"Did you guys hear about the fire at one of my dad's real estate properties last night?" Brooke asked Audrey, Emma and Amy.

Amy kept her head down, trying to avoid any evidence of it being her - she knew she wasn't good at hiding things.

"Yeah, I did actually. I was trying to call you last night at the time of the fire, Amy, but you weren't answering." Emma said to Amy, who kept her head down. "Amy?"

Her head snapped up and she cleared her throat. "Yeah?"

"I tried to call you last night?"
Amy checked her phone for the first time this morning and saw that she had a missed call from Emma. "Oh, yeah. Sorry, I was busy."

"Busy?" Audrey repeated. "Doing what?"
"I was getting food with Eli." Amy told them.

"Eli?" Emma repeated. "Kieran's told me some stuff and we've talked a couple of times, he doesn't seem like a person you can trust. Where were you?"

"We were... at a restaurant." Amy answered quickly. "We got some chicken and wine, and we ate it... like you usually do with food."

Audrey cocked an eyebrow. "Amy, you're the worst liar."
"Amy, do you know about the girl who had a restraining order on Eli back in Atlanta?" Emma questioned.

Amy's eyes widened. "What?"
"Amy, just tell us the truth." Brooke said, sternly.

Amy paused for a moment before sighing. "Okay. Well, last night, Eli and I were at the house when it caught fire."

"What?!" Someone asked, making Amy spin around.
"Kieran!" Amy hissed. "Seriously?!"
"Eli needs to stay away from you, okay?" Emma said.

Kieran nodded. "He's no good for you. He's not a good guy."

Amy scoffed and got up. She looked at Brooke and Audrey, who had the same facial expressions as Emma and Kieran.

Amy shook her head. "No, you've got it all wrong. He is a good guy! You just haven't got to know him properly yet!"

The teenagers stood there in silence, staring at Amy. She folded her arms and scoffed, turning on her heel and walking out.

"Amy, wait!" She heard Audrey yell.
She turned around to see Audrey, Brooke and Emma there, Kieran was walking away in the opposite direction.

"We're sorry." Brooke said.
"Yeah, you know him the best, he's probably a good guy." Audrey said.
"He is a good guy." Amy shot at her.
Emma sighed. "We believe you. Let's just, please, not fight before the carnival."

"Yeah," Brooke smiled. "we've gotta be there for each-other; we are bestfriends, after all."

Amy paused for a moment before sighing. "Okay, fine. But I'm not gonna stop hanging out with Eli and none of you are gonna stop me - Kieran included."

Emma nodded and smiled. "Okay."
Brooke linked her arm with Amy's. "Let's go back to mine. Zoe should be coming over soon to give us a lift. And we need to get ready!"

Amy laughed and nodded. "We really do. I'll see you guys at the carnival!" She called as Brooke dragged her away from Emma and Audrey.

***

"I am so good, it scares me!" Brooke exclaimed as she finished off Zoe's makeup.
Amy stared at her in awe. "You actually are! Zoe, you look gorgeous!"

"Can I see?" She asked, excitedly.
Brooke nodded and spun her around.
Once Zoe saw herself, she smiled and chuckled.

"Hello, gorgeous!"
Zoe bit her lip. "I think I'm gonna do a twirl."
"Go ahead, I'll twirl with you." Amy giggled. The two shut their eyes and twirled around before turning to Brooke.
"I'm not gonna do a twirl, if that's what your asking."
"Dammit." Amy laughed.

Zoe cleared her throat and looked in the mirror as Amy examined herself in the mirror next to her.
She was honestly amazed at how great. Brooke's makeup was and how she surprisingly fitted into her dress perfect.

She was wearing a strapless skintight black dress, which became looser as it went down to her feet with a gold belt.
She was also wearing a white flower crown, which complimented her black dress perfectly.

Zoe had helped curl her long, brown hair, which she did amazingly and Brooke's makeup matched the dress perfectly.

She was wearing a darker, matte lipstick, with subtle, golden eyeshadow, and a golden highlight. Amy wore golden heels and both Brooke and Zoe had contributed to painting her nails matte black.

