It's a beautiful morning. The warm sun shines over the town of Pineville. The birds are chirping and the flowers are blooming. Though, this peaceful morning would sadly be cut short.
Ethan's mother is gonna go nuts if her son doesn't wake up for school any second.
*Step*
*Step*
*Step*
*SLAM!*
"Ethan!" she yells as she slams the bedroom door open.
"Ahh!" Ethan is scared awake. He is greeted good morning by his angry mother.
"You stayed up all night again, didn't you? I swear, if you end up being late again, I'm gonna-!" she walks closer, furiously clenching her fists.
"S-Sorry, mom! I'll get ready now!" he chuckles as he bolts to the bathroom, terrified to test his mother's patience.
His mother looks around his messy room.
"This kid lives in a pigsty..." she sighs and rubs her temples.
His mother decides to clean up.
She picks up his unfinished drawings, his mildly played guitar, and his comicbooks from the floor. She takes the half empty glass of water on his lamp table and cleans the water stains.
On the table, she catches a glance of a framed picture of Ethan together with his friend from childhood. She gazes for a second, lost in thought, feeling sympathy. She cleans the dust from the frame. She leaves the room all cleaned and goes down to cook breakfast.
Ethan returns to his room after taking a shower. He dresses up for another day of high school. He puts on a white t-shirt and a pair of men's jeans. He slipped into his favorite red sneakers and grabbed his favorite green jacket. Ethan looks in the mirror, feeling a little anxious. He lightly slaps himself and takes a deep breath. He grabs his backpack, leaves his bedroom, and goes downstairs to eat breakfast.
Ethan sits down at the table. His little brother, Evan, is already eating while reading a comicbook.
"I cleaned your room. If you make it a mess again, you're sleeping in the garage, got that?" his mother says as she serves him a plate of eggs and toast and a glass of orange juice.
"Sorry, mom. I promise I'll clean it next time," Ethan says while eating breakfast.
His mom sits down and sips her coffee. She watches Ethan munch down his breakfast.
"You should really take care of yourself more, Ethan. Your hair's a mess and you wear that green jacket everyday," she says.
"But this is my favorite jacket," Ethan replies.
"That's not the point I'm trying to make here, son..." she sighs.
Ethan looks at the time. It's 7:20 AM.
"Oh, no! I'm gonna be late!"
Ethan panics. He stuffs down his breakfast and chugs his orange juice. He puts on his backpack and kisses his mother good-bye and bolts out the door.
"That boy..." his mother sighs.
Evan leaves the table after eating.
Ethan grabs his bike laying on the front yard grass and rides it to school without a minute to waste.
It is a lovely and peaceful day. The boy is cycling through the suburbs. Neighbors are watering their gardens and picking up their newspapers. Dogs are playing and barking. Ethan smoothly flows with the cars through the stoplights.
He looks at the sky, lost in thought.
Distracted, he misses a red light at an intersection. A school bus is driving straight towards him.
*BEEEEP!*
"AHHH!"
The bus tries to stop.
Ethan slips to the side with his bike, almost getting hit.
The bus driver lowers his side window and sticks out his head.
"Watch where you're going, you little idiot! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!" the driver yells.
"I-I'm sorry, sir," Ethan lowers his head to apologize and rides away, anxious.
7:40 AM. Ethan arrives at Pineville High only ten minutes late.
Pineville High, a public school located in the far east of town, educating five hundred students. A welcoming place where students can be whoever they want to be, a safe haven despite a few cases of armed students (there were no incidents, thankfully)... But that's what bulletproof windows and indestructible doors are for, right?
Despite being a huge school, the entrance is currently deserted. All the students are already inside.
Ethan gets off his bike to walk to the parking lot.
*Swoooosh!*
*POW!*
"OW!" Ethan winces in pain.
As soon as he got off, a baseball flying from the sky hit him directly in the face. He falls to the ground with his bike.
"Ouch. Looks like we're playing baseball in PE this morning. I hope this doesn't leave a bruise," Ethan gets up and brushes his pants.
"I hope no one saw that," he looks around.
Behind him, he sees a girl of a familiar figure. Too embarrassed, he forgets to see her face, and instead, runs away. He locks his bike and goes inside.
The hallway is packed with students waiting to get in their classrooms. At the end of the hall, he spots a brunette girl with a ponytail, black and white striped sleeves, and a pair of cool brown boots. It's his friend, Sasha Woods, rummaging through her locker.
Sasha! She's skipping PE again. He thinks to himself.
