Subject Me To Love [Book Two]

Chapter Forty-Eight

*Not edited* Not proofread*

TW. Sensitive topic ahead.

Chapter 48– Just be safe:

The alarm is annoying, and admittedly, irritates my ears so much so that I feel the need to cover them with my hands.

But it's different to the sound of the fire alarm. It's louder, deeper, lasts longer.

I look around the room to see everybody in a panic. Everybody but Zeke who left to go to the bathroom.

The teacher pushes the filing cabinet against the door before pushing his desk up against it, as well. The people inside the class move to the far corner of the room and huddle up behind the tables and chairs.

But I don't move. Despite all the chaos, the loud sounds and the overwhelming sense of fear in the air, I don't move.

"What's going on?" I ask the teacher who rushes over to me with anger. He seems worried; his eyes widen and his hands are shaking as he grabs both my arms to try and push me back with the other students. I hold my place.

"That alarm is a warning. We need to stay in here and wait for it to be over," he begins to try and once again tug me backwards but I move myself out of his loose grip. "Kody now isn't the time!" He whispers in harsh, scolding tone.

"What's going on?"

"I just told you--."

I shake my head. "What. Is going. On." I wonder if he understands my question better now that I've broken it down.

He looks hesitant as his mouth opens and closes. His eyes dart behind me to the huddled mound of scared teenagers then back to me. He sighs, leaning closer to whisper. "I think there's a threat in the building."

My eyebrows furrow. "A threat?" My brain lags with all the noise, all our teacher does is nod. I forget his name. "Like what? Some sort of crazed shooter?" It comes out sarcastically because how absurd. How absurd that a school full of innocent children is targeted so brutally. It doesn't make sense. But then he nods, and it's slow and solemn, and his shoulders sag like he's just been defeated. "Out there?" I don't need him to confirm, so I don't know why I ask.

"We need to stay here until it's safe to leave. So please, Kody, go over to the corner and keep quiet.

Keep quiet?

"But Zeke is out there!" I seethe at his touch and rip my arm away for the third time. The teacher sighs out a frustrated breath but I shake my head at him. "You can stay in here but you're in for a surprise if you think I will."

"Don't be stupid, Kody! There's someone out there with a deadly weapon! You are not to leave this classroom!" He raises his voice, but not too much, just in case whoever is roaming the halls with a gun hears him. The confirmation of the situation scares the other students even more so and they begin to freak out a little. "Now is not the time to play hero, Miss Lawrence. Now is the time to listen for once and stay here and stay quiet."

My teeth grind together. I'm not trying to be a hero. I'm trying to be a friend. Zeke's friend.

"Kody— Kody? Kody, what are you doing? Get the hell away from that door!" Our teacher exclaims as I head towards the door and begin pulling the desk away. Just as he reaches me there's a gunshot, and whispered cries come from the corner of the room we're in.

The noise of the gun rings in the air and my heart skips a beat.

It sounds close but not too close. Maybe a couple of halls away, but I don't know where the fuck Zeke is. There are no toilets close to this classroom, so there's no specific one he would've gone to