In Another Life | deena johnson

chapter two

Right after her last class, the whole student body was told to meet in the gymnasium to hear an important communicate regarding the football game that was happening in that same night, so Lorraine met Lisa and the rest of her friends there five minutes before the time.

Okay, she said friends but she prefered to refer to them as people that she only tolerate. Lisa was very popular so being friends with her meant having to spend time with all of her friends. In the group there was Lisa's brother Mason and his best friend Peter who, in Lorraine's opinion was the most annoying person that she met in her entire life and his new girlfriend Sam.

Lorraine had nothing against Sam, mostly because they never actually had the chance to talk without Peter getting in between, but she seemed to be really sweet and polite. Peter and his football friends on the other hand weren't so nice.

"Hey, Lisa. Sam." Sam smiled at her, shyly. She was wearing her cheerleader uniform just like Lisa, and a red ribbon on her blonde hair. In Lorraine's opinion, she was really beautiful and she couldn't understand why would someone like her settle down for someone like Peter.

Peter was wearing a red jacket with Sunnyvale's logo of a devil and was holding Sam with one arm, while Lisa was again putting on some lip gloss. Mason was talking to some other guy that was also part of the football team.

"Do you guys know why are we supposed to be here?" Lisa asked.

"Don't know, all I know is that it has to do with the football game against Shittyside." Lorraine rolled her eyes with the nickname.

"Maybe they're going to cancel it. You know, due to what happened last night..." Lisa suggested.

Peter groaned, thinking of that possibility. "I hope not. We've been training so hard for weeks."

"Yeah, people died. What an inconvenient!" Lorraine replied, sarcastically. Peter looked at her, annoyed, but before he could say something, the principal and the team's coach got on the stage.

The principal started to talk about the massacre and trying to make a speech that most of the school didn't bother to pay attention. Most of them looked annoyed to be there, like they had better plans for the afternoon.

Lorraine was also annoyed but it was mostly due to the fact that the speech sounded so fake. She looked at Sam, who was sitting next to Peter, with an uncomfortable look in her face.

"So out of respect for last night's tragic events, Sunnyvale will host a candlelight vigil for the victims before tonight's game."  The coach announced. "If you kids want so be there to show support it would be great, but all player, cheer and band attendance is mandatory."

Every member of this three clubs started to shout, indignated with this change of plans. Peter was the loudest, wanting to make sure that everyone knew how unhappy he was with the situation.

"Are you kidding me? Now we have to mourn something that we all knew was bound to happen sooner or later?" Mason complained.

"What does that even mean?" Lorraine asked.

"Come on, Lori." She frowned. She always hated that nickname, but none of them cared. They still kept calling her that. "That kind of stuff has been happening so often that it's not even new now."

Peter pointed his finger at him, backing his friend. "Yeah, besides, whatever happens in Shadyside has nothing to do with us. Why do we have to pretend that we care?"

Lorraine looked at both boys, in disbelief. Are all boys stupid or only the ones that I' know?

Lisa slapped Peter in the arm that wasn't hugging Sam. "Quit being selfish for once. What if it was you, Peter? What if you died and a bunch of teenagers where whining because they felt like your death was too predictable? How would you feel?"