Calm after the storm - Felipe - open tag

[felipe]

Finally the gangsters had been escorted away - along with several other kids who Felipe knew had played no part in the warfare. The Asian boy with the fire extinguisher for one... and Jessica...?

"No... Wait... She's done nothing wrong," he protested. "Nor has he," he added, pointing towards Takumi. Felipe was ignored and they were both piled into the back of a waiting van, along with several others. He frowned and started to walk over to the van, hoping to find someone in authority who would listen to him.

"No you don't," stated a cop. "Everyone's to go to the auditorium and wait there."

"But those people in there..."

"Aren't your problem."

Felipe drew in a deep breath and tried to look past the man's shoulder and into the van but he squared his frame and blocked any view.

"Auditorium," he repeated and Felipe knew he wasn't going to get anywhere with the guy. Hopefully sense would be seen and the pair - plus the others - would soon be released.

"Bree," he said in a low voice. "We have to go."

* * *

The auditorium was filled to bursting point and the endless sound of voices was close to deafening. Crying... sobbing... questions... All merged together into a cacophony of noise that added even more confusion.

"Find your 6th period class," a teacher told them as they entered the room. That was going to be a damned sight easier said than done.

"You'll be alright?" he asked Bree and she nodded, tears staining her cheeks. He touched her face and smiled before parting ways. 6th period class. Hell, Felipe didn't even *know* what that class was supposed to be!

[Bree Marcus]

Bree moved along side Felipe like a leaf being carried by the river. She wanted to cling to him when they were sent onto their classes. She couldn't believe they expected them to finish the rest of the day like nothing happened, like there wasn't empty seats in every classroom due to the horror at lunchtime.

She especially was in no shape to wrap her mind around physics. She was worried about May and Sloane her two best friends that were as different as night and day, but she loved dearly for accepting her quirks and fears. Were they healthy or in the hospital or even worse the morgue. By the time the teacher showed up she had worked herself into such a state that she threw her textbook in his direction and started weeping again. One of the football players was recruited to wrestle her down to the infirmary where they decided they would keep her until school released.

[Fallon Cotton]

When the shootings started Fallon had been in the worst possible place she could be. With Mr. Phan. He was an art teacher and she was an art student. Fallon had found Mr. Phan at lunch to ask him to look at something she drew to get his feed back. Mr. Phan did not know dresses or fashion, but he knew art, so his opinion if he thought the way a dress, skirt, shirt or pants looked was important. It was not about the way the clothes looked, but more if they clashed and if the colors matched. It was hard to explain. Either way Fallon had been with Mr. Phan when this whole thing happened.

The moment Mr. Phan heard the shots he sent Fallon to hide. So although she did not see anything, she heard the shots and the voices, but was not sure what was said at all. Perhaps she could remember, but odds were Fal would never remember. If she concentrated she might remember but that was far from on her mind. Fallon waited though. Waited until she heard sirens, heard police in the room. She had been to scared to move. All Fallon had done was rock herself back and forth. She was too in shock to give a statement. The police wanted to know what happened in the room, and to be honest Fallon could not tell them. All she could say was there were voices and then shots fired.

Eventually the police let Fallon go to the auditorium. Her brother had not been hurt and her sister had been arrested. Fallon watched as they took Si. "No...don't take her, please...no..." But no one listened. The Police told her to go.

Fal made her way slowly to the auditorium hoping to find Thad. She looked around. So many people. She was beginning to feel claustrophobic. Or perhaps everything that had happened had been catching up to her. She had seen a dead body. Heard him die...it was too much.

Fall was walking around not paying attention trying to focus on breather. Tears were streaking her face. She was in total shock. Fal did not even notice when her body collided with someone else's body. She did not even say sorry which was unlike Fal.

[felipe]

Felipe glanced at the person when they bumped into him and his shoulders sagged in abject relief. A face he knew. Well, a little. She'd been kind to him that very morning, helping him find his way around the school. "Fallon!" he exclaimned and he reached out and grabbed her close, not wanting to let go of the one friendly face now that he'd lost Bree in the mass of bodies. "Thank god you're safe," he added in a low voice. He released her a little but still kept one hand firmly on her arm.

He peered closely at her, noting for the first times the tears that were streaming down her face. He knew everyone was upset and shaken by all of this but most had stopped crying by now. Not Fallon, though...

