It Goes There // Josh Dun + Twenty One Pilots

twenty-eight // kids are victims in this story

I sighed, rolling onto my side, wishing for sleep to come. My lava lamp lit up my room and a smile found its way onto my face as I saw Hugo and Chicago wrapped around each other, asleep, on the air mattress.

Family's always there for you, right?

--Chicago's P.O.V--

"Hey, Aiden, I think I left my history book in your car," I remarked, digging through my bag the next morning.

"Do you want me to go get it for you?" He asked, getting up from the table. "The bell hasn't rang yet, so they'll let me leave."

I nodded my thanks and Aiden jogged out of the cafeteria. "It surprises me how much he does for you," Lilac remarked. "He's quite lazy around everyone else."

I smiled, softly, looking down at my lap. "How's your family doing, Chicago?" Kailyn asked. "Did all your siblings come to school today?"

"Yeah," I scoffed. "None of us want to be anywhere near our house right now. The police are searching it from top to bottom and we don't want to go through a lot of questioning."

"Well, they shouldn't question you," Lilac spoke. "Your dad committed suicide. Why would you need to be involved? You hardly even talked to your dad."

I rested my head against the table. "Believe me, I know."

Lilac and Kailyn stayed silent and I lifted my head to scan over all the kids in the familiar cafeteria. I was never one that usually stopped in the cafeteria for breakfast, but since Aiden's mom had to be at work early, we didn't have time to grab something to eat. Normally, I didn't eat anyway.

The chatter of all the other students became background noise as I found myself lost in my thoughts. The bell was due to ring in five minutes and I honesty didn't want to go to class. Finals were coming up and the teachers were going to go on and on about how they were worth twenty percent of our grade and that we needed to take them seriously. I always took any type of test seriously, but right now, finals were the least of my problems. My father was dead.

White Chapel was a pretty big school. My graduating class was made up of at least one hundred and fifty people and overall, the entire high school consisted of five hundred students or more. It certainty felt like all the five hundred students were here in the cafeteria today when in reality, there couldn't be more than three hundred people.

The thought of everyone knowing about my dad was terrifying. The thought of everyone knowing that he didn't want to face his punishment, so he took his own life, was humiliating for me and my family. He always worried about our reputation and I found it funny that he ended up being the one that tarnished it.

"So where's Josh?" Lilac asked. "Have you talked to him since the fight yesterday?"

"I talked to him in Mrs. Howell's office after the fight and we talked briefly on the phone when I was at Aiden's, but that was pretty much it. He may be avoiding me like Garrett is."

Kailyn gave me a pitied look. "Garrett hasn't looked good these last few days. I saw him at the mall Saturday and he was looking very crazy. I tried talking to him, but it was kinda like a hi bye situation. It seemed like he had somewhere he wanted to be, but I wasn't sure."

"Who knows what he was up to?" I commented. "It could have been anything."

Lilac opened her mouth to jump into the conversation once again, but she was cut off by a loud crack that erupted throughout the entire cafeteria.