Switchville High, Switchville
January 12, 2014, 12:00 PM
=============================================================================================

The commons were flooded with students and teachers, as they always were during lunch hour. With the kitchen windows open, people were either in line to get food, eating said food at tables spread around the commons, or holding games and conversations in random corners. Things were split up, like any normal highschool. The nerds over here, freaks and geeks over there, popular kids here and jocks there, clubs spread from place to place, and of course the occasional loner at those tables everybody seems to leave empty for the odd individual that hates the universe.

For the mostpart, it was a normal schoolday. Mostly. It was, after all, the first day back after Christmas break, and everybody was buzzing on and on about how their vacation was, who they saw, where they went, what they got- The usual hubub of that time of the year. But more importantly, to those academically inclined people, it was also time to pick new classes for the upcoming semester!

Ethan Siroto, apparently, gave absolutely zero shits on the matter. He himself didn't arrive until half-way through the lunch hour, rumbling to a stop in the student parking lot in that infamous Miata of his. How the lovely car drove so smoothly through the thick winter snows of Maine, nobody knows. Hell, Ethan didn't even know. He just attributed it to his excellent skills behind the wheel- Something he reminded himself of as he stepped from the vehicle, lazily throwing his bag over one shoulder and assuming the grin of a popular man.

Just before reaching the school doors, he made sure to double-check his state of dress. Classy-ass shirt with a few buttons popped? Check. Eh, good enough. And so, he strode into the commons with that long-standing grin, spreading his arms as if his arrival was the biggest event of the day and raising his voice over the bustle.
"Where's everybody at!? Stories to share and things to show off, my friends!"

Of course, the only reactions he'd end up provoking would be from his actual friends. The rest of the school gives no shits.

Laney was sitting at a table. Her feet, wearing leather Doc Marten combat boots, were propped keenly on the chair in front of her. No food was set in front of her. She was not particularly hungry, unfortunately. She was listening to all the hustle and bustle of the new semester starting, with a small, smug smile pressed against her rosy, feminine lips. To be honest, all Laney could hear out of the student body was a noise that resembled a baby crying for attention, and she was starting to care less about the Christmas holiday--who did what, who got what, who went where. It was all so old and mundane sounding after a while. Besides, it was not as if Laney could remember her Christmas holiday very well, anyways. Maybe she had gone too far this time. . . the guilt was disguised by her cattiness.

For the winter break, her parents had gone to Japan for family-business related reasons and left Laney at home to shelter her from all the drama. Laney did not argue or mind. In fact, she gave them a dearest blessing and turned her other cheek to have one colorful, psychadelic ball after the next. Sure, Laney was still a teen, but she partied so hard, she might as well have been in college. She couldn't even tell you which party was her favorite, they all just ran together. . . She pretended not to care or to be jealous of the ones that could remember their Christmas--like Lucy Estuert--all the former homeschooler ever did was talk about her family, and her brother, James, as if Laney didn't know him.

She knew him alright, almost better than she knew Ethan. But that was a secret between her and that list in her head she was making. Not that either of the two boys had been particularly important. They were both alright. She let Ethan know, but James? Who really cared about some high school graduate, anyways? If he even touched the doors of high school, again, he would be considered some loser who couldn't make himself in college, just another popular junk-out basking in his awkward adolescent/young adult "glory days."

Laney was not all party and sarcastic talk. She helped the younger students, as well. She tutored and mentored them, which gave the teachers an outstanding opinion of the young lady, despite her sometimes, studded belt and rugged jean look. The ginger had a natural talent for teaching and persuading. She was cute and spunky, a favorite for the teachers to recommend when a student was falling behind in a subject (besides Science). This, of course, was how she spread her wings around campus, being a fairy godmother to the young one, and she had so much success--by introducing them to the adderall--the magical cure for all of their problems and the first step onto the stairway to the high school party scene.

She thought of herself as a little doormouse, helping other mice find their way to the truth serums of their time, Mary Jane, Molly, Lucy (LSD). . the list went on, almost as long as Laney's list of fucks. So, maybe she was a little corrupt, but she sure did not look like a witch, especially with her golden, red hair and those sunkissed freckles, carefully sprinkled upon her dainty skin. At times, she looked so vulnerable, as if someone could easily take advantage of the poor, pretty girl. .

