15 Why the Heck?

The next day they walked together to school. First, they brought Ivan to his school and he gave Alice his goodbye kiss. "If you two get even closer I have a feeling that I'll get replaced at the family," Mark rubbed the back of his neck.

"Don't be silly, you're his brother. You've been with him since he was born and I've only been with him for two days." Alice chuckled.

"It would be great to have you as a family member though," Mark murmured, and then he mentally slapped himself of why he even said such a thing.

"What?" thank goodness Alice didn't understand him.

"Ah, never mind." he grinned.

It didn't take long before they arrived at their school, they were surprised to see their classmates all celebrating like a bunch of party animals.

"What the heck is going on?" Alex asked no one in particular.

"No classes, the teachers are on a meeting but we can't go home yet." their classmate, Christian, answered happily.

They joined in on the celebration afterward, all except Alice. "Damn, I left the scrapbook at Mark's house. We could totally use this time to finish the darn thing," she groaned.

"Save working for the evening Alice, there are no classes. Let's head out for a while, some of our classmates are going out for karaoke." Gerald told her. After a few minutes of pondering over her thoughts, Alice agreed and they all sneaked out of the campus. They met some of their other classmates at the karaoke bar and they all had fun together.

Three hours later, they all decided to return to school. They froze in shock the moment they entered the gates. The school looked deserted, fear suddenly enveloped them. They saw tracks of blood, their school guard was dead and there were small fires on the other buildings. There were people gathering at the gates but all were too afraid to enter.

"W-what happened?" Lance stuttered out of fear.

They continued walking and ignored the attempts of the people to stop them, they had to make sure that their friends are safe after all.

"Get down!" Alice shouted as she pushed everyone to the ground. A bullet almost hit them, suddenly a man was running towards them. To their surprise, Alice ran towards the man. She yelped as she dodged a bullet but luckily the other guys were able to use the moment to attack him.

"That was a close call, don't be too reckless Alice. We must leave now!" Mark gulped nervously.

"I'm not leaving, some of our classmates are in there," Alice said stubbornly.

"Are you serious? We might get killed! Whoever is in this school definitely has weapons!" Josh exclaimed.

"Then what should we do? Leave them here to die?!" she said fiercely but there is no hiding the fear in her eyes. "Did it even enter your minds that the girls you love are in here as well?" she went near the man that attacked her earlier and searched his pockets. She was able to get a pocketknife and a gun. "I'm scared but I'm not leaving this place without trying."

Before they could even stop her Alice fired a bullet and ran away from them. Three men appeared and the guys could do nothing but hide behind some bushes. Alice gulped as she began shooting and running at the same time. She was surprised because she just had the same feeling whenever she's shooting at video games. Only this time, there was no health bar and no extra life.

"Whoa, Alice is definitely a tough chick." Gerald whistled.

"If Alice can do it then so can we. We have to help her." Lance announced.

"How? We don't even have any weapons." Josh said.

As if on cue, Alice appeared behind them. She was holding a couple of guns. "I took these from the men I fought earlier, I think you guys could use these. Matthew and Vincent, you have to get out of here and ask for help," she said. The two guys nodded and they immediately dashed outside the school.

"The rest of the men are all at the school park together with their hostages. I'll try fighting them, there are only about five left, whatever happens, don't die." Alice shouted.

They all split up, Alice was fighting one man. She managed to knock the gun out of his hands. "What do you want with our school?!" she asked as she pointed the gun at the man.

"Money, I guess?" the man shrugged. "Ask our leader,"

Alice gritted her teeth. The man only smirked then suddenly she fell on the ground. A man behind her hit her with an iron pipe. Alice groaned as she tried to stand up but it was futile, it was too painful, the two men stood in front of her. "You're actually tough for a girl," one man said.

"Damn..." Alice cursed. The man swung the pipe, Alice prepared for the impact but instead, her eyes widened in shock.

"Mark!" She yelled.

Mark took the hit for her, he blocked it using himself. He fell on the ground. "Such a pest, I guess we'll beat you to death before the girl." the man dropped the pipe and began punching Mark the other one kicked Mark's body.

Alice watched in horror as she saw Mark being beaten limb from limb, her eyes suddenly landed on the pipe which was only a few inches away from where she lay. She crawled her way near it, once her hand landed on the pipe she used it as support to stand up, she shook in anger. "Stay away from Mark!" Alice shouted as she swung the pipe, hitting both men on the head. She kept hitting them until they fell on the ground and lost consciousness. She went near Mark, he was covered in bruises and his forehead had blood flowing from it, she swung his arm around her shoulder and she dragged him to a safe place.

"I'm glad you're safe," Mark smiled weakly. Alice only pulled him in a tight embrace.

"Stupid, if anyone's reckless it's you. Stay here Mark, this time I'll protect you." she said.

Mark chuckled softly as he returned Alice's embrace. "Don't die on me," he said.

"I'm not planning to," Alice said before she left.

