Amanda De La Cruz, left, is riding to Tallahassee to honor her friend Helena, a kid with "a galaxy of freckles." Helena died in the Feb. 14 shooting.pic.twitter.com/gh7UYtMo1u
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The mood on the bus has been ... strange. In one sense, it feels like any other class trip. Bonding. Jokes. On the other hand, when I really look at these students, they are clearly heartbroken. And frustrated. "The one we fear we have," said one, "is that nothing will change."pic.twitter.com/0idGZgrPJU
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That's Amanda De La Cruz on the left, Rosio Briones on the right.pic.twitter.com/vTRja5DW46
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News is spreading on the bus that FL House will not hear assault weapons ban bill. "That’s kind of just a big screw you," said Daniel Bishop. "They know that multiple kids, 100s of kids, are coming up to the state capitol, which by the way is extremely far, just to talk to them."
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"...and they are not even considering the bill to stop things like this. The Never Again hashtag has been going around. And it’s like they don’t even care.”pic.twitter.com/hAuu7JrTm9
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Students have had strong reactions to allegations that they are actors or tools of the left. Cameron Kasky said this earlier...
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"Do not let people try to get under your skin, do not let the disgusting side of the incredibly helpful media hurt you. Do not let these people exploit you. All they want is for you to say something to bring us down so they they can shoot more of us."
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It's hour seven on the Stoneman Douglas bus headed to Tallahassee.pic.twitter.com/Bv3NBaUTmc
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Students on the bus are apprehensive about support from George Clooney. "The minute some people on the right see these millionaire names pop up with our movement, it’s going to kind of alienate them," said Chris Grady, 18.
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“The minute they don’t see our faces anymore and they just see the Hollywood elite, they’re going to stop taking it seriously.”
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We have arrived in Tallahassee. More soon.
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Hundreds of people were waiting for the Stoneman Douglas students here in Tallahassee. They cheered the teenagers like celebrities. Then MSD student Alfonso Calderón took to the podium. "This isn't like all the other shootings."pic.twitter.com/xDUfXFgEce
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It had taken more than eight hours, but just after 10 p.m., three buses of students from Stoneman Douglas rolled into the parking lot of a Tallahassee high school. “Oh. My. God,” said one teenager, peering out the bus window. “It’s so many people.”pic.twitter.com/r6A83RYI0T
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A crowd of people from Leon High had gathered to support the Stoneman Douglas group, and the Tallahassee teenagers cheered the visitors before ushering them into the school cafeteria.
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Inside, it smelled like pizza. Several armed sheriff’s deputies in dark green patrolled the halls. And then a staff member from the office of Florida state Sen. Lauren Book, a Democrat who had coordinated the event with students, explained the plan.pic.twitter.com/9fkPJJJMvv
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The Stoneman Douglas students will sleep on cots in the nearby civic center. And in the morning, they will break into groups of 10 and meet with some 70 elected officials. @FLGovScott is giving them two hours. (The discussion with the governor will not be open to the media.)
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At one table, Mallory Muller, 17, a Stoneman Douglas student, hugged a teddy bear. She had spent much of the trip on the phone with her mom. “The whole bus ride here I was very anxious. You have the nervousness about—what happens? And kind of scared for your own safety."pic.twitter.com/bKn7dXjCvC
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This reporter asked: What is making you anxious?
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“It’s the — setting foot on another high school campus is hard. Pulling up here I got a little anxiety, just because this is the first time since this is has happened that I’ve been to a school. And memories start flooding back into your head of what happened Wednesday.”
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“There’s a lot of build up of anxiety around this whole thing … this is something no student is used to. So there is a lot of anxiety floating around the buses and the air. We know what we’re doing tomorrow is big, so I think there is that build up tomorrow, too. That pressure.”
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That concludes this evening's bus embed. More tomorrow from the Florida capitol. Keep watching here and
@nytimes.pic.twitter.com/MxgacjLGH1
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