He squeezes his way through the students to make his way to Sasha.
Sasha is a girl with a cold personality paired with an icy glare. She doesn't make friends easily because of that. Instead, she remains on her seat during free time, seemingly like she has her own little world, and lets no one in. Sasha would be completely alone if it weren't for Ethan, whom she knew since childhood, constantly bothering her and countering her cold aura with his warm presence.
She already looks pissed early in the morning.
After Sasha gets everything she needs, she closes her unorganized locker. She is suddenly spotted by James Grey, a tall, blonde, handsome, and athletic classmate. According to all the girls, James is the "Prince Charming" of the whole school and possibly the entire town. He is a varsity player in baseball... and also Sasha's unexpected crush.
"Hey, Sash!" James runs to greet her.
"J-J-James?!" Sasha turns away, hiding her flustered face.
"What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in PE?" she asked him with a soft gentle voice, avoiding his gaze.
"I just came from the restrooms. Hey, aren't YOU also supposed to be in PE?" James asks curiously.
"Oh... yeah... but, I feel... not well..." She blinks rapidly, thinking of an excuse to skip class.
"Really...?" James stares at her.
The awkward tension causes Sasha to sweat rapidly.
He puts his hand on her forehead, checking her body temperature. That gesture alone gets Sasha to fluster, causing her face to turn pink red, raising her temperature.
"Hmm. You're right. You're a little warm. Shall I walk you to the nurse's?" James offers a gentlemanly kind hand.
"N-No... I already went... the nurse just gave me medicine and told me to sit out PE for today... Thanks, though," she attempts to keep James from troubling himself further.
James stares for a second. Before giving a light smile.
"Then, get better, okay? I'll be off now. Coach must be looking for me," he gives her a pat in the back before running off back to the field.
Sasha waves goodbye, still flustered.
Her icy aura is instantly melted by James' warm smile and caring nature. She makes little jumps of joy, still held by their conversation. Her morning now feels a little better.
After all, Sasha is also an ordinary girl.
"Well, if it isn't Emo Girl," a voice not far catches Sasha's attention.
She turns around to see a group of girls approaching her. It's Kate, Cindy, and their ring leader, Jane Brooks.
If cats and dogs or Coke and Pepsi, were to be personified, they would be Sasha and Jane. In short, they really don't get along.
Sasha's joy is instantly wiped off of existence the moment she sees Jane's overly powdered and proud face.
She clicks her tongue and turns away, wanting to head to the classroom, but the other two girls block her.
Sasha turns to Jane.
"James is really nice, isn't he? Talking to a loser like you," Jane says while twirling her ponytail.
"What the hell do you want?" Sasha asks.
Jane laughs softly with a smirk big enough to conceal her intentions.
"What I want... is for you to keep your filthy eyes to yourself. Stop gawking at James, she says as she steps closer.
Sasha stands still and looks at her with a cold and serious face.
"Can't you see he'll never like you? And even if he did, wouldn't that be an ugly image to imagine? You'll do more harm than good to him, to be honest," she lets out a small laugh.
Sasha looks down and lets Jane talk as the girls laugh.
"I mean, let's be real. A pretty boy like James... with you? A short-tempered, anti-social, emo girl like you? You have bad taste in fashion, your grades are average at best, and your face has a huge UGLY birthmark..." Jane reaches out to Sasha's face, attempting to lift her bangs and reveals her whole face.
Sasha slaps her hand away. *Slap!*
Jane and the other girls are shut up.
"Touch me again... and I'll kill you..." Sasha says with a stern and serious tone.
Suddenly, the empty hall becomes several times more silent.
Jane laughs. She walks past Sasha.
"Come on, girls. let's not waste our time here anymore," Jane and her group walk away, glaring at Sasha.
Sasha is left alone, looking down. Tears from her eyes fall to the floor.
"Hey, Sasha. Good morning!" Ethan just got past the crowd and cheerfully greets Sasha.
"Out of my way!" Sasha shoves him away and heads to the girls' restrooms, wiping her tears with her sleeves.
"What was that all about?" Ethan asks himself.
"I should really get a bandage for this wound, first," Ethan touches his face, which still stings from the baseball's impact. He heads to the nurse's.
Sasha enters the empty girls' restroom. She goes berserk. Sasha kicks the trash can, sending all the trash flying. She kicks and punches the stall doors, making loud banging noises. She swings her bag at the soap dispensers, creating a complete mess.