"Uh, fun fact: did you know that public speaking is the number one thing in America." Zoe sighed, Amy turned to Zoe.
"You too?"
"Both of you, seriously? I wouldn't expect that." Brooke exclaimed.

Amy and Zoe nodded. "Petrified. And Noah's gonna be there so I may have brought a little something to take the edge off." Zoe smirked, pulling out some alcohol.

Brooke gasped. "Zoe!"
"You can't tell-" Zoe said.
"Valedictorian and secret self meditator!" Amy teased as Brooke took a gulp before handing it to Amy.

"There are not even enough happy face emojis in the world to explain how much I need that." Brooke sighed as Amy took a swig of the burning liquid.
"This makeover has momentarily lifted me out of my grief spiral but this while pageant, trying to act like everything's normal, it just feels like-"
"Like the most abnormal thing in the world? Yeah, I know." Zoe finished.

Just then, they heard someone clear their voice, which interrupted the girls.
They all turned to see Eli stood there in suit, soon followed by Noah, who was wearing a pink striped tie with a bouquet of pastel pink flowers.

"Well, this just got a little more exciting." Brooke smiled as Amy and Zoe nervously stood there.
Eli chuckled. "I would've brought flowers-"

"It's fine." Amy smiled. "I'm not a fan of them and besides, where would I put them?"

Noah chuckled. "Now, you've got a point there..."
Zoe grinned and took them. "It's fine. We can put them on my dressing table."

"You two are adorable." Amy giggled at Noah and Zoe.
"I can only say the same about you two." Noah smiled.

Eli and Amy didn't respond, they just awkwardly exchanged a glance.
"Oh, uh, a-are you two n-not, like, dating?" Noah stuttered. "Please tell me that's not true!"

Amy pressed her lips together and nodded. "It's true."

Brooke laughed. "You two better get going before Noah makes it even more awkward."
Noah nodded. "She's got the right idea."

Amy chuckled and nodded before taking hold of Eli's hand and walking out of the tent.

"If they're not together by the end of the day, I'm gonna need to step in." Noah remarked as he watched the two leave.

***

"Hey, look!" Amy called as she let go of Eli's hand. "It's Emma and Audrey!"
Before Eli could protest, Amy ran up to them. "Hey, guys!"

"Hi, Amy-" Emma trailed off as her jaw dropped.
"You look amazing!" Audrey exclaimed.

Amy smiled as Eli came up behind her. "Thank you."
"Eli's your escort?" Emma asked once she saw him.

"I don't know if you were saying that in a rude way or not-" Amy began.
"No!" Emma laughed, shaking her head. "No, no, I don't, I just-"

"Hey!" Kieran said, cutting Emma off. He pushed Eli away. "I know what happened last, night. Back off her!"
"Kieran, what're you-?!" Amy questioned, but he cut her off.

"Emma, Audrey and Brooke may believe you but I don't!" Kieran said.
Eli then pushed him back. "It's none of your business!"

"I'm making it my business!" Kieran glared.
Emma tried to pull Kieran away, but he wasn't moving. Instead, she pulled Amy back so she couldn't step in between them.

"Kieran, let's not do this right, now, okay?" Emma asked from behind.
Kieran took a few steps back and prodded his finger at Eli. "Stay away from Amy! Stop telling stories!"

"Don't worry, Kieran. It's not like I've told her or anyone else the worst part." Eli called out.

Kieran then spun around and charged at Eli, punching him straight in the nose, knocking him to ground.

Kieran grabbed hold of his clean suit and punched him again, getting some of his blood onto his spotless white shirt.

He continued to punch him as Amy cried. Emma let go of her and the two ran to the cousins. Everyone was now watching. A man soon came from a nearby stall came to help break it up.

Emma pulled Kieran up as Amy knelt down beside Eli.
"Eli-"
"It's okay," Eli reassured, getting up as Kieran ran off, leaving Emma's questions unanswered.

"You see?" Eli asked, his teeth were coated in blood, his nose was bleeding and his temple was bruised. "I'm not the one you should be afraid of."

"We're getting you cleaned up, now." Amy ordered, grabbing Eli's hand and dragging him away.

"Thank you, Emma! Thank you very much! You need to sort your 'boyfriend' out!" Amy yelled back before disappearing into the crowd and into a spare tent.