Laney removed her feet from her desk as more students began to pile into the cafeteria; also as Ethan made his grand entrance. She leaned her elbows on the table top and rested her chin in her palms. Her eyes hazed over everyone entering the eating area. Some knew who she was; some did not. But who really cared. . . ?

Who really cared? Laney thought to herself. Who cared if she couldn't remember her Christmas vacay? It was just two weeks of her life. Two weeks. Her smug smile spread on her lips, again, trying to block out the echo of her past moaning at her. She thought about giving a "Hello" to Ethan, as if he'd offer some miracle cure for the agony of it all. But, she had already shrugged off several friends, and really did not think Ethan needed any more ego boosting. She turned her gaze from his direction and thought of things to reply for future Christmas-related topics.

Lucy's eyes lay hollow on nothing, staring forward as she ate her lunch in the full room. The noise around her was like static to her in this state; in this wonderful state of pause, there was no one involved but her and her bottle of small, white friends. The counter in her head told her the countdown for the Adderall to take effect had ended, and she exhaled as the familiar feeling pulsed through her small, frail body. It was enough to keep her addiction occupied and stop the burning of withdrawal from her major crutch -- cocaine, of course. The drug was becoming more popular around the school by the day, so access to it wasn't always so difficult... but with the vacation and her antisocial tendencies, she hadn't had a chance to score any for quite sometime. Right now, Lucy danced in the haze of pills as she waited to be reunited with the powder....

Ugh...., she thought as her head dropped in shame. There was so much more she expected of herself, but all she could do anymore was crave substances. Today, however, she planned to force herself into action; she promised herself her life would not be consumed by the haze. Eyes darting around the crowd now, she finished her meal quickly; the Adderall made her quite hungry for some reason. Now, however, with the substance in her veins, focus was all she had as she studied the people in the room. To get her mind off of her failures, maybe she should talk to someone new? It was a great advantage that this school had a commons to be occupied by all students so she wasn't confined to her own grade. Although, if she had been in such a school, her life would've never turned down the path of drugs and... selling her body...

Lucy shook the memories of her awful encounter with her Geometry teacher from her pretty little head, suddenly realizing she was up from the table and moving around the commons, finding herself walking toward someone of great impact on her life -- Laney Lancaster. When they had originally met, she viewed Laney as... someone of a hero to her. It appeared Laney lived a life to enjoy to the fullest, and Lucy wanted that for herself. However, after it lead to her involvement with her teacher just for money to buy the hazy feeling... she didn't know what to think of Laney anymore. Somehow, though, she was still drawn toward the girl. With the flow in her veins, she dropped her shoulders to the most relaxed she could feel and appear. Why she cared how Laney viewed her was a mystery to even Lucy.

"Hey, Laney..." she said in the low, shy voice that she sometimes could not hide. She cleared her throat and prepared to speak more confidently. "How was your vacation?" Even as she asked, she could not help but dart her eyes around the room and bounce her focus from person to person. She prepared to listen to Laney's response, expecting to be talked down to as per their usual encounters, but was more intent on finding someone new to approach today...

Clustered together at a small table Aren sat his nose buried in The Ocean at the End of the Lane, around him his friends discussed their respective holiday breaks while Aren only half paid attention and sipped on his coffee. Aren’s friends were used to him ignoring them- as with most other things for that matter- in preference for books. So it was to everyone’s surprise that as Kyle stood up and spread his arms mocking the entrance of Ethan that Aren laughed and put his book away. ”That guy is so full of himself,” Aren managed to mutter through his laughs.

As the group was still chuckling at Kyle’s antics it was James that broke the laughter to continue the conversation that they had been having before Ethan’s arrival. ”So, like I was saying, who’s up for hitting Blowout after school? It’s the first day back, not like any of us will have homework,” James asked the table at large.

