8th Grade Murder Chapter 2

Zack was lying on his living room couch when his cell phone beeped. He flipped it open and it said, ‘one new text message'

The text message was from his friend Connor Kelly. ‘wer r u?’ it asked.

Zack texted back. ‘Sik at home. R u texting in class again?’

Connor did that a lot. He was good at getting away with it too. But of course he had all D’s.

‘Yep’ Connor replied simply.

Before Zack could reply, Connor sent another message. ‘g2g cya’

Zack had woken up this morning with a piercing headache and feeling like he just ate a feast of live rats. His mom called the school and said he was sick, and then left for work. Now Zack was alone in the house. He could do any sort of things. He felt like Kevin in ‘Home Alone’.

The bad part about all this was, there was virtually nothing on TV for kids on the weekdays. After The Price is Right ended, it was the news.

"There was a school shooting at Eastgate Middle School," The news Anchorman announced. "We haven’t been informed of how many were killed, but we do know that there are no real leads at this time."

Eastgate Middle School. That’s where Zack went to school. What a stroke of good fortune that he was sick.

"Oh my gosh," Zack muttered. "I could have been killed." Then it struck him. What about Connor? Zack looked back at the TV.

"All this happened only a few minutes ago." The anchorman said.

Zack quickly wrote a text message to Connor. ‘R u ok’

No answer.

‘connor?’

Still nothing.

This time he dialed his mom’s number

"Hello?" His mom answered.

"Hey mom, did you hear about the school shooting?" Zack asked quickly

"No, where was it?"

"My school!" Zack exclaimed.

"Oh my god,"

"I think Connor might have gotten shot."

"I’m going to come home right now and we’ll find out."

Before Zack could tell his mom she didn’t have to, she said, "I love you honey." And hung up.

Zack sighed.

Connor was a friend of the family. Zack’s mom had known Connor’s mom since high school, and they still talk all the time. Zack and Connor’s dads don’t get along so well, but most of the time they manage to avoid each other.

Zack was 13 in eighth grade, while Connor was 14 and also in eighth grade.

Zack was a smart boy; he shot for A’s and kicked himself for getting a B. Most of the time he never got in trouble.

Connor was the opposite. He had C’s and D’s, and didn’t do anything about it. He was almost always sending a text message to someone, ever since he had gotten his phone. His phone had gotten confiscated more times than anyone could remember, but still Connor used it.

Zack’s mom worked at some office building very close to her house, so she was there in no time. She jumped out of the car and walked inside.

"Hey mom," Zack said.

"Hi, honey," She bent down and hugged Zack while Zack resisted the urge to puke.

"So, uh why’d you come?" Zack asked when his mom stopped hugging him.

"I wanted to see if everything was okay."

"Um, everything’s fine, mom."

Zack’s mom picked up the phone and called the police department.

She asked about the school shooting, she asked who was killed, but apparently the police wouldn’t say a thing because she kept getting madder and madder.

When she finally hung up, her face was redder than Zack’s shirt. "Let’s go to Cathy’s house." She said, almost in tears.

Cathy was Connor’s mom. She was nice, but Zack didn’t like her, she was a little strange. Zack’s mom said she was a little out of her mind after she saw four people get shot in their heads, but Zack wasn’t ready to believe her.

When Zack and his mom arrived, Cathy apparently hadn’t heard about the shooting.

"Hey, Jenn!" She said to Zack’s mom when she answered the door. "What are you doing here?"

"You didn’t hear?" Zack’s mom said quietly.

"Uh, no."

Zack’s mom sat Cathy down on the futon before telling her.

Cathy’s face went pale when she heard. "I’m calling the police," she said, trying not to burst into tears. She got up and reached for the phone. She dialed the number and locked herself into her room.

Several moments later she came out. "He’s in the hospital." She said. "Shot four times."