The Shot
“ 2 more days until I get to see Shawn!” I say to my best friend Ethan. “Yep,” he says in a sarcastic tone. I ask “Why so sarcastic?” But he just walks away to go check out the clearance section in the store that we’re in. I walk towards him to ask again until I was interrupted by the store’s intercom saying “Can y/n and Ethan please report to the customer service main office to meet their parents. I repeat, can y/n report to the customer service main office to meet their parents.” As soon as we heard our names, we sprinted over there knowing we owe our parents 5 dollars each because of the bet we made with them about being at the customer service main office at 12:30 sharp.
*Customer Service main office*
“I knew you guys would be late,” said my dad. “Pay up,” said Ethan’s mom. So we both get our wallets out and give them each 5 dollars. As we are heading out, I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. I take it out and see a text from Shawn! He says that he can’t wait to see me. I don’t know what to say so I run over to Ethan and ask his parents if I can ride home with him (since we’re next door neighbors) they, of course, approve and so do my parents, so I get in the car and quickly put my seatbelt on. Then I tell Ethan about the text and ask him what to say. Then he snatches my phone out of my hands and replied to Shawn saying “me too!” then he gives it back and I start yelling at him about how Shawn might think I’m weird for saying that. He just rolls his eyes and we don’t talk until we get home.
*At our houses*
I invite Ethan to my house and of course, he accepts. I put my bag down and we head upstairs to my room. Before we get in I see that my door is slightly cracked open. I open the door with Ethan right behind me, and I see Shawn sitting on my bed. “Your mom let me in,” he says with a bright smile on his face. Ethan storms out of my house for some reason, but I don’t really notice because all I can focus on is the fact that Shawn is in my room! I run over to him without thinking and just give him a hug. Then I realize I have to be cool around him if I want him to like me. So I sit up and act normal. “Wassup,” I say to him as casually as I can. “Nothing much, I just really wanted to surprise you,” he replies. “I actually wanted to show you something,” Shawn says. “Oh really, what is it,” I say. He grabs my guitar that I keep next to my bed and pulls out a piece of paper with a bunch of words on it. He starts playing his guitar and after a few seconds, he starts to sing. He sings “I love it when you just don’t care, I love it when you dance like there’s nobody there” the song goes on for about 3 minutes. In my head, I’m thinking about how I really hope he’s talking about wanting me to be his. But I just smile throughout the whole thing and sway side to side. When he’s finished, he asks me what I thought. I say “It was amazing!” I’m about to ask who it’s about but then my mom calls us down for lunch. Time went by really fast, I think to myself. It was already 1:15. Shawn and I head downstairs together talking about how he was probably gonna name his song Life of the party, and how I think he has great talent! Of course, since Shawn is like the most humble person I know, he says “meh, I didn’t think it was that good” We get downstairs and my mom asks what we were doing. I tell her that Shawn was showing me his new song and she looks at me in a way that I know she’s telling me he might like me! I make a gesture telling her to stop, hoping Shawn didn’t see anything. We sit at the table and eat some pizza that my mom ordered. While we are eating I remember that Ethan used to be with me. I ask my mom where he went and she tells me she doesn’t really know, she just saw him rush out. “He looked pretty sad, what happened?” said my mom. I tell her I don’t know, I then say “ I’ll go check on him after Shawn leaves.” Then my mom says “Ok, sounds good to me” Shawn then says he’s going to have to leave after lunch because his cousins are coming over at 2:00.
*After we finish lunch*
Shawn heads out the door and starts walking home since he lives about 3 blocks over from my house. I wave at him while he waves back and then I close the door and stand there leaning against the door for a while, thinking about how hot he is! Next thing I know, my mom comes up to me and say “Oooo he looks cute, do you like him. Does he like you, was the song a love song? Was it for you?” “Mom stop!!! I don’t know the answer to any of those questions!” I said I felt bad because I knew I just lied to my mother. I do know the answer to one of those questions. I do like Shawn, and I know that. In fact, I really like him.
“Anyway, can I go over to Ethan’s to see if he’s ok.” I then say. “Ya sure, but bring him a slice of pizza.” She says. “Ok,” I say. So I head out to go to his house which is right next door.