Kyle always being up for anything, that wasn't school, was the first to reply ”Of course man! What else would I be doing tonight?”. Jess was a little more hesitant but eventually agreed to meet them at the club after she dropped by her house. Maria was the first to give any sort of negative response but which came out as more of a I-don’t-know than an actual no. As everyone else had answered they turned their attention to Aren waiting to see if he’d join them giving a sigh Aren replied ”Okay, I’ll be there…” to which the table smiled and Kyle let out a small cheer before he could finish with ”…only for a little bit though I do have work tonight”. Pulling his book back out Aren slid back into the fantasy world and once again zoned out on his friends, and the commons around them.

Today was one of those days that Kat hated most. It was the first day back from Christmas break, yet it seemed like the majority of the student body had failed to notice that their hiatus was over. Unlike the other students Kat had not failed to accept the restart of school, in fact she had even dressed for the occasion in a rather semi-formal outfit. It consisted of black dress pants, with a tucked in white dress shirt, over which she wore a black button up vest and to complete her look she was wearing a pair of non-prescription horn rimmed glasses and had her hair tied up into a loose studious looking bun. However, though it appeared to her that she was one of the only students who cared and was not blathering away about their vacation, in fact all the others appeared to be trying out do one another in how loud and obnoxious they could be in their retelling of their time away from school. Sighing quietly to herself Katherine grabbed her lunch and made her way towards her group's usual table, in the back right corner of the cafeteria.

Upon her arrival at the table she calmly greeted her friends and sat down. The group at the table quieted for a moment as the all replied casual greetings towards Kat. Sitting down she waved a hand towards them and they continued on with their conversation. Trying to ignore the loud prattle of the other students around her Kat silently sat about eating her meal, only speaking at one point when one of her friends mentioned how she got her boyfriend concert tickets to see his favorite band. To which Kat jokingly stated, "Sure and that's only thing you gave him." Her friend's face flushed red with embarrassment at Kat's implication, while the others at the table began to laugh.

Continuing on with her lunch Kat was begining to forget about her annoyance caused by the other students. It was just as she sat back down from dropping off her tray that a reminder of how much she hated the noise, Ethan Siroto. He was an epitome of the loud obnoxious-ness that she detested. The annoying senior had managed to make her already bad day worse, merely by showing up and talking, because it seemed that Ethan did not posess the skills to enter normally, no he had to make an "elaborate" entrance. An entrance of which had to be loud about, which of course drove Katherine to feel like slamming her head into the table. Today was not going to get any better.

Edward could feel the itch--he was an addict, he knew it plenty well. Even walking to lunch, his mind skimmed over what he had to do, what classes were next, whether or not he could reasonably skip them ... not caring wasn't the same as being stupid, after all, and even if he just skirted by with low D's in most of his courses, he figured he'd be graduating at the end of the year, getting his diploma and ... well, he'd figure it out. He'd worked this hard to get through high school, after all, and he wasn't going to let his time just be wasted without anything to show for it, even if it was just a scrap of paper that made job hunting a little easier.

So he felt like getting high but damn if his next class wasn't a required credit he'd failed Freshman and then Sophomore years, so he guessed he'd just need to wait. In his way, he skirted the edge of the lunch room, a brown paper bag clutched tightly in his hand as he dropped into an empty table far off in a corner--or, as far off as one could get in a high school. Although he ate his sandwich in simple silence, he watched lazily. Didn't care for most of the people here--it was a blessing and a curse, as his brother's death had finally started to quiet down around him, most of the people who'd known him having graduated or moved on, and he'd gotten far more a reputation as a druggie and a slacker than he had as the pitiful left over from from a car wreck, so hardly any strangers still felt the need to swing by and tell him how sorry they were, how much of a shame it was what happened to his brother, how they're here and they care and where were they when he was fine, huh? What were they doing before Jason died? Granted, Edward was never a socialite, chances were he wanted about as much to do with all of them as they did with the dark-haired, quiet little introvert in the library, but if they weren't his friends before Jason died they had no business trying to be after. Like they could ever fill that hole anyway.

HIs eyes caught sight of the one girl who might catch his eye--not in a romantic or sexual sense, much as it sounded, but she was one of the only other druggies he knew, and such a pretty little thing, young and already starting to crack around the edges. She seemed busy, though, and they definitely weren't close enough to actually warrant going over and talking to her--but should she catch his eye, he'd toss his head back in a lazy nod, and return to what he was doing.

