Chapter Text
It had been half an hour since they all had split up on Gina’s command: searching for water and flashlights.
However, only a few of them were actually looking for supplies.
“When do we ever get the school completely to ourselves?” Big Red asked Ricky as they ran through the hallways. “Not even staff members are here. Well, Mazzara is, but that’s it.”
“I don’t know, and I know we will never get this opportunity again,” Ricky laughed, jumping up and hitting the EXIT sign above the door.
“What do you think we should do?”
“There are things we should do,” Ricky said, slowing down to catch his breath. “And there are things we could do.”
“I like what you’re saying,” Big Red smiled, slapping Ricky on the back. “Any good prank ideas? Any teachers we hate?”
“Mr. Mckennan gave me a D on my history essay last week, and that sucked, but I can’t blame him. He wanted two pages on the Industrial Revolution and I wrote about the French Revolution.”
“How did you even-”
“Not the point,” Ricky said, setting a hand on Big Red’s shoulder. “Maybe we can go mess with Mr. Mazzara’s stuff, though?”
“Nah, I’m cool with him now. The robotics team, you know?”
“Dang it. He’s hanging out in his classroom, anyway.”
“We probably shouldn’t be doing any of this anyways. We were supposed to get water, and now we’re hanging out by all of the biology labs when we know that all of the classrooms are locked,” Big Red pointed out. He walked over to the nearest door and tried to open it, and the door gave no budge. “We did not have enough time to plan this.”
“To be fair, we were supposed to be singing show tunes and dancing around in the bomb shelter,” Ricky sighed. He took out his phone to read the time, but got distracted by his phone background. A picture of him and Nini on opening night of High School Musical. Things had gotten weird between them, and he knew he needed to say something.
“What’s up?” Big Red asked, noticing his best friend staring at his phone.
“Oh it’s- it’s nothing.”
“You sure?”
“Fine. I’ll tell you, but let’s go grab a case of water first from the locker rooms before Gina finds us slacking.”
~
“None of my texts are sending,” Kourtney groaned as she and Seb walked towards the cafeteria. “I tried to text Nini ten minutes ago and it’s not going through.”
“If a power line went down, it probably took the Wi-Fi with it,” Seb thought out loud.
“Yeah, and the cell phone coverage in this area is horrendous. I mean, why would they put a school here that relies on computers and technology, and then not give it the Wi-Fi and service that it needs?”
“I think this school was built before computers and cell phones.”
“Valid point,” Kourtney said, still not looking up from her phone. “But it doesn't change the fact that they couldn’t have added stuff later.”
The two of them walked into the cafeteria, Kourtney finally giving up on the singular bar on her phone, and headed to the back where they got their food everyday.
“How long do you think we’ll be stuck here? The Farmer’s Almanac hasn’t said anything since the half foot of snow,” Seb asked as they walked into the kitchen.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if there was another six inches of snow,” she replied, looking outside at the weather. It was a huge snow storm. She usually checked her weather app every morning, but this morning she had forgotten to since she was too busy studying for her test tomorrow. “Oh my God!”
“What?” Seb exclaimed, snapping his head up from where he was looking for cases of water. “Did something break? Did the storm get worse? Did you get an update from Nini?”
“No! I forgot my flashcards!”
“Your- your flashcards?” He asked, perplexed. He walked back over to the kitchen entrance where Kourtney was frantically typing on her phone.
“I must have forgotten my flashcards. At home? At Slice’s? I don’t know! But I have a test tomorrow and I cannot fail!”
“Kourt, it’ll be okay. I’m sure you’ve studied plenty and you’ll have time later.”
“Not if we’re stuck here all night!” She exclaimed before groaning at her phone. “Still no service! We’ve got to go somewhere where I can actually send a text.”
“What’s the best point in the school?” Seb asked, trying to remember where he had the best Wi-Fi spots.
“Mrs. Castio’s algebra class,” Kourtney said immediately, her head popping up. “We’ve got to go there now!”
Kourtney grabbed Seb’s hand and the two of them ran through the school, off to find a place where Kourtney could send a text without problems.
~
EJ was wandering the halls, not sure where he was going or why he didn’t just go back to the theater room. The power had gone out awhile ago, but it didn’t matter. He had a lot to think about, and the silence was helping. Or making it worse. He couldn’t decide.
Being rejected by Duke after working so hard to get there, he felt numb. Like his entire life’s purpose was ripped from his hands. Plus, Nini’s words were echoing through his head.
Sometimes dream schools are a little overrated.
What had she meant by that? Was she having a bad time over at YAC? He couldn’t think about her experiences right now when he was too busy thinking what the hell he was going to say to his dad.
The expectations he had lived up to his entire life had fallen flat at the one time that it mattered. He hadn’t cared about anything as long as he got into Duke. He tried to bribe Miss Jenn last semester for the part of Troy because he knew it would look good on his application.
Captain of the Water Polo team. Lead actor in the theater club. Straight A’s. National Honor Society student, meeting all of the volunteer hours every single semester. What had he missed?
He sighed, turning the corner. Up ahead, he saw someone running across the hallway. EJ guessed it was one of his friends or someone from a different organization. If he didn’t feel so shitty, he probably would be running around the empty hallways, too.
