Valerie hung back as the kid - Jack - began giving orders. It sounded like no one knew, exactly, what was going on and she trembled again, as the cold permeated further into her t-shirt and jeans. Her arms ached from holding up her phone and when he began talking about leading kids into the auditorium and giving specific people jobs, she slunk back into her chemistry class. Chaos had erupted.

"Alrighty, guys", she said loudly, clearing her throat, "Looks like we're having a whole school meeting in the auditorium"

Almost immediately, chatter broke out as a barrage of questions were flung at her by students, desperate for answers to what was happening. Feeling pressured under the glow of several, glaring, white tiny screens, she held her hands up in mock surrender, squinting at them. People were asking what was happening, whether a teacher had told them about the auditorium, why the lights had gone out.

"Look, I don't know!" she insisted, raising her voice as her annoyance grew "Nobody knows! I think somebody said something about an eclipse but you'd have to ask them, not me! Now get moving!"

Grumbling, most of them obliged and she was jostled out of the way as people rushed to the door. Pushed back against a table as the tide of students disregarded, she felt her pain shoot up her arm. Ouch - that was definitely going to bruise, she thought as she rubbed her elbow, frowning. She made her way back out into the corridor and was just beginning to head in the direction of the auditorium herself when she heard a huge shrieking, causing her hands to shoot to her ears. It was like nothing she had ever heard before...but then again, none of this was. It seemed to pulsate with emotion and she found that her face was contorting into a grimace, as it cried out. After an eternity when it finally stopped, she discovered was shaking. She saw the leader kid - Jack - visibly reeling from he noise and another girl nearby in an equally as horrified state. At least she knew it wasn't just her. 

She noticed another kid talking to Jack, seeming amazingly unfazed by the whole ordeal. He was suggesting something about turning to lights on and discovering the source of the sound and even though she hadn't been addressed by anyone, she felt compelled to say something. 

"I agree," Valerie commented, trying to push back her own fear and approaching the two "I'll volunteer to go in search of some kind of back-up generator for the lighting, or monster hunting, or whatever you need - I hate just waiting around. I'm Val, by the way."

Even though introduction seemed painfully inadequate in such a serious situations, it felt somehow odd offering her help without finishing it with a name.