Laney gently lifted her head from the palms of her hands, letting her eyes gaze over the home schooler. A small smile drew itself over Laney's glossed lips, "Oh, hi, Lucy!" She tried to sound somewhat excited to see the girl, "my vacation was decent--my parents went out of town..." she trailed off, as if to brag that her parents would leave her alone for two whole weeks and not suspect anything. She gently touched her finger over the tip of her nose a couple times, as if to insinuate her having snorted something.

She could tell Lucy was not sober. Unfortunately, for Lucy, it was obvious, at least to Laney. Her parents had to be idiots to think their daughter was doing fine in a place like this. She was not sure how many times she watched Lucy's dearest brother James stumble home, drowning in drugs only to have his parents welcome him lovingly and open armed. Oh, that's right, not too many--because only a handful of times she slept with the boy. Or was he a man? She could not have been bothered to remember. .

"Take a seat, Lucy," she continued to smile, "Tell me what you did. What did you get for Christmas?" She tried not to sound too mockingly. All Laney got was money. Money. Money that was well spent on--only the kami or shin knew for sure. She looked past Lucy towards Ethan, letting her gaze slowly scan around the room and stop at Edward. She quickly adverted her attention back to Lucy, running a hand through her golden, red hair, trying to pretend that she was interested in whatever Lucy had to say. Lucy was almost as interesting as her brother, except, she was missing a vital piece of body to actually deem herself interesting to Laney, not that Laney would not have minded Lucy. . .

Nonetheless, Laney wanted to make her conversation with Lucy look somewhat worthwhile. She was not sitting alone anymore like a . . loser. No matter how cocky and self-absorbed Ethan looked, he still had friends. And as for Laney, she almost felt herself dropping friends--but more like cards, she could always pick them up, again, when she wanted. Who needed real friends anyways? She leaned her head back in her left palm, satirically waiting for Lucy's reply.

It was only a few minutes after the obnoxious entrance of Ethan that silence began to stretch over the cafeteria, interrupting students all over as the unmistakable figure of Principal Watson stepped onto the raised platform at the end of the commons, tapping on a microphone with a grunt, testing it before speaking over any still in conversation.

"Students, staff! First and foremost, I'd like to welcome you back after Christmas Break. I'm sure you all had a wonderful time, so I'll try to keep this as brief as possible. Over break, it seems a bit of... Trouble, has arisen in Switchville. A series of kidnappings- Students from this very school. So far, out only known missing children are as follows; Richard Trees, Gabriel De Rege, and Daniel Holcomb. Students are urged to be on the lookout for men described as well dressed, in fancy-seeming vehicles with tinted windows, with Italian accen-"

He was cut off by the familiar voice of Ethan, the student standing with a sharp laugh.
"Come on, 'teach! You just described the mafia in every cheesy spy flick ever. Daniel was a stuck up prat and Richard was a freak, it was only a matter of time before those two vanished. And Gabe has been in and out for most of highschool. He'll probably be back in like, a week! This some kind of welcome-back prank? People don't just get -kidnapped- here, it's a nice town!"

A frown flickered over the face of Watson at Ethan's words, and he crossed his arms, fidgeting.
"I'm giving you the description witnesses gave to the police, Mister Sirito. We wouldn't have made a large deal of this if it wasn't serious- So take it seriously. This poses a real threat to the student body. And information or sightings of such events are to be reported to myself or the police as soon as possible. Be careful... And enjoy the new semester."
The last words were stated in a horribly grim manner, giving the tiniest flicker of darkness to the usually happy-go-lucky principal of the school. He was distressed, that much was clear. As he made his way off of the platform, the commons erupted into noise once more- Only now, the topic had shifted from Christmas to the mysterious kidnappings. Ethan was in the midst of laughing about the apparent 'Italian Mafia' Watson had described when they were interrupted once more: A student barging through the front doors, wild-eyed and in a blood-soaked shirt.

"We need an ambulance! I- It's Tristan! He's been shot!"

A freak, a know-it-all, and a social ghost missing, and now the student council vice president apparently shot in the parking lot.... The return home just got a lot more interesting, folks.

