A/N: Thank you so much to xOrangeBananax for the amazing banner!
--
We didn’t even make it out of the hall before the door flew open and someone came rushing in.
We immediately jumped back, assuming that Melt Face was storming in after getting a whiff that we were on our own, but to my astonishment it was Gavin. His breathing was erratic, and even though I knew he had just run from across the hall, he leaned over and placed a hand on his knee whilst he caught his breath.
“Jesus man, you need to work on your cardio.” Archie commented as he looked at his friend struggling to breathe.
“Harry…” Gavin choked, pointing one of his arms behind him “Harry’s here.”
My eyes almost popped straight out of my skull as I heard his words. Archie and I exchanged a look, and without saying a word both of us set off running back to the English room.
“Hold up!” Gavin shouted as he realised we we’re off. He closed his eyes and groaned before running after us “Could have given me five minutes to recuperate!”
“Shut up Gavin, what do you mean Harry’s here?” Archie asked, opening the door to the hall and running out.
“Exactly what it sounds like, it doesn’t have a secret cryptic meaning!” Gavin snapped back sarcastically, and we reached the door in seconds.
Seriously he was out of breath from this?
The guy needs a gym membership.
Archie banged his fists on the door, waiting for one of the guys to unlock it. I was bouncing from foot to foot on the spot anxiously as to what the hell was going on. How could Harry be here? He was in Ibiza last I heard. Gavin buckled over, holding his stomach as he groaned in pain.
“Seriously, I think I might have asthma.” Gavin gasped, scrunching his eyes as sweat actually trickled from his forehead.
Frankie’s face appeared though the square glass panel in the door.
“Harry’s here!” She exclaimed through the door, the excitement in her eyes apparent.
Archie gritted his teeth “I’ve heard, now would you so kindly open the door?”
Her eyes popped open a little as she realised “Oh yeah sorry…”
I briefly recalled Archie rolling his eyes as one half of team dumb and dumber proved exactly why they were so appropriately named that.
As I spotted a figure in the corner of my eye, I stopped bouncing on the spot.
Kevin. He was standing at the end of the hall by where the stairs were. Only half of his body was showing as he hid behind the wall. He was just looking at us, and even though I was far away from him I didn’t miss the expression on his face. He looked sad, and if my mind wasn’t playing tricks on me I swear he actually had tears in his eyes.
I went to open my mouth, to tell him to come back. Tell him that being on his own out here wasn’t safe. Before any sound came out of my mouth, he slowly shook his head. I don’t know why it made me stop. I knew that he shook his head so I wouldn’t shout out to him. Archie and Gavin hadn't seen him yet, and he knew if I had shouted to him they would be aware of his presence.
I couldn’t be sure, but he mouthed something to me. I wasn’t certain, but I could have sworn it was an apology.
My attention snapped back to the situation at hand when the door to the English room finally opened, and Archie and Gavin piled into the room. I went to follow, turning my head to look back at Kevin but when I did, he was gone.
I had no idea what to think. Why was he out here on his own?
Why would he apologise?
The smart side of my brain was telling me the obvious answer, but the part of me that still thought of Kevin as a good, innocent and helpless kid who was too shy to talk to me didn’t want to believe it. I knew it was stupid of me, but I didn’t tell the others about seeing him.
I still wanted to believe that Kevin was just a scared outcast who ran off when Alex’s story got too real.
I followed the others into the room, and Frankie instantly closed and locked the door behind us.
Alex was still on the floor, the Rubiks cube in hand. Jaden however was on his feet and at the window, banging his fists onto it.
“Harry!” Jaden screamed through the glass, and I immediately followed the others to the window to look and see if this was just our minds playing tricks on us or Harry was actually outside.
Since we were at the front of the school, the steps leading to the entrance were visible through this window. I glanced out, being able to see the woods and the road. The car park was also in sight, and to my surprise, there was Harry’s car. Well, I say Harry’s car, it was his brother’s car. Harry was 16 years old, legally he could not own a car. That didn’t mean it didn’t stop him from borrowing the ones he could get his hands on.
My heart actually stopped as I saw a figure walking up the steps leading to the entrance.
He was actually there. The fourth member of Jaden, Archie and Gavin’s wolf pack as they so fondly named it after watching The Hangover one too many times. I almost laughed as I realised that wasn’t a bad comparison. They even had designated roles, which became evident since this whole ordeal started.
Archie was Phil who did the majority of the work. Jaden was Stue, who complained a lot and seemed to have some sort of physical evidence of the trauma he went through. Gavin was clearly Alan, the moron of the group. Harry apparently was Doug, the one who disappeared throughout the entire thing and turned up at the end.
