Alex's POV

Graduation day still makes my blood boil when I think about it.

The day was boring up until the ceremony. Right until we started walking up to grab our shit.

I don't know what came over me—well, actually, I have a feeling of what it was, now. But at the time, it felt like something was screaming at me to turn around.

When I did, I saw Mitch hurrying to get his shoe back on; I couldn't resist a snort at the display and went to turn around again. That's when, for some reason, I looked up.

Which is when I saw the light.

That stupid fucking light the school was too cheap to fucking fix. It finally snapped and came down…right where Mitch was standing.

I barely remember moving—everything was a blur. All I know is that I tackled the shit out of him as fast as I could and we both went tumbling across that stupid fucking floor. 

Behind us, I could hear that damn light explode; screams rang out all over the damn place as flames and smoke started spreading.

I got up as fast as I could and dragged Mitch away; our gowns had caught fire, so I quickly ripped mine off and screamed at him to do the same.

Mitch wasn't doing much better than the crowd, ‘cause he was on the verge of fainting; I had to rip the damn thing off him myself. 

The problem with Mitch is that he's really fucking scared of fire. Nobody knows why. But if he sees so much as a candle on a birthday cake he starts shaking and shit. So you can imagine how he was reacting to all this.

I mean, I can't blame him. We're running out of the damn school that's rapidly catching fire.

And then I realized *Oh shit, Rain and I got separated,* And now I'm torn between dragging my panic-attack ridden idiot out or running back in to get her.

Unfortunately, I didn't have much of a choice, as we got swept up in the crowd and flooded away.

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I hadn't been this happy to have broken the rules in a while.

Like most everyone else, we had snuck our phones under our gowns even though we were told to leave them in the back; when we got outside, I called Rain until she picked up.

“Alex!” She shrieked. “Where are you guys?! Are you two okay?!”

“Yeah, we're fine!” Well, not entirely. Little burned. “We're out back! Where are you?!”

“I found Sarah's family! I'm coming to find you!”

“Be careful,” I looked back over at Mitch and realized he wasn't calming down at all; he was only getting worse.

I left the call running so we could communicate if needed, but set my phone down and grabbed Mitch's hands.

“Hey. Breathe.”

He let out this weird choked whimper, eyes darting everywhere.

“Look at me, Mitch.” I stated him down until we made eye contact. “Eyes on me. Breathe.”

I pressed his hands to my chest and took some slow breaths; poor guy whimpered for a good few more minutes while I kept helping him calm down.

Eventually, Rain came running over, Sarah's family and our guardians—we just call them Mr. and Mrs. Henderson—in tow. I grabbed Mitch’s arms and pulled him to his feet and then along with me. I let him lean on me as much as he needed.

After the fire department came and everyone was sent home, Mitch sent me a text after his dad found him and took him.

LukeaDuke: Thanks for the save earlier.

I thought of what might've happened if I hadn't jumped in when I did.

Lex: np. be more careful.

Because I don't know what I'd do if something like that actually got him.