School Shooting Tragedy

Candice Claudel, 16

What did I ever do to deserve this? How could anyone just enter a school and start shooting innocent people? What was this man thinking?

I woke up expecting a normal day like any normal student at any normal high school would. What I didn't expect was to go to school and hear gunshots.

My mom had driven me to school that very morning on April 15th at 7:05 am. I remember we had grabbed coffee beforehand and sat in her car laughing. She always had the most amazing stories to tell. It's why I love her so much. And with every sip and every laugh, I tried so hard not to drop my coffee, which would have ended badly. The new dress my aunt bought me would have been ruined.

"Have a good day, sweetheart!" My mom shouted out from her car side window. "I love you so much!"

"I love you, too!" I shouted back.

At the time, I didn't realize it could have been my last time seeing her, my last time drinking coffee, or my last time breathing near her.

My friend Alana was standing at my locker, waiting for me.

"Did you hear?"

"Hear what?" I was clueless. Probably more so since I forgot my locker combination. For the life of me, I had such a terrible memory.

"There's a substitute for Mr. Dooley's class today."

Is it 4-15-34 or 2-24-17?

"Candace!" Alana's voice started ringing intensely in my ear. "Did you hear what I said?"

"Sorry, I was trying to remember my combo."

"14-34-17," Alana replied.

"Thank you! You're a lifesaver!" And little did I know how ironic that was going to be.

We weren't always best friends. Back in second grade, we hated each other. She would steal my pencils and in return I would steal her erasers. She was mean and spoiled. She was always trying to get me in trouble until one day she stopped coming to school. Days went by and not a word from her. Those days turned to weeks, and eventually a whole month. I had gotten so used to her torments that I didn't recognize peace and quiet when I saw it while she was gone.

Then she came back a changed person. She no longer tried to hurt me or get me in trouble. She stopped stealing my pencils and so I stopped stealing her erasers. She just stopped being mean. Instead she sat alone each day with no lunch packed. She sat there watching all the other kids eat. But when she asked a boy for half his sandwich, he just laughed in her face and crammed the entire sandwich down his throat for her to see.

Sadly the cruelty of kids only gets worse in high school.

Alana ran out of the cafeteria and went to her classroom where all the cubbies were and cried like a baby into a bean bag chair. And I felt for her. I picked up my lunch and went to her. I handed her an apple and watched as she wiped away her tears and smiled.

She and I have been best friends ever since. The reason she was alone without lunches was because she lost her mother and the foster mom she ended up with only uses her for the money. I had no words. I couldn't imagine her pain. I mean, if I ever lost my mom, I would lose it. She was my favorite human being and life would suck without her.

"I'll see you later," Alana said just before leaving.

"Okay," I replied, heading down the hall in the opposite direction as her.

I forgot everything I did in each class, because the horrifying tragedy that was about to occur caused me to lose all memory of my day, or most of it anyway. The parts worth remembering, the good parts, they were faded out by the bad.