21 Guns

Chapter 1

It seemed to be a normal spring morning. As I woke up, showered, and basically got ready for school, I had no idea of the horrors the day would hold. I went downstairs to my music room and took a look at my many instruments. After a few minutes, I finally decided to bring my acoustic guitar to school with me. Picking an instrument was almost like picking a favourite child; it was hard! And I did this every morning. I looked at the time to see that the bus would be coming in less than a minute. I ran out the door, making it just on time. I couldn't wait until I was able to get my licence so that I could stop taking the bus. Since I didn't have enough time to do my makeup, I did it on the bus. I ignored the looks that I got as I pulled out my eyeliner and put it on my waterline. I still had a few minutes to spare, so I put on some music to prepare myself to enter the horrid place they called "school".

I was greeted by my two best friends, Katie and Dakota, as I opened the door. My 16th birthday was quite a few months away, but I already knew I didn't want a party. They both knew that, but they refused to not celebrate my "Sweet 16". That was when Dakota handed me a box.

"Are you just going to stare at it? Come on! Open it up!" Katie yelled, a little too loud. People looked at us as I opened the cover on the box. Inside I found a small painting that they had painted. It was a scene of a lake on a spring day-only the sky was green.

"Thanks guys!!! I love it! It's your own personal take on 'Green Day' isn't it!" I said, hugging them. They nodded and were smiling ear to ear when I pulled away from the hug.

"Look on the back." Katie said excitedly. When I turned it over I saw that they had written me a note. I read it.

Isabelle Cecilia Delacour,

HellO! We kNow that you like a Certain band. Believe it or not, so do wE! So, we painted you this so that you will always Remember the night that you had the Time of your life- August 30th, 2009.

-Katie and Dakota

I noticed that some letters were in a bold font when I read it a second time. I went back and picked out those letters. CONCERT. I looked at the painting again and it dawned on me.

"OH MY GOD! ARE YOU SERIOUS? WE'RE GOING TO A GREEN DAY CONCERT FOR MY BIRTHDAY???" I screamed, not caring what people thought. They simply nodded as I hugged them as tight as I could. "Can this day get any better?" I asked and they nodded. I looked at them with a shocked expression and they laughed.

"We're VIP's. We're going to meet them too." Dakota spilled.

"I have the best friends ever. " I stated simply, hugging them even tighter.

"Izzy, I know that you're excited, but I think we would both appreciate it if you didn't kill us before the concert... We...can't...breathe!" Katie managed to get out.

"Oops, sorry!" I apologized as the bell rang to go to homeroom. "See you in a few minutes!" I called after them. We had different homerooms, but all the same classes together.

Our first two classes, Science and Music, went well. Since we only had five minutes in between our second and third period, and our classes were on completely opposite ends of the school, we had to go straight to our next class-Math-without stopping at our lockers on the way. So, my guitar came with me to my math class.

Around 15 minutes into the class, a bell rang, signalling an announcement. That announcement was literally the beginning of our school's worst nightmare.

"SECURE THE BUILDING. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. SECURE THE BUILDING. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL."

I think my heart literally stopped when I heard it. Our teacher ran to shut the door and lock it as the students closest to the windows shut the curtains. The rest of us ran as quietly as possible to the "safe zone" where we were supposed to hide in. I was seated in the middle of Katie and Dakota. We held hands and managed to keep each other relatively calm.