BLOODSPORT
CHAPTER ONE !

   THE NIGHT HAD BEEN like any other for Pauline Summers. She had just finished her homework after working on it for a couple of hours and was now lounging on the living room couch enjoying an episode of Friends. Her mom had taken a night shift at the hospital where she worked leaving the young girl alone that night.

Her mom hadn't wanted her to be in the house all by herself, the woman having been fearful for her daughter's life especially in a town like Woodsboro, and so had agreed to allow Pauline's best friend to come over and keep her company. Her mom's permission hadn't really matter much to the girl as she had been planning on inviting Mindy over no matter what.

As the sun began to set and the once bright sky shifted to a deep, dark mix of blue hues with only the moon to provide any semblance of light to guide the way, the minutes ticked away as the time for Mindy's arrival grew closer.

   As the episode continued to play on the TV before her, a suddenly vibration caught her attention. Her gaze shot down to her phone that sat on the couch next to her. Mindy's caller ID flashed across the screen causing the Summers girl to pick up immediately. "Hey, where are you?"

Instead of the familiar sound of the Meeks-Martin girl on the other end, a confused sounding man spoke. "Hello."

   "Hello?" Pauline replied, pulling back her phone to make sure she had in fact answered a call from Mindy's cell phone. In pure bewilderment, she questioned, "Who is this? Why do you have Mindy's phone?"

   "I'm sorry. I just found it on the ground. I picked it up when it rang." As the man explained himself, Pauline quickly placed it on speaker as she began to search for the Find My Friends app. "There's no one else about."

   The location of Mindy's phone appeared incredibly close to her home. If what the man said was true, something had happened to Mindy. Fear infiltrated the Summers girl as all possibilities ran through her mind, she only hoped that Mindy had simply dropped her phone and hadn't been attacked.

   Her home was but a minutes walk from the police station which meant the man was also only a minutes walk from the station giving Pauline the bright idea of suggesting that he report the phone to the cops.

   "Look, if you're a good person, you'll leave her phone at the station. The cops will take care of it." She attempted to implore to the man, hoping that he would tap into his conscience and do a good deed in turning over Mindy's phone to the police.

There was a brief pause before the man ultimately replied, "I could, I could. But I don't think I will."

"Why not? Don't be a dick." Pauline exclaimed, the girl becoming angry at the man's attitude. She pulled up the Find My Friends app again to see that the man was moving. "I can see that you're walking further away from the station. Turn back around."

"You can see me?" The man questioned.

"Yeah, with 'find my friend' asshole." Pauline snapped down the phone, the young girl practically growling at the man in anger.

   "Lina, Lina, Lina, you should really learn to lock your doors." The man then muttered, his voice falling lower in volume and becoming increasingly more menacing as each second ticked by.

   Find My Friends was back on her screen in seconds. The man was now right by her house. There was no way this was actually happening. Was she about to die? Would she be assaulted and then murdered? Would her body be found by her mom when she returned home from work?

   "W-Who is this?" Pauline shakily asked, a tremble developing in her bottom lip as her reality set in. This could be her final moments.

   There was silence again. Every little creak of her house as it breathed, as the wood expanded and shrunk in response to the change of weather, set the Summers girl on edge. Pauline remained where she stood, almost as though her feet had been glued to the floorboards, clutching her phone so tightly that her nails scrapped against the screen.

"Guess." Came a whisper. A feeling of hot breath brushed against the shell of her ear.

   "Oh my god!" Pauline gasped in horror as she spun around. The shriek of laughter that emanated from her best friend sent the girl into a fit of rage. Both of her hands reached out and shoved the still laughing Mindy. "You're such a fucking bitch, Mindy! I thought some guy had attacked you."

   As Mindy clutched her stomach, attempting to stifle the ache that developed in her side from laughing too hard, Pauline rolled her eyes as her heartbeat finally began to calm down. "You and those stupid fucking movies need to stop! I'm serious."

   "I'm sorry." Mindy breathed out as had wiped away a stray tear that fell. "Lina, I'm sorry. It was just such a perfect opportunity. I would have been besmirching the good name of Randy Meeks if I didn't seize it."

   "Whatever." She was delighted to learn she wasn't going to die that day but she still huffed at the way in which Mindy had tricked her. "You really scared me. I thought something bad had happened to you." Her voice had grown quiet, the anger having dissipated into a weak self pity.

   "I am sorry. Though, you really should be locking your doors. You're lucky it was just me." Mindy stressed to the Summers girl, furrowing her brow as she reached out and grabbed hold of Pauline's shoulders. "What if it had been someone else? Like a killer? You know we live in Woodsboro, right?"

Pauline just stared back at Mindy. Her face had fallen into its default expression of stoicism. "The only person that'll be getting stabbed is you if you don't stop reminding me. I know where we live, Mind."

Unfazed by the threat, one she knew would never be followed through on, Mindy simply shrugged her shoulders as a small smirk curled itself upon her lips. "Then you know that teenagers that live here are cursed."

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THE HOUR WAS QUIET LATE when Pauline awoke from her deep slumber. She found herself buried beneath the comforter, clad in her pyjamas and the faint sound of the television playing whichever episode of Friends it had continued on to. The soft sounds of deep breathing beside her alerted her that Mindy was still there.

Both she and Mindy had retired to her bedroom after the fake scare prank that Mindy had pulled. Netflix had been playing the background for the majority of their time together, neither girl paying it much attention. Instead the two chatted about anything and everything, everything and yet nothing really at all. They had been best friends for so long that filling the silence came naturally to them.

