MIA was thankful to see Tara awake and responding when she entered the hospital.

While worry was still bubbling in her chest, it was good to see that for the time being, Tara Carpenter was okay.  She was breathing, alive and was responsive—and, for almost being murdered.....pretty normal.

The group had shown up minutes after one another, and after getting respective side hugs and greetings with the injured girl, took a seat.  The Meeks-Martin twins took up two hospital chairs while the Hicks twins sat on the empty hospital bed across from Tara's, Amber sitting next to Mia.  The six sat awkwardly for a few minutes—unsure on what to say—before Wes spoke up, trying to distract the girl from her attack.

Mia tagged on to the whole 'distract Tara' act and started rambling about Friends and soon enough everyone was taking turns talking about the new school assignment, or a memory the group had shared in the past.  For how much murder was brought up within the group, nothing was mentioned for a solid ten minutes.

Until it was.

The door creaked, and all five high-schoolers looked to see Samantha Carpenter in the doorway. Mia, Wes, Mindy, Chad and Amber all stood up, looking at the long lost sister—some more happy than others.

"How are you feeling?" the older Carpenter spoke up, kneeling down to be more at her sister's level.  She placed a reassuring hand on Tara's forearm, the other meeting her shoulder—acting as if this wasn't the first time seeing the girl since she left.

Tara stared at her sister in awe, a light smile on her lips. "You came."

"Of course I came." Samantha had felt guilt-stricken the moment Wes texted her about her sister's attack.  Maybe if she'd been there—if she hadn't ditched her baby sister the minute she could—Tara wouldn't have been attacked as easily as she was.  She hoped that maybe showing up now could make up for the years she missed.   Just because she ran away didn't mean she wouldn't see her sister after she almost died.

Pushing down her emotion, Sam gestured to the man behind her, "This is my boyfriend, Richie."

Richie, who had been awkwardly standing behind Sam, came forward with an apologetic expression. "It's so nice to meet you.  I'm so sorry if I'm intruding."

"Nice to meet you, too." Tara gave a small, awkward, wave. 

While the two spoke, Sam had made her way through the friend group, embracing each one of them.  She'd been close with the group when they were little, and while they rarely admitted it....they missed Samantha—minus Amber, of course. 

 Sam started with the Meeks-Martin twins, before embracing Mia with a warm smile.  The Hicks was now taller than the Carpenter—she'd missed a lot of time.   It felt good to see the older girl, even though she'd ditched them without reason all those years ago.

"You're taller than me now, Mia." Sam pulled away, eyeing up the lanky girl.  Sam had been a sister figure to everyone, and the fact that she was pointing out small details reminded Mia of the bond they once shared.  "You're making me feel old—I remember when you were this tall." She used her hand to inference a smaller height.

"Yeah, well, you missed a lot." Mia gave a small smile, despite her words having a sharper meaning behind them.

Sam moved on to Wes, tightly embracing the boy.  She held on to him longer than she did the others, the blonde having been the reason she knew about Tara—the reason she returned to Woodsboro.  "Thank you for calling."

"Of course." Wes replied, softly.

 "Look at your hair? I like it." Sam mused as she ran a hand through the boy's bleached hair with a cheeky smile.  Wes chuckled lightly—he was one who sought approval from others, and it felt nice to know someone liked his hair—and the Carpenter stepped back, looking at Richie and gesturing back to the teens she'd embraced. "These are Chad and Mindy, and these are Wes and Mia, I call them the Quadruplets, since they're two sets of twins. I used to babysit them all."

Wes sarcastically replied, "Which is how I always like to be introduced."

Sam gave a laugh before her eyes shifted to the Freeman girl, who'd stayed at Tara's beside the whole interaction. The two girls had never properly met—Amber wasn't in the picture when Sam babysat.  "And Amber. Hey."

"Hi. Nice to see you." Amber put on a fake smile, her reply stiff and monotone.  She wasn't even trying to hide the hatred she held for the older girl.

