"It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day to day basis". That's what Margaret Bonnano said once. It speaks so much truth about the fact that despite how hard we try, happily ever after is not an option. The best that you can hope for is that anything goes happily. Cinderella, Ariel, Aladdin, The Beast...they all were fools and they suck Sorry, as you might have guessed, I'm biased. I'm Adaen Lawrence...who is that,. you might ask, and the answer is that I don't know yet. Yet. I'm only 16 and a half and by now the whole "Disney Movie" beliefs were gone. Happily ever after was...is over for me. I go to school at Hargrove High School in Hargrove, Texas. My best friend and I are juniors, just about to be seniors. Here is where our journey begins, this marks the start of some truly weird things...
"A party? Since when do you want to go to a party? And over Kipton's house?" I asked Hannah, who shrugged.
We got to her locker and slouched over onto someone else's locker while she opened her locker and got a book and two notebooks.
" I don't know, maybe I'm tired of being a bookworm. Maybe we just need to give them a chance." Hannah said, moving her red hair over her shoulder.
" Yeah, and maybe we should go diving with sharks. Look, I'm all for being seen by jocks and cheerleaders...but..." I stopped at the sight of Marco Jacobs. He was the son of Kerry Marshal and Laura Terrance, for whom I worked. She was nice enough, she owned an café and I loved working there. Marco was...my crush and I felt weird around him. Not only because he was my best friend's brother, but because he was my friend. His father was also father of another star athlete, Davis, but he wasn't anything like them. He was...decent, not that I could judge Davis, I'd never really spoke to him. But from what I heard, he was an ass, and his friends were just as bad.
" Hello! Earth to Adaen! You shouldn't stare like that! Do you want everyone to know?" Hannah asked, staring at his friend Harry.
" Speak for yourself. Ha everyone knowing...that would be a change. Sometimes I toy with the idea, just to see some freakin excitement!" I said, gritting my teeth. Hannah just laughed and shut her locker, walking away to class with me.
Harry checked out Hannah's ass as we passed, " Marco, look at that, isn't that the most beautiful thing you've ever seen!" he chuckled. The other guys laughed, but Marco just smirked and looked.
" I wonder are they together?" Marco asked, casting a sideways glance at Harry.
" No, they're just friends, or so I've heard." said Kendall Kipton said, walking up to them, accompanied by Julie Rison and Christian Cameron.
" And how would you know?" Harry asked sarcastically.
" Well, because, besides you, " she pressed a finger against Marco's chest, " he's the only other suitable guy around here. I love chocolate...he could be the chocolate and you could be...well, we'll pretend you're chocolate and you could get on one side of me and..." but she was interrupted.
" Oreoes will never be the same again." Christian, one of the other boys said. The rest of the groups just laughed louder.
" Laugh now, but that's my goal for the year." Kendall said. The bell rang and she just smirked, " Ta ta, until we meet again." she said, walking away.
" That chick is losing it." Harry said quickly.
" Yeah, and she's losing it for me. How scary is that? So are we late?" Marco asked, then the bell rang, " Yep, now we're late."
They all laughed and walked off to class.
" I''m not sure if this is working." Davis said to Christina, who was on the verge of tears.
" What do you mean? I haven't even done anything wrong!" she shouted, causing people to stare.
" Cut it out! People are staring...and we're just...incompatible." Davis said quietly.
" Is it one of the other bitches you've been having sex with? HUH!? You finally get one of them pregnant?" Christina panted, sobbing harder than ever.
" Look, the point is, we're over and.." before he could finish the sentence, she slapped him! He nodded, then slammed the locker, storming away.
Darrieus Note and Julie Rison were making out in front of the office when a guy stopped them.
" Hey, could you tell me which to go to get to Mr. Johansson's class?" the man asked.
" That way." Julie asked. The stranger smiled and pulled out a gun and shot Darrieus right in the heart! Julie screamed and people ran from the office in an attempt to keep them quiet!
" Everybody quiet and no one gets hurt...don't try anything, I've got this whole place wired!" he said, running off to Mr. Johansson's class.
Davis and his crew walked into Mr. Johansson's class quickly, narrowly missing the door. He took a seat by Ballard Kipton and the rest of his crew. I was sitting in the middle of the class, but Hannah and a few other students that I'd come to call my friends, Qiana, Vera, Xavier, and Larry. On the other side was Marco and his crew, who I noticed today were acting strangely. When I looked over at him, he was staring at me and I smiled. I looked back at Hannah who looked to want to say something, but stopped as Kendall had come in.
" Hey, Hannah, are you and Adaen coming to my party? I mean it's gonna be fun. All the booze, drugs, and...sex, you could ask for. Not to make it sound like an orgy, but..." Kendall smirked.