He drew her to one side and into a small open space, bending down to bring his face to her level. "You ARE unhurt... aren't you?" he asked. He couldn't see any blood or marks on her exposed skin and her clothing bore no red stains either and yet she was clearly in a state of utter shock. Had she witnessed something? That could be the answer.

"You need to see someone," he went on. "Get checked over..." Felipe straightened and used his height to look over the heads of those around them. "Come," he urged and with his arm around her shoulders he steered her towards teh main door.

"You can't leave," stated the teacher on duty at the door.

"She needs assistance," Felipe said in an equally determined voice.

"Is she hurt?"

Felipe half shrugged. "I don't know but she is in shock."

The teacher relented and allowed them out into the main foyer. "Just don't go far," he stated. "There's a hot drink dispenser over there. See if that helps."

Felipe nodded and guided the stunned girl over to the far corner.

"Stay in sight!"

He half waved in acknowledgement.

He urged Fallon to sit, crouching down before her. "What happened?" he asked in little more than a whisper.

[Fallon Cotton]

Fal just nodded when he asked if she was okay, but it was obvious she was not. Fal was a fragile girl with a fragile mind. Sure she was on her meds, but Bi Polar was a tricky disorder to deal with. Stress did not go hand in hand with Bi Polar. Fal felt Felipe led her over and all she could hear were voices, but no words. She just stayed silent. She felt Felipe drag her out of the auditorium and she took a big deep breath, "I can breath now....it was stuffy in there." She finally spoke. Fal slide down to sit down just like Felipe ordered.

She brother her knees up to her chest and looked at him. "I hate acting like a little girl...but I feel like two feet tall after today." She admitted to him through sobs, although the tears were stopping. "Thanks..I could not take being in there...it felt claustrophobic and I love tiny spaces but that...." She shook her head showing she did not like it.

"I...um...I was...I did not really see anything...they asked me questions and said they have more questions, but I swear I never saw anything..i hid the whole time...." Fallon admitted. She hated being the victim or considered one. She hated acting like one, but this was too much. "I was with Mr. Phan when he died...and then my sister...they arrested her and I can't find my little brother..." She said it all coming out in one breath.

[felipe]

"Dear god," breathed Felipe. "You were there? When he was killed? No wonder you are in shock!" He shuffled down a little more, hands resting on Fallon's knees and clasping her hands gently. "Given what you've been through I think you can be allowed to act like a little girl," he said in a softly teasing tone. He was hoping to see a glimmer of a smile but knew his efforts would be in vain. How could she be expected to smile when she'd witnessed a man die? Not only that but her sister had been arrested and her brother was missing. No, she had to be feeling alone and very scared right now.

"Tea," he stated. "My mother always told me sweet tea is good for shock." He dug out a few coins and reached towards teh vending machine, still holding onto one of Fallon's hands.

He pressed the styrofoam cup into her free hand. "Drink this," he urged. "And then I will try and find your brother. What is his name?"

Looking for than pin in a stack of hay came firmly back to mind right now as finding her brother in the mass of figures in the auditorium would be close to impossible. Still, he'd try.

[Fallon Cotton]

Oddly enough, despite the fact she had just met him Felipe sure knew how to calm her down. Well a little. The only people who could really stop her from shaking was her sister and Thad, but Felipe was doing a good job. "I mean..I did not really see it...I was hiding under a desk...he told me to hid...I heard it...I heard it all..." Although she could honestly not really recall it. "I saw his body after.....after he was shot......" She admitted. "I told...I told the police...I did not see anything, but they keep asking questions..." She was aware she had kind of repeated herself.


She took the tea in both hands and sipped it. "Thanks...you always this nice...or is it just with women..." She smiled a small smile. It was not her normal bright smile. The one people said lit up her face, but it would do. It was all she could do. "Um...his name is Thad....he is suppose to have crutches...or he should...if not look for a freshmen with make up and limping but I think he had crutches last I check." She had over heard her mom and Sandra say something about it.

"I just don't get why they arrested Si...she had nothing to do with this..." Fal asked. It was then she realized how rude she had been, "Oh my god..here I am talking about me...what about you...are you okay?" Perhaps it was her way of changing the subject, but it was rude not to ask how Felipe was doing. After all he was trying to comfort her. She should reciprocate.

[felipe]

"Only with the prettiest ones," Felipe said with a crooked grin in reference to her first question. A smile. Sure, it was shaky and very tentative looking but it was a smile regardless and far better than her tears.

