The Six Of Us

Prologue

Fate brought the six of us together for the first time at kindergarten orientation. Our teacher had sat us all down at the table, and from that day forward, we were all best friends. From that day until eighth grade, we were inseparable. Two weeks into eighth grade, one of us was gone forever. Two of us were left injured, one of us was safe in another state, and the other two were left unharmed. After the shooting, we weren’t the same. Stella was the first to return to school, and she was all alone. She did what any lonely person would do, made new friends. Ollie was next, and he truly was alone. Despite him trying to reach out and talk to Stella, she ignored him. So for an entire month, he waited for my return. Ignoring my mom’s wishes, I returned to school nearly two months after the shooting. I knew Ollie needed me, and I knew I needed him. Charles never came back that school year. After being shot in his lower back, he was left paralyzed. So while he learned to cope with his new way of life, he was homeschooled. He did return the next year, but he didn’t want to reach out to me and Ollie. For Theodora, she had moved to Florida the summer before eighth grade. We hadn't seen her since. Danielle was the only one of us to die that day. She was the unluckiest one of us. She died a little over two months before our fourteenth  birthday. Ollie was the last one to talk to her that day, but he's never told me what they talked about. Ollie and I are the only two that still talk to each other. I miss all of us being close, but at least I have him. I don't think I could survive our senior year without him.