Rejects // l.h.

13

I woke up to a deafening bang and then screaming. I sat up abruptly, looking around the room. Calum and Michael were leaning over Ashton's bed, shouting, while Ashton was screaming.

"What's going on?" I yelled, jumping up.

"I- I dunno! I think he's been fucking shot!" Michael shouted. I gasped in horror and stumbled out the room, trying to find someone. People were standing outside their doors, wondering what was happening, but I just ignored them. I ran to Mrs Hembridge, a deputy head's room and pounded on the door. She opened it, in a pink nightdress, looking annoyed.

"What is it?"

"Miss, my friend has been shot," I said as calmly as possible, shaking. She slammed her door shut and hurried down the corridor. I saw Carmen hurry out the girls corridor into the boys, worry etched on her face.

"What's going on?" She asked breathlessly.

"I- Ashton," I said, my voice breaking. She ran into our room, followed by Mrs Hembridge and I.

She gasped and collapsed onto her knees next to Ashton's head. He wasn't screaming anymore. He was breathing hard, face incredibly pale. I saw where he'd been shot. It was in his arm. The person who'd done it obviously had a lousy aim.

"Ok, I'm going to send for the nurses," Mrs Hembridge said, tapping on her phone.

"Hello?...Yes... Mrs Hembridge, deputy head... A student had been shot, but he's still alive... What's his name?" She held the phone to her chest and looked at us.

"Ashton Irwin," Calum choked.

"Ashton Irwin... Dormitory 4... Thank you," She ended the call.

"The nurses are coming. Can you all step away, give him space to breathe," Mrs Hembridge ordered. We all obediently backed away. Carmen was sobbing silently.

Nurses burst into the room, carrying up into a bed with wheels and wheeling him out. I checked the time. It was four o'clock in the morning.

"I can't believe this is happening," Carmen whispered eventually, breaking the awful silence.

"He's gonna be ok. It was just him arm," I said, trying to stay calm.

"Do you think we can go visit him?" Calum asked.

"His family are probably on their way,"

"It's four o clock in the morning,"

"That doesn't make a difference. I think we should try and get some sleep, then visit him in the morning," Carmen says sensibly. She starts standing up, but I grab her arm.

"Sleep with me," I whisper in my ear. She stares at me but shakily lies down next to me in the thin bed.

***

At about twelve o clock the next morning, Michael, Calum, Carmen and I all sit on a bench, not talking. We see three people walk through the gates. A blonde middle aged woman, a brunette teen girl and a boy, maybe about twelve. We stare at them.

"Do you think that's...?"

Carmen stands up and hurries over to them. I follow, so do Michael and Calum.

"Excuse me, but are you Ashton Irwin's family?" She asks timidly. The woman smiles weakly.

"Yes, we are. Do you know where he is?" Asks the woman, probably his mum. Before any of us can answer, the nurse comes shuffling out to talk to them.

I notice Calum staring at the girl. I nudge him.

"Calum, she's like, fourteen,"

"I never said anything!" He snaps in defence.

After about twenty minutes, the boy and the girl trudge out the door alone. It looks as if his Mum wanted some privacy with Ashton.

"Should we invite them to sit with us?" Carmen asked.

"Yep," Calum said, too quickly. Carmen goes over to them and says something, and they follow her back to us.

"Hello," I say.

"Hi," Says the girl.

"What're your names?" Carmen asks.

"I'm Lauren, and this is my brother Harry,"

"I'm Carmen, this is Luke, Michael and Calum. We're Ashton's best friends. Is he ok?"

"He's not dead," Shrugs Harry.

"That's always a good sign," Calum says.

"He's ok. He can talk, I'm not sure about walk around, but it should be ok. The nurse said he didn't lose too much blood," Lauren explains. She hesitates. "What exactly happened?"

"We were just woken up by this loud bang and Ashton screaming," Michael shudders.

"Yeah. Then I ran out to try and find someone, and Carmen came in,"

"So who shot him?" Asks Harry.

"We don't know," Calum says quietly. "Could be anyone,"