UNEXPECTED

Brian breaks his silence

Valentina's p.o.v

All I feel is panic. My heart beat is getting a little faster and I'm getting more scared by the moment. Brian pulls my arm and walks quickly towards my room.

I nearly trip over my own feet as he pulls me to my room door.

He pushes the other girl first inside, and then me, shutting the door and locking in.

I land on my bed, while the other girl falls down on the floor.

Too shock to speak, I watch as Brian helps the girl up.

Brian turns around and looks at me. I had mixed feelings about him. He was rude and very distant these last weeks, and now he was in my home, in my bedroom.......with a girl I don't know.

I wanted to be upset with him. I hated how he gave me the cold shoulder when I was just trying to check up on Taylor.

But...I couldn't, he looked terrible. His hair was out of place, he had bags under his eyes, and his clothes didn't even match.

Brian was always a decent dresser. He looked like he had a rough week.

"I'm pretty sure you heard about the shooter?" He says. My eyes open wide, Taylor's mom.

I almost forgot.

He saw my reaction and continued. "The whole school is on lockdown. I didn't see you at school so I assumed you would be here. I kinda of figured, you would let us hide out here for a little bit."

He stood by my door, with his hands in his pocket, waiting for my response.

Does he know that's Taylor's mom?

I turned towards the girl sitting on the floor, playing with her fingers. She's been very quiet.

Brian must have sensed what I was feeling because he cleared his throat and spoke again.

"That's Tina," He said dryly.

Tina looked up and gave a small wave, but didn't smile.

I turned my attention to Brian, who was watching me with a blank stare on his face.

There was so many questions and other things running through my mind.

"Any idea who the shooter is?" I ask Brian.

I was no longer scared, just nervous. I'v never been in the situation before.

Brian shakes his head. "No."

I wait for him to say more but he doesn't.

I sigh in annoyance and decide to ask more questions.

"How come you guys aren't in the lockdown?"

Tina tilted her head down, and kept silent. She started fidgeting with her pants.

"I sneaked off campus to have a cigarette when the alarms went off. I didn't even make it to the door. So instead of going in, I thought I could hide with you." Brian says.

His face holds no emotion, and he just turns to look at Tina.

It's obvious that he doesn't wanna talk. But I really needed some answers. Also....since when does he smoke?

"How long are you guys gonna stay?" I ask.

Feeling a little insensitive, I quickly say, "Sorry, that was a little rude."

Brian doesn't look at me, and Tina still hasn't said one word.

Brian sits on the ground and takes out his phone.

I do the same. It's obvious they don't wanna talk.

As soon as I do, my phone rings.

It's my dad. I answer, worried that he's gonna tell me something bad.

"Hey dad, Why ---,"

"Where are you?" He interrupts. His tone of voice is a little scary. He doesn't sound happy at all. There was a lot of noise in the background.

"I'm at the house, remember?" I respond. I try to ask him about what has been going on, but he beat me to it.

"Make sure everything is locked down, there was a shooter near your school. Someone is shot, and someone is also missing." He says to me really fast. "I'll be home soon. Just stay safe, understand?"

"Yes dad, you stay safe as well," I tell him, biting my lip. He hangs up the phone, leaving me a little out of breath and my hands a bit shaky.

A few minutes go by, and I'm laying down on my bed. Tina is really quiet still, and Brian is on his phone still. The texts from school is very quiet.

I go on my phone to see if there is an update on what was going on. School would be almost over at this point.

I grabbed some headphones, plugged it in, and clicked on the latest news update about the shooting.

I click on a video that I already seen. They flash a picture of Taylor's mom on the screen, and then they showed a few family pictures again.

I glance up from my phone, looking at Brian and glancing back at my phone.

I rewatch the video again. Something wasn't right.

A new video pops up titled School lockdown; missing person. That must be what my dad was talking about.

I click on it and watch. The video plays with the news reporter stating that one mom is dead, and the school is still on lockdown. No one has been arrested, but the police are still looking. I turn my volume higher, as they start to talk about the missing person.

Apparently, it's a girl that was with her mom at the time. She must have ran away when the shooting took place.

The video is coming to an end and they show a picture and a number.

Before I'm able to finish the video, I hear someone ask "May I use your restroom?"

I look up to see Tina looking at me, nervously.

I quickly glance at my phone. Then I look up back at her. "F-first door to your left," I tell her.

She mumbles a quick thanks and hurries away.

I sit up on my bed, refusing to look at my phone. I look at Brian, getting ready to ask him some more questions.

I stop when I see him looking at his phone still. His phone was tilted, so I could see what he was watching too.

I watched his face become horrified as he looked at the latest update video about the shooting.

From the look of his face, I'm guessing he didn't know Taylor's mother got shot, and Tina was the missing person they were talking about.

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