Redwood High

Chapter 15

Carol was freaking out. “A gas leak? This is like the one episode I saw on NCIS.”

Riley scoffed. “You don’t even watch NCIS.”

“Yes I do. Thursdays at 10.”

Karen looked at all of us. “We are stuck in here so I’m going to make your lives hell. Starting with you!” Karen grabbed my hair and slammed me against the wall. I reached out and slapped her as hard as I could on her cheek.

“LADIES!” Yelled Mr. Jones. The rest of the class was against the wall, watching it all happen.

Karen scoffed. “Oh hell no.”

She raised her fist but Riley kicked her on the side of her stomach. Karen wobbled to the side and fell over. I jumped on her and grabbed her by her head and began smacking her against the floor. She grabbed me by my hair and threw me off of her.

She stood up and kicked Riley, causing her to fall. She raised her foot to stomp on Riley but I threw myself against Karen, smacking each other against the wall. We both fell to the floor. Mr. Jones noticed he lost all control of the situation. He was pressing the intercom, frantically. Other girls were attempting to separate us. It was a lost cause. Karen asked for it. She got her shoe and threw it and Riley. Riley grabbed it and threw it higher, causing the heel to smack the ceiling.

“You all are bitches,” Karen spat, who was out of breath like the rest of us.

The class divided us, so we wouldn’t go at each other anymore.

“As opposed to being a whore,” spat Carol.

“You just ruined everything because you are a selfish bitch,” replied Karen.

“I’m the selfish bitch? You got with Ethan, twice!”

She shrugged. “It’s not my fault he likes what I have to offer.”

Karen was lucky the other people were holding back Carol.

“That’s enough! When this situation is handled, both of you will not be coming back to this school, you have my word on it!” shouted Mr. Jones

The intercom beeped.

“Mr. Jones, the firefighters will take you all out of the building through the window. Open it up.”

I was out of breath and the only thing holding me back was Sebastian. I sent him a slight smile and he returned it. What happened the last couple of minutes was a blur. When I smacked into the wall, the same area from when I slipped in blood was hurt. I felt dizzy.

“Are you okay?” Sebastian asked.

I nodded. Yeah, I’m fine.” Lies.

Karen looked at me. “And you. You think I don’t know why you are here? Your parents are dead. You played lost little girl. But the worst thing? You didn’t cry. Makes me to believe maybe you killed them.”

I ran after her and smashed her against the window. I felt seven different pairs of hands pull me away from her. We saw the firefighter tap the window and for us to open it. Karen ran and began to climb down. I followed.

“One by one!” yelled the fireman. I climbed past him and slowly followed Karen.

“Grace no!” I heard someone shout.

I didn’t realize how far up we actually were. I reached Karen and pulled her by her hair.

“I dare you to repeat what you said!” I shouted. Karen kicked out and pushed me off the ladders. I barely had time to grab onto the ladders to keep myself from falling off. I quickly sent out a prayer to god thanking him for allowing me to be able to do pull ups.

I heard shouts from below. Karen reached down and grabbed my elbow.

“Don’t fall!” she shouted. She tried to pull me up but the angle I was at, it was impossible for her to do so. The fireman began to climb down but Sebastian jumped out the window and began climbing down. His agile body swiftly moved past the fireman and came to us. He reached down and began to pull me up. I was about to be put back on the ladder when Karen slipped off. I reached out to grab her but she fell past me and fell towards the ground.

She landed on the trampoline the rest of the people pulled out but she bounced off and landed on the floor with a thud.

“Oh my god,” I breathed.

Upstairs, Riley was losing it.

“Why do bad things always happen?” she shouted.

I looked up and quickly began climbing upwards. I reached the top just in time to see Riley fling open the door and run out. The strong smell of gas engulfed the room.

“Riley!” Carol and I shouted. I ran after her.

“Grace!” I heard Sebastian shout. The gas was too strong. I began coughing and wheezing. I found Riley at the end of the hallway, wheezing. I grabbed her and pushed her out the double doors. When the fresh air hit us we both gasped out loud, breathing in the fresh air.

As we were on the floor, she asked me, “Is Karen dead?”

I laughed. “No, I don’t think so. She’ll just have a pretty bad broken nose.”

We laid on the floor, breathing in the fresh air.

“What a year,” she said.

“What a year,” I replied.

“How are you and Todd?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Fucking Karen.”

I nodded. “Fucking Karen.”

We heard the fireman and paramedics and other authority figures barge into the school, probably thinking we needed serious medical help.

“Are you okay? Are you suicidal?” I asked her. She shrugged.

“We all are a little crazy,” she finally said. “Are you okay? She knew about your parents.”

And now does Sebastian, I thought. In those few precious moments we had lying on the floor, I thought of how my life would be like if my parents hadn’t died. I wouldn’t have found out I had an aunt, a cousin. I wouldn’t have met Carol, Riley, Ethan, and Sebastian. My life finally felt… at ease. I was always living in my parent’s shadows. I was free now, in a way.

I saw the paramedic’s surrounded us. They began checking our vitals and giving us a work up. I sat up and saw Sebastian at the school’s entrance. He smiled at me. It was a smile that I knew what it meant. His smile told me that we weren’t over.

And I was glad we weren’t over.

End of book 1