The First Day of The Rest of Our Lives

Stay Awake

"Keep your eyes open okay... I'm here..." Camila holds his head in her lap and caresses his hair. 

"Okay," he says and she nods and then she decides to keep talking to keep him awake. She's speaking in barely above a whisper.

"You remember that summer... it started to rain and we had to book it inside... we must have been  7...and it was raining so hard...and  there was thunder and lightning?"

"We were soaked...." Shawn recalls.

"Yeah," Camila smiles at him. She takes his hand in hers.  "And I was scared, but you held my hand and you told me that after a storm, the sun comes out and everything is okay.... do you remember?"

Shawn nods. He smiles as he remembers. She keeps talking because she knows its comforting. "That's why you're the sun. You're my sun... you make everything okay... and you're gonna be okay....we're gonna be okay..." she says it aloud and it makes her believe it.

Shawn winces,  but nods and then he speaks softly. "Will you be mine... forever? When we get out of this, promise me... forever.."

"Forever and always..." Camila says and then they wait. They don't know what they're waiting, for but it's all they can do.

They don't hear more gunfire but the silence is haunting.  Camila feels lightheaded and Shawn tells her that he's tired. They've both lost blood but she shakes him gently. "Stay awake, baby..." it's the first time she's ever called him that and Shawn knows it. He keeps his eyes open because he wants to her say it again. He smiles at her. "Baby..."

When the SWAT team comes through the door, they are escorted out of the school,Shawn is on a stretcher. They take Shawn to put him in  an ambulance and Camila tries to fight to stay with him becase she doesnt want him to be taken away from her in every sense of the word. But she's weak and has lost blood too.

She's crying and screaming his name while a paramedic attends to her wounds and then she sees her parents and Shawns parents push through the crowd.

They're shocked because they can't tell how hurt she is because she's covered in blood and it's mostly Shawn's.

They kiss her and hug her and she tries to find the words to tell them Shawn is hurt but they already know. Manuel and Karen leave with Shawn and her mom and dad travel in the ambulance with her. She is in shock and has lost a lot of blood but she refuses to close her eyes until she knows he's okay.

She's in a hospital bed now and the pain medication forces sleep.

Manuel donates blood for his son who is in dire need of a donation. When they tell him his son is in stable condition he cries and breaks down in relief. They tell him the tourniquet around his arm helped saved him and Sinu smiles because she knows it was Camila's doing.

They move Shawn to Camila's room, per Sinu's request because she is a nurse at this hospital. Shawn and Camila are both asleep unaware that they are feet apart, but somehow their hearts beat in rhythm as shown by the monitors.

Many are wounded and some are dead.  Everyone is in shock, but the nightmare is over and so is high school. Graduation is postponed until further noticed.

Among the dead are members of the soccer team,members of the football team,  as well as others caught in the crossfire,  including Hailee.

Henry is nowhere to be found, but the police know he's involved. They tear apart his room and find a journal with enough evidence to let them know this was planned. They also find his high school yearbook.  There are x's on the faces of people in the yearbook, including some members of the soccer team.
There is  only one signature.

It reads:

Henry,
Stay cool and have a great summer! Don't be a stranger!

Signed,
Your uncoordinated friend and locker neighbor

Shawn Mendes
(888) 867-5309

Author's note: This is why you have to be kind to everyone you meet!