Glee Club // Hunter Clarington

{Chapter 35} 4 : 18

Rose's POV

Our faces drop when screams and running ring through the building. Another gunshot sounds. "Everyone just spread out and hide, spread out and hide. Find a place to hide! Please, go over there." Mr. Shue says in an alarmed voice. "No, wait..." Kitty disagrees, but Mr. Shue pushes her toward the wall and she begins to hide.

It's completely silent beside the metronome ticking. "Are we even sure they were gunshots?" Blaine asks quietly. We shush him and I lightly hit his arm. There are footsteps in the distance. One of the girls sobs. "Everyone... Here, hey, guys, guys, guys. Start texting, tweeting, let everyone know what's going on. But don't tell them we're here, all right? Shooters have smartphones, too." Mr. Shue gets our attention and we pull out our phones.

I begin texting my mother. "Guys, we're all just gonna stay here, okay? Got nowhere to be, we don't know what's out there." Mr. Shue is cut of by a loud sound in the hallway. It's not a gunshot though. We all put our phones down and press ourselves against the walls. Hunter wraps his arm around me comfortingly, and puts his chin on the top of my head. A few peoples phones go off, mine included. I jump and let out a shaky breath.

"I love you guys." Mr. Shue says and sits down. A few tears roll down my face. I can't hold in the quiet sob. "Hey, hey. It's okay, I've got you." Hunter whispers in my ear and uses the pads of his thumbs to wipe away my tears. There is the sound of running coming towards us. The doorknob rattles quickly and I press my head into Hunter's chest.

The footsteps continue, the doorknob rattles, and the person runs off. A door slams shut and I jump. We all jump and let out quick cries. Sam crawls toward Mr. Shue. "Sam. What are you doing? Sam, get down." Mr. Shue pushes him down. "I have to go. Brittany doesn't have her phone on her. She's in the bathroom. She left it here." Sam tells Mr. Shue. "Sam. Sam, sit down. Sam, sit down." Sam sits on the other side of me. "Tina isn't here, either." Blaine announces quietly.

I sniffle. Tina is one of my best friends. If something happened to her, I don't know what I'd do. Suddenly a thought runs through me. "Oh my God, Josh isn't here. What if he's hurt? What if he's stuck somewhere?" I begin to ramble. "Hey, it's okay. He'll be okay." Hunter's voice soothes me. He kisses my forehead lightly and I begin to calm down slightly.

Who are you texting?" I hear Kitty ask Marley. "It's my mom." She replies. My head turns quickly in her direction. Then I remember, there's only one way to get out of the kitchen. I begin to crawl over to her. "There's no back way out when you're in the kitchen." She sobs. I reach her and wrap my arms around her shaking body. "It's okay, it's okay." Jake whispers trying to comfort her.

"Where is she?" Marley asks herself. "I don't know why she's not answering." Marley leans into me still sobbing. "She'll be okay." Jake soothes her. "No one's gonna hurt your mom." Kitty turns to her. "Everyone really likes her." I say and hug her tighter. I myself have broken down, and so has... Kitty? "Marley. Rose." She whispers and we look at her. "When we were doing Grease, I took in all of your costumes so that you'd think you were fat." All three of us are sobbing at this point.

"If we ever get out of this room I'm going to kill you." I tell her. I honestly thought I had gained weight before Grease. I was originally cast as Sandy, but gave the role to Marley. One; because I thought I'd look ridiculous is costumes that didn't fit. Two; because Santana gave me her role of Anita in West Side Story last year and I wanted Marley to have her chance. "I'm so sorry." Kitty apologizes. The three of us hug each other and our bodies tremble together, a strange synchronicity to it.

"I have to go." Kitty begins to get up. "Where are you going?" I question. "I have to go." She repeats. "No, are you crazy?" Jake tries to stop her. "Shh." Mr. Shue says from across the room. "Kitty." Jake grabs her. "Stay down." I insist. "Kitty." Marley tries to help Jake bring her back down to the ground. "Yes!" Kitty exclaims. "Kitty. Kitty." I whisper trying to persuade her to come back. "Get down!" Ryder speaks as Kitty hugs Unique.

"Sam. Sam." I crawl over to the group of boys as Sam gets up. "I have to go. I got to go. She's out there all alone, she doesn't have anybody out there. I have to go, I don't care." Sam tries to push through Mr. Shue and Coach Beiste. I reach Hunter and he pulls me into his arms tightly. "Come on, Sam." Mr. Shue grips his arms. "I don't care." Sam still tries to get out the door. "Come on, Sam!" Mr. Shue yells. "No, let go of me! I'm going!" Sam yells back. "Sam!" Mr. Shue gets a hold of him and covers his mouth.

I begin to bury my head back into Hunter and sob loudly. "Sam, listen! You are putting everybody's life in danger. Look at them. Look at them. Look at them." Coach Beiste demands. I lift my head and glance in their direction. Sam begins to start crying. "Sam, it's okay. It's okay, Sam." Coach Beiste starts to calm him down. "Sam, go sit. Go sit with Artie." Mr. Shue pushes him over gently in our direction. He sits in between Artie and I. Turning to him as he sits down, I wrap my arms around him. He's one of my best guy friends. Even if he was just really stupid, I still love him (the friend way).

After a while, Ryder gets up. "Ryder, what are you doing?" Kitty questions quietly. "Get down!" Coach Beiste whipers loudly. "What are you doing?" Artie asks him as he crawls next to Marley. It's been at least five minutes. Artie pulls his phone out and starts a video. "Artie, what are you doing?" I whisper. "If we don't get out of here, people need to see this." Artie answers. Does anybody have anything they want to say?" Artie asks. "Yeah. Me." Ryder states. "I love you, Dad. Thanks for, like... everything. And I know I don't always let you know, but you've taught me a lot." Ryder sighs, and looks at me.

"Um, in the bottom of the basket next to my bed," I gulp and sniffle before continuing, "is a notebook full of songs that I wrote. And I've never mentioned this to anyone," I feel tears prick at my eyes, "I'm really pleased with how they came out, and I'm really happy that I took the time to write them." I finish and begin to sob. Both Hunter and Sam comfort me by hugging me.

A few more minutes pass after Sam pushes the camera away from him. "I want to call her." Ryder announces looking at me. I was the first person he told about Katie. I was happy that he was happy. "Come on, pick up, pick up. Pick up, please. Please." Ryder hopes. A phone begins to ring. People start to tell him to turn the phone off. "Ryder, please. Turn the phone off." I plead.

Mr. Shue comes back later with Brittany and two other kids. "All clear." We hear from outside. I let out a breath of relief and hug Hunter tightly. The lights come back on and we all stand up. I walk over to Brittany and Kitty and hug them both. "Come here. Come here." Mr. Shue says to us and we come over to him. "You guys, come here." We get into a huge group hug. "It's okay. We're all here." Mr. Shue comforts us. "And we all look awful." I sniffle as I joke and everyone laughs lightly. "I love you all. I love you guys. Every one of you. You guys were awesome." Mr. Shue whispers.

We made it through. And we're all okay.