The gun was not as large as the umbrella, which made hiding it fairly easy. However, he had to use two twine of rope to keep it close. On the bus he sat at the front of the vehicle keeping his head low as he usually did whenever he rode. Even there, the students taunted him and ridiculed his accent.
"Hey computer whiz!" One of the other students called from across the aisle. "Why are you toting that gigantic umbrella around? And what's with the big jacket?" Two girls sneered at him. They gave each other hi fives before settling back into their seats. Joel remained calm looking out the window as the school building crowded with students holding umbrellas in front of it turned into the bus loading zone. He waited for everyone else to get out of the bus before he disembarked. The two girls had already ruined his otherwise cheery mood for the morning. Surprisingly, no one taunted or called him names on their way out of the bus. They left silently single filed too busy greeting their friends to notice anything unusual. Joel picked up his umbrella feeling parts of the paintball gun rub against his ribs. It was no use in complaining the bus driver and anyone else who saw him would notice he had brought a weapon to school.
"Goodbye computer whiz!" The bus driver announced to him before closing the doors after him. He nodded waiting for the crowd to disperse to their respective classrooms for the morning. He checked his watch; it was 7:40 AM, only twenty minutes until first period. He had wished his friends were there with him. Sitting underneath a classroom window, Joel began observe the students one by one trying to pinpoint who had taunted him and who hadn't. The two girls from the bus earlier had already disappeared into the mostly indoor school. Grumbling he knelt than crouched low on the ground. No one paid attention to him or cared to. For him it was a good thing, no one would harass him. There were teachers walking in and out of crowds of students telling them not to miss their assignments or be late for first period. Occasionally, several students nodded or said,
"Mmm, hmm." Joel quietly untied the ropes around his umbrella. He was cautious in unraveling the gun, carefully slipping into his hand and up his sleeve. No one noticed. At 7:55AM, the front of the school was completely empty; Joel opened his umbrella and used it to shield himself from the pouring rain. When he opened the door, several students stood in front of their lockers gathering their textbooks. One of the girls from the bus looked up at him and scoffed. He raised the gun and fired at her. The other students nearby jumped. They were fired upon as well. One student did manage to crawl over to his first period class and screaming for his teacher. The teacher poked his head out the door as his students asked,
"Where's the noise coming from? Someone's shooting in the hallway?"
They heard a loud bang and jumped in their seats. Several girls covered their heads and faces with their textbooks. Other students began whimpering. Their teacher fell forward lying beside the student who had been trying to warn him to call the school security. One of the students in the classroom ran to the phone against the wall and began dialing the school office. As soon as the first dial sounded in his ear he heard crackles of gunfire followed by massive screaming. His classmates were crying and whimpering over their now wounded or dead friends. The office heard the crying and shrieking from the girls. She calmly instructed the students to stay in one place until the school security reached their classroom. The other students were informed of the instructions and remained in the classroom trying their best to care for their injured classmates. Some who had taken CPR class or home economics began practicing what they had learned in those classes on their friends. More gunfire followed by screams was heard in the hallway.
The school security guards corned Joel from the sides grabbing his paintball gun out of his hands before slamming him against the lockers.
"Don't move! You're under arrest for murder and possessing weapons!" One of the guards yelled in his ear before marching him into the principal's office where he was dismissed from school on permanent expulsion. Joel was shoved down a different hallway from where he had entered to a waiting police vehicle that had received distress calls from the school office. Along with the police officers was the press who had also responded to reports of a school shooting. The police officer explained to one of the guards he had been patrolling in one of the nearby neighborhoods when he received the call. The guard nodded to the officer shoving Joel over to him. A hand was placed on his jacket collar which he still wore. Another police officer, a woman, approached the boy asking him to remove his jacket so they could search for more weapons. The officer looked up at the guard nodding approvingly.
"Thank you Ameen Barak." He said slamming the boy against the passenger's side door. "Hold still!" other students in the second story section of the school watched the scene from the window whispering amongst themselves calling Joel every name imaginable to the human ear. His keyboarding professor who had previously dubbed him, "computer whiz" now denounced him as chaotic destroyer. After the search, he was thrown into the back of the car and driven to Shenandoah county prison. His father never bothered to released him or fight for an appeal in court. He told the press his son deserved the punishment he got. His close friends, divided over the arrest separated from one another soon afterwards not to meet again until eleven years later.