Lucy smiled back at her former (yet potential) idol as she took a seat next to her, being as relaxed as she possibly could. While this close, Laney probably knew Lucy was high. In fact, when she tapped her nose, Lucy felt jealous and almost mocked as if Laney was bragging to Lucy about the substance she so craved but had less access to than Laney. It also seemed that Laney didn't have very good recollection of her own vacation, which made Lucy want to giggle a bit.

Lucy didn't know if she should be jealous or disappointed that Laney's parents left her all alone for the holiday - Christmas is very special and family oriented. Even a withdrawing and constantly-arm-scratching-Lucy enjoyed her time with her family, although she had no choice but to do it sober. Although she felt a little sorry for Laney, she couldn't imagine her happily spending time with her family.

"Oh,me?" Lucy asked rhetorically with a smile. "I....uhhh..." Again, her urge to impress and please Laney was there, tugging on her thoughts. "..I spent a little time with the family, then James and I went to Ramone's place and got really f-..fucked up." The lie came out incredibly easy until the word 'fuck'; she was always told not to say that word, but she was trying to come out of her sheltered shell of naivety.

A little after paying attention to Laney's response, Principle Watson addressed the entire cafeteria. Lucy, being slightly hopped-up, nearly jumped out of her seat at the sound before turning to listen. "That's awful..." she mumbled to herself as she dipped her head down. When Ethan interrupted, Lucy rolled her eyes and grumbled, then turned to Laney to see her reaction to Ethan's most recent act for attention. What he was saying was awful and disrespectful -- Lucy wished she had the courage to stand up and say something, but she knew was way too shy for something like that. As she let out a large sigh, Lucy jumped at the sound of a loud smack from far behind her. She quickly got up and turned to look, but there were too many people in the way preventing her from seeing.

As Lucy took her seat again, she let what just happened sink in People missing? In our town? Tha-
Blood. Blood was all she saw when the man came in. The Adderall in her system wouldn't let her focus on anything else. She barely heard what the man said, as she stood frozen in fear. If she hadn't taken the pills, she'd be fine right now. Instead, the image stained her brain and made her sick; People missing and now a murder?!

To hell with changing myself; I REALLY need some powder.....

As the principal took to the stage to talk to the students, for a split-second Aren allowed his gaze to shift to the rather robust man. Aren barely heard the word of the missing students but noted their names; Richard Trees, Gabriel De Rege, and Daniel Holcomb. What really stood out to him as he sat there nose in his book was the imperiously overbearing rant and utter disrespect that Ethan showed as he stood and exclaimed "Come on, 'teach! You just described the mafia in every cheesy spy flick ever. Daniel was a stuck up prat and Richard was a freak, it was only a matter of time before those two vanished. And Gabe has been in and out for most of highschool. He'll probably be back in like, a week! This some kind of welcome-back prank? People don't just get -kidnapped- here, it's a nice town!"

This alone was enough to enrage most of the table. As Aren’s friends began whispering he stood up calmly. ”What kind of person says that type of thing!? Gabe and Danny coucld be dead” Jess whispered in an agitated voice. The others nodded in agreement and began discussing how much of a dick Ethan is. None of them noticing the Aren had walked off with, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, in hand as he approached Ethan from behind.

Sliding behind the groups were east as everyone was talking about the missing students. As Aren approached, he slid through the crowd without anyone taking notice as he raised the book. With the book raised he brought down wacking Ethan in the back of the head with, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, the resounding smack could be heard throughout the cafeteria. As eyes turned towards the two boys Aren, in the calmest voice he could muster, declaimed ”You need to learn some respect. If not for Principal Watson then for the students that have gone missing, as it is you are nothing more than a rich hack,”

Turning around he calmly began to walk back towards his friends as a student burst through the double doors of the school exclaiming that someone by the name of Tristan had been shot in the parking lot.

Aren hadn’t known Tristan well but they were on their way to being friends. They both had the same interest and had a lot in common. It had been cool to meet a person so similar to ones self. As Aren turned on his heel at the name and began a dash towards the doors. Losing someone that was so close to being a friend, it wasn’t something that anybody would want.

Irritated Katherine sighed and set her forehead down on her table. She was trying to close out all the endless chatter around her. A few moments later Kat noticed the din of the cafeteria slowly fade to a low murmur. Maybe she had been wrong, maybe the day would get better. It was then that she heard Principal Watson begin to speak.