*At Ethan’s house*
I knock on the door 3 times and wait for them to open the door. Still no answer. I then ring the bell. Still no answer. I go into their driveway and see that there is no car in the driveway. So I go back home thinking he probably just went somewhere with his parents. He’ll be back later. So I go back to my house and tell my mom he’s not home. She looked really sad when I came in. She actually looked as if she’d been crying. I run up to her and ask what was wrong. She tells me to sit down. So I sit. She looks at me for a while. Then she finally says, “I just got a phone call from Ethan’s mom.”
I immediately stand up and say “WHAT HAPPENED!!!” I say this with tears in my eyes and I raise my tone just a bit. My mom tells me to calm down, but of course, I don’t. Instead of raising my tone I start yelling. I keep on repeating the same thing over and over again “WHAT’S WRONG.” I repeat it until she finally answers me. She says “ When Ethan stormed out of the house he ran farther than his house and he ended up very far from his house. When he stopped running away from his house there was a man who....” she stops. I scream “WHO WHAT” I’m crying so hard right now. “He was... He was shot” she said as her voice trembled. “OH MY GOD! WHERE!!!” I yell. “ In the shoulder,” she says calmly. “He’s in the emergency room right now and his parents are there too. They don’t know if he’s okay or not yet. But as soon as they do, they will give me a call.” She said calmly. I run upstairs to my room and I slam the door. I think to myself, no, this can’t be happening. My best friend. I’ve known him since pre-k. This isn’t happening. I keep on repeating this to myself in my mind until I fall asleep with tears all over my face.
*The next Morning*
I wake up to the sound of my mom calling my name. The first thing I think of is, she must know if he’s ok or not. I really want to know, but at the same time, I also don’t want to know. What if he’s not okay. But then again, what if he is. I walk slowly to her room until I finally reach her door. I cautiously knocked on the door. She tells me to come in. So I slowly walk in, praying that good news is coming. After I’m in she tells me to come over to her. So I go over and stand next to her. I give her a hug and I say good morning. She whispers in my ear, “Good morning sweetheart. Everything’s ok. Ethan’s going to be ok” I jump up and down crying tears of joy. I run to my room to grab my phone and text him. I say “ Hey, I heard what happened, how are you?” He doesn’t answer.
*3:30*
He still hasn’t answered. I wonder what’s wrong. Maybe he didn’t bring his phone. Maybe it’s dead. He would never ignore me, right?
*Ethan’s point of view*
“Two more days until I get to see Shawn!” y/n says to me. “Yep,” I say I’m a pretty sarcastic way. I think to myself, all she ever does is talk about Shawn. Has she ever thought that maybe I’m a pretty good guy? I mean, I’ve put up with her since pre-k. My thoughts were then interrupted by y/n asking why I said that so sarcastically. Dang it, I didn’t want her to hear the sarcasm in my tone. I try to avoid answering the question by walking over to the clearance section. Of course, she follows me and is about to ask again, but luckily the intercom of the store we were in interrupted her. The intercom told us to go to the customer service front office, so we both started sprinting over there. When we got there we saw our parents waiting for us. They asked us to give them 5 dollars each since we lost the bet about us being at the main office at 12:30 sharp. So we gave it to them and we left. When I’m about to get in the car, I see y/n running over to me. She looks pretty excited, but I have no idea why. She then asked my mom if she could ride home with us. I knew something was up after she asked. So we got in the car and then y/n tells me that Shawn texted her. I really don’t want to hear about Shawn right now, but I decided to keep listening. Then I just can’t stand it anymore so I take her phone and reply. Then she starts talking about how he might think she’s weird. I just roll my eyes and ignore her. We got home and y/n invited me over. Yay! I get to spend more time with her. Maybe I can even tell her how I feel. I just have to get the right time. We go upstairs and we see that her door is slightly open, but she says she was sure that she closed it when she left. We went in together and to my surprise, we saw Shawn sitting on her bed with a stupid smile on his face. Ugh. I hate that guy. I can’t think straight. This was my chance. Why does he ruin everything? I don’t know what to say so I just run. I run down the stairs. I’m crying now. I run past my house. I don’t know why I ran past my house and I don’t know where I am going. I just keep running. I end up in somewhere kind of dark. I don’t know where I am. I look around I see no one. Then I spot a man. I walk towards him to ask for directions. As I walk closer I see something in his hand. I don’t know what it is. I keep walking. I get closer and closer. Then I see what’s in his hand. It’s a gun. I’m about to run. But I’m too late. I see him aim at me. I scream “HELP” I’m too late. He shot me. I’m on the ground. I yell again “HELP” Everything’s getting quiet. I’m in so much pain. My last sight is the man running away. I hear sirens but then I see nothing and hear nothing.
