Where there is smoke, there is.......

“Hey Cherry” I and Tyler said in unison.

“What’s up?” Tyler asked as he wrapped his arms around my shoulders.

“Am good” She replied just as the Andrews walked past us.

“Um, I will be right back guys, I need to take care of something” I said leaving them behind as I followed the direction the twins took. I saw them standing beside their lockers with the white-haired girl between them. I summoned up courage and walked over to them.

“Hey” I said as I stood before the two big brother’s before me…damn am a shorty…. This boys must be working out every day.

“Hey” they said at the same time.

I turned towards the girl and gave her a small smile, I mean she could still be a meanie for all I know.

Surprisingly she gave me a nod as a sign of acknowledgement.

“Am sorry, I can’t tell which is who, please which one of you is Nick?” I asked smiling.

“Am the one” The one with the gelled hair replied.

“Excuse me” the other twin said leaving us to our conversation.

“I’ve been wanting to talk to you for some time now” I said still smiling.

“I wanted to thank you for the other day” I continued.

“Don’t mention it” he replied, he had a blank expression all through.

“Why didn’t you stay?”

“What?”

“Why didn’t you wait for me to recover before you left?”

“Because your boyfriend is kind of territorial”

“What? You mean Tyler? He is not my boyfriend……maybe you misunderstood him”

“Yeah, right” he said sarcastically.

“Am Tessie by the way”

“I know who you are”.

“Oh”

“Chloe, keeps talking about how awful you are” he continued.

“And do you believe it?”

“No”

“So how do I tell the difference between you and your brother?” I asked.

“My eyebrows”

“What about them?”

“My brother has a little scar on his right eyebrows, it looks like he shaved off his eyebrows as a style but it’s actually an injury’;

“How did he get it?”

“My aunt”

“By accident?”

“No”

“It’s alright, are you heading to the cafeteria?”

“Yeah, you and your brother can come sit on our table”

“I don’t think that……..”

“Sure we will love to” his brother appeared out of nowhere.

His brother has a gorgeous smile.

“I’m Nate”

“Tessie”

Nick should smile more.

“Hey guys” I said as I sat down with my tray of food. “Say hello to my new friends” I said smiling referring to the trio.

“Xup” Tyler greeted.

“Hi” Cherry said blushing.

“Hello” Skyler said while ducking her head. Well I guess she is shy too.

“Aren’t you Cherry?” Nate asked.

“Am Nate by the way” and from then on they both started talking.

I noticed Skyler never said a word.

“Looks like someone is pissed” Tyler whispered into my ear referring to Chloe whom was five tables away from us.

“That’s the bell guys, let’s get going. I don’t want to be late for Biology class, you do not want Mr. Miller to start giving us a lecture about being punctual” I said getting up.

“Thanks for having us” Nate said flashing a smile.

“Our pleasure” I smiled back

“See you in biology lab” Nate said

“Yeah, I’ll see you there” I overheard Cherry respond.

“Our topic for today is Parasites…..”

“Do you smell something” Tyler said sniffing the air.

“Yeah, Boredom” Cherry said.

“Smoke” I said also sniffing the air.

“What is that smell” Mr. Miller asked just as the fire alarm went off.

“Okay everyone be calm, and file out gently” Mr. Miller said as he ushered us out of the class. When we were outside Mr. Williams kept asking if everyone is okay, he was covered with perspiration, I felt sorry for him. By now half of the fourth floor was coated with thick dark smoke, then there came the explosion of glass followed by a loud ear piercing scream. I this was what Mr. Williams was praying for not to happen, there is someone trapped in there! Everyone froze certain they didn’t hear right, it came again, the sound of a girl screaming.

“It’s Chloe!” I said just realizing what was happening, I could see the color being drawn out of Mr. Williams face.

“Oh shit!” Cherry said slowly.

“This is bad, this is so bad” Tyler said putting both hands at the top of his head.

“Am going in” I suddenly found myself saying.

“Are you insane?!” Cherry asked almost screaming.

