Chapter Thirteen-Lockdown

"How're you so happy?" Zigzag questioned as he and Squid walked into the school one morning. He noticed that his friend had a smile on his face and it was starting to scare him. He's never seen Squid that happy, unless he was with Icy. But seeing as she was going with Twitch now, he didn't understand the source of Squid's happiness.

"It's Ally," he responded as he stopped at his locker. He dropped his backpack and bent down to put his books inside. "Despite what we're going through, she's found time to do the one thing she loves: dancing. She's so great at it, you should see her. Her dance moves are so fluid it's like water is moving through her." He paused and added, "Once I turn eighteen I'm going to get my own place and come get Ally so she can live with me and we can finally be at peace."

"I've been thinking about that," Zigzag said as he opened his own locker. "Why don't you just go and tell the police?"

"Because Ally would be taken away from me and I might not see her again. I thought we've been over this."

"But Squid–"

"Ziggy, I know what I'm doing. So, get out of my business all ready and let me live my life."

"Judging by your home, you don't have much of a life left!"

Zigzag and Squid glared at each other before stomping off in opposite directions. Never, in their friendship history, have they let something like family come between them.

They're like family to each other, but now…

Things sure have changed.

Squid opened his locker door and started to get out his things when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned and smiled when he saw that it was Sharon and Julian Evans.

"Hi Alan," Sharon said with a smile. "Did you enjoy the party that we threw?"

"Yeah, it was a lot of fun," he responded honestly. "But wouldn't your parents be mad that a lot of things got broken."

"We can always replace it before they get back," Julian said with a shrug.

"So Alan, we're going to start running practices after school starting at 3:30. Don't be late."

"I promise I won't Shar."

"Can't wait. Toodles."

She motioned for Julian to follow her as she began walking down the hall. He nodded respectfully at Squid who nodded back. He watched as the Evans twins walked down the hallway and disappeared from site.

"Thank goodness basketball ended or else I'd have no way of balancing both basketball AND drama," Squid said as he sighed and closed his locker as he and Zigzag made their way to their homeroom class.

"I still can't believe you're going to be in that play, but you have a great voice. Don't blow it or Sharon will kill you," Zigzag advised him as they walked into the classroom.

"The school year isn't over yet, Mr. Kasch," Mrs. Douglass said as she eyed him suspiciously.

"With all due respect, Mrs. Douglass, my school year wouldn't be as interesting if you weren't our homeroom teacher," he said as he took his seat.

"With all due respect, Mr. Kasch, sucking up to me isn't going to make me change my mind about giving you a detention that you will deserve later."

The class laughed as they all filtered in. Jennifer smiled warmly at Squid and waved to her friends Taylor and Sharon. They waved back before they went back to their conversations. Sharon was talking to Julian about working at their Country Club over the summer while Taylor was talking to some people on the decathlon team.

"Mrs. Douglass, may I be excused?" Miles questioned as he raised his hand into the air. He looked a little bit pale and his knees were shaking underneath his desk. Inside him is stomach was churning as he got a lack of breath from nervousness.

"Hurry up, Miles," she said with a wave of her hand. He thanked her as he stood and rushed out of the room.

"What's wrong with him? He looks sick," Squid asked Zigzag.

"I don't know, maybe he got sick at the party last night," Zigzag responded with a shrug. "I mean, he and Clayton were having a shot contest."

"But Clayton looks fine," Squid pointed out as they looked over at Clayton.

"Maybe he caught the flu; I heard that's going throughout the school."

Squid shrugged and looked towards the front of the room. His cell phone vibrated as his eyes widened. Mrs. Douglass has a strict no cell phone policy. If he got caught with it on again, he'll get another detention. He dared anyway and slowly pulled it out of his backpack. He held it up to his face and saw that he got a Text Message.

Jennifer: Meet me at my lckr after?

Squid looked back and smiled at her. She smiled back and nodded towards his phone.

Alan: Sure, I need 2 ask U something ne way.

Jennifer: Can't w8

Squid stared at the clock as Mrs. Douglass droned on and on about something. Time seemed to slow down for him as he continued to stare at the clock. When it felt like his head was going to explode, Mrs. Douglass dismissed them. He jumped up and rushed over to his locker. He put his backpack in and leaned against it, playing cool.

"Hey, so what'd you want to ask me?" Jennifer asked with a smile as she put her hands in her pockets and rocked on her feet.

"Are you doing anything tonight?" Squid asked as he ran a hand through his hair.

"I don't think so," she responded as she smiled up at him.

"Great. I had this idea that…" Squid's voice faded away as he looked over her head. His eyes widened as his breath got caught in his throat. The bell rang and students started to come out into the hall. "Jennifer," he said in a whisper.

"What?" Jennifer questioned. "Alan, what's wrong?"

"Jennifer." Squid repeated. "Run!"

"What?"

"RUN!"

