CHAPTER FORTY FIVE
right where you left me
trigger warning : school violence. if this is a sensitive subject, please read with caution.
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Natalie stared at the test in front of her as she took a deep breath. So it was official that they would become parents at eighteen. While their friends were crashing million dollar cars and selling guns on the other side of town. Natalie was trying to keep her distance but it was much harder for Justin.
"Hey." Natalie smiled to Clay as she saw him in the hallway. "Congrats on the interview."
"What? What are you talking about?" Clay asks and Natalie raises an eyebrow.
"Brown." Natalie nodded. "The alumni reps are coming next week, I saw both of our names were on the schedule."
"That's gotta be a mistake." Clay shook his head.
"Not unless there's another Clay Jensen around here that I don't know about which is like...one is enough." Natalie nods as Clay stares into space. "I mean you did apply there right?"
"I mean I guess." Clay shrugged before getting super nervous. Natalie raises an eyebrow and turns around to go meet Justin before he went to gym class.
"So we tell the Jensen's and your mom tonight?" Justin asks against her locker, keeping his voice down for the sake of both of them.
"I guess we don't have a choice." Natalie shrugged as the bell rang. "Okay I have to go read a bunch of college essays before the last set of applications go out. I'll be in the English room if you can sneak away." She winked as she kissed him quickly.
On terms of Natalie graduating on time despite her absences, she agreed to be a tutor for college applications because she was a lot smarter than she put on. So during her free period, she would go to the English classroom and just listen to music by herself and read the papers to decide whether they were good enough to be admitted.
Natalie was getting distracted on her phone as she heard the intercom go off. "Students and staff. We are currently moving into a lockdown situation. Code Red. This is a hard lockdown. Please initiate lockdown procedures immediately. Students, please do not panic and listen closely to the announcement. Seek immediate shelter in the nearest classroom. I repeat, this is a Code Red lockdown."
Usually the staff told Natalie ahead of time of a drill so she trusted her virgo intuition that this was the real deal and she was freaking out. She looked around quickly before turning off the lights and locking the doors and pushing a few of her desks with all her might in front of the door . She grabbed a pair of scissors and held them in her hand quickly as she found a spot behind a desk and pulled out her phone quickly.
Justin was freaked out at the sound of a Code Red as he had no idea what kind of trouble Natalie could be in right now. He paced back and forth as he listened to Diego talk shit. "Why so concerned Foley? Your boy Clay bring something bigger than a knife this time? I mean I do have a right to know. I'm #1 on his list."
"That's not funny." Justin rolled his eyes.
"No shit, it's not." Diego scoffed.
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Natalie called her mom quickly and quietly but leaving her mother alone in this world when everyone she loved had died was the scariest thought. It went to voicemail but it didn't surprise her much.
"Hi Mom. I know you're at the studio but I just thought I would call. There doing one of those drills again and I just, I don't know if it's a drill." Tears dropped from Natalie's eyes. "You always told me to call in this case. I just wanted to tell you I love you, so much. I wouldn't have made it through this year or a lot of years without you. And if this isn't a drill, it's best of time to tell you now that I think I'm pregnant. And that shit makes this shit a lot more scary." Natalie says as the phone beeps at her that her voicemail is over. Natalie drops her head on the table behind her.
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"Hey." Justin whispered to Coach Kerba. "Don't they usually tell you about these things in advance? Drills?" Justin didn't need an answer, the sigh was enough.
"Look, we're all gonna be fine. We just need to sit tight till the all clear." Coach shrugged as Justin pulled his phone out.
"Or we nut up and find the herd instead of waiting around like sitting ducks!" Diego says as he swings his baseball bat around.
"What the fuck are you gonna do, Diego? Swing at the bullets? Don't be stupid." Justin rolled his eyes.
"At least I'm not a coward." Diego scoffed.
"But you do admit to being stupid?" Justin chuckled but was quickly interrupted by Coach.
"That's enough, both of you. Set an example." He lectured.
"I take offense to being called stupid by a recovered addict who gets shit faced at parties and is in love with a girl who is not his girlfriend. But mine." Diego rolled his eyes as Justin quickly stood up, ready to take him to the ground.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Justin gets closer to his face.
"You wanna go?" Diego spits out.
"Listen, Justin. Let's go check the doors in the office." Coach pulls him to the other room.
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"Where are you? Are you okay?" Justin messages Natalie who had a sigh of relief from hearing from him.
"English room by myself. Freaked out but fine. You?" Natalie texts back but doesn't get a response for a while.
Natalie hears three gunshots pop off and begins to feel her breathing become out of control. She was completely alone with no one to spend these last moments with.
"Are you okay?" Natalie texts Jessica.
"I don't know what's happening. Where are you?" Jessica responds.
"In English room. We're gonna get through this." Natalie texts, reassuring others would help her reassure herself.
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"I have to be out there. I have to get Nat and stay with her or bring her back here or something." Justin paced around the office.
"You can't. You two are much safer apart than together." Coach Kerba reminded him.
"Coach, she's pregnant." Justin whispered, knowing in any other case she would kill him for telling anybody. "And she's all alone." He tried to avoid himself from feeling strong emotions.
