OMG. What is happening? Are we in the end of times?

Gabriela

Probs.

Parisa

Okay. Gotta go. Mr. Dennery keeps looking over here. He just told us we should clean out our lockers before we go home today. That makes me think this could last longer than two weeks? Or maybe he’s just a catastrophist like me. He’s so adorable when he’s worried.

Gabriela

He’s engaged and twice your age.

Parisa

Older and unavailable is my type!

Gabriela

You’re such a homewrecker!

Parisa

A wise woman once said: the heart wants what it wants. Thank you, Selena Gomez. Okay, gotta go. Xoxoxo

PARISA

Mr. Dennery is not a catastrophist. He’s a realist. It’s been over two weeks since our high school closed its doors, and there’s no signs they’ll be welcoming us back anytime soon. The homecoming game was postponed indefinitely, which means a hundred hours of marching band practice went out the window. So much time wasted. We’ve already been informed by Principal Jackson that all our classes will be moved online for the time being for what they’re calling “remote learning.”

Even Halloween got canceled. No trick-or-treaters, no getting to wear the Billie Eilish costume (circa her green-hair phase) that I’d worked so hard to put together, and no eating fun-sized candy bars with Wes while watching The Exorcist in my bedroom. I guess it didn’t matter that Gabs’s moms had forbidden her from hanging out with us that night. They didn’t have to punish us for getting drunk because, well, the pandemic already did.

This morning, the governor of California (who my mom thinks is “very attractive”) declared that our entire state is extending what they’re calling a “stay-at-home order” indefinitely. Basically, if everyone just stays inside their own houses, they’ll be able to contain the spread of the virus. So everyone is grounded now. But for how long? No one is explaining anything to us. Should we expect to be stuck in our houses for another month? Six months? A year? Will they eventually close everything, including grocery stores? My parents assured me that the government won’t cut off our food supply, but then why is everyone buying in bulk? Is it bad that I had two bowls of cereal this morning? Should I be rationing?