As he spoke it became clear that distressed. Once it had been heard that three students were missing almost every table in the cafeteria could immediately be heard whispering to one another about it. Kat's table was no different. Just like the others her friends began to discuss the disappearances of their fellow students, only half listening Kat heard them inquiring of one another what they thought happened, and if they thought the three were okay. Katherine however, did not join in, not because she didn't care, but rather that she was sure they would show up and it would all just blow over, after all things like that didn't happen in Switchville. However, before she could finish rationalizing her distinct lack of caring Ethan stood and and interuppted. "Of course," Kat muttered under her breath, "Three students apparently go missing and he jokes about it. He has to be the center of attention, can't be outdone by three students who aren't even here." As he finished speaking Katherine blanched when she heard him finish with what she had been thinking as well, "People don't just get -kidnapped- here, it's a nice town." Standing Kat went to leave the cafeteria, ignoring the loud reverberating sound that filled the cafeteria.

Just as Kat reached the door it burst open. Rushing through the door was a fellow student drenched in blood. The student was spouting something but Kat even though nearby heard almost none of it. She only comprehended "Tristan" and "shot" for in the moment that those doors had burst open she caught a glimpse of what horrifying atrocity had just happened, Tristan lay in the parking lot bleeding. Katherine had been right the first time the day was not getting better.

Laney tried not to roll her eyes as Lucy not-so-casually mentioned that she had been 'fucked up' with James. Seriously? James still was hangin' with high schoolers? As if Laney wanted to even recap her relationship with him at this rate. She was about to make a catty reply and inquire more until the principal grabbed the attention of the student body. The student vocals came to a quite murmur before the principal began speaking.

Ethan, another cursed name on her List, spoke up, insulting . . . whatever he was trying to insult. She was surprised none of the faculty got mad at him. Geez, if there was any crime around here it was lack of authoritative figures. But really, in reality, for all that it was worth, Laney might as well have gotten away with murder without anyone even suspecting it was her. She mumbled something like that under her breath, unsure if Lucy heard or not.

A loud smack was heard, interrupting Laney's mutter, anyway. Who cared if Lucy heard what she had said, anyways?

She tried to see from where the noise came when someone burst through the doors shouting about someone getting shot. "Speak of the devil," Laney said, a small excitement was heard in her voice before a sudden panic leered over her, should she run? Did someone have a gun? Was there a crazy person with a killer weapon just gunning down students? She was way to pretty to die, and fuck, not inside a school.

She stood up and looked at Lucy straight in the eyes, slight fear and mischievous in her eyes, "You wanna get out of here?" There was slight panic in her voice, but Laney sure as hell was not going to stick around where there was potential for her being gun-shot.

Lucy's mind was suddenly scrambled, no longer able to keep her drug-induced focus. There was so much blood on the guy in the doorway - all of it from a student who lay dead behind him... in the parking lot of the school -- the epicenter of what was such a peaceful and safe town. How could something like this be-

"You wanna get out of here?" Laney's voice shook Lucy out of her state of minor shock. She blinked a few times before looking around at the panic around them: people's voices turning into shouts, Aren darting out the door toward the bleeding corpse followed by several other people. Some of the students were even throwing up at the sight of the crimson-stained clothes the guy in the doorway wore. Maybe it was the thought of a student's death right outside that made them so ill - Lucy could relate to that. There were also some students running from the room, whom Lucy and Laney were about to follow.

"Y-yeah... we should go," she managed to mutter in Laney's direction in a low, shaky voice. She looked Laney in the eye and tried to speak up a bit, but she wasn't entirely successful. "Where do you think we should go?" Initially, she wanted to tell Laney 'no' and stay to find out more about the situation, but then it occurred to her that if the shooting had just taken place, the shooter could still be in the area. Regardless of where Laney took them, Lucy could only hope their would be a nice, white, powdered cure for her now wrecked nerves.

