Kickin It Fool here,
We are still cowriting. This is our 4th chapter and I loved writing it with collaboration from her. I am still having bad and good days, I am not going to lie, but I am not giving up. I am not going anywhere. I am sorry that you have to keep waiting for this chapters, but I am getting ready to have surgery again so please be patient with me. Please be prepared as we go forward because there will be parts that will be hard to read. I really feel like it will move you when we are done so I hope you give it a chance.
REG UPDATES FOR THIS STORY ARE PLANNED FOR MONDAYS. I AM REALLY TRYING TO STICK TO THIS SCHEDULE FOR MY STORIES, BUT SOMETIMES I JUST CAN'T GET A CHAPTER DONE DEPENDING ON WHAT IS GOING ON WITH ME.
Please keep the reviews coming. I love to hear from all of you more than you know. It really means a lot!
We are dedicating this to everyone who has been affected by school shootings. Life will never be the same, but each day that we live and go on is a tribute to all of those who have fallen. Our prayers go out to all of the families and friends that have been hurt by a tragedy like this.
Remember to check out Polyvore and look for Kickinitfool. You will see any outfits that I talk about in the chapters there.
Disclaimer: I do not own Kickin It or any of the characters in it. I do not own any of the clothing mentioned in this chapter. I do not own any of the songs used in this chapter.
Chapter 4 The Hard Truth!
JACK'S POV
We were all frozen as I dropped to my knees by Kim wrapping my arms around her while she cried. Then one voice snapped her out of it.
"No! Chloe! No!" It was faint but we all heard it and Kim jumped to her feet wiping her face off and looking down at her brother.
"Ethan! Stay still. I am coming for you." She shouted down at him and then she turned to me. "Jack I have to go now so its stairs or lowering me down on one of those ropes, but I have to get to him." She said to me.
"Ok." I replied turning to look at everyone still standing there in shock. "Anyone who can, needs to come help us. There are a lot of other students down there and we need to get to them. Kelsey and Grace, can you guys take care of the people who are hurt up here and we will be back with more." I said.
Everyone snapped into action because we had to. I knew Kim's heart was broken with fear for Chloe, but she was trying to focus on Ethan and I needed to help her with that. We started down the stairs carefully making sure to watch for anyone with guns. We got to the lower section of the gym and Kim started to just run out and I grabbed her around the waist stopping her.
"Just a minute, Kim. Let's be careful." I told her and she nodded in defeat even though she just wanted to get to her little brother.
Brody and I went out first and everything was horrible. I found myself getting lost in the devastation of it all. Half of the outer wall to the gym was gone and engulfed in flames along with most of the weight room. It was a miracle anyone was still alive down here.
As far as we could tell, the coast was clear of any of the shooters so everyone moved out further and started trying to help as many of the other students as we can. Kim ran straight over to Ethan and was trying to help him get the rubble off of his legs, but some of it was pretty big. It took Brody and I to help them finally get the one large piece off of him. With that moved, Ethan was free.
He looked up at Kim panicked. "Kimmy, my leg is definitely broken. There is no way I am going to be able to walk on it." He said. "You have to get out of here. I will be ok."
"I am not leaving you." She said with an aggravated look on her face. "I will pull you to somewhere safe myself if I have to. Can you use your other leg at all?" She asked.
He tried to push up some on his other leg, but fell back down quickly. "No. Sorry. It hurts really bad, too."
"It's ok. We will get you out of here, but I need to check on some other kids, too. I will be right back." She said as she kissed him on the forehead and started helping with other students.
I felt sick as I searched through the rubble trying to find classmates in it. Everyone that we found was pulled out and if we could save them, we tried to. There were too many that were already gone. I heard Kim gasp and ran over to her. She had found one of her friends, Jerry, and he wasn't moving. I helped her pull him out and before I knew what was going on she started doing CPR on him. I watched in amazement.
"Martinez, you are not getting off this easy. Breath damn it!" She said in between giving him breaths and pounding on his chest.
All of the sudden, Jerry started coughing and Kim bent down instantly hugging him. "I'm ok, Kim. I'm ok." He kept saying softly to her.
It was amazing that she could do that. I knew she was still heartbroken and scared for Chloe, but she was doing whatever she could to help everyone else.
I looked around the gym and saw this scene being repeated in a few different places. Several of our classmates knew CPR and were working on other students. I went back to work trying to find who we could. After about 30 minutes, we had found 18 people. Four of them did not make it unfortunately. One was the girls' PE teacher and the other three were students just like us. I can't believe this. I can't believe this has happened here.
We carefully laid the people that we had lost along the inside wall of the gym and helped the others upstairs to the locked safety of the locker room. Although seeing the devastation that whatever bomb went off down here caused, I don't know that anywhere is safe. It would have been better if we could have gotten out of the school, but the missing wall was engulfed in flames. I tried to look closer and see what our options were, but it was really hard to find any other options for us right now.
KIM'S POV
I watched as Jack tried to find a way out for us, but knew that he was not happy with what he was seeing. I helped a few people up the stairs and then came back down to him. I walked over to him and put my hand lightly on his shoulder. He looked down at me and tried to smile, but I could see that he was not holding out much hope right now.
"Jack, I don't know how, but this is going to be ok." I said softly wrapping my arm around his and laying my head on his shoulder. "I know you want save everybody, but you already helped me get to Ethan and all of these other students. We just have to keep going. That is what Chloe would say." I felt a tear escape my eye at the thought of my sister and it was quickly wiped away by Jack.