***

"I can't believe he did that." Amy growled as she softly patted a wet cotton bud on his busted lip before pulling away and getting out a dry tissue. "Why would he hurt you?"

Eli sighed. "There's a lot of things Emma doesn't know about her so called 'wonderful' boyfriend. He keeps making up all these lies about me and soon enough I'm sure everyone's gonna hate me after what just happened."

"I don't hate you." Amy smiled.
Eli smiled back at her. Their eyes were tightly locked and the only thing they both wanted to do was kiss one another.

Amy, who was nervous to make the first move, was in luck. Eli pressed his lips against hers, standing up so Amy was no longer bent over to be face to face with him.

He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer as their lips moved in sync.

They then heard the sound of the host of Lady of The Lake calling everyone to the main stage and the contestants to report to the carnival tent immediately.

Amy pulled away and sighed. "Seriously?"
Eli chuckled and held up his hand to wipe some of his blood off her lip.

"What're you doing?" Amy giggled.
"I got some blood on your lip." He said, taking his hand away once the blood was gone.

"Thanks," Amy smiled. "don't wanna go out there with blood on me, do I?"
"Nope." He chuckled.

Amy quickly pecked his lips before taking a few steps away, so she was closer to the door. "You stay here, okay? I don't want you going out just yet."

Eli playfully rolled his eyes. "No, mother. I'll see you later, good luck!"
"Thanks! I love you."
"I love you too."

That was all Amy needed to perform her speech perfectly.

***

a/n: i don't exactly know what to say for a speech since we only saw the last part of zoe's speech and brooke's speech wasn't exactly the same thing amy would say 😂
so let's just pretend it was a really moving, yet not too cheesy, okay?

"Brooke, are you sure you should be drinking that much? I think you've had enough!" Amy laughed, taking the drink away from her as Zoe skipped in.
"Oh my God, that was such a kick!" Zoe said, excitedly.
Amy grinned. "I think we've both overcome our fear. Mine wasn't all done by the alcohol though." She muttered the end to herself.
"Oh, I'm so glad, I knew you could do it!" Brooke stumbled over to Zoe and pulled her into a hug.

Once she pulled away, Brooke looked in the mirror. "Oh no, I look like roadkill."
"Is she-?"
"Drunk? I think so." Amy nodded, lips pressed together.
"Honey, you look fine, let me just fix this." Zoe said, fixing Brooke's hairline.

"Let's give a warm welcome to Brooke Maddox!"
"That's me!" Brooke smirked as the crowd cheered.
"Are you sure you're okay to go out there?" Zoe asked.
"Totally!" She said, stumbling towards the entrance of the tent.
"You sure?" Amy cocked an eyebrow.
"Zo, Amy, I have things I need to say. If I don't say them now, I'll never say them."

Zoe sighed as her and Amy watched Brooke go into the stage and take hold of the microphone. "I have a speech prepared that I, uh, I worked on with my dad. Hi daddy!" Brooke waved.
"Oh no..." Amy muttered as she watched Brooke from the side of the stage with Zoe.
"But, uh, I think I'm just gonna wing it! Look at us, having a carnival! Making speeches!" She laughed. "I just wanted to get real for a second. Some of you probably know I was supposed to be here tonight with my boyfriend: Jake Fitzgerald. But I guess you all know what happened with that, right?" Brooke's smile faded as the crowd listened in silence.

"I miss him so much. But, I mean, Jake had a great sense of humour and this all just feels so appropriate. Because this carnival's a joke! Congratulations, Lakewood! Happy 100 years of lying to yourself! Lakewood is cursed; people die in this town, all the time! And we act like nothing happened - I almost died-"
The lady hurried onto the stage in attempt to take the microphone, but Brooke pushed her away.
"No, I'm not done! And do you know what I saw? Nothing! No white light, just big, black, empty nothing!" Brooke began to cry. "And that's where Jake is right now, instead of up here with me where he belonged! Unless we wake up and stop acting like this isn't Murderville, we're all gonna end up like Jake... and we'll deserve it!" Brooke's hand began to shake as she gulped. "But he didn't." Brooke dropped the microphone, which made an eerie squeaking sound before storming off the stage.