CHAPTER 3: READY OR NOT

“Shawn, get up. You’ll be late for school.” Shawn forced himself to get up but his mind is still groggy.

Her mother looks at him, “Did you not sleep well last night? Look at your eyebags.” He didn't get any sleep the entire evening because of what happened between him and Kayleigh 

“Wash your face and go downstairs, the breakfast is ready.” His mother left him and he immediately go to the bathroom.

He goes downstairs and sat at the table, “Shawn can you buy me some tea at the convenience store after school?”

“Sure mom, I’ll buy some later.” he started eating his breakfast.

After a few minutes, he goes upstairs to get ready for school. He said goodbye to his mom and sister and started walking his way to school. Arthur is waiting for him at the gate, but he is with Cassandra and Raven.

He and Arthur fist-bumped, “What’s up dude? You’re the last one to get here. Why does it take you so long this time?” Arthur asked.

“I just overslept a bit. But wait, what’s that?” Shawn pointed at the paper bag Cassandra is carrying. “Lily asked me yesterday if I have a wedding veil at home, my mom still has her veil so I borrow it,” she said.

“Dude, today’s going to be lit because of Foundation Day,” Arthur said excitedly.

“But before that, let’s go to the classroom so we can help them decorate and prepare for the booth,” Raven suggested.

All of them walk their way to the classroom. Every section that they pass by is also busy preparing for their booths. When they got to their classroom, Lily immediately approaches them.

"I'm glad you're here, Cassandra. You brought what I asked for, right? " said Lily.

Cassandra hands her the paper bag, “Here’s the wedding veil. Please take care of it because my mother will be angry at me if it got torn or broken.”

Lily smiled at her, “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure it will be in good condition.”

“What are the things that we can help here?” Raven enters the conversation.

“Can I ask you guys to help put the decorations around the classroom?” Lily asked.

“Sure no problem, we’ll help with that.” Shawn agreed and all of them started helping and decorating the classroom.

As Shawn was busy decorating the walls, the classroom suddenly became noisier, “Oh my god, Why is she here?” one of his classmates said.

Lily shouted at him, “Shawn, someone is looking for you.”

He immediately turns his attention to Lily but he can’t believe his eyes who's the person he is seeing right now. Kayleigh is waving at him at the door so immediately approached her.

“Hi, Shawn!” Kayleigh said cheerfully. “I brought some cookies that my mom baked yesterday. Here take it.” She handed a bag of cookies to him.

“It’s a shame but I can’t accept that,” Shawn said as he don’t want the attention that his classmates are giving him right now.

Kayleigh still insists on him, “It’s a sign of my gratitude, please take it.” She grabs Shawn’s hand and put the bag of cookies on there.

“But I can’t accept this,” he tries to give back to Kayleigh, “I’m not fond of sweets.” he tries to reason out.

She pouted at Shawn, "I'm not leaving here until you accept these," drawing a sharper look from his classmates.

Shawn got no choice, “Okay fine, I’ll take it” Kayleigh smiled at him as she gave it to Shawn.

“Bye Shawn! See you later.” Kayleigh walks away while he is still frozen at the door.

“Hey Shawn,” he instantly snaps back to his senses, “Why does the most popular girl here in West Sierra High School give you cookies huh?” Lily said teasingly.

Raven, Cassandra, and Arthur rush over to him right away, "Hey Shawn, what's that? Do you two date? " Arthur immediately questioned.

Shawn shook his head and said, "No! We are not. He quickly places it in his backpack, "That being the case, why did she give you this package of cookies? Raven questioned.

.

Shawn explained, "We just become acquainted. Three of them express doubt about his words, asking, "Really huh? You two are simply friends? Arthur questioned him.

All of his classmates also approach him and ask the same questions, “I’m telling you guys, we just became friends recently.” Shawn immediately goes back to what he's doing, “We should get back to work. We won’t finish this on time.”

The whole class continues preparing the classroom, “Tell us more after we finish doing  these.” Cassandra said.

After an hour and a half, they almost finished setting up the classroom, “Thank you guys for your help in preparing our booth. You may take a break for now before we wrap this up.”

Shawn and his friends stand up and get out of the classroom, “I heard there is shawarma and tacos at the canteen beside the main gate. Shall we buy one there?” Raven suggested.

“Shawarma!?” Arthur’s eyes are glistening in excitement, “What are we waiting for? Let’s go there.” he pulls them in hurry.

They almost stumble in their haste so Shawn tried to slow him down, “Arthur, they will not run out of shawarma so calm down dude .”