From discussing Mindy's continued admiration for the Stab Franchise and her uncle, who she classed as a hero and whose death had been immortalised on film, to Pauline's difficult, overaged co-worker that refused to leave her alone, there was never a dull moment between the two.

Pauline adored Mindy. She definitely loved the girl way more than a best friend should but who could blame her? Pauline was endeared by every little quirk and whim that made Mindy who she was. It was foolish, she knew this. Mindy would never look at her the same way but she had come to terms with this fact long ago.

   According to Mindy's twin brother Chad, Pauline's adoration of the Meeks-Martin girl was far more noticeable than she'd initially hoped. Her secret fawning over her best friend apparently wasn't all that secret after all. Chad pitied her. Told her that her efforts were fruitless and that she deserved someone who actually returned her affections.

   His worry for her had caused the Summers girl to heartily laugh. Chad was a great friend and while she appreciated his concern, Pauline was well aware of the consequences she faced by being in love with her best friend.

Heartache.

Mindy gently sighed in her sleep which managed to pull the multi-tone haired girl from her stupor, forcing her to pry away her gaze from her sleeping friend lest she be caught acting unseemly. The Summers girl relaxed back into the plush pillow beneath her head and breathed a sigh of relief as she began to read the subtitles that appeared along the bottom of the screen.

The episode of Friends,'the one where no one is ready' specifically continued to play, nearly completing the entirety of its runtime when the sound of backtrack laughter was cut off by the intense vibration from her phone that sat upon her wooden nightstand. The device buzzed against the nightstand out of nowhere sending Pauline into a panic.

Her heart thudded violently against her ribcage as she flinched at the incessant vibration. Pauline quickly reached out and grabbed hold of her phone, eyes scanning across the screen to read the caller ID. It was her friend Wes, but why he would be calling her so late into the night, Pauline had zero clue.

"Wes?" Her voice was faint as she spoke into the phone, the girl determined to avoid waking Mindy who had thankfully remained asleep. "Dude, what the fuck? It's like 3 in the morning."

"Tara was attacked!" Wes urgently spoke into the phone, his voice frantic on the other end. No doubt, his hands ran aggressively through his bleach blonde hair, mussing it up and tugging at the roots.

Pauline shot up in bed immediately, her speedy movement shaking the very foundation of the piece of furniture. The comforter pooled in her lap as she replied, "What do you mean? Is she okay?"

What the hell did Wes mean by 'Tara was attacked.' There was no way that it could be true. There was no way that Tara could have possibly been harmed...could there?

   "She's in the hospital, Lina. My mom said she was barely breathing when the cops got there. She'd been stabbed." The Hicks boy explained to Pauline. Sadness was all consuming as they imagined Tara near death.

"Jesus Christ!" The Summers girl breathed out in complete and utter disbelief.

   A rustling from beside her had Pauline's head spinning around allowing for her gaze to land upon a now awake Mindy, who groggily sat up and rasped, "What's going on?"

"Tara was attacked! She's in the hospital."

   "Is she gonna okay?" The curly haired Meeks-Martin girl questioned, a slight tremble present in her voice as she tried to rub the sleepiness from her eyes.

Pauline quickly repeated Mindy's inquiry down the phone. "Wes, is Tara gonna be okay?"

   "They think so. We're all gonna go and see her tomorrow as soon as they allow visitors. When you get a chance, can you and Mindy tell Chad?" The boy asked of her.

   Pauline's head nodded even though Wes was unable to see her. "Yeah, of course. Thanks for calling me, Wes." She was grateful that he had called to tell her instead of allowing her to find out on the news or through gossip when she arrived at school the next morning.

"Don't worry about it." Wes quietly said on the other end of the phone. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

   The familiar beep of the ended call rang out as the girl pulled away the device from her ear. Her eyes were wide and quite glossy as her shifted in the bed to face her best friend. "Wes' mom said that Tara was barely breathing when they got to her house. That she'd been stabbed."

Terror flashed across the Meeks-Martin girls face. "What the fuck? You think they know who did it?"

Pauline's shoulders shrugged as she said, "No clue. It's scary though. I was convinced earlier on that you had been attacked and that I was next. And then Tara ends up on fucking deaths door." A waver in her voice came first which was followed closely by the beginnings of a sob.

She just couldn't believe it. Tara had been attacked. She was only eighteen and yet, her life had almost been ripped away from her, torn apart like the knife that had plunged deep into her flesh. The very thought of Tara suddenly being gone was enough to make Pauline ill.

   "Hey, come on. Calm down. You heard Wes." Mindy swiftly yanked the Summers girl into an embrace, rubbing soothing circular patterns along her back. "She's gonna be fine. You'll see for yourself when we go and see her tomorrow."

The comforting tone in Mindy's voice helped to mellow the Summers girl out which allowed for her to relax into the embrace. The two girls fell back in the pillows, still holding one another close. For a brief moment, they were able to find solace in each others presence.

After a few moments of television filled silence, Pauline finally croaked out, "You were right." Her voice muffled due to being pressed up tightly against Mindy.

"About what?" Mindy curiously asked as she tightened her grip on the girl in her arms. She peeked down to see a glimpse of Pauline's face though due to the darkness of the room, that was near impossible.

A languish sigh filled the room. "Teenagers that live in Woodsboro are cursed." Was all the girl said before shutting her eyes and hoping that sleep would take her away from the horrors of real life.

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jamielee's thoughts.
chapter one. not proofread.
so dudes I've finally gotten around to writing this fic despite planning it months ago. the updates will be few and far between as I'm juggling between this and all of my others fics. anyway I hope you like Pauline so far and enjoyed the chapter :)