" We'd planned on it, but Adaen's not sure." Hannah answered quickly.
" What's up Adaen? Our place not good enough for you?" her brother, Ballard, said, casting me an awkward smirk.
" No! I mean yeah...I just don't know. I mean..." but thank god I was interrupted before I rambled on! Mr. Johansson crept into class.
" Sorry, just had a...'date' with a psycho." Mr. Johansson said carefully.
" How'd you know she's a psycho." Caleb Drake said quickly.
" I didn't say it was a first date. And..." Mr. Johansson said carefully, but someone interrupted him, " ...I'm a guy." a guy said, standing in the door. We all looked at each other in shock. Some of us in shock over the fact that we'd just found out Mr. Johansson is gay, and some of it over the fact that the guy was holding a gun. Honestly he was cute, maybe a bit older than me, definitely taller. He was about 6'3 and I was about 5'8. He was wearing a blood-soaked shirt and a sour look on his face.
" Harmon, what are you doing here? What have you done?!" Mr. Johansson shouted.
" Ted, I think I've done something bad." Mr. Johansson walked towards him, " Take another step and I'll shoot you!" Harmon said quickly.
" We need to...um, get these students out of here first." Ted Johansson said, trying to reason with Harmon, but it didn't work.
" OK...seriously! Tell me this is a joke, Mr. Johansson...tell me that this is fake blood and that this is all a joke! Tell me that this fag is just kidding!" Caleb shouted, more scared than ever. Harmon frowned and shot him! The girls screamed and I nearly fell out of my chair.
" I'm going to go into the hall...nobody say anything!" Harmon said quickly leaving.
We all looked at one another, trying to figure out a way to get out of the room, then it hit us, the vents!
" NO, no, hell no!" Ted said.
" Look, if we can get out of here, we have a chance, but unless we get out of here he's going to kill us...beginning with you." I reasoned.
He thought about it and nodded, "Who's going?" He asked.
I raised my hand and so did Marco.
" What's the plan?" Hannah asked.
" Well, if we get out, he'll come looking for us and when he does, you guy will run for it." Marco said.
" No! Then how are you guys going to get out?" Hannah asked
" We'll be okay." I said, hopping into the vents.
" Be careful." Ted whispered as we crawled through the vents.
Harmon walked back in and ranted about how hurt he was, until he figured out that someone was gone.
" Weren't there more of you?" he asked.
" No. Just this..." Ted said, not convincing him.
" If I find anyone else...They are dead!" he said, rushing off.
The watched him run down the hall and disappear. " Come on!" Ted said, leading them out of the school.
We got tired of crawling and soon hopped out in the library. We peeked around corners as we walked, trying to avoid meeting up with the barrel of the gun. We walked around the big library, trying to avoid the glass windows that showed the contents of the library. I guess it would have been better to go to a room without glass walls, but we weren't thinking at that moment.
" So, are you going to the party at the 'Casa de la Kipton?'" he asked, receiving an awkward glance from me.
" You want to talk about that now? And no...I think I'd rather shoot myself. Turns out that it might just happen. I cannot believe this shit! I mean of all the schools in all the world, a crazy gay guy has to come into our school and shoot us!" I vented.
" I know. Caleb is dead and unless the police get to us in time, we're dead. Funny, you start to think of the past. Remember when we were five and...well, I was five, you were like three, so you probably wouldn't remember..." He started.
" Try me." I said, looking around.
" When we went to the movies and you got so scared that you..." He began, but I just stared at him, then smirked.
" ...Yeah, and you told me that I was just being a scaredy cat and you dared me to go into the kitchen alone. Hannah jumped out and scared me...I broke a whole bunch of plates that night. Your mom was so mad at us." I laughed, but I stopped at the sound of someone coming and we hid under the desks.
" Come out, come out!" Harmon screamed. I looked at Marco, who looked back, motioning me to be quiet. He didn't have to tell me that, though, it's not like I was going to bust out in song. He walked right in front of me and I stared at his leg, trying to make sure that I wasn't seen. I was remembering everything...my whole life.
The students had made it outside just in time to see the squad cars and the rest of the town watching the school carefully. They each ran to their families, looking back to see if anyone was following them. Ted ran to the police, trying to explain what's going on.
" So basically this is a lover's spat gone wrong?" one of the policemen said jokingly.
" Look, think what you want, but he's dangerous." Ted said, stopping to look to Julie, who was crying into her mother's arms,
" He's killing kids."
" We're on it, we already have a team inside." the policeman said, quickly picking up his radio. Ted just sighed and walked away towards Julie.
" I'm so sorry for your loss." he said carefully to Julie, but Julie's mom and father ushered her away from him, casting him a venomous stare. Ted put his head down and walked away, watching the building.
