Welcome To The Circus (COMPLETE)

Bloody oath

I don't stop to watch the kitchen ignite behind me, I just grab Evan's hand and run as the fire alarm rings around us. I overhear screaming from inside the hall as the sprinklers turn on. We make it to the main building just in time to watch the SWAT team storm it.
"Is it over?" Evan hesitates to ask.
"Yeah, I think... I think it's over." I blink, feeling strangely freed. I turn to him, where he is looking at me, grinning ear to ear.
"You did it." He says in awe, before hugging me so tight he practically lifts me up.
"We." I cough, unable to breathe. "We did it."

He puts me down, a little sheepish. "Thank you, for getting my sister out, I know she really screwed everything up."
I shrug. "No worries." Even though I was worried. She set in motion the series of events that led to Lydia being killed. Oh god, Lydia, dead.
"Looks like the circus is finally over." Evan turns to me, grinning.
"And what a show it was." I muse, returning his smile.
"I think I can safety say, that you, Maggie, are absolutely a lion." I just pat his back, looking out to the quad, too deep in thought to respond. "Well." Evan scratches his head. "What now?"

I look around at the fire department pouring onto the grounds.

"I guess we try to go back to normal." I sigh, knowing we can never go back to that life ever again.
He nods, and I can tell he knows, that nothing can ever be the same again. We look on at the emergency services swarming the school in silence, scattering like wild deer, too tired to face reality just yet.

...................................................

I run up to Laci, who is sitting in the closed off police area, the other kids are being treated for dehydration in the hall. "Are you alright, love?" I ask, subconsciously using Dylan's term.

She looks up at me tearily. "What happens now? It's over, but how do we just get on with our lives?"

I was unprepared for that response, so I just sit opposite her. "I'm not gonna lie to you, I just don't know." I hesitate to ask, but I gotta know. "Is Dylan.."
She gives a short laugh, more like a scoff. "He's stable, they say, but they already took him to the hospital."

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding in. "We'll be okay, it's over, we won." Is all I get out before we're ambushed by a wide eyed Levi, who's probably in shock.
"There was a shootout, like you said, but all the kids were fine, I think they got some of the gunmen-" Levi's rambling sentence is cut short by Laci aggressively grabbing him by the collar, and kissing him. I don't think he minds being interrupted though, I doubt he remembers what he was saying anyway. But nonetheless, he seems shocked, and I wonder if I'm witnessing their first kiss, must be, because Levi gets over his shock, and pulls her into him. It occurs to me that this is too personal for me to be staring at, so I turn, making my way over to Tiger, who's sitting in the back of an ambulance, getting a gash on her arm cleaned.
"Margaret! Margaret Parker!" The voices come at me from every angle, flashes from cameras distorting my vision. "Margaret! Are the rumors about you and Evan Kelly true?" One asks, clearly having their priorities straight, they may be from TMZ. "How did you know that starting a fire would help?" "Tell us what happened in there!" I freeze in place, being mobbed by a reporter from every news station in the country, and then some. Luckily, Tiger notices, and runs over, standing in front of me protectively.

"Hey, back off!" She shouts at them, but they are persistent, and push past police to catch up with us.
"Margaret! ABC News, how does it feel to know you've saved so many lives of your schoolmates today?" One woman on cat-eye glasses aims a microphone at me, and for a second I flinch, mistaking it for a gun.

"Margaret is a valued member of our community and I can assure you, will be recognized with the highest honour for her bravery today." I look to my right, and beside me, stands Ms. Roux, smiling assuredly at the woman. My blood boils, where the hell was she during all this?
"Actually-" I butt in, all the cameras turn back to me. "I don't even go here anymore." Tiger frowns at me, I never had the chance to tell her. The reporters burst into confused chatter, before shooting more questions. "I was expelled." I point out. The crowd roars, spitting accusations at Ms. Roux, who looks mortified.

"What are you talking about?" She titters nervously. "You must be in shock dear, you're a hero, and a credit to out school!"

I scowl at her. "You said you hated people like me, the unsophisticated, lower class-" I yelp as she twists my arm around, smiling falsely for the media, she leads me away, I just roll my eyes.

"What do you want." She growls once we're out of sight.

Tiger appears beside me. "What's this about her being expelled?"

She looks pointedly at Ms. Roux, who withers. "Nothing. We were just discussing her award ceremony we will be holding here."

"No, I'm expelled." I glare, disgusted with her behavior.

"Of course you aren't-"

"Bloody oath." I groan. "This is pathetic, have some dignity!"

"Please come back, we'll give you whatever you ask, think about what they'll say if you leave, there go our donations!" She pleads, actually pleads.

I look over to Tiger, and Evan, who's hugging Ingrid, my Dad, disheveled and wild eyed, pushing past Police to get to Levi, making a lump form in my throat, and although everything in me wants to tell Ms. Roux to go fuck herself, but I know that it'll be a lot easier on everyone involved if I stay, so I look back at her, hands clasped together, and sigh.
"Fine, I'll stay."