Beyond the Reasons || JUSTIN FOLEY

Fifteen

PRESENT TIME
HALLWAY
THIRD PERSON'S POV

"Hey! Even though I'm still mad at you, congratulations on your interview." Imogen said to her brother when she saw him in the hallway while she was making her way to the HO room. Clay had no idea what she was talking about, he couldn't even remember why Imogen was mad at him.

Clay didn't know it yet, but he blacked out during the party, he didn't remember the fucked up shit he said to Justin, he didn't remember picking a fight with the girl's 'boyfriend' and he didn't remember crashing Zach's car and then leaving him there.

"Uh, what? What are you talking about?" Clay asked.

"Brown. Uh, the alumni reps are coming next week. I saw the schedule on Bolan's desk." Imogen said. Clay shook his head.

"That's got to be a mistake." Clay said.

"Not unless I have another twin brother named Clay Jensen around here that I don't know about, which is... highly unlikely... and one of you is enough... but you did apply there, didn't you?" Imogen asked.

"I, uh... I mean, I guess." Clay said and then Imogen noticed that he started staring off into space. Clay was remembering a time when he was blacked out, and he wrote his essay to Brown about how they covered up Bryce's murder... what Clay didn't know was that Ani changed his essay before sending in his application and that's why Brown wanted the interview. Imogen noticed the look he was giving her and she just shook her head.

Then she walked away.

―

HO CAVE

"May I have your attention, please? We are currently moving into a lockdown situation. Code Red. This is a hard lockdown. Staff, please initiate lockdown procedures immediately. Students, please do not panic, and listen closely to this announcement and the instructions of your teacher. Seek immediate shelter in the nearest classroom. I repeat. This is a Code Red. Hard lockdown."

Imogen Jensen heard Bolan's PA announcement over the speaker while she was in the HO room, alone. Jessica texted her and said that she was on her way there when the PA announcement went off and now she was just in the nearest classroom because she wouldn't have been able to make it to the HO room. Imogen was now barricading the doors with different things that they had in there and she was trying to stay calm, an active shooter was something big enough to trigger her to have an anxiety attack, so she was trying to not do that.

Imogen heard a loud bang as she sat on the floor and took another deep breath. "You think maybe it's Tyler again..." Imogen heard which made her jump and when she looked to her side, Monty was sitting next to her. She didn't know if she was daydreaming or hallucinating, but she thought maybe if she thought she was talking this out with someone, she would feel better.

"It's just a drill... I hope." Imogen said.

"What if you're wrong?" Monty asked.

"Are you trying to scare me more than I already am?" She asked.

"I'm not... what if it's Tyler?" Monty asked. Imogen shook her head, she refused to believe that. Tyler had been being good, why would he throw all that away to carry out a school shooting.

"It's not." She said.

"Because what? He's better now?" Monty asked.

"Because... this has to be a drill... and yes, Tyler has been doing better, a lot better, so I can't think of a reason that he would try to do this again," Imogen said while shaking her head.