I knew something was up when he started pacing. He was shouting over his cell and I could tell it was pissing him off! I hoped whatever it was would stop because I wanted to make it out of the school alive. I looked to Marco, who looked to be planning something. I mouthed, " What are you doing?" and he mouthed back, " I'm going to trip him!" and I nodded. I had thought about it, but advised myself against it. I got ready to run and watched as Harmon walk right over to Marco and I saw Marco foot sweep him! I immediately ran, not looking back and I felt someone's hands on my waist and stopped! I looked back to see who was holding me and it was Marco. We both ran faster as we heard the library door slam shut and just as we were about to turn the corner, 4 policemen wearing SWAT vests bumped into us!
" Where's the loony guy?!" one of them asked.
"He's back there!" I shouted, hoping to attract his attention.
" Go ahead, we're on the job, exit back there!" he said, showing us the door. The SWAT team moved forward, but Marco and I walked back to the exit. As we were turning the corner to the exit, Harmon appeared from nowhere and put the gun to Marco's chest! I was so shocked that it took me a few minutes to adjust to the new development.
" Harmon...Mr. Harmon, you don't want to do this! Why are you killing us? We didn't even do anything to me." I shouted, hoping we'd attract the cops again.
" Because it's kids like you, kids like you that made me and Ted ashamed to be who we are. We've been together since we were in high school and things still haven't changed! Little bastards like you are ruining the world! I can't believe that wastes like you are clouding up the world." Harmon said, making the gun go up and down Marco's chest.
" Yeah and we wouldn't possibly know about that!" I shouted.
" No! You don't know what it's like to be..." Harmon started, but I interrupted.
" Yeah. I do, but I don't go around shooting people! I'm not a total psycho!" I said, prompting him to shoot me! Marco grabbed the gun and wrestled him to the ground! Marco grabbed the fire extinguisher and hit him hard, knocking him unconscious! Marco then ran to me, checking out my arm.
" Are you okay?" he asked, carefully examining me.
" Yeah, my arm hurts though." I said, trying to move it.
" I have a question?" Marco asked, examining my arm.
" Go ahead before I die." I chuckled.
" Did you really mean..I mean, are you..." Marco asked cautiously.
" What? NO, I just.." I said standing up.
" It's okay if you are, I mean it's nothing to be..." Marco said nervously.
" Look, if I was, wouldn't you know?" I said, trying to be smooth, but I fell, then got up quickly, " I'm okay. I'm.." I stopped.
" You are, aren't you?" He asked.
" I..." I started, but the SWAT team swarmed to us and immediately swarmed Harmon's unconscious body. As we were giving our statements, I zoned out. I thought about what it meant for Marco to know something this close to me and how he would react. I looked at him and he at me and I looked away. Instantly, we were surrounded by our loved ones.
" He knows?" Hannah asked me as we sat at the table at the Antique store. I smiled at her, then looked away, " That's why he's been so weird when I ask him what happened when you got shot." she said quickly.
" Yeah. I had to give up a secret to save a life. How screwed up is that?" I laughed, scratching my arm, which was now heavily bandaged and in a sling.
Hannah's mom, Laura walked in, shocked to see me there, " I thought I told you not to come in today. After what you've been through, you need rest." Laura smiled weakly.
" I was just taking a walk. Mom is getting on my nerves and I needed to talk to Hannah." I said happily.
Laura raised her eyebrow, " Well, when you see her, tell her I'm going to send her some stuff. Where is she this week?" Laura smiled.
" They're in Africa, notice me with no phone. They have been calling nonstop for days! I'm guessing they'll bring in the 'Grandparents' and that'll become a thing." I stopped as I saw Michael, Hannah's father, and Marco walk in, " I'm gonna go, I have some stops to make. Later." I said quickly, running out of the shop.
When I got outside, I bumped into Davis, " Hey! Davis, what's up?" I said, shocked.
" Nothing. Just walking around and stopped here." he said, staring at the shop.
" I figured you'd be out somewhere with Christina." I said quickly.
He flinched, " I just wanted to say thanks for putting your ass on the line for us...and I wanted to see if you were going to the party?" he asked cautiously.
" Not sure. Probably not." I said, without thinking.
" Why?" He pried.
" Well, I'm not exactly friends with the people who live there...or you know, who are gonna be partying there." I frowned.
" You should come, it's going to be fun." Davis smiled, then walked away. I smiled, then turned around to see Marco staring at me.
" Not a good idea." Marco said, voicing her opinion.
" I didn't think so, but Hannah really wants to go." I said, trying to avoid his eyes.
" So, we haven't really talked about..." Marco started, but I sighed.
" What's to talk about? I want some ice cream" I said, turning and walking away, Marco right behind me