Angelica

Her rich blue eyes flickered open to the sound of her name, and she looked up to see her best friend, Maxine, making a face at her.  Why does Max keep darting her eyes to the front of the room?  Angelica looked down the path of Max's eye movements.

"Christian and Angelica," was written on the board.

"I spy a budding romance," Max whispered.

Christian's green eyes and curly tresses of golden hair not only made him the poster child for Greek gods, but for the school as well.  Every teacher knew his name, and every student dreamt of having a class with him.  A wave of emotions washed over Angelica.  After only gaining a small amount of control over her thoughts, she dared to speak again.  "It can qualify as a date, right?" she asked Max.

"As long as it's not at your house with your mom catering and hovering."

Angelica was thinking about how she wanted to ask him to work on the project when she heard a squeal from next to her.  Of course, Max and Braden were partners.  Mr. Hampton seemed to have a knack for forming high school couples.

Maxine

"Braden!"  Max squealed.

"Yo Mr. Hampton, you're the best!" Max's boyfriend, Braden, exclaimed.  "I'm glad my girlfriend is so smart, because I would have a lot of trouble doing this myself!  I mean, imagine if I were with Oliver!"

"Braden."  Mr. Hampton shot a disapproving look at Braden, his eyes expressing a sad flicker of disappointment that made Max shudder.

"I'm sorry, Mr. H."

Max was excited to get to spend more time with Braden, but she worried that she would end up doing the project herself.  She loved him, and had been dating him for years, but knew he did not take school seriously.  "Hopefully he'll help out," she muttered to Angelica.

"Aw, Max, he's too sweet not to help.  He'll try his best, I'm sure."

The thought of doing such an important project with Braden scared Max, but she figured Angelica was right.  He really does care about Mr. Hampton, so maybe this will work out.  Besides, maybe Mr. H wanted him to be with me so he'd be more willing to open up.  Eventually Max convinced herself that they could each put in the same amount of work and get a good grade.  She accepted the partnership and resumed listening to Mr. Hampton talk about the requirements.

Micah

Zoey?  No way.  Micah could not believe that he and Zoey were partners.  He glanced over at her to see her reaction to the partnership, but her thick, strawberry-blonde hair covered her delicate face.  Micah had wanted to talk to Zoey ever since he had first seen her at Christian's house, but he had not had the courage.  They were both too shy to introduce themselves, even though they had seen a lot of each other since then.

Micah had tried getting to know more about her.  He had talked to Maggie about her and achieved next to nothing.  He even had Christian name-drop "Micah" a few times into conversation with Zoey in the hope that subliminal messages would will Zoey into talking to him.  Nothing seemed to work.  Hopefully they would become closer during this project.

I wonder if she feels weird about us being partners.  God, I hope she likes me.

Zoey

Zoey and Micah?  Mr. Hampton said he wouldn't let Micah know I like him.  This is crazy.  What am I going to do?  Zoey could not believe that she was partners with Micah for this project.  He was Christian's best friend, and Christian was her best friend's brother.  I can't get involved.

Zoey had liked Micah for a while--ever since she had been hanging out at Maggie's house and he had come home with Christian.  Christian was the typical kind of cute, with sun-kissed shaggy hair and the skin of an Olympic bronze medal.  Micah had an atypical appearance, with a crooked smile and eyes too big for his face (though thhey were as deep brown as dark chocolate, and Zoey was never one to deny chocolate), but there was no question that he was attractive as well.  Perhaps that was why Christian and Micah were so popular--the cutest boys in school as best friends.  The cutest boy in school would never go for me.  Besides, I can't forget about Maggie.  I can't date her brother's best friend.

Zoey glanced back at Micah and saw him laughing with Christian and Braden.  They were always laughing, though never at the wrong times.  She had never met anyone as sweet as Christian...and of course he would be friends with the other two sweetest boys in school.  No wonder Micah's eyes look like chocolate.  Zoey let her eyes wander into space, dreaming about what she and Micah would do their project about.

Oliver

Oliver stared blankly ahead, unaware of the project partners surrounding him.  He heard his name and refocused his eyes with a start.

"Okay, Dumba**."  Great.  Noah Kimbal was stretched over the bar on his desk, leaning toward Oliver.  He spoke in a stage whisper: "I don't want to do this entire project myself, but I also don't want you to lay a hand on it.  You'll ruin it for sure.  It must be a breeze to be so dumb."  Noah finally finished expressing his hatred toward Oliver's existence and waited for a reply.  Still dazed and confused, Oliver looked at the board.  Figures.  "Noah and Oliver" sat across the whiteboard surface in glaring red ink.  He looked back at his impatient partner, but said nothing.

"It's not enough that you're dumb, but now you can't talk either?"

