say.
When she did, she mustered as much power in her voice as she could so Marisol could feel how much she hated her at the moment.
"It should have been you," Imogen said to her coldly before walking away.