"Hi, um, Richie." Richie introduced himself again, as if Amber hadn't heard his previous introduction.  Mia found it odd that he was greeting the Freeman personally, but Richie was already an awkward guy and she brushed it off.

"Hi." Amber almost grimaced at the older man at his mannerism, the twos eyes locked on one another's.

Sam took the conversation away from greetings, looking at Tara, "Where's Mom?"

"She's stuck at a conference in London." Tara explained with a sigh.  She knew her mother was a busy woman, and was working but the fact that she hadn't even tried to get out—that she was unable to come home to be with her daughter who'd been attacked, and almost killed, was rather frustrating. "She called me earlier."

"Yeah. For all of ten minutes." Amber scoffed, crossing her arms. 

"Ten minutes is better than nothing." Mia crossed, knowing the busy schedule Ms. Carpenter held. 

 The Freeman looked at the Carpenter, noticing the girls worn and weary features and was quick to say, "Uh, look guys, Tara is really tired maybe we should just give her some space."

Tara didn't fight her friend's words and everyone began to clear out, wanting to give the injured girl the rest and the space she needed.  Before everyone could leave though, Tara spoke up. 
"Not you, Sam. I want you to stay."

Sam looked back at her sister, slightly surprised that she wanted her here.  Yet, she didn't hesitate on coming close again—if Tara wanted her, she would be there. "Okay." 

The rest of the group awkwardly watched before clumping out the door—one by one was a past time—to give the Carpenter siblings some space to clear the air between them.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"So what is she like, the sister?" Liv Mckenzie asked the group.  After leaving the hospital—Wes texting Tara to promise another visit soon—they decided on meeting at a local bar with Liv, whom they had yet to see since leaving to see the Carpenter. 

She was the newest addition to the group—newer than Amber—and had yet to meet Sam.  She knew little to nothing about the Carpenter sibling, not having had her as a babysitter like Mindy, Chad, Wes and Mia had.

"Sam? Chad rose a brow, as if he was going to spew untrue shit about her out to his girlfriend, before a smile came across his lips, "Oh, Sam is so cool."

Mindy tilted her head, countering her brother's words. "Okay, you only say that because she let you wear Pokémon onesies to bed for a year." She pointed her pool cue for emphasis.

While her words were supposed to embarrass the Meeks-Martin boy, Chad took her words with pride, "That's true. That's a true statement." 

"I don't hate Sam." Mia shrugged, spinning the straw within her strawberry daiquiri around—virgin, of course.  Judy wouldn't hesitate to kill her daughter if she caught her drinking underage, and Mia would rather be killed by Ghostface than at the hands of her mother.  "I mean, she was our babysitter.  She's very protective and does care."

"No, trust me.  Sam is not cool." Amber states, disagreeing with both Chad and Mia—as per usual.  She didn't personally know Sam, but from what she's heard, the Freeman didn't see a reason to like her at all. "Her dad left her mom, right? Walks right on when Tara's eight, Sam's thirteen.  Sam started acting out, getting in trouble with the cops.  And then, on Sam's eighteenth birthday, she leaves. Ghosts them all."

Mia frowned at the memory.  Sam leaving had been a tough pill to swallow.  Not only had it been hard on Tara—who now had to live without her sister, without knowing why she left—but on Mia, Wes, Chad and Mindy too.  It hurt knowing that a girl they all saw as a sister, as a protector, had headed down the path of drugs and just left.

But, it was Sam's life.  And technically, since she was eighteen, she was legally an adult and could do whatever she wanted.

Amber continues, "Maybe Sam's changed. I just don't want to see Tara hurt again."

"So what, you're protecting Tara from her own sister now?" Wes questioned, giving Amber a look.  He didn't understand how the raven haired girl could hate Sam as much as she did—if they could get over her leaving, Amber could too.

"Well, someone has too."

