64 Degrees And Cloudy

English Class

The reddish brown stain on the ground stayed in my head, almost as if it had stained my mind just as much as it had the sidewalk. It was the size of a quarter, and noticeable among the fresh new concrete paths. I tried shaking it from my mind, but no such luck. It wasn't like, traumatic, but it annoyed me. I didn't wanna think about depressive weird shit, about the bad choices that Jeremy had made, and all that came after.

I was able to figure out which kids had seen this dude pull the trigger, mostly cause these kids were nowhere to be found (except the counselor's office) or they just had this look. Like they'd walked through a war zone and been the only one to live. I saw a few girls crying at their lockers. One kid had to rush out of class to throw up. The English classroom wasn't being used, and as far as I could tell when I snuck a peek through the class door, no one had moved anything from it.

Paul and our other friend, Ben, wanted to take a look at the room. It was 12:30, so after sneaking out of the rather quiet cafeteria we doubled back to the English class. Ben fumbled with a window and got us in. Paul took a deep breath and went in first. I waited for him to give the word for me and Ben to climb in. Instead there was silence.

"Hey Paul," Ben said in a half whisper, "hurry the fuck up, I got a pop quiz in twenty minutes".

"Yeah Paul, do we come in or not?" I said.

Paul didn't reply, and after a minute I gave up relying on him and climbed through the window myself. After brushing the dust off my clothes I glanced up and saw Paul staring at the splatter on the wall. "Woah dude..." I said.

"Yeah...it's pretty crazy," Paul said, his voice cracking. I heard Ben climb in through the window and gasp softly. We all stared.

"Jesus man...those kids must've seen some shit go down..." Ben mused. I noticed Paul shaking a little, but instead of a distant whisper to leave he tried laughing it off.

"Yeah dude, a true spectacle.." he said, trying to grin.

Suddenly, we heard the school PA system:

"Attention students, we will be having an assembly in gym one at 1:05. Please finish lunch and meet at your corresponding homerooms where your teachers will escort you to the assembly. Thank you"

"Ah shit dude we gotta go!" I said, perking up suddenly. Ben and Paul snapped out of whatever anxious trance they were in, and we bolted out the window, across the football field, and in through the library to homeroom.

We raced into class. Our homeroom teacher, Mr. Finch, looked up from grading his papers, and shook his head. "Two minutes to spare boys, you're really cutting it close".

"Won't happen again Mr. Finch," I said, saluting him as we filed into lines to go to the assembly. He rolled his eyes and sighed.

After a few minutes of students shuffling down the halls, some catcalling and swearing exchanged, everyone filed into the gym. The principal stood at the podium, glasses resting in his face. Once the room had gone quiet, he tapped the microphone and spoke.

"Now as you all know, we lost a student yesterday. A friend, a hardworking boy, a son. And we offer our condolences to Jeremy's family in this time of sadness. With this being said, the staff and I have decided to open up to you all. If anyone wishes to talk about this issue, or any other issue in particular, that is affecting their lives, we will gladly listen and offer advice. This is not a time to hide what you are feeling..."

He went on and on about feeling. On and fucking on. I muttered to Ben about how much shit everyone would start complaining out, and Ben nodded.

We sat there for ten minutes. Just listening.

And when it was over and everyone left awkwardly, I hung back a little with Paul. Paul looked at me after everyone had left.

"Who does he think we are? Pussies?" he laughed. I sensed something odd, but brushed it aside.

"Yeah," I replied, "everyone dies. People gotta get used to that". Avoiding the hall monitor, we slipped outside. Paul asked for a lighter, I handed him mine.

"Pretty wicked world..." I mused aloud. "That was somethin else back in that English room."

Paul, too focused on the smoke he expelled from his lungs, said nothing.