Stranded

~ Souda ~

My mother isn't here yet. The girl next to me, "gee" or whatever is one of those popular kids. I glance at her. She's resting her chin on her palm, staring out the window.

I look away, annoyed. What the hell? Why am I staring? It's past 6 now. Father won't be happy. I hear something. Walking. I'm pretty sure Gee hears it too. I panic and she pulls me behind a desk. It's the custodian. She walks out of the school, and locks the doors behind her. Before we could get her attention, the custodian leaves.

"Crap. She just locked the doors! What do we do now?" Ji let's out an exasperated sound. "Why did you pull us behind a desk? If she saw us, she could've let us out before she locked the doors." I state.

"Well, you looked panicked, so I hid us." She argues back. What..? The flashbacks of me hiding from my father every time I heard his footsteps rushes back to me. I brush-or at least try to-off the thoughts.

"Fine, let's find another exit." I finally say. "Follow me if you want."

Of course she has to follow me. We try a bunch of exits. All locked. Damn, the custodian really took time and locked every. Single. Door.

Ji is fidgeting furiously next to me, making me more stressed as well. None of us comment on each other as we try more exits. Nope. None.

I punch a window near me, trying in vain to open it. "Did you just punch a window?! It isn't good for your wrist. Do you want to get arthritis at the age of 16-almost?!" Ji exclaims.

We've only interacted a few times and she's already pissing me off. I hear something. It sounds like heavy boots. I hear a person shouting as well. "Split up if you need to! Whatever you do, find it!"

I grab Jihye and rush into a small computer lab nearby. Who were they? Robbers? School shooters? Once the voices faded, I was met with Ji's bewildered face. "Bro, why did you just- you pulled me by my hair! I put effort into my hair you know!" I tried my best to ignore her, but damn, she has more bratty behavior than my older sister. "Did you even hear those people? They looked like they were going rob or whatever. We're now in danger, so if you could please NOT WORRY ABOUT YOU'RE GODFORSAKEN FUCKING HAIRCUT!" I raised my voice at her.

"Hmph, whatever. Boys'll never understand how to manage hair." She scoffed and played with her hair. Today is going to be a long day.

"I think we should wait them out." I say. "No! We can't just let them rob the school!" Ji argues. Of course she has to disagree to everything I say. "I don't care what they steal, this school is messed up anyway." I calmly stated back. "We can't just let them step on us!" Ji yelled back.

"Ji, they're robbers that most likely have weapons on them. How do we, a freshman and a sophomore, have a chance against them?!"

"We can try!"

"And fail! Listen, I don't wanna go in a way which makes me feel weak."

There was silence for a brief moment. "Fine." Ji states. "I'll do it on my own."

"Be my guest!" I yelled back. She rolled her eyes and exited the room. She's gonna die, but I don't give a shit anymore.