Have You Ever Seen The Rain? (Tate Langdon Fanfiction)

Trouble everywhere - chapter 2

No time at all, I followed you into the hall
Cigarette daydream
You were only seventeen
Soft speak with a mean streak
Nearly brought me to my knees

***

I walk from my car to the school entrance, with a pack of cigarettes in my hand and a lighter, while my backpack hangs loosely on my shoulder. I check the time and see that I'm earlier than usual. No one is here yet, except for probably a few teachers, like Ms. O'Connell, my Math teacher. I think she wakes up at four in the morning and is the first to arrive at work. It wouldn't surprise me if she had the keys to the school.

I light a cigarette and start smoking. It is a bit risky, since this isn't the first time I've smoking on school grounds, and if someone catches me, I'll get detention for sure. Last time, Mr. Jones, the English teacher, saw me and Zoey during lunch break and he made the biggest deal out of it. We didn't get detention, but we did get extra work in his class, which is honestly worse.

The rain isn't stopping any soon, everyone on the news says so. I'm having a really bad headache and the weather outside isn't making it any better. I've talked to some neighbours about this storm, some old grandmas and grandpas that spend their time only on their front porch complaining about politics and, as of late, weather. They are freaking out, saying it's going to destroy our whole town. Or they are saying that their nephews aren't going to be able to visit them this weekend, which is probably a bigger tragedy. They usually talk for 30 minutes without stopping if they catch you leaving your house. I think their nephews are glad they now have an excuse not to come.

I'm also thinking about Tate, and it's unusual for me to think about someone (I do think about my mom or Zoey or Diana sometimes, I'm not heartless). He is strange, but I kind of resonate with him. I'm trying to read into what happened yesterday. He answered my questions and talked to me with no emotion. That creeped the hell out of me. I couldn't figure out anything about him. While he was speaking, he didn't seem sad, or angry, or unsure. He was neutral, numb. Maybe I'm just overthinking it, like i always do. But this boy is very new to me, so i have every right to be curious about him.

When students start to appear and go to class, I realize how much time has passed and I decide to do the same.

I don't feel like meeting up with Zoey or Diana yet, so I go to the restroom before heading to my English class.

There wasn't anyone inside the bathroom, and I don't blame anyone if they don't want to use the toilets in our school. Everything in this building is ancient, especially the sewerage. The walls are dirty and full of graffiti that no one bothers to erase anymore, there's never toilet paper, soap or hot water, and the box that's supposed to be full of pads has been empty for more time than I've been at this school. Still, I go inside one of the stalls and after I finish my business, I start washing my hands. The light in the bathroom is almost dead, so I barely get a good look at myself in the mirror.

Suddenly, I hear a lot of noise outside, even though the classes have already started. I open the door more (that's broken and doesn't close) and see that kids are running in the hallway, screaming for everybody to follow them. I look at them confused.

"Chloe! Come on! Something's happening!" Zoey sees me staring from the bathroom and runs towards me, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the commotion.

"Where the hell are we going?" I say while yelling at her so that she can hear me.

She doesn't answer and keeps going, without even glancing at me once. We see Diana waiting for us at the end of the hallway.

We go down the stairs and I realize that we are going towards the football stadium. A lot of students are outside with umbrellas, others are standing in the rain. They are standing in a small circle, and I can see two people inside of it.