As I thought that, a relief washed through my body as I realised Harry turning up might actually be an indication that this was coming to an end. He was here, which meant we had access to the outside world. We had a way of telling people we were trapped here.
He could actually be the hero in this and get us out.
Harry reached the top of the stairs, a bottle filled with green liquid in his hand. I rolled my eyes as I realised it was absinthe. Clearly he turned up still expecting a party.
He looked good I had to give him that. He was in a pair of black jeans, a grey t-shirt with a black jacket on top. His hair was a little longer than the others, dark brown and naturally curly. Speaking from experience, it was ridiculously soft as well when you ran your hands through it, or gripped onto it whilst your legs were wrapped around him on a table in the Maths room.
He must have a really good hair care regime.
He got to the door and immediately went to the handles to open it. Of course, it didn’t budge. I saw the puzzled expression on his face as he tried a couple of mine times with no luck. I couldn’t blame his confusion; normally that door would be open all weekend so people could come in and out whenever. Some people arrived to the Riot on the Saturday, so it was always unlocked.
He took a few steps back from the door, looking up at the windows and I think trying to listen for the music that would normally be blaring out at this moment.
Jaden banged on the window a few more times “Harry! Harry look over here!”
He didn’t hear him, and I really hoped that the reinforced windows were not soundproof as well. Jaden carried on banging on the window, trying to get his attention.
Without even discussing it, Archie, Frankie, Gavin and myself all simultaneously stepped forward and started slamming our fists against it as hard as we could.
“Harry!” We all screamed. I think if these were the normal windows, with the amount of force we were hitting them with we probably could have done a Terminator and punched our way through the glass.
“Harry! We’re over here!” Frankie screamed.
“Harold, Harold, look at the window!” Gavin screamed over her.
Jaden growled in anger and this time punched the window with so much force I think there might have been some knuckle damage.
“Harry you curly haired fuck, LOOK OVER HERE!” Jaden bellowed.
I could see his brows scrunching as he heard something, his head looked from side to side to see where the noise was coming from. Finally, he looked to his left far enough to spot us.
This didn’t ease up the force we were hitting the window with or the volume of our screams. I don’t know if it was excitement or relief as we finally realised his eyes were on us, but we got louder and more violent.
He turned and walked down the steps, coming towards us until he was standing directly outside of the window.
“Harry! Man you have no idea how happy I am to see that One Direction haircut of yours.” Jaden laughed, his voice so happy and relieved it was infectious. I had a smile on my face as I realised we had access to the outside world.
“What the hell is going on?” Harry shouted so his voice would travel through the glass, and I laughed again as I realised the windows were not sound proof. Finally a bit of luck for Team Survival “Why is there no music, why are you guys still standing and why are the doors locked?”
“It’s a long story that involves dead cheerleaders, a dead principal and a game of hangman no one should ever have to play.” Jaden said, and Harry’s brows shot up.
He smiled; I think thinking that Jaden was having him on “Dead cheerleaders? What? Has this weekend turned into a murder mystery or something?” He shrugged, thinking the idea over “Not a bad idea, switch things up a little.”
“I’m being serious, we’re trapped in here. Some f*cking psycho locked us in here last night and is going around with a knife killing everyone.” Jaden continued to explain when he realised Harry thought he was playing.
Harry scoffed “Yeah sure he is, and where exactly is Jigsaw right now then?”
Jaden punched the window again, not appreciating the sarcasm from his best friend “I am not playing man, I’ve been fucking shot!”
Harry’s smile was off his face, this time when he spoke it was clear he wasn’t so sure this was a joke anymore “Bull.”
Jaden gritted his teeth. He pushed himself back off the window, limping until it was possible for Harry to see his bandaged up leg. The blood was coming through the white ripped up top, and I thought Harry was going to pass out when he saw it.
“Holy crap Jay, are you alright?” Harry asked in shock, not being able to take his eyes off of Jaden’s leg.
Jaden expression went deadpan “I'm grand mate, how’s your weekend been?”
No one missed the sarcasm coming from Jaden, and no one blamed him either.
“What the hell is going on?!” Harry exclaimed, panic rising to his face now he realised we were being deadly serious.
“Everything that Jaden just said. We’re trapped in here and there is some bloke going around killing people. You need to get help Harry.” I decided to take over for Jaden, realising he was very close to snapping at his friend for taking so long to believe him.
Harry looked at me in horror “Are the cheerleaders really dead?”
I rolled my eyes. That would be his main concern wouldn’t it.
“Yes, so are Mr Cook and the Principal.” I confirmed for him.
“The Principal’s dead?” He repeated, before thinking about it for a few second and shrugging “Yeah I’m finding it real hard to feel anything for that one.”
If the reinforced window wasn’t between us, I would have choked him.