Lucy didn't seem interested in catching his eye, though Edward couldn't say he minded much--didn't know her too well yet, after all, and when your only common hobby is drugs, well ... wasn't exactly shocking to him that she might not be fascinated in his conversational opinions. The girl with her--Laura, maybe? Lana, Laney? He knew he knew it, just on the tip of his tongue--seemed to catch sight of him, but he made no reaction to it, not that she looked his way long enough to really take notice if he did.

He was about a quarter of the way through his sandwich--slow eater, always had been, and not much of an appetite recently anyway--when the principal spoke, and he lifted his head with mild interest. If he had any scrap of self preservation it'd be telling him to be more concerned about this, but he couldn't find it in himself to be. So some kids got into some shit they couldn't get out of? Not his problem--he knew what crap he was in, after all, knew he was in deep and it was prolly gonna bite him in the ass later in life, but hey, at least he knew it.

It was the bullet and the blood that really got him moving--the threat hanging over his head of failing body and early death that came with drug habits was one thing, but the immediate threat of a shooter in a school was different, and he knew he didn't want to die today at least. He stuffed the remains of his lunch back in the bag and stood up, moving to skirt his way out of the room, maybe call it trauma and head home.

Ethan was, unsurprisingly, rather pissed with Aren's casual 'attitude adjustment', via a book to the back of his head. More than likely, the initial reasoning for his standing up was probably to try and beat Aren's ass... Despite his reputation for winning fights. But, moments later, the action became rather similar to Aren's own- A headlong rush for the door as the student burst in. Shockingly, it didn't seem to be an effort to save his own hide. He was merely in a similar rush to see what had happened, maybe help save Tristan's life... But it would not be so.

As both boys- along with a large majority of the other students- reached the door, it seemed it would only be to see Tristan's last moments. Ethan crouched at his side, wide-eyed as Tristan's gaze went skyward. He tried to choke out a few words past the blood roiling into his mouth from the bullethole in his neck, but found that nothing came. No noise escaped him but a quiet gurgle, and then his eyes went dark and empty, the life leaving his body just as tires squealed near the entrance of the school, a sleek black sedan peeling out of the parking lot and barreling down the snowy streets, away from the crimescene. The driver couldn't be seen... Nor could anybody else in the vehicle. Suddenly, Ethan felt a lot less secure in thinking that the "Movie's Mafia" wasn't involved. He turned a hopeless gaze to Aren.
"You're supposed to be some kind of genius, can't you do something?"
There was... Actual distress, in his tone. Even with all his snarky comments, all of his self-absorbed moments, he really did have some form of a heart... If a small one.

Laney let out some kind of sigh of relief, as if she was expecting Lucy to want to stay, too afraid to skip school regardless of circumstances. She brushed some auburn, blonde hair from her sunkissed, freckled face, peering at Lucy -- seeing a bit of her in Lucy. It was cute, darling, whatever. So, maybe Laney had a small soft spot for Lucy. Or something else, a crush. Laney was bi-curious, and having already been with James, Lucy's brother -- the thought trailed quickly away, to another distant location in the back of Laney's mind.

"Great, I have some fucking amazing snow," she giggle a bit, almost emotionally dulled and void of even being previously daunted by the the hot, bloody mess. Perhaps, Laney was messed up, did she even have emotional grips that linked her to another human, or had she snorted it all away? The idea didn't matter to her, she wanted to get high, maybe she was just acting silly tough in the current situation, and cocaine was her way of dealing.

It was like a knee jerk reaction to turn to cocaine. . .

She grabbed Lucy's hand, leading her out one of the back doors of the cafeteria that conveniently lead to the outside, near one of the school parking lots. "Fuck," she mumbled, trying to remember where she parked her car. The sound of a car roaring down the snowy streets could still be heard, her hand clutched Lucy's, feeling a slight tremor, but nothing more, "Fuck," she repeated, turning towards the more innocent, younger version of herself, "We're getting fucked up, I sware to God," she gave some satirical smile. Like, their addiction was some sort of solution to the movie scene mob mess.

Laney took her keys out of her backpack, after fumbling through her books, binders, and folders. "I parked near the soccer fields," she admitted, finally, remembering. "Let's go." She started jogging towards her car, slightly letting loose of Lucy's. It was cold, God, and her breaths were steaming from her mouth like white cotton clouds. Her boots smashed through the cold, salty water of the parking lot, hoping Lucy was following behind her, closely.