*The next day in the Hospital*
I wake up to the sound of beeps. It’s 9 am. I realize I’m at the hospital. I quickly sit up straight and ask what happened. My parents are next to me. I ask again “What happened” No answer. I ask again. Someone finally says “You were sh....” I faint before I can hear the rest. I wake up again. It felt like I had been out for 5 minutes. But I look at the time again and it is 1:00 pm! It’s been 4 hours!!! “ Why do I keep passing out?” I say. I sit up again and realize that there is no one in the room. Where is everyone? Did they give up on me? I start to shout hello. “Hello” I shout. I keep on saying it but no one is there. I sit there for a while then I remember that I have my phone in my pocket. I take it out and I realize that I have a message from y/n. She said, “ Hey, I heard what happened, are you okay?” I don’t know what to say to her, after all, she is the cause of all of this. But maybe I should reply. I really do want to know what happened. In the middle of my thoughts, I feel excruciating pain in my shoulder. I scream. “AHHH” I drop my phone on the ground. I feel it again. “PLZ SOMEONE HELP” I yell. Out of nowhere a nurse comes in and pulls out a needle. I hear my phone vibrate. I try to look at it. I see that it was from y/n. I’m about to pick up my phone but I get another jolt of pain. I scream again. The nurse holds me down. “IT HURTS” I scream. The nurse softly says “I know honey, it will all be ok” She then sticks the needle in me. I black out again.
*Y/N point of view*
Hmm... I think to myself. It says that he read it, but he didn’t respond. I wonder why. Well, it’s the first day of school tomorrow. I have to impress Shawn. I wonder what I should wear. I go into my closet and pick out what I want to wear. I decided I wanted to wear a nice neon shirt with torn jeans. Then I made sure my bag was packed. Of course, it was. After I’m ready I lay on my bed, and get on Instagram. The first thing I look at is Shawn’s account. I keep on scrolling in his account until I fall asleep.
*First day of school*
I wake up to the sound of my alarm. It’s 6:00. I’m so excited because yesterday before Shawn left he said that Ethan and I could carpool with him for the year. Which means I get to see Shawn every single morning! Then I remember that Ethan is still in the hospital. Poor him, I bet it really hurts. I then wonder if he replied to my texts. I lean over to my nightstand and grab my phone. He still hasn’t replied. I wonder what’s wrong. I bet that means he’s not coming to school today. Yes! I get to be alone with Shawn I think to myself, but then I immediately feel horrible for thinking that. He’s my best friend, I should want him to feel better. I get up and change to my clothes, I go downstairs and eat breakfast. I had cinnamon toast crunch and then I realized my dad had already left. I didn’t get to say bye. That sucks. I guess I’ll see him after school. Soon enough I hear Shawn’s mom honk the horn. I yell ” Mom, I’m leaving” She yells back “Ok love you, sweety, have fun with Shawn.” After I hear her say that I rush out the door thinking about how I hate it when she makes everything so awkward. I lock the door behind me with my key and hop in the back seat with Shawn. Aaliyah is sitting in the front. (Shawn’s sister) Hey Aaliyah, I say. “Hey y/n” she replies in a really friendly tone. I then turn over to Shawn and say hey. He is sitting in the middle seat. So close to me! He says that his mom should go to Ethan’s house which is right next to mine. I then look over at his driveway. There are no cars. He’s still not home. I look over to Shawn and say “Umm... Ethan had an accident.” He’s in the emergency room.” I say this with tears in my eyes. Shawn immediately gives me a hug. “I’m so sorry to hear that.” He says to me. That’s what I love about him. He always knows the right thing to say. That thought comforts me for a moment, but then I actually think about how much pain and discomfort that Ethan must be in, so I pull away and start crying while staring out the window. He turns my face around and wipes my tears with his sleeve. I hear him say something, but I don’t know what it was. I could have sworn he said I was beautiful! He then whispers in my ear that everything is gonna be okay. If only I could believe that.