After blowing off some steam, she calms down. Her outrage made her tired. She catches her breath. She looks in the mirror, expecting to see anger, but instead, all she sees are tears. Sasha stands straight and walks closer to the mirror. She moves her bangs aside, revealing her birthmark.
Tears break from her eyes as she's no longer able to hold them.
Sasha is an ordinary girl. An ordinary girl has insecurities. Her weakness is her insecurity, and her face is what makes her insecure.
Sasha quietly cries on the thrashed school restroom floor, alone... or so she thought.
*sniff* "h-ha~"
A quiet sob can be heard from the stall at the end.
Sasha thought she was alone. She wipes her tears and heads over to check. As she gets there, she takes a moment to listen to the weeping. She takes a breath.
"H-Hey, are you okay? Did I scare you?" Sasha asks before slowly opening the door.
As she opens the stall, she sees a short girl with long silver hair sitting curled up on the toilet, quietly sobbing. The girl looks up to her.
Sasha now recognizes her face when she looked up. The girl is Mary Baker, and she's her classmate.
To Sasha, Mary is a girl, who, despite her cute looks and good grades, for some reason, also chooses to sit alone. Mary doesn't talk much, aside from occasionally reciting in class. She was however, sometimes seen with a senior during recess. Mary and Sasha sit next to each other at the back of the class, but they never once spoke to each other.
"H-Hey, are you okay?" Sasha asks. She stares at Mary's puffy and teary eyes.
"Oh! S-Sorry..." Mary reaches to her bag, seemingly hiding something. She stuffs it in and gets up from the toilet.
"Why were you crying?" Sasha asks in confusion.
"I-It's nothing, Sasha!" Mary runs out of the restrooms and heads to class.
Sasha doesn't know what just happened.
Mr. Smith, the janitor, enters the restroom. He witnesses the mess.
"You again? You're gonna clean all this up, kid." He says in an apathetic but serious tone, arms crossed.
Sasha decides to clean up the mess she made. While she cleans up, something catches her attention. She spots something on the floor of Mary's stall.
She went to inspect.
"Wha...?"
Ethan arrives at the nurse's office. He enters. There, he spots four students laying down, looking like they caught the flu. The Principal is talking to the nurse inside. They're wearing face masks. The nurse spots Ethan.
"What? you're sick, too?" The nurse asks.
"No, ma'am. I need a bandage for my face," Ethan replies.
"Did you get into a fight, Graves? What is it with you kids? I swear your class is a real pain," the Principal rubs his forehead.
"No, sir. I... fell off my bike," Ethan lets out a small and awkward laugh.
The nurse treats Ethan's wound. She finishes quickly.
"You better head to class now, Graves, before you catch a cold, too," the Principal says.
"We may need to suspend class for today," the nurse says to the principal.
Ethan leaves the nurse's office.
"Well, I should really head to class now and wait for them to suspend," he says to himself.
He makes his way to their classroom.
In the hallway, a student helps a teacher carry quiz papers.
"Thanks again for your help, sweetie. Umm... What's your name again?" the literature teacher asks.
"Stella Hopes! I'm happy to help, Miss Daisy," Stella replies with a sweet smile.
"Just leave it on the desk. I'll be coming to class in a minute. I just need to get a few more things," Miss Daisy says.
"You got it, Miss!" Stella heads to class with the quiz papers.
She walks through the halls and arrives at the classroom at the very end.
"Class 1-D!" Stella enters the room and is greeted with a rowdy and noisy class. She smiles.
Class 1-D. We've been together as a class for a few months now. We've all gotten along well ever since the first day of class.
"Everyone, quiet down!" the Class President yells.
"Make us!" the others laugh.
Each and everyone here is unique and interesting in their own way. Everyone has their own group of friends to share interests with.
There are the smart kids.
The Class President, Michael, and other classmates are talking about the upcoming quiz. They really study hard!
The athletic kids.
The team is still hooked on James' amazing home run. Good game!
The cool guys.
Brock, Jay, and Alan are talking about riding motorcycles after class. That sounds cool!
The popular girls.
Jane is putting makeup on the other girls. She's making them look super pretty.
The artists and gamers.
Thomas, Hailey and the others are playing a card game. So fun!
And the ones who like their own personal space.
Mary is reading a book. I should ask if I could borrow one!
But, despite our differences, there's no doubt we're great at working together as a class! We look out for each other, like a family... This is MY class... And we're gonna have some awesome years before graduation!
