Beyond the Tragedy

👓Sebastian👓

6 months after

"I hate those freaking boxes." Sebastian's girlfriend, Sabrina said. "They make me feel so claustrophobic." 

As he walked away from the portable classrooms situated behind Foss high school, Sebastian silently agreed. 

"It's like, make the Foss kids use them. They haven't experienced being locked inside of a small classroom all day, waiting to see if they'll live." Sabrina huffed in annoyance, blowing the strands of her bangs away from her eyes. "I mean, did you see Beverly Thompson today? She was sweating so bad, the teacher sent her to the nurse!" 

The two had been officially dating for almost four months now and had experienced many highs and lows together. Sebastian knew when Sabrina got passionate about something, it would be awhile before she would end the subject. He didn't mind, considering he's seen the other side of her, struggling with PTSD and short bouts of depression. Yes, he much preffered this side of his girlfriend even when many peers claimed she was too "tightly wound."

"Of course, she was in a freaking curtain so maybe being in the portable isn't as bad for her but still, we've all seen some pretty messed up stuff and being forced to come here to this school where we are total outsiders-"

Noticing that Sabrina was now attracting attention from Wilson and Foss kids alike, and not one to stir up drama, he decided to try and divert Sabrina's attention to another topic.

"- it would be the least they could do when-"

"Hey, who's that?" Sebastian blurted out the first thing that came to his mind and then actually searched for someone to talk about.

"Who?" Sabrina asked followed by a sharp gasp. "Oh my gosh, is that...? Since when is he back?"

To his surprise, Sabrina had found a change of topic before he had and Sebastian scanned his eyes looking for what Sabrina had seen. Over, on the other side of the quad was Peter Jacobs and Olivia White. Sebastian had reeled when he heard the story of how the two came to date, noticing the similarities of a popular kid , ending up with an outsider. The couples were always polite with each other but never really friends, as Sebastian (and he was sure, everyone) thought it would be weird with the history between Sabrina and Peter.

Standing a few feet away from Olivia was Randy, a southern born student whom Sebastian didn't really know and...Edward. Everyone knew about Edward. 

"I thought he was still in Fairfax." Sebastian said, feeling unsure of how to act, and where to look. 

"Me too. Oh, relax, babe." Sabrina said, noticing Sebastian's look of nervousness.  "You know, If you think about it, one of us Wilson kids was bound to end up in a mental institution. The universe just picked the weakest link which happened to be Edward."

Sebastian cringed and looked at Sabrina who genuinely gasped. 

"Was that mean? Oh crap, it was, wasn't it? Sorry, sometimes I feel that mean cheerleader slipping out before I can stop it." She shook her head. "Ugh, now I feel bad. Alright, we have to talk to him."

Sebastian shook off the weird feeling about Edward and realized he was being silly. Everyone has personal struggles and it's nothing to be ashamed of. Hand in hand, Sebastian and Sabrina walked over to the water fountain where Edward was now at. 

"Hey, Edward." Sabrina smiled.

"Hey!" Edward returned the smile at the sight of Sabrina and Sebastian, whom he used to play video games with. 

"First day back at school?" Sebastian asked. 

"Yep, yeah. It's a bit daunting with the metal detectors and security guards at every exit but it does make you feel safer somehow." Edward shrugged.

Sebastian nodded in understanding, having felt the same way when he started at Foss. But at least Battawa school district was learning from their mistakes. 

After a bit of pleasant chit chat, Edward asked if the two had seen where Rachel Rolder was.  "I uh, used to tutor Wes and I haven't had the chance to pay my condolences to Rachel yet." He explained. 

The three shared solemn glances around the quad, searching for Sabrina's friend, Rachel, whose brother Wes was killed in the shooting. The local news helicopter had caught the moment when Wes, barely alive with most of his face hanging off, was brought out of the school into an ambulance. He died a few hours later at the hospital and word around was that their family was trying to sue the news channel for airing the images. 

"There she is." Sabrina nodded towards the vending machine where Rachel Rolder stood with a few friends. 

"Thanks." Edward said and went to talk to her. 

"I should hang out with her more. I've just been busy." Sabrina sighed. 

"Hey y'all." Randy said walking over to them. 

"Hey. Edward seems to be doing good." Sebastian said. 

"Yeah, I think he'll be okay." He nodded assuredly. "Did you guys hear about the plans for Wilson?" 

"What plans?" Sabrina said as Sebastian shook his head. 

"Heard on the news this mornin', they're gonna demolish the building, turn it into a memorial park."