*In school*
I grab the envelope with my name on it and see that I have Math first with Mrs. Cramer, then Science with Mrs. Scralick, next Social studies with Mr. Stocking, and last, English with Mrs. Alex. Then, of course, I have my connections which are P.E and band, with Mr. Garmatio, and Mrs. D., I then open up Ethan’s envelope and see that he has my exact same schedule! I run over to Shawn and tell him what Ethan and I have, and it turns out that he has the exact same thing too! How could this get any better! It really couldn’t. Shawn and I head to our first class together which is math. We get in and we get to pick our seats. Shawn and I rush over to the first 3 seats that we see next to each other. I decide to save one for Ethan. After everyone takes their seats, class starts, but I can’t seem to focus on anything. All I can think about at that moment is how much pain and confusion, and about how Shawn called me beautiful. Before I know it it’s time for band class. We get in the band room and put our instruments together. Since we are in symphonic, we get to play on the first day. Concert band doesn’t get to though. I sit in the front row on the right with the rest of the clarinets. Shawn sits in the back row on the left, where all the rest f the trombones sit and when Ethan gets back, he’ll sit in the second row on the left, where the french horns sit. After I tell Mrs. D Ethan had an accident and that he’s in the emergency room, we start class and begin to play. “Long tones on F,” she says. We all play and play and play until the class is over. It’s time to go home!
*Afterschool*
Shawn and I walk out together talking about how school was, and who our favorite teachers are so far. Naturally, we both agreed that Mrs. D was the best. Then we get in the car with Shawn’s mom and Aaliyah. Shawn sits in the normal seat this time, knowing that Ethan isn’t coming. As we are talking, Shawn’s mom interrupts us by saying, “Hey, y/n and Shawn, I got a call from your mom y/n, and she says that Ethan will be back in school tomorrow!” “Yay,” I excitedly say. “Yay, can’t wait to see him!” Shawn says. Another thing I like about him. He is always happy for everyone. I go in my backpack to check if Ethan has replied to me. He finally has! he said, “Hey, I’m fine, my shoulder really hurts, but nobody has told me what happened.” He also says, “There is nobody in the room, I don’t know where everyone is.” I reply with “It’ll be ok, everything’s going to be just fine, I don’t want to put you in shock, but if no one has told you, I guess I should. You were shot in the shoulder when you ran out of my house.” I put my phone away and now that we are all happy, Shawn’s mom asks us if we wanted to stop on the way home to get ice cream. So I ask my mom and she says yes, so we head off to get some ice cream.
*Shawns POV*
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. I wake up to the sound of my alarm. I get up to get my clothes on. As I stand in the closet, I question myself with what I should wear. Eventually, I decide to wear a nice neon shirt with shorts. I get my stuff ready and head downstairs. I can’t seem to stop thinking about y/n. I’m glad that I get to pick her up today. Ugh. I also have to be with Ethan. I just want to be with her alone, and not Ethan. I eat breakfast and then get on my phone. I start to scroll through instagram, and of course, I start off on her account. As I scroll through her account I have a sad thought about the day. I have to tell Y/n about my tour that’s coming up. I have to tell her tomorrow. As I sit their thinking about how sad she’ll be, I make my goal today to have a great time with her, so I won’t feel too bad to leave her for the rest of the school year. Soon enough my mom and sister start telling me to hurry up and get in the car so that we can pick up y/n and Ethan. So I get in the car, and now I’m desperate to see y/n. When we get there, I see her get out of her house and lock the door behind her. She runs over to the car, with a bright smile on her face. Gosh, I think to myself, she had such a beautiful smile. She gets in the car and sits right next to me. She’s so close. I love it. She then says good morning to my mom and my sister. Another thing I like about her, she’s so polite! I tell my mom to go pick up Ethan, who is right next door. As soon as I say that, I see y/n start to get teary eyed. She then says that Ethan had an accident and that he’s in the emergency room so he won’t be at school today. I immediately give her a hug and tell her that it’s going to be okay. I start to feel bad for not wanting Ethan to ride with us this morning. I never wanted him to end up in the emergency room! Y/n pulls away from me and starts really crying while looking out the window. I turn her face over to mine, and wiper off her face with my sleeve. I whisper under my breath, ” She’s still beautiful when she cries.” I tell her that it’s all going to be ok. Then before we know it, we are at school.
*In school*
I get my schedule and read it out loud. I look over to y/n really hoping that we have the same schedule. Shortly after I finish reading mine, y/n comes over to me and starts reading my schedule, then she excitedly starts telling me that me her and Ethan have the exact same schedule! Yes!!! I think to myself. Soon the bell rings and it’s time to get into the class. Our first class is Math. I can’t focus on anything but y/n. I still don’t know if she likes me or not. I sure do know that I like her. Before I know it, I am in my last class which is a band class. We get in there and I watch y/n sit in the clarinet section. I go over to the trombone section and set up my instrument. After everyone has set up their instrument, y/n tells Mrs.D that Ethan won’t be here today and that he is in the emergency room. Mrs. D says that she’s sorry to hear that and then tells us all to play long tones on F.