Wes fiddled with the pool cue as he stared down Amber, trying to understand her correctly, "Okay, so no guys are good enough for her and now her family's off limits too?"

"Mmmm. Motive." Mindy piped up at the Hicks' comment, with a smirk she leaned towards the boy, "If I can't have her, no one can."

"What?" Wes nervously asked, glancing around to avoid eye contact with the Meeks-Martin girl.  His crush on Tara was widely known throughout the group—though he never had admitted it—but Mia knew her brother wouldn't put on a Ghostface mask and try to kill her just because he couldn't have her. 

 Or would he?

"We all know you have a crush on Tara." 

"Okay, come on, Mindy—"

"But, we're all suspects." The Meeks-Martin girl then fell serious.  At her words, the group suddenly began to look around at one another, sending doubt and suspicion filled glances to each other.  It felt odd knowing that the killer could be right here, that Mia could be sitting next to Tara's attacker—to Ghostface.  Loosening the tension was Chad lifting his drink in the air, causing Mindy to send a small glance his way. "Except maybe Liv."

Liv replied with true appreciation, "Thank you."

"You're way too boring to be a psycho."

As stated before, making fun of each other—more specifically Wes and Liv—was a daily deed.  Mia stifled a laugh as the pink haired girl's fave fell in annoyance, but any sort of joy was gone as another voice joined the conversation.

"Yo, Liv." the voice of Vince Schneider caused the group of six to turn in the direction of the man, watching as he advanced towards the pool table the high schoolers had taken up.  Mia grimaced, Liv hadn't been kidding when she called him a stalker.  "You want a real drink? Or are you happy sitting at this kids table?"  

"If she wanted to join you, she would have already." Mia sent a cold stare towards the older man, setting her glass down on the pool table as she did.   While Liv wasn't her favorite, she didn't deserve to be pestered by Vince—the Hicks was also growing tired of him herself if she were honest.  "There was a reason you were a one night stand."

"You want to be my next, Hicks?" Vince's stare made Mia's skin crawl, "You're not too bad—"

Mia scoffed,"Excuse me? My mom is the sheriff—"

"Don't talk to my sister like that, asshole." Wes spoke up, pissed.  It was unusual for the boy to raise his voice, let alone swear, but he wasn't gonna let this asshole talk to his sister.

Chad walked forward towards Vince, coming to the defense of his girlfriend and close friend, "Hey, listen up uglier Micheal Meyers.  It was a summer fling, alright? It meant nothing." He easily towered over the older guy.

Irritated, Vince asked, "M'sorry, was I talking to you?"

"I don't fucking care who you're talking too—"

The Schneider looked past the jock who was right in his face, eyeing up the two girls he'd been speaking to, "Liv, let's go.  Mia, the spot is still open—"

"Don't you fucking talk to her!" the Meeks-Martin boy fired, causing the rest of the group to quickly shuffle in front of Liv protectively—though Mia doubted Chad would let him get anywhere near her with the interaction they were having.  The older man started speaking, Chad speaking over him,  "I don't wanna fucking hear your goddamn voice—"

"Shut your fucking mouth." Vince growled, pulling out a switchblade from his jeans.  The caused the surrounding bar members to gape and gasp, which eventually gained the attention of the bar tender.

"Hey! Get out of here or I'm calling the cops!"

Mia pulled her phone from her pocket, dangling it. "I literally have my mom on speed-dial."

"Go." Chad dismissed the man with a wave of his hand.

Vince, while backing away, smirked towards Liv.  He spoke as he pointed a finger at her, "I'll see you soon, sweetheart."

"Hey man. Fuck you."

The bartender looked towards the teens, "You kids too. Let's go."

The group of six all collectively stared at one another before grabbing their bags and leaving the bar—which was no longer appealing anyway.

mara's misc!

hii

this is a very random update, but i felt like updating *shrugs*

i just want to say that i love wes sm and it's a real shame what's gonna happen in a few chapters (i formerly apologize to mia now)

see you back with chapter four!!