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" TAE WAS RAISED BY DEWEY FUCKING RILEY. "

alexa, play SPACE SONG by beach house

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"Tatum, you know why you're here." Sheriff Judy Hicks paced in front of me inside of Woodsboro High School's principal's office.

I was being interrogated about the attack on Tara Carpenter last night, as was everybody else in the entire school. It was not only protocol, but Miss Hicks and I knew better than anybody that the killer-possible plural-are always associated in a friend group with the first victim. Tara was in the hospital, our latest update was that she'd been taken off of life support. It was a Ghostface attack. The first one since 2011, when Mom still lived with Dad and I in Woodsboro. When Mom and Dad were still together-when things were still good.

Now it was getting worse again.

"No, I didn't attack Tara Carpenter. Yes, I have an alibi. No, I don't know why anybody would attack Tara, and no, I don't know who might've been around the attack." My voice was the most monotone it had ever been. "Sadie from the grocery store and my neighbor Gabby can both confirm where I was. Later on in the night, even you can. Can I go now?"

"Listen," her words were soft; she pulled a chair in front of me and sat down. "I know you didn't do this. I know that, don't worry, okay, sweetie? But I need your help."

"No, Sheriff, I'm sorry-" I already knew what was coming, so I swung my backpack over my shoulder, stood up, and started to walk out.

But with the gentlest arm grab of the century, Sheriff Hicks spun me back around, and we locked eye contact. We even maintained eye contact, which made me feel bad for even getting up and trying to walk away in the first place. I could see the fear in her eyes-the panic, the worry, the concern. She didn't know what to do.

"Please, Tatum. Your father is the only person who can help me solve this. I'm not experienced like he is, and I know I should be with what happened back in two-thousand-and-eleven, but I'm not. I need his help. I-I won't force it on you, but...will you talk to him? For me?"

"He's been stabbed nine times, and let me remind you who I'm named after, alright?" I was close to committing murder myself, but I pushed those thoughts deep down. "But sure, I'll talk to him about it."

"Thank you, Tatum, really."

I love Judy with my whole heart, but does she have to say my full name every single time? It feels weird to me.

"Have a nice day!" She called out as I actually began to walk down the hall.

"You too, Sheriff!" I smiled sweetly, but the smile didn't exactly meet my eyes.

There was no response to that, which I was happy about, because if there had been a response, I would've become more stressed out, and I don't need to become more stressed out right now. It was the end of the day, so I was heading towards the front lawns of the school, where I could already see Wes, Amber, and Mindy sitting at a collection of tables. I'm sure the rest of the friend group will show up soon-they better show up soon, actually, since everybody said that they were going to be in school today.

"Tatum!" Laina and Brielle Macher's voices were in exact sync.

"Babe!" Laina's smile was spread wide across her face; distance closed in and she wrapped both arms around my shoulders, going just a tiny bit on her tippy toes.

Admittedly, the tippy toes weren't a necessary thing, considering that all three of us were relatively short, but nonetheless, it felt nice. Brielle subsequently gave me a hug once Laina stepped back, placing a soft kiss on my shoulder as well. That's something she's done since childhood, and it's probably something we'd do until the day we died. Getting on either side of me as we walked across the lawn once more, all of our arms managed to link up.

"So! Did, all three of us score a super sweet interrogation with Wes's Mother of the Century-trademark pending, of course." Brielle asked this with the strangest sort of smile on her face; we were nearing the earshot of Wes now.

Everything this friend group did was to make Wes embarrassed and make Tara blush. Of course, those two things weren't related to one another, but those two things are the driving undertones of this friend group. I plopped myself down next to Wes, Laina sat down next to Amber-who I had a bone to pick with-and Brielle stayed standing next to Mindy. Chad and Liv were nowhere to be seen, which meant they were probably kissing at their lockers. The thought of that made me want to throw up. Wes took my hand and gave the back of my hand a kiss, putting his phone back in his pocket after seeming to finish up a phone call. I blushed and ruffled his hair up a tad bit, but he still looked cute, and that's all that mattered.

"That was Sam." Wes announced; his voice seemed gloomier than usual.

"She's coming?" Amber's eyebrows raised, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

"No, he's lying," I mumbled, glaring at the raven haired prank caller.

"Watch everything get worse."

"Is that really how it works?" Brielle asked, crossing her arms and leaning against one of the three tables our friend group was located at.

"Nah, I think it gets worse regardless of who's older sister shows up and whose older sister is a no show." Laina fed straight off of Brielle's energy, which I absolutely adored about them.

"All prank calls aside, things always get worse when this shit happens." I glared at Amber again, and she looked at me with an expression of mock confusion.

"Wait, you got a prank call again?" Mindy finally took out her headphones, showing an expression of real concern.

"Yeah, like...I don't know, nine-thirty or so. Maybe closer to ten." I shrugged, pressing my lips together in a thin line. "But it wound up being our very own Amber Freeman!"

I bitterly side-hugged Our Very Own Amber Freeman after I was confident that my voice sounded Steve Harvey-enough. She still kept that look of confusion as her primary expression, and swiveled her head in my direction-as did everybody else, but that's not the point.

"What?" Brielle's facial expression, on the other hand, screamed 'protective' to anybody with a pair of working eyes.