Right as he shouted that, a gunshot drowned out his voice as screams filled the air and students started to push them around.

"JENNIFER, RUN!"

----------------------------------

"God, where is she?" Nikita asked herself as she sat in her seat in Geometry class. She looked at her watch before getting out of her seat.

"Where are you going?" A girl with curly red hair, Alyssa, questioned as she watched Nikita leave the classroom.

"I'm getting some water before class starts. Maybe miss a few minutes because I hate this place. Promise you won't rat on me?"

"Of course I promise. Try not to be late this time."

"I'll try." Nikita rolled her eyes but briefly at her before she left the room. She decided to just skip the rest of the school day so she headed towards her locker. Nikita opened lockers on her way there and was slamming them shut as she ran past them. She was about to close one locker when a hand slammed it shut. She looked up into the angry look on Miles's face. "What is it?" She asked as she pushed away his hand and continued down the hall.

"You don't even know what you did to me," he said in disbelief as he shook his head and laughed a little.

"I didn't do anything to you," Nikita said in a dismissive tone as she kept walking. He pushed her back so he was standing in front of her.

"Yes you did," he said in an accusing tone. "You played with my heart. You lead me on just to watch me fall! Well now, I'm going to watch you fall!"

"What do you mean by–" Nikita started but she froze when he raised his hand. A gun was in it and it was pointing right in between her eyes. Her breath got caught in her throat as fear took her over. "Miles–"

"Say goodbye to your friend, Princess!" He said in a malicious tone as he pulled back the hammer on the gun. In a split second Nikita turned to run as fast as she could.

She heard the gunshot and she screamed as pain hit her in the side and she fell to her knees.

She fell onto the ground as everything in her world turned black…

----------------

Icy whirled around as screams filled the hall and frightened students ran around, trying to shove people out of their way. Icy was jostled and pushed around as they fought their way away from the gunman. Someone pushed her so hard she fell to the ground and started to get trampled on. She covered her body with her arms as she curled up into a ball, trying to block out the pain that was being reigned down on her.

She finally pushed herself to her feet and looked around. Some other kids were being ushered into classrooms. She followed them into one and closed and locked the door behind herself. Her hearth thudded in her chest as she tried to catch her breath and stop the tears from falling down her cheeks. Green Lake High was supposed to be a safe school. Nothing this bad was supposed to happen. Her head was so jumbled she couldn't even remember what had happened.

"Icy?"

She turned her head and sighed with relief when she saw that Zigzag was sitting on the floor, looking up at her. She sat down next to him and looked him over. His hat had dirt smudged on it, his light blue t-shirt was ripped and there were massive holes in his jeans. To her, it looked as if he got into a fight with another student.

'We're all in a fight…a fight to survive.'

"I'm so glad you're ok!" Icy said as she hugged him. He flinched and she quickly pulled away and saw that his face was twisted in pain. "What happened?"

"It's nothing, I just got kicked by some people," he muttered. "But that's not the point. I don't understand why we're on lockdown. What happened? What's going on?"

"I was at my locker when it happened," Icy started to explain. "I was getting things for my Geometry class when I noticed it was really quiet, even with about ten people in the hall. Then I heard the gunshot…and the scream. Then everyone in the hallway started running around. I was pushed away by the panicked students and I was shoved to the floor. There people started to step on me as they tried to escape. Once I was finally able to get up I was brought in here." Tears were falling down Icy's face now. She suddenly gasped as she grabbed Zigzag's arm. "What about the others? What if they're hurt?"

Zigzag looked up at her in confusion. He's never seen her in this state before, and it wasn't comfortable for him to see tears spilling out of her eyes so easily. "Trust me, I've been thinking about that," he muttered as he rested his forehead on his arms. "I'm worried about Nikita. We haven't been separated ever since we've been going out. She must be freaking out right now. What if she's hurt? What if she's dying! She needs me but I can't get to her! I feel so helpless."

"Everything will be fine and–"

Everyone in the classroom was silenced as knocks were heard on the door. Big round eyes of fear looked at each other as they kept their mouths shut. The banging came once more as they started to panic.

"There's no teacher in here!" A drama club student, Melody, hissed as she brought her knees up to her chest.

"What do we do?" Another drama club student, Maz, questioned as the knocking came again, but this time more impatient. "We're not allowed to open the door incase it's the shooter."

"We're not supposed to be making noises either!" a boy snapped as he backed away from the door. Soon the knocks turned into impatient banging. The door handled jiggled a couple of times and they heard a voice swearing under his breath before footsteps we heard fading down the hall.

"What if that was the shooter?" Melody questioned.

"It probably someone trying to find a place to hide," Zigzag reassured her as she started to sob. "Their safe bet is to run away from the school and go get help."

"What if we don't make it?" Icy muttered in a cold voice.

"We will, Icy," he said as he grasped her hand in his strong grip. "I promise we'll get out soon."