As she reached her car, she pressed the 'unlock button' on her car keys, hearing the click travel with the frosty wind. She quickly unjammed her door open and hopped inside. Laney shoved her keys into the ignition and felt cold air blow into her face, but as the time shortly past, the air conditioning slowly melted into a warm, condensed filter for the cool air circling around the atmosphere outside the car.

It was still very difficult for Lucy to move in her state of shock, but a combination of the mention of her favorite substance partially snapped her to attention, and the tug at her hand did the rest. Still, as they left the room filled with chaos where the entrance was stained crimson, her mind was mostly dulled, but not in the usual way. Suddenly, she felt sober, the blood pumping faster through her small body now. It seemed pointless to stay, anyway, although Lucy knew they should, so she followed her likely future-self as she was lead out of the back of the cafeteria. Outside, the still air matched her mind's activity perfectly: bleak, blank, shaken up, and snow-driven. The outside air felt different than it had when she entered the school, as if the death of a student thickened the air itself.

The sounds of panic could still be heard as Lucy followed Laney to the latter's memory loss, but Lucy wasn't paying attention anyhow. Her mind remained blank, with the exception of her promised faded mind, and the stained image of the bloody student. Nothing she has experienced in the past has come close to something like that, and she felt nearly traumatized. She kept telling herself she was overreacting, but how could she possibly know?

Lucy was jerked out of the place in her young, pretty red-head when she felt the pressure on her hand, followed by a small tremor. Laney was... afraid? But Lucy was too distracted to know why at the time. Sometimes, it seemed Laney wasn't even human -- more like something above them, unreachable yet touching their ground in her own ways. However, this sudden show of fear of hers was quite revealing. There was much more to see in a person who was touching the ground... but of course, she soon released her hand and returned to her old self. The promise of substance came again, sending her back into her own head and on auto-pilot, following the now-sure Laney to her car, and to her promise.

Standing outside the car, it seemed what had caused Laney's fear earlier was the sound of vehicles in fear that they were related to the shooting. Lucy wasn't convinced otherwise, either, and at this point, Lucy wasn't even aware of whether the sounds were real or not, but real or fake, when the icy winds carried the noises toward the pair, Lucy wanted nothing more than to be in the car near Laney. The ice put up small fight in opening the passenger door, requiring all of her frail little body's momentum to jerk it open, feeling embarrassed to have Laney see her struggle so much with something as simple as a door. She quickly took a seat from the cold, but the cold didn't bother her much anymore, although the soon-to-arrive-heat was welcomed. Lucy waited patiently for her promise to come to light, but it wasn't long before her leg was twitching as she pretended to relax. She knew she should be more frightened with what had just happened, but there was hardly other things to focus on at this point for her. Although, it was nice to see Laney back to her normal self again.

Kat was jostled around by a small pack of students and faculty that rushed towards the now quite obviously dead student. However, unlike many others Kat did not rush forward to the death scene of her fellow student, nor did she flee out of the cafeteria. No, Katherine did nothing but stand there. Her mind was racing, in all honesty she was terrified, and probably wolud have escaped from the area if it didn't feel like her feet had rooted themselves to their spot on the floor.

Standing there she tried to comprehend what she was seeing. Her adrenaline fueled brain it seemed had managed to capture everything she had seen in a massive album of still shots. A still of the moment was stuck in her head. She just kept reviewing the moment, the doors bursting open, the student with blood on them, and Tristan's body lying in parking lot. Kat still wasn't sure if what she had seen was real. After all things like that don't happen in Switchville, right?

Aren stood there over Tristan's body in shock, he couldn't believe what he saw. In his mind he had thought of Tristan as a younger version of himself. So in one since Aren saw himself laying there. But the truth was it could have been anyone and that realization struck him even harder. He was barely aware of the others. He heard Ethan yell but his mind didn't process the words. Shock was the only way to describe what he was feeling at that moment.

The shock was broken as sirens of the incoming ambulance and police cars approached. Aren dropped to his knees and began to sob. He wasn't sadden by the death of his classmate, rather he was terrified. If some sort of gang had decided to make Switchville their new city of operations then no one was safe.