a + b

19: the fall of brian mckenzie

Brian Mckenzie arrived at school at the same time every day.

Quarter to nine.

But when the seventeen-year-old parked his red car in his usual spot on a particular Thursday morning, something was different.

Brian stepped out of his car and was greeted by his two friends, Noah and AJ.

"Hey Bri," AJ smiled, with a skateboard in his hand.

Noah waved. "Sup, dude."

"Hey boys" Brian shut his car door. "Courtyard seems quiet today" he observed. "Where is everyone?"

Normally the football team were outside, along with cliques, and girls who waited for Brian's arrival. But no one was here.

AJ looked around. "We don't know. We were thinking the same thing."

"It seems like everyone is inside."

"Maybe something's happened," AJ said, jumping on his board.

Brian looked down at his friends' dirty converse as he skated over the pavement.

"Like what?"

"It's East Bridge, Bri" Noah answered. "Do you really have to ask? Drama cooks every day."

Brian scanned his eyes across the courtyard again, then looked back at his friends. "Yeah, you're right. Well, as long as it's got nothing to do with me, I don't care."

"They have nothing on you, man. At this point, they're just grasping at straws."

Brian smirked.

AJ smiled. "Let's go inside."

The three boys walked in, down their normal route, towards Brian's locker.

Everyone was inside, and everyone was looking at him, as normal. But instead of greeting the seventeen-year-old, they were mumbling to each other.

Brian raised his eyebrow.

"Uh, hey guys. Everything okay?"

No one answered him. They just continued to whisper to each other suspiciously.

"What the hell?" Noah said lowly.

Brian furrowed his eyebrows but laughed it off as he turned down the hall.

Then suddenly the whole school felt extremely quiet.

As Brian approached his locker, he realised a large group of people were surrounding it.

"Dude why is everyone looking at your locker?" AJ asked.

"I have no idea. Um, excuse me guys can I get through?"

The crowd of students moved away, creating a gap for Brian to walk in. When the teenager finally caught sight of the locker, he couldn't believe what he saw.

Spray painted, in bright red were the words,

VIRGIN!

Brian froze, his eyes widening. He blinked, as if the words would disappear and what he was experiencing wasn't real.

But it was.

More people gathered around and began to get their phones out.

AJ and Noah looked at the words on his locker, both of them confused.

"Brian...what's going on?" AJ asked.

"This isn't real" Brian whispered. "No, this-this isn't real."