“Harry, we will explain everything you just need to go and get help! You need to get us out of here.” Frankie took over from me, realising me and Jaden could no longer speak to this moron.
He nodded, finally realising he needed to do something “Okay, Okay…” He looked around, as if trying to figure out a way of getting us out. After about a minute, he looked back at us “Any suggestions on how to get you out?”
Archie was up, Frankie tag teaming herself out and coming to join me and Jaden in the ‘I’m going to head butt this asshole when I get hold of him’ corner.
“You just need to go and get someone. Call the police.” Archie told him.
“You guys need to get out of there. Throw a chair through the window or something, go Red Hot Chilli Peppers on this bitch.” Harry replied, slapping his hand on the window.
Archie shook his head “It’s no good, it won’t break.”
“Sure it will just put some muscle behind it.” Harry replied, before pointing at Gavin “Not him, he couldn’t throw a paper plane.”
“Hey!” Gavin exclaimed clearly offended. I don’t know why, the kid ran across a hall and almost passed out so Harry did have a point.
“No you don’t get it; the Principal had the windows reinforced. Nothing’s getting through this unless it’s a bulldozer or a car.” Archie explained.
“Reinforced?” Harry repeated in disgust, before shaking his head “See this is exactly why I can’t feel bad he’s dead. The guy was a dildo.”
“RING THE POLICE!” Archie screamed at him, and Harry jumped a little as he was brought back to the seriousness of the situation.
“Right yeah, sorry.” He put the bottle of absinthe down on the ground before reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling his phone out.
“That absinthe?” Jaden asked, limping closer to the window. Harry’s concentration was on his phone as he nodded.
“Yeah, I brought it for you actually. I wanted another night of the Discovery Channel special of Jaden the Whale hunter.” Harry said, and Gavin actually found the energy to laugh as he remembered Jaden’s weakness to absinthe and women with a high BMI.
“What are you even doing here? I thought you were in Ibiza.” Archie asked, and I was quite curious as to why he was here myself now. Not that I was complaining, if he stopped acting like an absolute idiot for five minutes he might actually get us out of here.
“I was, got kicked out.” Harry explained, and my eyes widened.
“You got kicked out of Ibiza?” I repeated in shock, not quite believing my ears.
“Well, technically Spain. There was a little incident with the tiniest bit of marijuana and a girl who turned out to be a prostitute.” He waved his hand dismissively, telling us it was mediocre “No big deal, we we’re just asked to leave and never return.”
My mouth was hanging open. How does someone manage to get kicked out of a country?
“So you weren't arrested?” Even Archie was curious as to what happened, even though we had more pressing things to worry about.
“Naa. Well not for long. My brother called Mum and she had a lawyer sort it all out. We got back early this morning, so I thought there’s still a whole night left at the Riot and I might as well pop down.” This pretty much summed Harry up in a nutshell. The boy had been kicked out of a country, and less than 24 hours later he shows up to another partying event with a bottle of absinthe in hand as if nothing happened.
“Bet your mum hit the roof.” Jaden commented, knowing his mum well and knowing she would not be happy about that. Poor woman.
“She said something about sending me off to join the military.” He looked frustrated as his attention was on his phone. He pressed a few more buttons before growling in anger “Why do I have no signal?”
Almost as if we were synchronized, everyone closed their eyes and groaned remembering about the scrambler.
“The phones don’t work.” Archie told him, angry that we had forgotten that very important bit of information.
“Why?”
“The guy planned this; he’s got like a scrambler or something to mess with the phone signal.” Archie explained “Listen, you need to get away from the school. You need to go as far away from it and do not stop until you get bars on that phone. When you do, call the police and tell them everything we told you. Do you understand me Harry?”
Harry nodded “Yeah okay, I can do that. I can do that, it’s simple enough.”
It was like he was trying to convince himself this task wasn’t too complicated for his mind to wrap around. He didn’t stop nodding as he took a few steps back, pointing at us before he took off running and shouting something along the lines of ‘I’ll save you guys.’
He had a good heart that kid. Too bad his common sense was deficient.
We watched him run through the car park until he was on the road. We watched him run past the woods until he was completely out of sight.
It was only then that we stepped away from the window and looked between each other.
“If he’s our only hope, I might start praying to God to forgive all my sins.” Gavin declared.
I scoffed “Don’t think you’ll have enough time to get all that off your chest to be honest.”
He went to open his mouth to argue, before he raised his brows and cocked his head.
I had faith in Harry. Sort of. I think when it came down to it he would come through and help us. He wasn’t an idiot. I mean he was here. Fair enough the only reason he was here was because he got kicked out of Spain, but…
I stopped that train of thought, realising I probably should give it a head start as well.
Dear God, I know this is a little too late…but do you remember that Goonies pencil case?
--