"Thad... crutches... and... make-up?" She nodded and Felipe smiled wryly. "He shouldn't be all that hard to find then," he added with a certainty in his voice... and one he far from felt. The task was close to impossible but... he'd find a way.

"I'm ok," he replied, knowing the gun he'd been hit with had left its mark. "I was in the cafeteria when they took everyone hostage. A boy... Japanese I think... turned on the sprinklers and sprayed everyone with fire extinguisher foam so that's why..." He plucked at his sodden shirt fron with a rueful shrug. "He was also arrested. Tak... Tak something I think I heard him tell a girl."

Felipe thought hard. They were close to the main office and that meant one thing. Finding Thad on foot would be difficult and that would also mean leaving Fallon. Something he wasn't prepared to do for more than a few seconds. "Stay here ok? Finish your tea... I will be a few moments only." He looked intently into her eyes, relieved that look of profound shock had started to ease - if only a little. "Ok?"

She nodded and he darted into the office while the teacher at the auditorium door was looking in the other direction.

The office was a mess and he fought not to look at the bloodstains near the main desk. He reached for the school-wide tannoy system and pressed the transmit button.

"Thad. This is a message for Thad. Your sister needs you. She's in the main reception area. Come quickly." He didn't know Fallon's last name and he prayed that the name Thad wasn't too commonplace. If so they might find themselves soon inundated with worried siblings.

He'd likely be on detention for the rest of his school years but it would be worth it if he could reunite Fallon with her brother. She needed him more than anyone else right now.

He ran back to Fallon and dropped back down. "He should be here soon... I hope," he assured her.

[Fallon Cotton]

"You called me pretty...becareful who you say that too..girls develop crushes on guys who call them pretty." She said attempting to bring back normal, but it was hardly working. She just nodded when he said he was fine, "Taki..is he okay,...i know him..he is friends with my sister..oh god...and everyone else...I hope they are okay..my friends..." Fallon needed to take another deep breath. Worrying about them was freaking her out and right now she needed to calm down because freaking out would be a one way ticket back to the hospital and Fallon could not do that.

"I will be fine..." She said in a soft voice and just sipped her tea. Fallon was retreating into her won world, but that world was no longer safe. Gun shots rang through her ears and at one point she covered her ears. Yet nothing was even heard. It was all in her head. The announcement broke her thoughts and for some reason that made her laugh. A mood shift for now was good.

"Thad might kill me for that..but thank you...I mean it....thank you...i owe you so much...." Without such kind words Fal might be falling apart. She was already suffocating in the auditorium and Felipe got her out. She had not meant to make him work so hard, but sometimes Fal acted like she was the youngest. Although it did not help that so many people wanted to talk to Fal. Teachers, police. It was too much. Fal enjoyed being in the background.

"How are you so calm?" She continued to sip her tea, "I am trying, but I can't stop shaking. I mean...I have pictured a ton of horrible things to happen at school and this was not one of them." Fal said to him. "I even lived through something that was no pleasant, but this....how will we ever get past what happened here..." What she really wanted to say was how would she get over what she heard....and saw....

[felipe]

Felipe shrugged slightly. "It pains me to say this but street violence is more commonplace where I grew up in Sao Paolo... Of course, nothing of this scale ever happened and this is the closest I have personally come to such stuff but... on the news channel it was reported as happening quite a lot." He leaned a little closer and dropped his voice to a hushed whisper.

"To tell you the truth, Fallon, inside I am shaking like a bowl of semolina but I am trying to keep myself together because I know others have been through far worse than I have. Others like you. Yes, I saw a man killed in the cafeteria but when it happened I wasn't watching or beneath a table hearing it go on." He half smiled. "At the time I was poking a gunman with a ladle," he added on the smallest of laughs. "When this is all over I will tell you all about that little episode as looking back on it I'm betting it will be stupid enough to be funny." He could only imagine the scene it'd presented... more so when both combatants had been doused in foam. But not now. Now nothing at all could be termed funny... not in the slightest.

"As for getting past this." He frowned slightly. "We might never move on but the school will make sure we get all the help we need and for as long as it takes. We'll never forget today but the pain of it will ease as time passes."

Felipe pushed himself to his feet and sat in the chair at her side, one hand curled around hers to still offer that comfort. He glanced down the corridor to see if he could spot a limping figure as he honestly wasn't sure if he was helping Fallon or not. She needed Thad.

"So tell me about your brother and sister," he urged. "What are they like? You seem to get on well with them both." Distraction. That was often the best course of action.