Rashomon Effect - 4. Nancy

The morning sun shined through the window directly into Nancy’s eyes, waking her up earlier than she’d wanted. She always got up a little early anyway and so she took the extra time to stretch her arms and legs before finally getting out of bed.

She was still a little groggy with sleep, but that didn’t stop her from admiring herself in the mirror and taking her time to get dressed before heading off to class. She put on her favorite silver hoop earrings and grudgingly got into her school uniform making sure to roll up her dark blue skirt as high as she could get away with and wearing her regulation white dress shirt as tight and open as possible before heading over to the bathroom to apply her makeup.

A car’s horn honked soon after Nancy finished getting ready. When she looked out of her window, she saw Shawn in his red Mustang parked in front of her house. After spotting Shawn, Nancy rushed out of the house to join him.

As she was getting close to his car, Shawn popped open the passenger door. She quickly got inside and gave Shawn a soft peck on his cheek.

“Morning! How are you?” Shawn asked.

“I’m good. I’m all ready to go, my dear,” Nancy quickly replied with a smile.

“Hey Nancy, the word’s out that there’s gonna be a party tonight at Phil’s place. His ‘rents are outta town for the night. Wanna tag along with me? All the cool kids are gonna be there for sure,” Shawn asked.

Deep down beneath her party girl act, Nancy had some common sense. As much as she needed to make an appearance at the best party in town, she wasn’t sure that she could go to one on a school night. She also knew that as much as her parent didn’t care what she did, as long as she stayed out of jail and didn’t turn up at the hospital, she would still need to earn some major brownie points for her folks for to let her go out during the week.

“Tonight? But it’s a school night! Do we really have to attend that party?” Nancy said.

“Don’t worry. I didn’t plan on staying there that long. It’s supposed to start right after school. You could say it’s more like a get together than a real party I guess. So, will you come?” Shawn asked again.

“Ya, I guess I can come, tho, I’m not saying how long I’m gonna stay there, it will depend on who’s there,” Nancy answered back.

They finally arrived in the student parking lot. They were early enough so they could be seen as the hot couple around school and improve their social standing but not so early that they’d be seen as geeks.

Inside the school, Nancy parted ways with Shawn to go and do her own thing. Shawn was a good guy, a jock and a star on the basketball team and he was popular enough around school that everyone who wanted to have powerful connections saw him as a good catch. But Nancy thought he could get a little boring from time to time.

When she arrived at her first class, french, she received an unpleasant surprise, her friends hadn’t reserved a seat for her in the back row and now those choice seats were all taken.

“Hey guys, you coulda saved a seat for me!” Nancy exclaimed, trying not to sound too hurt that her friends hadn’t remembered her.

“Well Nancy, we did, but you took too long,” one of the guys told her.

Nancy found herself, despite her wishes, in a seat way too far up front. At least, she thought to herself, she was able to find a chair closest to the wall and not near the center of the room. As the teacher was about to start his class Nancy saw Nathan dash into the class and sit down right in front of her.

Nancy knew Nathan was a good guy, but she saw him as someone with a lot of potential that had gone to waste. She thought Nathan was certainly hot, but it was just that she felt he made friends with the wrong people.

The teacher was about to start his class again when he got interrupted one more time.It was Jake’s turn to run into class.

“Jake, nice of you to join us,” the teacher said as Jake took a seat next to Nathan. “Now if everyones agrees, we’ll start the class.”

The teacher began his lesson. Maybe it was the fact she was in the front and couldn’t chat with her friends, but for once Nancy did pay attention. At one point, their teacher assigned them to work in pairs. So Nancy tried to make the best of her situation by tapping Nathan gently on the shoulder to see if he would work with her. Nathan usually paired off with Jake but the two didn’t seem to be working together today. Also, the guy was still hot, Nancy thought. Studying with Nathan was certainly the lesser of two evils compared to the other geeks around.

“Hey Nathan, wanna team up with me for the exercises?” Nancy asked.

She was just as surprised as anyone when Nathan agreed. “Yeah, why not!” he said.

They proceeded to begin the exercise. It soon became clear that they didn’t work well together. She’d write some answers on her own and then she would compare her results with Nathan’s, and when there was a discrepancy between them they’d go with his answer. It was pretty boring, even more than usual. At least this time, Nancy thought, she might get full credit for doing her work.

The whole time she practiced with Nathan, Nancy noticed that Jake kept looking at them, almost like a little dog watching his owner cheating by playing with another dog. Also, she could have sworn that Nathan was almost enjoying Jake’s pained reaction.

“Is something wrong with Jake?” Nancy asked.

“Nah, it’s nothing really,” Nathan answered.

When class finally ended, Nancy got all her stuff together and put it in her bag. Without forgetting her fancy purse, she hurried out of class.

“Hey Nancy, I was with Phil earlier and he confirmed that all the other starters on the team will show up at the party after class,” Shawn said as he walked with her toward their next class, which they had together.

“Shawn, I told you, I’ll go but I’ll only stay for a little while,” Nancy sighed.

