“They get more attention with negativity.” Oh my gosh she’s so annoying, we don’t need to get an update from you every 30 minutes. This girl is my best friend’s ex. She cheated on him with his cousin. Such a messy situation, I still don’t know the full story; I’ve tried to ask him multiple times, but he never tells me the full story. She has been trying to get him back through yellow font reposts and “targeted” stories.

      Text Message—SMS
      Today 9:41 PM
Dude she can’t go a single day without making drama.
      So crazy lol.

I clicked the little send button and set my phone down. At this point, it was getting late. I had a student council meeting tomorrow morning. I set my alarm an hour and a half earlier than normal, making me quiver. I turned on the faucet in my bathroom and began cleaning my face; when in reality I needed to clean my dirty, rude, and malicious self. A little after 5 minutes I heard my phone buzzing like a Guatemalan hornet. My foolish self, grinning ear to ear, stopped cold in my tracks. My heart sank to the bottom of my stomach. I could feel myself burning up, similar to when teachers call on you when you haven’t been paying attention. I sent that message to her…

I checked my notifications there were some hateful ones:
“@James you are disguising. I hate you!”

On the other hand, there were guys who thought it was the funniest thing ever:
“Common James W.”
“Bro isn’t afraid to say the truth, love you kid”

That night I went to bed stressed. I really hope the drama would end before it gets a chance to start. It was a stupid mistake, and I shouldn’t talk about other people like that (even if it’s true).

In the morning, I peeled back my banana and took a bite before walking into the meeting. To my surprise, no one was staring at me or giving me a weird look. Maybe they don’t know, or they don’t care. I really wanted to go home, I felt my heart thumping and my palms sweating. I’m a senior class officer, I’m supposed to be a role model. In actuality, I’m a fraud who picks on others.

The meeting finished five minutes early, giving me some time to be alone and think about my actions. Should I tell the principle, I mean it would be better if I go to him and explain my actions. If I tell him what I did, I may lose my position in the student office.

”Ringggg”
The first warning bell for first period rang.
“Alright I’ll catch you boys later.”
I was one step away from the door and completely did a 180; classmates laughing at my ridiculous turn. I had to do the right thing and turn myself in. Every step felt like three, my breaths felt painful; I felt like I let myself down, and this was the only way to redeem myself. Here I was, at the principals office. I took a deep breath and opened the door.

”Hello Mr. Sinclair, how are you doing?” Mr. Smith cheerfully asked me before sipping his steaming coffee.
“Well Mr. Smith, I wanted to tell you that—“
“FIRE, FIRE, FIRE, EVERYONE EVACUATE! FIRE, FIRE”
“Mr. Smith I didn’t know we had a fire drill today?” I jokingly asked while walking to the door.
“We don’t!?” Which sounded like a mix between a concerned statement and question. Very quickly people began to lose their minds. Unfortunately, our school hasn’t had a fire drill in multiple years because the head of school hasn’t coordinated one with the fire department. Leading to a large issue—people had no idea where to go; large sums of people were stampeding, staircases were packed, and dark black smoke began to fill the hallways. Every second the air became harder to breathe. Myself and a few others began searching the janitor’s closet for towels. I opened the door of the closet,grabbed a few towels, ran them under water, and tied it around my face. This created a small filter system allowing me to breathe better. Through all the chaos I heard a woman scream for help.
“I have to save her” I pushed through the crowd of people, it felt like swimming against the ocean’s current. I tried opening the door but it must have been locked.
“Unlock the door, it won’t open” I screamed while knocking on the glass section of the door.
“I can’t, when everyone was leaving-“ She sniffled “A bookcase fell on my leg and I’m trapped” Instantly as we got closer I could recognize that voice. No way… That was the girl from last night. I couldn’t believe it. The perfect opportunity presented itself; what better way to say sorry-by saving their life. I tried pushing myself into the door; that didn’t work. An idea came into my mind, I grabbed my water bottle, warmed up my arm as if I was a pitcher about to strike out Babe Ruth, and threw that metal bottle as hard as I could.
“Crashhhhhh!!!” The glass spread all across the floor
I reached through the broken window, a sharp blade pierced into my forearm. Blood began bursting out of my arm like a garden hose. I twisted the door handle and ran inside. The fire had almost spread to this room, if we don’t get out of here in a couple minutes we may all burn.

Black smoke began to flood the room. We only had a few more minutes until the air would become lethal. I quickly began putting all of my weight into lifting the bookcase that was crushing her. I pushed and lifted, pushed and lifted. It barely moved up an inch. With no time to spare I grabbed a book off the ground, created enough space to wedge it in, then pried up what was left.
“Come on, give me your hand! We have to go!” I screamed, pulling her from underneath the death trap.
“If you follow my lead you’ll have plenty of time to thank me later. For now let’s get the hell out of here!”

Holding her hand I led us out of the classroom. By now, the smoke had begun to completely overwhelm the hallways. There were embers and flames everywhere, leaving a seven foot margin to walk through. This fire had to be started on purpose. I let go of her hand, adjusted my makeshift mask, and began running. For a second I believed we were going to be saved, until the unexpected happened.

About 10 seconds away from making it to the door I heard a loud rumble from above. The walls had taken a beating from the angry, burning, and deadly fire. I turned around to see where the girl had gone. She was lying there in pain grabbing her ankle that looked the size of a baseball. Without hesitation, I ran directly through the embers to rescue her. I grabbed her in my arms and headed for the exit. I was a few steps away from rescue before I heard a rumble that could only mean one thing. As soon as I ran through the door, my heart was relieved. I turned around to see the mess that was left.