Handcuffs, Kisses and Awkward Situations (PUBLISHED, SAMPLE)

Chapter [20]

Because this book is now published, content stops after this chapter. Please proceed with this information in mind.  

T w e n t y

            Drills were always cooperative, mainly because most of our fire drills happened straight after fourth period and right before lunch. Students were usually calm and collected and we were merely gathered together for longer than twenty minutes. I guess going to lunch was a motivation. But now that the real thing was happening, havoc struck.

            We were always told that in this situation, we were to always leave our belongings behind and to just continue down to the designated location in an orderly fashion. However, people were repacking lunches, shoving books into bags and running towards the football field like there was no tomorrow. Kids shoved their way past to race to safety and stressed teachers struggled to keep them in order.

            Caine, Ryder, Mel and I seemed to be the only calm students there.

             Mel made a little excited squeak. "This is the most exciting news ever!"

             Trust Mel to get excited over the juicy gossip of a fire rather than the fright of getting, I don't know...killed. It reminded me how much I love her. Shooting her a grin, I calmly packed up my things and let Ryder guide us through the sea of students towards our specialised area.

             "Ugh, I heard some spaz farted in front of his mate's lighter. I didn't even know that was possible," a junior girl said, tossing her long blonde hair over her shoulder as she fluttered past.

             Mel's ears perked and she instantly followed. "Hey! What's this I hear about a spaz?"

             When she disappeared, it left Ryder, Caine and I. There wasn't as much tension as there was at lunch, but you could tell they were still uncomfortable around each other and just the suggestion of conflict could influence them into a brawl. Ryder tried to ignore his friend and searched the school.

             He inhaled deeply. "I can smell the smoke but I can't see the fire," Ryder examined, looking confused.

             Caine let in a breath too and frowned. "I can smell it too."

             Feeling kind of left out, I was the last to have an intake of air. "I smell...popcorn."

             Ryder looked down at me but didn't say anything. In fact, he didn't say anything at all after that. Neither did Caine. Half way through all the chaos, he disappeared into the sea of students and gathered around with the other guys from our year group. Eventually, all the standing around was making me tired and I muttered to Ryder that I wanted to sit. Even then, he hardly made a sound. He just kept his focus alert as he dropped down to the grass with me and soon enough, we were surrounded with gossiping students trying to come up with solutions to solve the mysterious fire.

             I don't know how long we stayed outside for, but it seemed like forever. All students and staff were to wait until the fire brigade came. Once they triple checked the premises for any more signs of danger and confirmed that the flames were put out, we were given permission to leave early. It was already two thirty by then and school would have been out in half an hour, so it wasn't much of an excitement, particularly when my phone buzzed while we were in the car on the way home.