x| chapter five.
' someone's watching through the window. '

while walking, alice found herself staying at least three feet apart from the barber boy. it was of course precautionary since this wasn't a usual conversation to be had. they'd just got off of school grounds, and she had already received several confused looks from other students at archer high. alice pike was a somebody. and according to most people, jacob barber was a nobody. so the sight of the two of them together was strange.

she felt a sigh of relief leave her lips as they turned a corner and were now out of sigh from the school. at least now no one was around them, they could be alone to talk. they had been walking in a sort of awkward silence, until of course jacob decided to break it.

"so... i know about the online stuff. how people were commenting on that post." he began the conversation, the words slowly coming out. his hands were shoved deep into his pockets, his gaze plastered on the sidewalk ahead of them. "but what did you mean about rumors? i haven't really been paying attention a lot at school to what people say. why is it about me?" he soon enough got straight to the point.

alice looked to him as he spoke, trying her best to keep a straight face. she didn't want it to seem like she agreed with all of the stuff about him, even though she sort of did. it would make the most sense, after all he did seem to hate ben.

"i've just heard stuff around the school. people bringing up your name whenever they talk about ben's... murder." she sighed, tugging on the strings of her backpack as she replied to him. it was a stiff answer, it didn't seem very sincere. that was something alice was bad about when she was uncomfortable.

jacob shook his head at the thought of it all. why people continued to tie him into all of this, he didn't understand. "well what are they saying?" he stated, his voice a little bit colder than before. anyone's would be after hearing something like that.

as they walked and spoke, they approached the entrance of cold spring park. any other day in the past, it wouldn't have meant anything to either of them. it was just a large wooded park that had trails that led them from their houses to school. but now, it gave off much different vibes. jacob was about to walk on to one of the trails, when alice stopped in her tracks.

jacob turned back, seeing her stop. he looked to her, stopping across from her on the trail. "are you gonna answer that or?" he sarcastically raised a brow, but then shrugged. "look, it's just a park." he motioned to the sign, then the woods before them.

"a park that is now a crime scene." she blurted out, biting on the inside of her cheek. she hadn't been there since the murder. she couldn't bring herself too. sure, it was still open to the public, just no one ever went because of what happened.

"it's fine." jacob shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest.

"they haven't caught the murderer yet. they could still be in there." she protested, still not moving. she hadn't known the walk home would be so difficult.

"the murderer could be anywhere in newton. he could be going to our school for all we know. much less hanging out in a park." he rolled his eyes, beginning to walk toward her. "but fine, we'll go around." he sighed, beginning to walk along the side walk again. "it's not my fault if it takes thirty minutes longer."

alice nodded, still sort of freaked out but kept it to herself. they walked for a long time in that same awkward silence as before. neither of them wanted to say anything, maybe for different reasons. her reason was sort of based on what he had said. 'he could be going to our school' was the phrase she was stuck on.

he.

soon enough they were rounding the corner on her street. jacob lived just around the corner from her, all on the same block. it was convenient enough, but also sort of made alice nervous. by that point she had explained the rumors being started at school. ones that jacob was the killer and that he had a knife.

"so long story short, derek is telling everyone that you showed him your plan. the day before-" alice sort of trailed off the last part, not wanting to carry on.

jacob huffed at all the new information, not thinking it was going to bite him in the ass later. "derek is a dick." he simply stated rolling his eyes a little bit. "people seriously believe that? first the knife and now this shit?" he went on, clearly agitated at the news.

alice slowed down as they approached her house. she glanced to the left at the house next to hers. the rifkin's. "look i know that sucks, but that's all i know. i'm sorry." she trailed off, beginning to walk up her driveway.

jacob sighed, following her up the driveway. "hang on. you think i'm guilty." he responded, standing beside her now. this was closer than the three foot radius that alice had established on the walk. he was really close to her face. "you think i'm guilty." he repeated his statement. his eyes sort of seemed to show his slight anger.

alice shook her head immediately, looking into his eyes since his face was so close to hers. she didn't even know what to say to his remark. "jacob... i've gotta go." she replied, in sort of a whispered tone. she began to walk away again.

"no, wait. i've got something to tell you." he shook his head as she started to walk off. he lightly grabbed her wrist, pulling her back a little bit. "but not here." he spoke in a hushed tone now as well. he glanced over to his left, seeing the rifkin's home.

alice was caught off guard by his sudden grasp on her. she looked back quickly when he mentioned he had something to tell her. this sort of made her heart rate go up, considering he just said the word guilty a few seconds prior. he also hadn't denied being guilty, not completely. "well i've got to go."

jacob shook his head. "look, just.." he looked around for a minute, then back to her. "my mom's making dinner tonight. come over for dinner. i'll tell you everything i know then." he soon explained, offering it all to her.

at first alice was definitely going to say no. that seemed like the worst idea on earth. but then, she thought about it. he said he would tell her everything he knew. that seemed like some information she really needed.

" alright, fine. i'll ask my mom then come over later." she sighed, pulling her wrist out of his clutch. she grabbed it a little bit before beginning to walk up to her door.

jacob smirked as she walked away, him turning to do the same. he couldn't help but glance at the rifkin's home one last time before walking the rest of his way home. there was something he hadn't noticed though, when he looked at it.

in one of the windows, the curtains were cracked ever so slightly. and a pair of eyes peered out of them right in the two's direction.

it was almost as if they weren't alone in that conversation.

_______________________________________

a/n: chapter five already!
i was really excited to write about the first sort of interactions of jacob and alice.
-
but ooo dinner at the barber's house... seems like things could get interesting
-
also episode four came out last night, AND I NEED MORE ANSWERS!
i wish that it wasn't weekly and it would all come out at once :((
-
anyways, hope you all enjoyed!
-
don't forget to vote and comment!

[next chapter: six!]
[publishing date: 05/1/20]
[word count: 1345!]
.