Coach Kerba struggled to remain calm and take such strong news but he did. "We have to stay here, Justin. Natalie's gonna be okay, if there's one thing she's good at, it's surviving."
They want back out to the showers and Coach Kerba becomes angry to see everyone has moved from their original places. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Get back in there."
"Those were gunshots. We can't sit here and let people be killed." Diego shook his head quickly.
"Look, that hero talk ain't worth your lives." Coach Kerba shook his head.
"I'm done hiding and I don't run." Diego said aggressively.
"No. You fight as a last resort only. Now go sit the fuck down." Coach Kerba rolled his eyes. But Diego didn't back down.
"Come on, Diego. People are scared." Justin shook his head.
"Well, I ain't scared. I'm ready to fight." Diego scoffed. "And I don't know why you aren't, Foley. You don't want to stand and fight? Do you even know where your girlfriend is? You're really just okay to let her die?"
"Fuck you, you piece of shit! You are gonna stop talking about Natalie." Justin yelled as he swung on Diego but was quickly blocked.
Coach Kerba kicked everybody to the showers. "Back in there now!"
"Coach, please. I don't want to die like this!" Diego yelled. "If this is gonna be last day of my life, I want to be doing the right thing."
"It's not gonna be the last day of anyone's lives. No one is going anywhere, alright?" Coach Kerba yelled as the sirens began to go off. "Head count."
Silence spread around everyone as they realized what happened. "Coach, Foley." Diego said as Justin was nowhere in sight.
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Natalie was completely balling at the alarms blaring and the gunshots, she was texting every last person she knew to make sure if she did die, she was dying with no regrets and all her wrongs were made right.
She heard the glass of the window break and she tried to remain as quiet as possible to not get caught. She heard a figure completely pop out of the broken window and she quickly hears a voice. "Nat? Natalie? Baby, it's me."
Natalie jumps up quickly at the sound of his voice. "Justin, you scared the shit out of me." She shook her head as he picks her up into his arms quickly. "What are you doing here?"
"I had to make sure you were okay." He said, noticing how red her face was. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine now." Natalie hugs him again. "I'm just never letting go of you." She says dragging him down to the ground. "I've seen people running outside the door but there's nothing I can do. Have you been able to get a hold of Clay? He's the only one I haven't been able to get a hold of. And why would you come here, Justin? Something could've happened to you." Natalie rambled quickly.
"Natalie, what if this is the last day of my life? Do I seriously wanna be stuck in the locker room with fucking Diego or be here with you?" Justin shakes his head as she kisses him quickly.
"This lockdown is all clear. I repeat, this lockdown is all clear. I will make an announcement shortly to provide students and staff with more details." Principal Bolan announced and both stood up slowly.
Natalie placed a hand on her stomach. "Justin, things have got to stop being so fucked up soon." She looked down as both of their phones buzzed.
"Natalie, don't freak out." Justin took a deep breath.
"You know I hate when you say that." She says as she reads the message from Tony. "This was just a drill?" Natalie scoffed. "How could they do this to us?" Natalie asks as they pick her stuff up to leave the classroom. "I wanna get the hell out of this stupid school."
They walked out of the classroom to see a crowd forming in front of the office, Zach wrapped his arm around Natalie quick before she caught up with Justin to watch Clay's freak out. "You're killing us! You're killing us! Don't you get that? You made a drill with gunshots and hammered down doors for what exactly? To make us feel what it feels to be hunted? To practice getting ready to die? To make us feel afraid for our lives? We already know how that feels. You're scaring us to death. Everyday, everyday." Clay yells as he gets in the face of a security. "How stupid can you be to teach us how to cheat death? Everybody dies. So just let us live!"
"We are trying to keep you alive, that's what every minute of this drill has been about." Principal Bolan shakes his head.
"No. It was about you checking a fucking box, a regulation, a law, whatever the fuck it is because you know what? We're not safe!" Clay yelled and Natalie agreed but he has taken it too far. When a guard tried to step in between the two, Clay swung as he swiped the gun from the guards pocket.
"Clay stop!" Natalie and Justin both yelled as well as many in the crowd.
"Am I safer now? That I got your gun? Am I safer?" Clay screamed. "Should I give this to a student so they can save their fucking friends?" Clay looked at Natalie.
"Nat, what happened to us? Why is this our lives?" She was the good cop in the trio of her, Justin and Clay and she had constantly been his sympathizer. But she just couldn't do it.
A guard attacked Clay while he was weak, restraining him down as they took the gun. Natalie watched the crow bar hit his write and she screamed, turning around. She didn't know how to be a good friend as she whole school watched him melt down. She took a deep breath, how could she ever move on if life wouldn't let her?
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A/N : Sorry I took a break for a few days and didn't follow my usual updating schedule. My goal is to finish this book by the end of the month and by the way things are looking, it seems like that could work!! I've had so much support on this book and just know that I see it and I appreciate it so much. Again, my one shot book for Justin and Natalie is up if you want to check that out and you can request scenes for me to write over there! Don't forget to leave feedback on your opinions, vote and comment if you enjoyed!! Thank you guys! 🤍
word count - 2224