Alice gathered the guys. "This is it guys, fight the other men. I'll head for the leader, keep stalling and prevent the students from getting hurt, the police are probably on their way." she said before they separated.

Alice slowly sneaked behind the leader, the man had a different aura and it sent shivers into Alice's spine. Alice took her gun and pointed it at the man, suddenly the man turned and grabbed her wrists.

"Do you think I'm an idiot to not notice you?" the man smirked. Alice was too shocked to respond, the man pushed her to the ground and pulled her hair to make her kneel on the ground. "So you're the tough girl my men told me about," he said.

"Alice!" Gerald shouted as he ran to her direction.

"Go nearer and she dies," the man threatened as he pointed a gun at Alice. The guys stopped and cursed. "So are you the damsel in distress? You always need to be saved?" the man pulled her hair once again. Alice slowly placed her hand in her pocket to grab the knife and in one quick second she slashed it onto her hair, the man's eyes widened in shock as strands of hair flew in front of him.

Alice threw a punch at him, the man grabbed her arm once again, she smirked "Pay attention next time." the man looked down. The knife Alice was holding was stabbed onto him, the man released the grip on Alice's arm then he fell. Alice saw that her friends were all relieved. she gave them a reassuring smile. She also saw that the police have just arrived. "Damn they're always late,"

"I'm glad you're okay," Mark limped towards her.

"Idiot, that's my line." Alice chuckled.

"Alice you're so cool!" Alex cooed.

"Alice you were so awesome when I saw you holding that gun!" Vincent cheered.

"Yeah, you were awesome, if it wasn't for you we would've run away like cowards, thanks Alice." Mark said, after that he kissed Alice on the forehead.

"Eh? What?" Alice's eyes shot open, she was back in the classroom. "A d-dream?" she glanced at the clock it was already noon, she fell asleep for four hours. Alice looked around the room, most of her classmates were eating their lunch.

Alice thought of three things: one, where are the idiots, two, why did she dream of her school being held hostage and three, why the heck did she and Mark act all sweet in that dream?! Another thought crossed her mind, "Why Mark?!" she banged her head on the desk.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" She heard someone say, she looked up and she saw Mark, of all the people, and he was together with his co-idiots as Alice would call them.

"You slept for four hours," Josh chuckled.

"You missed all the fun, we sneaked out of the school and we visited the other high school that's a few blocks away from here. We met a bunch of cool people." Gerald narrated.

"Do you mean Tiffany's former school?" Alice paled at the mention of the school. They all nodded but she shook the thought off. "That's okay," she took a deep breath. "At least the school isn't on fire," she told herself.

The guys eyed Alice as if she'd grown a new head. "What are you talking about?" Lance asked. Alice only shook her and head and grinned goofily. "Nothing,"

They then received an announcement from their class president that they were allowed to go home. They headed over to Mark's house to work on the project. They were surprised to see an unfamiliar face in the house.

"Hi dad, these are my friends." Mark casually introduced them. The rest greeted the middle-aged man courteously.

After that, they worked on the project. They were all doing the scrapbook in the living room while Mark's father was watching TV. "Hey Mark, Ivan looks a lot like you and this girl. I think he could pass off as your son rather than a brother," Mark's father laughed.

The whole living room erupted with laughter. Alice and Mark just looked at him in disbelief. "Dad, please, that's really disturbing." Mark groaned.

Alice nodded in agreement. "Yeah sir, why not just consider the possibility of me being your daughter?" Alice joked and they once again laughed.

"No way, you can't be my sister!" Mark exclaimed.

"Hey, no need to be that defensive. I didn't know that you don't want me to be your sister so badly, am I not sister material?" Alice frowned.

Everyone inwardly palmed their faces. "She must be dense," Mark's father thought.

Soon everyone went to bed, Ivan and Alice went upstairs and the guys stayed in the living room. Meanwhile, Mark and his parents were all in the kitchen.

"I heard from your mom that you and Ivan like Alice," his father chuckled.

"I don't like her," Mark scoffed.

"Oh come on son, it's pretty obvious. You're just unaware." his father said and Mark only glared at him.

"How cute, but Alice is a nice catch." his mother smiled.

"Definitely, she's a keeper." his father nodded.

"Mom, dad, I don't like her okay. Sheesh..." Mark walked out of the kitchen. His parents looked at him in amusement.

The next morning, Mark had to wake Alice up since she overslept. "Why were you sleeping on the desk?" Mark asked.

"Huh? I finished the scrapbook so that we'd had free time tonight," she yawned.

"You should've asked for my help you know, you must be exhausted." he smiled.

"Yeah, a little bit."

After having breakfast they all got ready for school. Alice decided to braid her hair today for a change, she didn't expect the guys to make a big deal out of it though.

"You should try other hairstyles Alice, it makes you look like a girl." Alex joked.

"You look pretty," Mark muttered.

"You must be drunk," Alice laughed, thinking that Mark was joking.

"Why did I say that?" Mark whispered.

"She'll never get it and so will you," Gerald grumbles, the other guys heard it and they all grin in amusement.