quarantined // H.S. FANFIC

One

"Attention all students and staff of Newport Harbor High. I'm sad to announce that today will be the last day of school this year. Due to the rapidly spreading virus known as Covid-19, we will finish out the rest of this year virtually. We understand you all are probably devastated by this news, especially the Seniors, but until further notice all sports, clubs, and after school activities are cancelled. We will be updating the school website with news on planned events that are more towards the end of the year. Stay safe everyone."

As I stood up from my seat, tears brimmed my eyes. My senior year is being taken from me and theres nothing I can do about it. As much as I want to scream at Principal Smith for this, I know this isn't his decision. California called a state wide shut down effective March 16th. I knew it was coming, but I still had a sliver of hope that a miracle would happen. This means no school, no friends, no surfing, and possibly no spring break trip, graduation, or prom. 

"Can you believe this Elena?" my friend Lily sobbed pulling me in for a hug.

"I actually can," I say "its just my luck."

"What if we don't get to have a graduation or go to prom?" she says worriedly, "Oh my god, what about our spring break trip?!"

"Try not to think about it, we don't know whats going to happen yet," I say trying to reassure her. 

When we pull away my phone starts ringing from my back pocket.

"Hello?" 

"Hey sweetie, I heard the news I'm so sorry, but I wanted to let you know that I'm driving over to Liam's dorm to pick him up. His school is closed the rest of this semester as well," my mom says through the line. 

Liam is my older brother who is in his first year at UCLA. 

"Ok I'll see you when you get home tonight. Love you bye." I say before hanging up. 

After packing up my locker, I say bye to my friends unsure of when I'll get to see them next. Then I head to the student lot to meet up with my sister, Sarah, so we can pick up our brothers and head home.

"I'm so sorry El," she says tossing her bag in the back seat and hoping in my car.

"Yeah, me too," I reply disappointed

<<<<<<<<<

"Whens Mom and Dad gonna be home?" Cole asks as we walk inside through the garage.

"Dad will be home around 6 and Mom won't be home till later because she's picking up Liam from college," I reply heading to the kitchen to grab a snack. 

"Yay!" Dylan says with a cheer, "We haven't seen him since Christmas."

Right when I open the fridge, my phone starts to ring.

"Hey Dad," I say grabbing an apple out of the fridge.

"Hey sweetie, I'm so sorry about school, but just know this is happening for your safety and theres a lot of people out there losing their lives, so consider yourself lucky."

"Yeah, well any one of us could have corona and we don't even know"

"Your not wrong, but anyway can you put me on speaker, I want to talk to everyone."

"Yeah sure. Guys Dad wants to talk to us," I say setting my phone on the counter, "Kay Dad whats up?"

"I wanted to tell everyone that we have to be really careful with whats going on. We are going to have to stay home for awhile because this virus is serious. This means no hanging out with friends, always wash your hands, and we have to avoid public places."