Instead, the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida were shot at, packed into closets to avoid the unrelenting spray of bullets and ushered out of their classrooms -- hands above their heads, by police in military-style gear.
As the nation grapples with the mass shooting in Parkland, the young survivors of Wednesday's massacre have raised their voices in outrage to demand action from lawmakers, from President Donald Trump, and from any other adult with power who can do something to make this stop.
Emma Gonzalez, sitting on the floor of a dark auditorium, was convinced the shooting was a drill. When it was clear what was unfolding, she comforted some of the students around her before first responders opened the doors and told them to run.
David Hogg, a student journalist, took out his phone to document his classmates hiding in the dark, waiting for first responders. His little sister, a freshman, was also hiding across campus. She lost two of her best friends.
Lyliah Skinner and her classmates had been hiding in a classroom for more than an hour before the police burst into the room, ordering the students to drop to the floor. They were later led out, hands up.
Carly Novell spent two hours hiding inside a closet to escape the shooter, much like her grandfather did during a mass shooting in September 1949. She went viral on Thursday after slamming a conservative pundit's tweet.
Cameron Kasky had just left the school with his little brother, who has special needs, when the alarm went off. But after running toward the parking lot, they were told to go back inside, where they huddled in a room and listened to "terrifying noises" before a SWAT team came to get them.
Isabelle Robinson hid with dozens of students and teachers in a side closet in the school's culinary classroom. They waited for roughly 90 minutes before first responders helped evacuate the building, leaving their backpacks behind.
As the shooting unfolded, Kelsey Friend was hurried into a classroom by her favorite teacher, Scott Beigel. While she and her classmates huddled inside, trying to stay quiet, Beigel went down the hall. Soon after, the students heard the gunshot that killed him.