“So Shawn tell us why she gave you that cookies?” Cassandra asked while they are walking

“What happen is that Kaylei---,” he stopped talking as they turned their attention to the loud noise coming from the gate.   

A man who appears to be wasted is shaking the gate. This drew the guards' notice, and they approached him right away., “Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” the guard shouted assertively.

Many students in the area were intrigued about what was going on at the gate, so they rushed over to see what the fuss was all about. "Stand back everyone, we don't know if that man is dangerous." one of the guards said.

The guards become enraged because the man refuses to answer and continues to bang on the gate. "Listen here, you piece of shit. If you don't go away right, we are gonna beat your ass." he still didn't listen and continued what he was doing.

They immediately open the gate, "Come here, you dipshit," one of the guards says as he pulls the guy away, but the man bites the guard's arm. He yelled in agony so his colleague drew the baton and smacked him in the face to get him off of him. 

One of the guards punch him and completely fell to the ground. "Hey, help me!" The guard said while trying to stop the bleeding on his arms.

"Shit, the wound is too deep," the guard yelled to one of the students, "Get the nurse here quickly!" He led his wounded colleague inside and sat him in a chair. 

"You'll be okay buddy," he tied a towel to the wound to try to stop the bleeding, "

"The nurse is here, with the principal." one of the students said," Mr. Castro, what is this commotion about?" The principal asked.

"Ma'am, that man over there was knocking on the gate and won't listen to us to stop. We tried to get him away but he immediately attacked Bautista and bit his arms." one of the guards explained.

The principal dials his phone, "I'm calling the police to get that man arrested, as for everyone here, go back to your respective classroom and wait for my announcement for Foundation Day until I solve this problem." The crowd quickly dispersed from the scene for also Shawn and his friends.

"Let's go back now, we can buy at the other canteen," Shawn advised them.

"But my shawarma," Arthur exclaimed, "I want to eat some "

"You can buy that outside the school," Shawn dragged him, "We need to get out of here first." Arthur eventually gave up and joined them. 

"What do you guys of what happened there? I think that man is crazy." Arthur said to them.

"I would assume the person is a drug addict," Raven said, "That's why he acts aggressively like that."

Shawn's mind is likewise boggled by the earlier events, "But would he do that? Normally, a person would punch people's faces or bodies but instead, he bit the guard which is unusual." 

"Let's go back and tell the others what occurred there," Cassandra offered. "Perhaps they'll be able to tell us something."

As soon as they arrived in the classroom, Arthur shouted, "Guys, something crazy happened at the main gate. A guy is making a ruckus at the gate and when the guards tried to him, he suddenly attacked and bit the arms of one of the guards."

Their classmates immediately gathered around, "What? Seriously? Is that for real?" Lily said puzzledly.

"Well yeah, I'm not making a tale, you'll be hearing it from all across the school very soon." Arthur clarified.

"Since you said that the guy bit the guard, maybe he's a zombie?" John, one of their classmates, said, "That's the only possible thing I can think of."

"Or he's a vampire disguised as a human?" Raven joins the discussion, "Why would he bite someone if he could use any weapon or his hand to attack?"

Lily refuted them, "Are you guys too old to believe in that myth? That thing doesn't exist in real life." 

"Then how would you explain that? Absurd people only do that." Megan uttered in disbelief.

"That's the big question we're trying to solve here. We can't just depend on legends or speculations, so let's wait for what the principal has to say." Cassandra stated that the talk will come to a close.  

"Okay everyone, let's finish up before the event time starts. We only half an hour to make the finishing touches." Lily and others had already left to finish the task at hand.

Everyone got preoccupied with finishing the decorations when a scream echoes across the area, causing everybody to abruptly stop what they were doing. Arthur exclaimed, "What the hell is that noise?"

They all head outside to see what's going on, but they aren't expecting to witness what they are seeing now. A student is viciously biting a girl's neck, as other students nearby try to stop him but are instead also attacked.

"That's what happened earlier at the gate," Raven said, pointing at the commotion downstairs.

"What the hell is going on here? Are people going insane?" Lily worried fearfully.

The other section became noisy when they saw a student injured and covered in blood. He begged weakly, "Please help me." Some of them went to assist the student, but he suddenly coughed up blood and convulsed.

They all take a step back, unsure what is going on with that person. After a few seconds, he finally came to a halt, and they approached to examine him. "Hey, are you all right?" asked one of the students.

He didn't respond, but he grabbed that student, and blood squirted from its neck as it was torn off by that guy. Everyone screamed and fled away, resulting in an immediate stampede.

"RUN!!!!" Shawn screamed as Cassandra and Raven were stunned by what had occurred. "WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE OR WE'LL DIE!" he yelled.