“Please tell me you’re joking” Tyler said staring in disbelief.

“Am not”

“Mr. Williams, it’s Chloe, we’ve got to get her out of there”

“You’re damn right it’s Chloe, but am not going to risk anybody life at this moment, I have already called the fire service, the will be here any minute.

“She would have been burnt to crisp by then” I said gritting my teeth in anger. He just looked at me in annoyance and walked away.

“Too bad, your plan for rescue is ruined” Tyler said in a strange relief just as I saw an aluminum ladder leaning close to wall leading to the home- economics lab.

“Look” I said pointing at the ladder.

“Shit” Tyler and Cherry said in exasperation.

“Let’s go” I said leading the way not caring if they followed me or not. Tyler and Cherry helped me set the ladder so it won’t budge if mounted. I went first followed by Cherry then Tyler, we were very careful so we won’t be caught.

“First thing first, we need a fire extinguisher and fire proof jackets” I said as we hurried out of the lab.

“I’ll get the extinguisher, but where the hell are you going to get the jackets?” Tyler asked.

“I saw one in Mr. Williams’s office when I newly came in” I said

“Do you think it will be there now?” Cherry asked.

“I hope so” I said as I raced to his office, I opened a few cupboards and rummaged through their contents, then as I stood trying to figure out where he could have possibly kept those jackets, I sighted a big red box with a huge written sign which read “emergency” I pounced on it and tore open the top and brought out two jackets, and one nose masks.

I ran back to the spot we all agreed to meet.

“Did you get it” I asked them.

“Yeah we did” Cherry replied breathing heavily and showing me the extinguisher. We heard another scream.

“Hurry!” we ran upstairs.

“Please help me” we could here Chloe clearly now.

“It’s coming from the science lab” Cherry said almost out of breath now, we headed straight for the lab the whole place was covered with smoke, I wore my mask and a fire jacket, the door of the lab was already burnt down.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Tyler asked. I jumped inside before he had a chance to grab me.

“Tessie, Tessie” I could hear him and Cherry calling my name, I didn’t care

“Chloe” I called looking for her, I could not see anything because everywhere was covered with thick smoke and fire, I couldn’t find her.

“Help, am over here” I looked and saw her in the inner room at the other end of the lab, what a big lab we have! It looked almost impossible for me to reach her. Then I remembered I actually had an extinguisher, I made use of it immediately creating a little path for myself, and I had a plan! I hoped on the long lab table and started walking on it carefully avoiding the chemicals that were the cause of the explosion because of the heat, it was like a minefield. As I kept moving steadily towards her when suddenly a. hydrogen peroxide exploded, if not for my sharp reflexes, it would have gotten my face blown off in a second.

“Are you alright?” Tyler asked.

“Yeah, I think so” I replied.

I finally got to the store room and tried opening the door but it didn’t budge Chloe was pale as sheet, her eyes already red from crying.

She wasn’t the bossy, proud Chloe anymore, she looked so scared and vulnerable.

“I’ll get you out of here, I promise” I reassured her, I then gave her a signal to move back away from the door. I lifted the extinguisher and with full force used the bottom to break the lock on the door, now at this point, I could feel the heat coming from the fire now.

Oh no! The store room was filled with highly inflammable chemicals, we needed to get the hell out of there!

“I feel very faint” Chloe said.

“Then let’s make our exit a little faster” I said tossing her the second fire jacket, I had to sacrifice my mask, she is probably filling faint because she has been inhaling a lot of smoke. I held her hand and we both climbed the table, we could feel it burning right under our feet, we kept walking till we got to the door, as we were just about to leap out a huge log of wood fell, obstructing our way, Chloe let out a loud yelp.

“It’s okay, we can just go under it” I said aiming the extinguisher at the burning log of wood and squeezed. I was seriously chocking, and my eyes were clothed with tears, I could hardly see. When the fallen log of wood was finally quenched, we both went under it, out the door and into the waiting arms of Tyler and Cherry.