"Give it a rest, Noah."  Christian to the rescue.  Noah shot a glare at Christian and then at Oliver, hoping to think of a comeback, but gave up and turned away with a sigh.

I'm really not that dumb.  Why won't anyone give me a chance?  Oliver decided to talk to Mr. Hampton after class to see if he could have a different partner or do the project alone.  Mr. Hampton was always understanding.  He had taken Oliver under his wing, protecting him from a harsh reality.  Oliver had been made fun of since middle school, and he could never figure out why.  Christian, Maggie, and Zoey were the only people that were ever nice to him, but he still felt lonely.  He still had no friends.

Christian

Christian started to walk toward the door, anticipating the last thirty seconds before the bell would ring.  He was always the first one out.  "Hey, Christian!  Can I talk to you for a second?"  Angelica called him over to where she was standing with Max and Braden.

"I'm sorry, Angie, but I left my Psychology book at my desk and I want to get it before I'm late for my next period.  But don't worry!  We can start our project tonight after basketball practice.  Is that okay?  Do you know where my house is?"

"Yeah, I've been there a couple times with Maggie."

"See you there!  Does 8:00 sound good?"

"Perfect."

Christian flashed a smile in reply to Angelica and walked back to where he said he had left his book.  The bell would ring in ten seconds.  Finally, one more English class had passed.  The daily forty-five minutes kept getting longer and longer.  Christian looked around the room at his classmates, taking one deep breath.  Angelica was still talking to Max and Braden; Micah appeared to be talking to their group of friends, yet he did not say a word.  He just kept glancing over to the door, where Zoey and Maggie were.

Maggie.  The favorite child.  She was so sweet, so smart, so popular.  Their parents were lucky to have a child like her, and he was just as lucky to have her as a sister.  After all, they had been such a failure with their first child, so no wonder they tried again.  Sure, a lot of people liked him, but he did not know why.  Christian was dumb and ugly and lonely.  He continued walking to the other side of the room, as far away from his sister as possible.  The dull gray carpet was his eyes' best friend.  He positioned himself in the corner.  This was it.  The bell rang as he held his last breath.

Maggie

A deafening sound made the world go black.  Zoey's body shot into Maggie, shrapnel lodged in too many placed to survive.  Reality reappeared, and Maggie raced over to where Zoey's body had hit the lockers across the hall.  Zoey lay slumped against them, her chin on her chest.  Maggie fell to her knees beside her, holding Zoey in her arms.  Maggie was yelling, but nothing could be heard above the stampeding feet and chaos of screams.  "Zoey!  Zoey!  Zoey, you can't do this!  We have to go, Zoey!  Come on, let's go!"  Maggie pulled Zoey close to her body, but she did not move.  "Zoey."  Tears formed meandering paths down Maggie's face.  Her fiery hair framed her face perfectly, the curly tresses of flame posing for what would have been a perfect picture in an alternate reality.  Maggie ran her fingers down Zoey's cheek, attempting to brush away the blood.  Another tear fell to the face of the motionless body.  "Zoey, it's best friends forever."  She collapsed into her best friend's limp body and lay there, hoping to will her back to life.

Someone came by and picked Maggie up, setting her on her feet and pushing her into a run.  Her heart thrust itself against her chest as she sprinted out of the school amidst the anarchy.  She reached the parking lot pavement, where a panicking partnership formed around her: students and teachers, friends and strangers, people all the same wanted to assure each other's safety.  Yet no one's safety could be assured.  There was a fire forming where she had class fifteen minutes ago.  Maggie remembered passing stray limbs and other lifeless bodies on her race through the hallway, but she had not stopped to help them.  She had to get away.  As much as she wanted to be the altruistic angel that helped the injured, she had to get away.

Her eyes darted around the disarray of people, and she felt trapped in her own bubble (a bubble that seemed to be getting smaller and smaller, increasing the pressure on her heart and lungs).  She turned slowly to face her school.  She stood still in a state of pure shock, staring, wondering why it had happened to her school, her friends, herself.  Friends and faculty came up to her, wanting to know if she was okay, but she could not answer.  The past ten minutes were on replay in her head.  Zoey was gone, left for the dead among the others.  Everyone in the classroom was gone.  Angelica, Mr. Hampton, Micah.

Christian.

Her only sibling, her beloved brother.

Maggie sprinted home.

Three blocks later, she ran through the door of her house and up the stairs to her bedroom.  She glanced into Christian's room on the way, knowing that he would never see it again.  She slammed open her door and hurtled to her well-made bed, where a white paper glistened in the sunlight that swept across the room.  Her trembling fingers fumbled to open it.  Her brother's scratchy handwriting confirmed what she already knew: "Tell them I'm sorry."

She collapsed to the floor and drew the note to her heaving chest.  Everyone is gone.