Probably the most "person-defining" event in my life was when our school was raided. It was 2077 or something, James knows it better. It was once again a hot afternoon, and we were being taught about the basics of combat. Swords, guns, axes blah blah. None of those intrigued me. I glanced over at James. He was so focused to the lesson that he wouldn't hear me whisper his name several times. I leaned back on my chair and looked around the classroom. About twenty kids, all watching our teach how guns worked. Unlike ever other person, I wasn't interested in that combat. While everyone worked hard when shooting the hell out of a doll and swinging sharp stuff, I was watching something else. Fire. I had a knack for chemistry and a soft spot for fire. Whatever. As the sun slowly made its way through the sky, I took my pen in my hand and extremely bored, I started to draw random things. Humans, swords, guns, spikey costumes, cacti, my pen. I had given up my hopes in surviving through the class until I heard some gunshots. I quickly turned my head towards the "window" of the room. It was just an empty space, no glass. Gunshots were actually common, obviously, but this one was a lot closer. Everyone should've heard it because in a second or two, most of the heads were turned towards my direction. I tried to see where the shot had come from. Then I heard the sound of a whistle- not just any whistle, the old one our principal had with the slightly deeper voice. It was the alarm. Our teacher, Mrs. Helmhag, paused her lecture and quickly motioned us to look at her. We quickly grabbed our knives("basic mandatory defensive device for emergency situations", they called them) and crouched under our desks. We waited as more shots were fired, even closer now. I heard some voices shout, our squeaky doors swing open. More shots. I tightened my grip around the knife. I could here some giggling- of course everyone wanted to test their skills for real and become a hero. My eyes wildly searched for James. His eyes were moving quickly. That was how I knew he was thinkg, planning or weighing things in his mind. I whispered to him. He raised his head. I raised his shoulders, and shook his head. What are we gonna do? I shrugged. He went back thinking for a second, and slowly stepped towards me. "If they dive in here, you stay back.", he whispered. "Fuck no.", I disagreed. His eyes moved around once again. He sighed. "If nobody else fights, we go ahead." I smiled faintly at him. "It's obvious then: we're gonna have to fight." He nodded. "Be careful." I nodded. "What's the plan then, Big Brain?" He pressed his lips together nervously. "No plan. Be careful." I couldn't help but let out a silent gasp. I watched as he walked back under his desk, and observed his knife as if it was the only thing that cared about him. I slowly reached for my aerosol perfume (Obviously I didn't use it as it was first intended. Think of it more like something to spray into someone else's eyes.) I looked around to see something of a lighter. There seemed to be none, of course. No one would ever bring a lighter to school. It was way too valuable. I waited in complete silence except for the heavy footsteps that I could hear, walking through the corridor. I heard myself breathe even faster. I saw some of the girls giggle even harder. (Fucking idiots, you might die in less than a minute!) Then, as I looked over to James to see how he was doing, I heard the door quickly open.

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