Stella walks to her seat. Her two best friends, Amy and Rose immediately approach her.
"Stella! You're back from your family trip!" Amy runs to hug her.
Stella blushes and giggles from the intimacy.
"How was South Korea, was it fun?" asks Rose.
"It was really fun. I got to see my grandparents and hometown again," Stella replies with a smile.
"Stella! Did you study for the quiz?" Amy asks worriedly.
"Yup. Did you?" asks Stella.
"I forgot..." Amy plants her face on the desk, defeated.
"Well, that's your own fault!" says Rose.
"Hey! No need to add salt to the wound!" Amy cries.
Stella laughs softly.
"I have notes. You can borrow them, Amy," Stella hands her neat and tidy notebook.
Amy rejoices. "Yay! Thank you, Stella! You're a lifesaver!"
"We're really lucky to have a kind friend like you, Stella," Rose says while leaning on her desk.
"Uh huh!" says Amy.
"You're so nice, and smart, too. You're Ranked 2nd in class, after all," says Rose.
"Umm... I just study a lot," Stella replies.
"Uh huh! You're also super cute and stylish! says Amy.
"Umm... I think Sasha also has great style... and Mary is WAY cuter!" Stella is avoiding compliments.
"Come on. Throw yourself a bone! I don't even know why you're friends with US... I'd imagine you hanging out with Jane and the popular girls," says Amy.
"Hey! You girls are super cool! You're always there for me and make me laugh. I look forward to coming to school everyday. I should be the one who's grateful," Stella says, shyly. Her face is red.
Amy and Rose feel the warmth of her words. They all blush, feeling flustered. The air is truly awkward, but nice.
"W-Well, we should study now!" says Amy enthusiastically.
Stella and Rose agree. The three girls study more together.
Ethan finally enters the classroom. He walks to his chair by the window. He is approached by his friends, the tall and masculine, Jack, and the cheeky ginger, Trevor.
"Dude, what happened to your face!" Trevor points out.
"I didn't know you had it in you to go into fights, Ethan! How does the other guy look?" asks Jack, interested.
"I didn't fight anyone... umm... I fell off my bike..." Ethan says, embarrassed.
Trevor and Jack look at each other. They laugh.
"Oh, man! That's hilarious! I wish we had seen it!" says Trevor.
"Classic Ethan, you clumsy kid!" Jack shakes his head.
"Dude, too bad you didn't make it on time for baseball. You didn't get to see us beat this big oaf! His pitches may be powerful, but it takes more than that to stop me," Trevor teases Jack.
"What are you so proud of? James did all the work for your team. Plus, you ran like a girl." Jack says with his arms crossed.
Trevor climbs and stands on Ethan's desk. "Sorry, losers have to speak up... I can't hear you from up here..." Trevor attempts to piss off Jack.
Jack gets ticked off and kicks the desk, causing Trevor to fall. He smirks at him.
"Oh, you wanna go, you ogre?!"
"I'd like to see you try, shrimp!"
They begin to wrestle each other.
Ethan laughs.
"You guys always make me laugh," he says.
Jack and Trevor stop wrestling. They laugh it off.
Their homeroom teacher, Mr. Brown enters the class. He witnesses his class' rowdiness like it's a regular morning routine.
"Alright, That's enough! Back to your seats!" says Mr. Brown.
Everyone returns to their seats.
Mr. Brown puts a pile of papers on his desk and rubs his forehead.
"The Principal is thinking of suspending classes for today due to a fever spreading among the students and staff."
"Oh, no! Is it serious?" one student asks.
"Who cares? It's a day off!" They laugh.
"So while we're waiting for the official announcement, I'm gonna hand out your homework." Mr. Brown slaps the huge pile of papers.
"Aww..."
"Boo!"
The students futilely revolt while Mr. Brown mercilessly hands out the science homework.
"Psst... Let's play baseball later," Trevor whispers to Jack and Ethan.
"Get ready to lose..." Jack says confidently.
Trevor and Jack tease each other again.
Ethan laughs and looks around the class.
High school is actually fun... Maybe it's not gonna be so bad after all...
...
...
...
*BOOOOOM!*
*CRAAAASH!*
*Splash!*
*Thud!*
...
...
...
...
...
A school bus crashes into the classroom.
The bus runs over and crushes several students.
The passengers inside are splatter on the bus' floor.
The driver is ejected through the windshield.
Guts, body parts, blood, and debris scatter all over the classroom.
It's a bloody nightmare...
...
...
...
What the…