He dragged his hand along the lockers, trying to come up with something to tell his dad. He was glad the Wi-Fi was out so he had an excuse to not call him right away.
If anything, his dad already knew. EJ wouldn’t be surprised if the admissions office had called him before even emailing EJ, since Cash Caswell was such a big donor for Duke.
Lightly kicking the locker door, EJ stopped walking and sat down, leaning against the cream metal doors. He held his head in his hands, staring at the tile under his feet, trying to come up with what to say to his dad. He didn’t even try to think of a ‘what’s next?’ plan, because there was no point until he spoke to his father.
He wasn’t sure how long he had been out and walking around, but if any of the other theater kids needed him to go back, they could find him. Right now, he needed the silence to think.
EJ had a solid five minutes of silence until he heard footsteps coming down the hallway. He didn’t bother lifting his head, figuring this person would either walk right past him or call his name. The person did neither.
Instead, EJ saw a pair of black shoes stop right in front of him. He stared at them quizzingly before finally sighing and lifting his head to see who was bothering him.
~
Gina had found a flashlight, which was a win. Now she could actually see where she was going. Everything was going great, as long as she ignored all of Carlos’ comments from earlier that day.
She had wanted a chance to make something her own, and instead she kept having to collaborate. Which was fine! She was fine with it! But when Carlos vetoed everything she said, even though she knew it would look great on stage, it pissed her off. Who did he think he was?
Just when she was starting to get over Carlos’ words and criticisms, she ran into a person she really didn’t want to see now. Or ever.
Ricky.
At least he wasn’t alone. Big Red was with him, but if anything he made it worse. Asking Gina what she thinks about Ricky sending a text to his girlfriend? Was that all Gina was good for? Advice and fallback? She was sick of it.
She had to hide her anger with jokes, poking fun at the Valentine’s Day chocolate fiasco, even though she’d rather pretend it never happened. It was still new, not even 24 hours since she sent the stupid text, and she’d been kicking herself ever since.
Thankfully, Ashlyn came in to save the day.
Gina ran off before she could ask any questions, wanting to find a space to compose herself and feel like she was actually a part of a team.
It had been hard for her, after the first semester. She had her reputation, and while she was slowly learning how to make friends, sometimes she felt like she wasn’t wanted.
She spent all year trying to prove herself, but now she thought that her friends needed to prove themselves to her.
~
Carlos had no idea what he was doing. He found a flashlight under Miss Jenn’s desk in her office, but that was it. Where was he supposed to look for water? He didn’t drink out of the school water fountains or eat the cafeteria food, so he was at a loss.
He usually knew how to keep his head on in situations, mainly when Miss Jenn had something going on so he led rehearsal. But looking for lights and water to survive however long they would be stuck in this school? Not his strength.
Plus, Gina’s criticisms and changes to his choreography stayed glued in his mind. He was the lead choreographer, and the co-director. He knew what he was doing! He only brought on Gina to help with some background dances since this year he was actually in the musical, and he had a large part- he needed time to practice his own numbers!
He thought he was doing a nice thing bringing her on, letting her be involved. But no, it turned around to bite him in the ass because the two of them would not stop arguing. He was almost thankful for the snow storm taking out the power, because then he had time to play out some different comebacks in his head. Always gotta be prepared.
~
“Shit.”
Mr. Mazzara didn’t know what he was doing when he volunteered to keep an eye on the theater kids when Miss Jenn had to take one of the kids somewhere. They hated him, and he tolerated them. But, he was literally the only adult left at the school, so he had to be responsible and make sure those kids didn’t tear the school apart. Or get hurt. The paperwork would not be fun.
He knew deep down he volunteered because he had felt something for Jennifer. After the Thanksgiving fire, he couldn’t deny that they no longer butted heads. All the time, at least. They still pestered each other, but there was another level of understanding.
He had tried to shoot his shot yesterday, Valentine’s Day, but then she ran into her… boyfriend? At Slice’s, putting him back on the bench. So much for trying to ask her out, even if it was a last minute mutual agreement to go out.
He rolled away from his desk, figuring he should go and check on the kids now that he couldn’t get any work done on his own computer. He had agreed to keep an eye on them, not be in the same room as them.
Grabbing a flashlight from the bottom drawer, Benjamin sighed and left his classroom. He turned it on the second his own door shut behind him, and began his walk around the school.
First, he stopped in the bomb shelter, and saw a couple of them already in here. Less work for him. The kids let him know the others were grabbing water and flashlights, so he headed out to round them all up.
He was not paid enough for this. He was a high school teacher, not elementary school.
After a few minutes, he finally saw one of the students.
This school is too damn big, he thought as he walked over to the kid, who looked to be sitting on the floor.
“Hey, we’re all going back to the bomb shelter in case something happens,” he spoke down the hallway, getting closer to the student. He recognized the cardigan as the one EJ was wearing earlier. He hadn’t moved, but Ben didn’t think anything of it. He had seen teengers fall asleep everywhere in this school. “You hear me?”
Mr. Mazzara was about to wake him up when his flashlight caught something on the floor.
There was a puddle of blood by EJ’s feet.