"No, guys, I swear," Amber's voice had emotions in it. Several emotions. Did I fuck up, I questioned every life decision I've made within the last forty-eight hours. "I didn't make that call to you, Tatum. I would never do something as fucked up like that. Sure, I like to play pranks, but with what you said that that shithead said to you? No, never in a million years would I even think of saying something as vile and disgusting. I promise."

"Oh..." I let my undetermined sentence trail off, now feeling guilty for ever even thinking that Amber would say what Ghostface said to me.

That actually makes things worse, seeing as it wasn't a prank call. Oops. Fuck. Fuckity fuck. Whatever. I'll live. I have to live, I'm a fucking legacy kid.

"Listen, all I'm saying is that with everything going on right now, I think it's time we take our relationship to the next, most intimate level." Chad Meeks-Martin could not have said a more Chad Meeks-Martin thing even if he tried.

Him and Liv-his pink haired girlfriend who none of us really liked-had clearly been having this conversation while on their way over to us, and for whatever reason, had chosen to carry this conversation over to the rest of us.

"He wants me to accept his Find My Fam request." Liv briefly explained to the lot of us, and I couldn't help but laugh.

"It's the smartest option-" Chad playfully glared at me. "-with a would be killer on the loose. You know exactly where I am, and I know exactly where you are!"

"Aw," Liv dragged out. "You can stalk me like a jealous boyfriend!"

She was so straight it hurt to watch and to hear.

"And you can stalk me like a jealous girlfriend!" Chad was truthfully too good for a girl like Liv, but his feelings for her were very real, much to everybody else's disappointment.

Amber mimicked the sound of throwing up, "Is this because you two aren't having sex yet?"

"Fuckin' virgins," Laina mumbled, and all of us burst into laughter.

"You actually bring up a very good point," Chad pointed a finger at both Laina and Amber. "Not that I want to sound like the stereotypical jock trying to get into his girlfriend's pants-"

Liv made a noise that I couldn't decipher as human-sounding, and gave Chad a kiss on the cheek. I don't think I'll ever be more grateful to not have that sort of relationship. Brielle moved from standing next to Mindy to sitting behind me, resting her chin on the top of my head and just chilling there. I gave her hand, which found its place on my shoulder, a small pat. This was the sort of moment I truly think defines our friendship.

"There's a psycho out there," Wes explained to the group in the best Hicks fashion. "Make yourself harder to find. Delete social media, tape over your phone camera, disable G.P.S-"

He was making the same exact points Dad had gone over with me before I left for school today. Judy Hicks and Dewey Riley must think alike-I wonder why.

"Ah, yes, thank you very much, Edward Snowden," Chad put an extremely sarcastic smile on for all to see, and to my pleasant surprise, Wes put on the same smile right back. "Actually, your mother just interrogated me about Tara's attempted murder which was very fun."

Wes and I, with the same look of horror on our faces, looked over Chad's shoulder to see Sheriff Judy talking to a student and another officer. Upon noticing us-she must've been looking our way already-she did a small, dorky salute with her hat. That's where Wes gets the dorky-ness from, most certainly.

"I'm sure she's asking everybody," Wes played off the uncomfortable dialogue Chad had swerved his way. "I mean, Ghostface is back."

"The press still isn't saying Ghostface," Mindy's agenda was shining through.

"Sure, but we all know it was fuckin' Ghostface, right?" Laina had this way of speaking that I could just goggle over for hours. But you won't, because you have a boyfriend of a year and a half that is sitting right next to you.

Mindy and Wes were taking a bite at each other, and I turned relatively upside down to look at Brielle, who seems to be a bit out of it today. Her and Tara have always been pretty close, so it's understandable as to why she's not herself today, but still-it couldn't hurt to check in.

"You okay, Bri-Bri?" I asked softly, and she gave a small half smile.

"Yeah! Yeah, I'm just tired, that's all." She shrugged off what would clearly wind up becoming a much more in depth conversation over DMs at three in the morning.

"Jesus, Mindy." Amber's defensive voice pulled Brielle and I back to the rest of the group's conversation. "There wasn't a first killing. Tara's alive."

"Mmmm," Mindy dragged out the letter 'm' in perfect Randy Meeks fashion. "I mean she could still die."

"What the fuck?" The emphasis on 'fuck' in Amber's sentence really let you know the regular dynamic of this friend group.

"I mean, the killer could come back for her!" Mindy defended her words, which probably had more truth to them than people were willing and ready to admit.

"FUCK, Mindy, come on-"

"Minds, this is like, a bit much-" I pressed my lips into a thinly sympathetic smile.

"I'm telling you: arm up, okay? Pepper spray? Check. Taser? Check." Wes was back on his Hicks shit, and I loved it so much.

"Girlfriend repellent? Check." Amber mimicked his tone of voice.

Liv was talking about some weirdo she hooked up with last summer, because apparently he was stalking her right now, but I didn't pay any attention to that. Laina and Brielle did, in fact, they went over and started shouting-scolding the guy. He was their older brother or something. But Amber, Wes, and myself were all trying to settle a centuries old dispute.

"I actually have a perfectly healthy relationship with the love of my life, Amber, so I'm sorry, but your facts? Unchecked." Wes wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer, kissing me on the cheek.

I laughed and blushed, and Amber dramatically rolled her eyes.

"But that doesn't count-no offense, Tae Tae. You're a fucking goddess. But average girlfriend repellent? Check. Tae was raised by Dewey fucking Riley, and-"

"Tara's awake." Wes's voice was like the shot heard round the world.

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