“Good, have you done the assignment for physics class?” Shawn inquired.

“It’s not finished, but I’m copying it from Jason, we made a deal,” Nancy answered.

“Oh ya? What was the deal?” Shawn asked.

Nancy pondered telling him for a moment, but she was too ashamed to tell the truth. “Trust me, you don’t wanna know,” Nancy replied.

When they arrived, they sat apart because they weren’t partners in their physics class. Nancy thought this was for the best since Shawn wasn’t the best student and Jason, a tall and thin brown haired guy, always got A’s. Jason was already in his seat when she arrived, which Nancy thought was a good thing, since she didn’t want him accidently spilling the beans about their secret deal in front of Shawn. As soon as she sat down, probably by force of habit, Jason pushed his homework in front of Nancy. She quickly copied it before class started. Despite the fact that the lesson was all about theory, Nancy managed to follow along and understand most of what the teacher was saying.

During their next break, before the last morning class, Shawn and Nancy were walking down the hall together when Nancy noticed the guy that they always liked teasing talking with Noa.

“Shawn!” Nancy said alerting Shawn to the presence of Damien in the corner.

Shawn knew what to do next. He walked up to Damien and rammed him into the locker.

“Oh sorry, I didn’t see you over there!” Shawn snickered.

Nancy and Shawn would have continued walking, but Damien decided to answer them back.

“Ya right!” Damien said.

“Oh no, it’s the truth, it’s hard, but sometime we don’t see the fags,” Nancy said before adding,“Noa, why are you hanging out with someone like him anyhow, I thought you were better than that.”

“Fuck off,” Damien hissed.

Nancy hadn’t heard that last remark, but she quickly realized that Damien must have said something bad as Shawn had pushed him against his locker again and this time held him there.

“Just shove off and stay out of our business and we won’t be on your case,” Noa said trying to keep his calm.

“Oh look at that, it seems like fag boy here got a protector!” Shawn snapped. He turned and stared at Noa and began laughing at him. “Please, who are you kidding, you look as if you’re about to pass out on us at any moment, I don’t think you gonna do me much damage.”

Taking advantage of his captor’s laughing, Damien managed to free himself from Shawn’s grasp. Without warning, he threw a punch directly at Shawn’s jaw. Shawn stumbled on his feet and nearly fell.

“How does it feel to be struck by a ‘fag’? Now fuck off,” Damien said as Shawn was still fighting off the pain from Damien’s attack.

She was still impressed that someone would dare punch Shawn, but Nancy knew that Shawn would make him pay for that blow but as Shawn was about to tackle Damien they heard a voice speak from behind them.

“Do you have a problem Shawn?” Timothy said.

Nancy looked and saw the school psychologist standing right next to them.

Nancy almost giggled as she saw Shawn try to compose himself and resist the urge to say a smart ass comment.

“None that I can think of sir,” Shawn said as sincerely as possible.

Nancy saw a glare of defiance from Noa as Timothy continued to question Shawn. “Then maybe you are lost, ‘cause from what I know, your locker is nowhere near here,” Timothy said.

“Oh, no, I was just having a talk with them, isn’t that right?” Shawn asked the two teens.

Nancy let out a sigh of relief when Noa confirmed her friend’s version of the story “Ya, he was.”

“Perfect then, next class will start in a couple of minutes, I strongly advise you to get going now,” Mr. Johnson ordered Shawn.

Nancy saw that Shawn didn’t waste any time and ran off. That’s when Mr Johnson decided to talk to him one more time.

“Oh ya, Shawn? We do have a zero harassment policy here, it’s a shame that you’re gonna miss the start of tonight’s party, ‘cause you’ll be wanted in detention. I don’t advise you being seen having that kind of behavior again.”

Nancy was hoping that Timothy Johnson’s hammer of justice wouldn’t come down on her next because she hadn’t exactly done anything wrong after all. At least that’s what she thought.

But Timothy hadn’t forgotten about her. “Well, seems like you still have a few hours left to get friendly with another guy to get a lift back home tonight Miss. Class is not gonna wait for you, go!”

Nancy stormed off. She couldn’t believe what she had heard as she left for her class. It couldn’t be right, did he really say that? Had he had given her some detention too she’d had understood. She felt that what the school psychologist had said was out of line and had been completely inappropriate.

Nancy was sitting next to Phil in her next class, and she couldn’t help but to open her mouth and start to gossip. “Hey Phil, have you heard? You know that Damien guy? Well he hit Shawn during the break!”

Nancy knew of course that there was just about no possibility that Phil had known about the fight since it had just happened. But, she knew by telling Phil, Phil would tell everyone else.

“Ah, no shit! Really? Did they fight?” Phil asked

“Not even! That weasel made sure Mr. Johnson was just far away so he could hit Shawn, but close enough so that Shawn couldn’t hit him back,” Nancy explained.

“He’s so gonna get it,” Phil said right before their teacher started talking again.

