School Lockdown

Chapter 19: The Traffic Jam

*Eight months later

It was now May. I had one month left of my first year of College. I went to UCLA so I was still close to everyone. It was only a 15-minute drive away from home. Mum was due to give birth to her baby in another three weeks and was doing very well. Her stab injury from last year had completely healed and there'd been no problems in the last eight months. Casey and I were still going strong. We go to visit Angel every week and tell her what's been happening in our lives. A few weeks ago I got a job at a retail clothing store in the mall and I loved interacting with the different people, that's why I'm studying Business Management.

I got up and began to get ready for my 8am class. I hate Monday's. I called Mum as I drove to school as this was something we did every morning. "Hey Mum" I said. "Hey Honey. How are you this morning?" She asked. "I'm good. I'm not taking an 8am class next year that's for sure. Waking up this early on a Monday is too hard!" I groaned. She laughed. "Anyway how are you Mum?" I asked her. "I'm not too well. I'll make an appointment with the doctor this afternoon if I still feel this way in an hour or two. Your Dad's coming home at lunch so I'll get him to take me." I was worried. We hadn't had any problems with her pregnancy all the way through. I would hate for something to happen now. After wishing for her to get well soon, we spoke a few more words before I hung up and began searching for a carpark at Uni.

After my class I drove to the mall. I had an hour before I started my shift so I went to the food court and got myself some lunch. As I finished my meal two hands covered my eyes before a voice said, "Guess who?" I spun around and smiled as I saw Casey standing above me smirking. We sat together for a while before I had to go to work. I waved goodbye and blew him a kiss while entering my store. It was very crowded for this time of day, I hoped that meant the shift would go fast. About halfway through my shift, while I was setting up a new display table I felt a tap at my shoulder and a male voice said, "Excuse me, do you have this in a larger size?" I turned around thinking that voice sounded familiar and my heart stopped. It was Jordan. I gasped and backed away from him fear growing in me. Why wasn't he in jail? He recognized me immediately and stared at me. "Look Devin, I'm so sorry, I'm not here to hurt you. Honestly I had no idea you worked here." He looked sincere but I was still scared stiff.

I looked for any of my co-workers to rescue me from this situation and I continued to take a few steps back from him. "I'm truly sorry Devin. Please let me explain why I did what I did last year." He begged. There was only one other staff member in the store at the moment but she was serving a long line of customers at the counter on the other side of the store. The rest had taken their breaks. Jordan stepped towards me and grabbed my arm while begging me to listen to him. I yelled in surprise. He took a step back and began apologizing again.

At that moment my phone rung, saving me from this situation. I looked at the called ID and saw it was Mum. I silently thanked her for ringing at that exact moment and said to Jordan, "Excuse me but I have to take this." Before stepping around him and hurriedly heading towards the break room. I was due for my break anyway. "Hi Mum, what's up?" I asked. She knew I was at work at this time. "Devin can you come home? My water just broke and my car won't start and your Dad's not picking up the phone." She said quickly. Oh no! She wasn't due for another three weeks. "Of course! Oh my god! I'm leaving right now! Call an ambulance!" I said while running to grab my bag. "There's been an accident on the highway and they are all there as there's been a gas leak from a truck and they said it could be up to 45 minutes before they get here." "Okay I'll see you as soon as I can." I hung up and told my co-worker Ashley to cover for me. I jumped in my car and tried starting the engine. It wouldn't start. No! No! Damn it! I smacked the steering wheel in frustration. A knock at my window made me stop. "Hey are you okay? Do you need help?" I looked up and saw Jordan looking at me through the car window.