Over the next few days nothing major happened. The news told of some severe rainstorms, so severe that they killed at least 30 people down in South America, but that has always been a problem with Southern countries, so there wasn't much we could do. This was also an event that sadly, almost no one gave attention to.

Climate problems, there was more than enough evidence that shows that most people don't really like dealing with it. It wasn't like a celebrity died or anything, because that's when people really start to care. So with that logic at hand, you can imagine what this school looked like on the morning of January 26th. James struggled to get to class on time whilst he had to skillfully maneuver around hordes of groups of teenagers and the occasional teacher mourning.

Don't get anyone wrong, a death will always be a death, more importantly if it's someone that you deeply care about, and even more so when it's a younger soul, but it seems that some people don't value some lives as equally as they do others, and when they see that amount of people who die everyday, they only seem to see a number. Of course, that thought process changes when they knew a digit of that big count.

"It took you longer than usual to get here." Lillith pointed out , looking up at the clock whilst doing so.

He scoffed. "I wonder why, it's almost like a funeral in the hallways."

"I wouldn't blame you. Even Hannah said she wanted the group chat to maintain in silence for respect to anyone who's mourning today."

"Don't blame her. I know a couple people in there are definitely some of the people who aren't doing the best."

They didn't speak for a few minutes, but once they began setting into a comfortable silence, Lil broke it once more.

Before she expressed the thought that had traveled to her the dictatorial section of her brain, she chuckled. She knew that her next words were about to give someone a headache.

"So." There it went. The silence had been broken.

"So?"

Stifling a laugh. She knew that now that she had started her sentence, she had to go through with it.

"So how are we going with the world war coming in?"

Immediately after she finished enunciating her last syllable, a loud groan was emitted from next to her.

"Please let's not talk about, that. The day isn't going as planned so far, but I am not going to give in to your need of annoying me with politics just to make yours slightly better."

She laughed out loud because of his frustration and then continued to write down whatever she had been previously before the silence was shattered.

In came the teacher, and much like most of the other people at the school that day announced that they were much too sad to actually do anything, and gave the students the leeway to do anything.

Of course, they weren't going to pass said opportunity, so while quietly browsing their phones they started to engage in conversation until eventually the room was filled with quiet fits of giggles, eventually being told to quiet down, then repeating said cycle.

"Do you want to go over chemistry today?" He asked an innocent question, although he was very certain of the answer he was going to receive.

"Aw. James, you know I love you, but you also know what's on the TV tonight." She genuinely felt bad, because she enjoyed studying with him, especially in the subject where she could see his passion for the activity, it felt good to know someone shared her interest.

"Yeah, yeah I know, you want to watch the Grummys. Don't finish that sentence." He was annoyed but he wasn't going to pressure her into changing her plans.

"I'm sorry, but don't worry! I'll text you all the updates on who wins what!"

Scoffing he replied. "I'll make sure to leave them all on delivered!"

"You know you like my updates," She teased, and for once, she was actually off, he didn't like her updates, he just liked any notifications coming from her. But of course, he would never tell her, and would just disguise it behind a smart remark.

↭

"Dude, I don't think you understand the importance of it. It's a huge honor to be nominated for ONE, even bigger to win one, and they won FIVE! Do you not comprehend the big deal that is?" They had made it to the school at the same time, which was a rare occasion, so they decided to seize the opportunity and walk to class together, seeing as they had class together. (They had changed their schedules to match each other.)

"Uh huh, I know you told me." He simply scrolled through his phone, but she smiled, he had been reading her updates.

"James!" She sang, although it sounded more like a whine, most likely because she purposely dragged out the last syllable.

"Shush, shush, and look!" He stopped mid hallway and made sure to shove his phone in her face. She reached up, grabbed it, and proceeded to read, "You sure are giving me the news quite early today, aren't you?"

Upon further inspecting the document, she realized what it was about.

"So no war?"

"That's the thing! I don't know, and I don't like not knowing and now I'm scared." He rushed to finish the sentence but slowed down on that last part.

"Well, it's a quote-on-quote peace plan? Doesn't that mean that it should be fixed?" She inquired. Politics was always something she tried to stay away from.

"No, not necessarily. Just because someone says sorry that doesn't mean you're going to forgive them, does it?"

"Wow. You never cease to amaze me with your analogies."

This caused him to look up from his phone and turn to smile at her. "And you never cease to amaze me by how many things that you understand are explained the same way they are to an eight year old."

He received a quick punch in the arm, and the two continued. Mornings like these are the ones the two always enjoyed, along with millions of others. They always knew what they had. They just never thought they'd lose it. They also had that in common with millions of others. 

_______________

The morning of the 30th, someone in the group chat mentioned that someone they were close with had gone to an airport and had unfortunately gotten COVID-19.

"Can I cancel 2020? I have not enjoyed this 30-day free trial." This applied to multiple people.

The news immediately made everyone tense up. That meant that the virus had definitely spread enough to make it to the US. After doing some calculations to see it's severity. James wasted no time in telling everyone to be careful, because as sad as it seemed, if it had made its way to the airports, it's contact was bound to grow.

His phone dinged, so he picked it up eagerly.

"Hey so, quick context Layla was in the hospital after coming back from the airport. She's okay now, but Tina is not. All in all, I'm going over to take care of her for the weekend, so I'm going to be offline! Love you, stay safe <3"

That was a terrible decision, really.