"Let's get upstairs and figure out what we are going to do next." He said gently wrapping his arm around my back as we walked. "Oh and Kim, you are the one who was helping save lives. You were amazing doing that CPR. I can't believe how many people you helped."
I looked up at him and smiled. "Well you do have to know how to do that when you are a lifeguard. I guess my working girl situation came in handy for once." I said.
"I think it always came in handy, especially for me and my family. I just never realized it before because I was embarrassed and stupid. I really am sorry about that because you are amazing." He said to me.
"We are past all of that now, Jack. We really do have to figure out a way to get out of here though." I said as we reached the upper platform and then as if on cue, I felt the floor beneath me start shaking.
I quickly grabbed a hold of Jack and he leaned up against the wall for support holding me to his chest tight. I could feel the fear spreading through me and then it all stopped again. I looked at Jack and he was running his hand through my hair, but I wasn't sure if he was trying to calm me down or himself.
"Let's get back to everyone in the locker room and decide what to do next." He said pulling me to my feet with him while he stood up. "I don't know what just blew up, but we can't stay here."
We walked into the locker room and Kelsey ran up to Jack hugging him. "Thank God you are ok." She said. "What was that?" She asked with tears in her eyes.
"Another bomb went off. We have to figure out how we are getting out of here." He replied.
"Kimmy." Ethan said and I went to check on him. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I am. How are you?" I asked seeing that he was going to need medical care soon just like a lot of the other students in here with us.
"I'm ok. Do you think they really shot Chloe?" He asked and my heart sank.
"I hope not, but I don't know. We have to take care of each other and hope that she is ok." I said hugging my little brother to me.
Jack came over and knelt down beside us. "How's he doing?" He asked me.
"He is doing great, but he is going to need a doctor and so are a lot of the other kids in here." I said. "What's the plan?" I asked.
"Well, Brody and I are going to go with some of the guys to try and find the easiest way out of here." He told us.
"Ok. That sounds good. I will go with you." I said.
"No, you are going to stay here." He replied.
I rolled my eyes and stared at him. "You need someone who knows how to do some medical treatments with you. I will go." I repeated.
"I don't really want you out there either, Kimmy." Ethan said.
I looked back at him. "I know, but I have to see if I can help some other people. Maybe I can even find Chloe." I added.
They both shook their heads at me and then another announcement came over the intercom. "Hello fellow students. We are not going to ask for this many more times. You heard the bomb that went off just a little while ago and there are more that will go off soon so if you think you are safe, you are wrong. We just want the so called 'It' crowd to pay for the things they have done to all of us and this will stop. So if you help us get all of them rounded up, we will let the rest of you go." The voice said and I was desperately trying to hear a glimpse of Chloe's voice in the background, but I heard nothing.
I looked back at Jack and said, "I am going so let's get out of here."
I stood up and grabbed some first aid supplies before I kissed Ethan on the top of the head and hugged Grace who was tending to Jerry. Then I walked to the door where Jack and the other guys joined me. We left the room to try to find some way to get out of here.
CHLOE'S POV
I listened as the crazy students made another announcement and I wanted so badly to say something so that Kim and Ethan would know I was ok if they were still in the school somewhere, but I didn't. I looked at the pool of blood beside me and had to close my eyes to try to block out the memory of watching the gun go off and kill Josh who had been right at my side.
I couldn't believe it. I was the one who had made them mad and Josh paid for it. I felt horrible, but there was nothing I could do now except try to not fall to pieces when that was all that I wanted to do.
I don't understand what would have driven these students to do this. I mean guns and bombs in our school, killing other students, and claiming it was because of them being treated badly by all of us. I didn't even know some of these students that well. I may not have been their best friends, but I was never mean to them and what had Josh done to them.
Then as I thought about him and saw the boy who pulled the trigger in my mind, a memory came racing back to me. I had seen Josh and some of the other guys coming out of the locker room laughing a few months ago followed by the boy who just shot him. He was soaken wet and looked horrified and upset. I didn't think too much about it at the time because the guys were always playing pranks on each other, but was that why he shot Josh. Oh my God, how much crap did all of these kids have to go through like that to push them to this extreme?
These thoughts just kept racing through my head as I tried to scoot back some to lean my back against a desk and get closer to Taylor. I knew she was as scared as I was and I just didn't want to be alone right now. When I got over closer to her, she leaned up against the desk with me.
"Chloe, I am so scared. How are we going to get out of here?" She asked with a shaky voice.
"I don't know, Tay." I said quietly as I looked back over toward Josh. "I just hope that we can figure something out."
I looked back at my best friend and we both had tears in our eyes. "Are we going to get shot, too?" She asked.
"I hope not, but I didn't think they would shot him so I don't know. We just have to do what they say now and hopefully we can all get out of this ok." I said to her. My hands were trembling and so were hers. I looked over at Brett and he still looked really angry.
I whispered to him. "Brett, please don't try anything. They will shot you. Please don't leave us here alone."
His face softened some and he started to move over to us slowly. He scooted up right in between us and we all leaned up against the desk together. I laid my head on his shoulder and he said softly back to me. "I won't do anything, Chloe. I would never leave you two alone in this."
"Thank you." I replied.
We all sat there together and tried to just stay quiet and as calm as we could so that hopefully we would not get any more of the shooters attention. I was scared, but not just for me and my friends here in this room, I was scared for my brother and sister and everyone else that I knew was out in the school somewhere as scared as we are. The hard truth is none of us may make it out of this and there is really not much we can do to change that.