I Am Number Four

Chapter Twelve: A Town Grieving

Dropping John off at school, Henri offered him a concerned look wishing that he could keep him off school but they needed to keep things as normal as possible; they couldn't risk attracting too much attention to them right now. 

News about Avalon and Lillian's deaths had spread like wildfire and everyone was putting it down to a robbery gone wrong; Lillian had been stabbed to death while James and Avalon had perished in the fire. 

Climbing out of the truck, John didn't breathe a word to Henri before he slammed the car door shut and made his way to the school; he hadn't said a word since Lillian had confirmed that Avalon was gone. 

Everyone was dressed in black and it made John's heart lurch at the fact that these people who had no idea who Avalon was or even spoke to her were grieving about her death. 

Sarah was the first to approach him, her face streaked with tears; she truly couldn't wrap her head around the fact that her best friend had been murdered. 

John smiled weakly at her as they made their way down the corridor, everyone seemed to stop and stare at them as if their grief was false in some way and they were waiting for one of them to break down. 

Sam was waiting for them by his locker, he offered them a small smile and knew that they were truly the only three in the school that were actually grieving for Avalon. 

None of the others had really spoken to her or had been her friend, they knew nothing about Avalon only that she hung out with the weird crowd. 

"They're having an assembly today," Sam murmured wanting them to hear the news from him, it didn't seem real that the entire school was in mourning and it made him want to scream. 

None of them that were mourning would have looked twice if Avalon hadn't died, they wouldn't have been her friends or spoke to her in the corridor at any time.

It was starting to grate on Sam's nerves and he knew that Avalon wouldn't have liked it, she had never liked being the centre of attention instead like to hang back and let other people of the attention. 

Sarah nodded her head, she was sure the school were just giving people a chance to grieve for one of their own; Avalon might not have been there for more than a month or two but she had been liked. 

Closing his eyes, John collected his things for his first class he felt his hands shaky as he spotted the book that Avalon had lent him for one of their classes. 

Sarah quickly moved to take his hand, she knew that this must be hard on him and she wanted him to know that he wasn't alone; her fingers barely touched his arm before John pulled back swiftly. 

She flinched hurt that John had pulled away from her in such a way, she blinked as he stuffed his things into his bag before he stormed away from her and Sam; she swallowed back the lump in her throat as more tears fell. 

"I'm sure he's just upset about Avalon," Sam tried to reassure her but even he knew why John had reacted in such a way, he had seen how close John and Avalon were and John had clearly liked Avalon more than a friend. 

However, Sam had also noticed how much of a liking Sarah had taken to John since he had arrived and he was sure his friend would have found himself in a love triangle if Avalon hadn't been murdered. 

Sarah nodded her head, she took a deep breath to calm herself knowing that Sam was right and when John had calmed down then he would apologise; she was sure in their shared grief that they would work this out.

***

John could barely pay any attention to his classes, he barely even noticed what was going on around him until he was sat with the rest of the school in the assembly; he sat between Sarah and Sam as people talked about Avalon.