When the period finally ended, Nancy made her way to the cafeteria, with Phil trailing behind her. After waiting in line and paying for their lunch, the pair sat down at a table near the far doors.

Minutes later, Shawn arrived, carrying his home made lunch, and joined them.

“How will you get even with Damien?” Nancy asked him as soon as he sat down.

Shawn looked at her and shrugged. “I can’t do anything, I’m already on thin ice. If I do anything to him, I’m sure they’ll suspend me or worse, like kick me off the team.”

“Yeah, but he has to pay for it, he attacked you!” Nancy waved her arms and shouted, hoping that Phil would take the bait and do the dirty work for them.

“You’re right about that,” Phil said to Nancy’s relief.

She was the first one to see Damien walk into the cafeteria, holding his lunch tray. She quietly poked Phil in the ribs and pointed out their enemy’s presence. Before Nancy knew it, Phil put his foot out and tripped Damien.

“Next time be careful who you piss off, little fairy!” Nancy heard Phil yell.

Nancy couldn’t help but to admire her handiwork. As soon as Damien hit the floor, the entire cafeteria turned to see what happened and started laughing when they saw Damien on the floor, covered in his lunch. It didn’t take long for Damien to get back on his feet. He didn’t say a word. He just cleaned off his clothes and dashed out of the cafeteria.

The rest of their lunch break and the next period went quietly until Nancy was sitting in class with ten minutes to left. Everyone was more preoccupied with the clock rather than listening to the teacher. Suddenly, everyone heard two loud bangs in the hallway and then the room fell extremely silent. Immediately, everyone started to whisper to each other about what they had just heard but the teacher managed to get the class quiet by telling them the noise was nothing to worry about.

But instead of the bell ringing to signal the end of class, the PA system came to life.

“Your attention please. There’s been a shooting in the hallway, the police are on their way. Please stay in your classroom and wait for further instructions. You will be allowed to leave only when we know the school is safe. Teachers, please account for all your students and follow the school emergency plan.”

The room became filled with worry. Nancy and others became very scared, as people started to wonder if the gunman was coming for them. They had all heard the stories about school shooters roaming the hallways looking for more victims. They didn’t want to be next. Now, not even the most devoted students in the room could concentrate as everyone broke into loud conservations. A few students started crying while others whipped out their cell phones and furiously started text messaging their friends to see if they were okay.

The teacher had to yell over the students’ voice to complete another roll call to account for everyone in class as he was instructed to do. No one was missing, which was obvious to Nancy since no one had left the room since class started and everyone who was supposed to be there showed up today.

As they sat in class, students soon started guessing who had been shot as they waited for further instructions. After a while, Nancy couldn’t say how long it had been, one student looked out the window and shouted: “Hey, look at all the news crews outside!”

Everyone rushed to the window to get a better view of the chaos outside. Nancy noticed that even the teacher got up out of his chair and walked toward the window to look. The student certainly hadn’t lied, along with too many police cruisers, fire trucks and ambulances, there was at least five different news vans parked in the street outside the security perimeter that the police had installed. Each van had a satellite dish on top and reporters stood next to each one talking into their cameras.

Several hours passed and the sun started to set when there was another announcement on the PA system.

“I need to have your attention. I’m saddened to announce that one of our students, Jake Matthew, was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital today.”

The principal waited a few seconds before continuing.

“The school is now secure. We will now proceed with the evacuation. Police will escort one classroom at a time outside of the school. You won’t be allowed to go to your locker today. Please visit the school website for information on when the school will be open again for that purpose. We will have counselors available tomorrow if anyone needs to talk about what happened.”

As Nancy exited the class, she saw police roaming the grass and reporters taking pictures and interviewing students. She felt like she was in a war zone.

Nancy spotted a TV journalist interviewing a student and stood closer to hear what was being said. When the reporter finished with that student, the lady turned to her.

“Hi. I’m Maureen Greenwood from news channel five, can I ask you a few questions?” the journalist asked her.

Nancy quickly fixed her hair before answering. “Yes, naturally.”

“Can you tell me what happened? What was like to be inside the school knowing that someone had been shot?” the reporter asked.

“Everything went so fast. It was almost the end of the period when I heard the gun shots. Everyone was so worried, we all thought that some madman would burst into our room at any moment,” Nancy said, somewhat sugar coating how scared everyone really was.

“Then, we waited for hours without knowing what was going on, who had been shot or even if we were safe. Personally, I was scared big time.”

Maureen Greenwood nodded her head as Nancy talked. The attention gave Nancy strength to continue and she felt as if she was about to have her own 15 minutes of fame.

“Did you know Jake Matthew, the student that was shot?” Maureen asked.

“Yes, I did, he was always there for me. For a while I thought that something coulda happened between the two of us. We were so close. Now I’ll never know,” Nancy said, figuring that there was a better chance of getting on TV if she lied a little. Then, she even begin to cry, the fake tears rolling down her cheek as she continued to speak.

After Nancy had finished, the journalist thanked her and went to find another student to talk to.