The first time, I was 15 years old.

I was a freshman at Saugus High School in California, worrying about my Spanish grade and whether someone might ask me to the next school dance. Then, on Nov. 14, 2019, an older student I had never met walked into my school with a gun.

I was talking with my friends when I heard a loud bang. Then another. Then another. The force knocked me to the ground. When I stood up, disoriented and terrified, the quad that had been filled with students and laughter just moments before was nearly empty.

I ran across campus and up several flights of stairs to my Spanish classroom. Only when I was surrounded by shaking classmates did I realize what had happened to me: I had been shot. I was rushed to a nearby park, then airlifted to the hospital with a .45-caliber bullet lodged in my stomach. After emergency surgery saved my life, I learned the truth that would haunt me forever—my best friend Dominic had been killed beside me. 

This time, I’m 21 years old. A college........

© Time