*Afterschool*
Y/n an I walk out of school together. We are talking about how school went and all the basics. We get in the car, we are still talking, and then my mom interrupts us. She says “I got a call from your mom y/n. She says that Ethan will be back in school tomorrow!” “Yay!” y/n says. I then join her in the celebrating and say “I can’t wait to see him”. Then my mom asks if we want to go stop for ice cream. We all say yes after y/n asks her mom. Then off we go to get ice cream.
* Ethan’s POV*
“Ahhhhhh” I scream. I’m awake. I’m in shock. What did that nurse put in me? “Ahhhh” I scream again. I’m in such unbearable pain. This time there are actually people in the room. I see my parents. I ask what happened once again. Finally, someone answers me and says “You were shot” I couldn’t recognize the voice. I knew it wasn’t my parents. So I figured it was someone else. Probably a nurse. “Why does it hurt so bad. Can’t you do something to fix it?” I say. They reply with “Only antibiotics and lots of rest. If you rest today you can go to school tomorrow.” “Yes! I get to see y/n tomorrow!!!” “Who’s y/n?” the nurse says to me. “Oh, she’s just a friend.” I say back. Even though I know I don’t want her to be “just a friend”, I think to myself. When can I go back to school? “Tomorrow.” my mom says to me. Yay! I get to be with y/n tomorrow.” The nurse then tells me about how I’m going to have to be wearing a sling at school. That doesn’t really bother me though. Later she helps me sit up and give me a pill. She said something about it making me have less pain. Then she gives my mom a whole container of them. When we leave the hospital with my sling and my pills, I ask my mom if I can go to y/n house when we get home. She says yes. I’m finally going to get to be alone with y/n. Just me and her.
*At my house*
“We get home and I get out of the car. As soon as I get out my mom and dad say “ You know, we were really worried about you. Why’d you run so far from the house?” They said it in such a sad voice that I almost began to be sad. I tell them that I just wanted to get some exercise in. They surprisingly believe me and let it go. I know that wasn’t the truth. But I wasn’t about to tell them that I had a crush on my best friend. I tell my parents that I’m going to y/n’s house and then I leave. I just walk right next door and ring the bell. Her mom answers the door surprisingly quick. I go inside and greet her. She says hi back and then I tell her that I wanted to talk to y/n. She tells me that she went out for ice cream with Shawn’s family and that she should be back in about an hour. I’ll wait. I’ll do anything to spend time with her, I think to myself.
*1 hour later*
As I’m waiting in y/n’s room I finally hear a knock on the door. She’s finally home! I hear rapid footsteps coming up the stairs. I’m so excited to finally see her. She’s still running up the stairs and now I’m so excited that I’m on my feet. All I can think about is exactly what I’ll say to her. I play it out in my mind. It’s all going to be so perfect and in the end, we’ll be together. She opens the door and sees me. “Ethan! You’re ok! I missed you!” she says to me. I run over to her and give her a hug. As soon as I’m about to tell her exactly why I ran off, and tell her everything I’ve been feeling, she starts talking about Shawn. “OMG! You won’t believe what happened at school today! Shawn said I was beautiful!!! Well, at least I think he said that. I’m not really sure, but I hope he did. Oh and we have the same schedule, me you and Shawn are in all the same classes! Isn’t that exciting! Also before you ran off that one day, Shawn sang me a song, and I think it was for me….” She goes on and on and on until I can’t bear listening anymore. Right when I’m about to speak and tell her everything, she interrupts me with, “Oh and the last thing, I think I’m going to ask Shawn out tomorrow. So do you think I should?” As soon as I hear this my heart sinks. She then says, “What were you going to say?” I know now that I can’t tell her that I’ve liked as long as I can remember and that I want to be with her. So instead I just say, “ Oh nothing. I think you should ask Shawn out if he makes you happy!” “Omg, you are the best friend ever! I knew you would give me such great advice!” She said to me. I replied with “That’s what friends are for, right?” She comes in for a hug. Soon enough she’s in my arms. That was the best moment of my life.
