HAUNTED

____________

MARJORIE WANDERS THE Omega Kappa Beta party aimlessly, holding a red cup in her right hand — filled with a non-alcoholic drink — and occasionally taking sips from it. She lost Tara merely minutes ago, and Anika and Mindy decided to have some alone time and observe the other attendees.

So, Marjorie is all alone at a party where she should be having fun.

Everyone around her is dancing, giggling, drunk out of their minds, and making out with random strangers in the vibrant blue lights that cover the entire house. She misses that feeling of having no worries or thoughts on her mind when at parties.

The last party she attended in Woodsboro ended up with her and her friends being hospitalized for weeks, and the girl she was in love with being buried six feet under the ground. Marjorie hasn't enjoyed many events since then.

The blonde weaves her way through the many sweaty and hot bodies, widening her eyes when she almost gets a face full of ass when some guy bumps into her while dancing. Marjorie frowns in distaste, moving as far away from him as possible. Eventually, she manages to find the bathroom and swiftly shuts the door to lock herself inside.

Letting out a sigh of relief, she turns around only to be startled by a familiar boy dressed in cardboard, who is sitting on the floor. "Holy fuck—!"

Ethan releases a slight yell, bewildered at the presence of the girl. He raises his hands defensively, while Marjorie has her palm clasped against her chest out of instinct. When he realizes who it is, Ethan stands up, leaving his cardboard helmet on the tiles. "What're you doing here?"

"What're you doing here?" Marjorie retorts, glaring at him with narrowed eyes.

"W—Well," Ethan falters, pressing his lips together and lifting a hand to massage his neck uncomfortably. "I don't know."

Marjorie hums dryly. Here she is, alone in a room with the boy she's been avoiding for the past week because she didn't want to restart what she ended. There couldn't have been any other bathroom to go into?

Ethan shuffles on his feet, watching her intently. "So... you came to the party."

"Looks like it." Marjorie raises her cup to her mouth and tilts her head back, letting the rest of the drink run down her throat.

An eerie silence fills the bathroom, and the teenagers find it to be excruciatingly painful. They stand almost eight feet apart, yet it feels claustrophobic to the both of them. Marjorie can't handle it anymore.

She moves to leave, her fingers tightening around the knob. The door is barely five inches wide before Ethan stops her. He rushes over to the girl, gently pulling her back by her arm.

"Wait," he speaks. Marjorie hesitantly turns, peering up at him. "Are we..." Ethan licks his lips anxiously. "We're really not gonna talk about it? Any of it?"

Marjorie sighs heavily. She hasn't wanted to think or speak about their conversation — which took place at his and Chad's dorm about a month ago, just a few days after school started — and has tried to keep any time with him to a minimal.

Now he's trying to be confrontational, and all she wants to do is run away.

"Ethan, it's bad enough that we're in the same friend group." She shifts her weight from one foot to the other.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he questions, much to Marjorie's dismay.

She sighs heavily, running a hand through her hair. "You're always at the apartment, and you're literally Chad's best friend and roommate. We are almost always in the same room."

Ethan is at a loss for words, blinking every few seconds as he processes her vague explanation. "Okay, I—It's just, I don't know what I did wrong—"

"You didn't do anything," she asserts in an exasperated tone. "Ethan, I can't give you an answer for... any of your questions right now."

"Mars, I just want to know if I did something that made you—"

"No. God, no," Marjorie cuts him off quickly, shaking her head vigorously. "No, you didn't do anything. I just... I just wanted to focus on myself, on school."

Ethan nods. "I know, you said that when..." he slowly lets his sentence fade into nothing, neither of them wanting him to finish it anyways. "I thought it was an excuse, and that I did something wrong."

"No," Marjorie reassures him with a melancholic smile. "You didn't do anything wrong— at all."

He points his chin toward his chest, staring down at his shoes. His brown eyes are full of sadness, and it makes Marjorie feel so much worse than she always does.

"I promise," she bends her knees slightly to force him to meet her gaze, straightening when he obliges. "Okay? It isn't you."

The curly haired boy gives a weak nod, trying his hardest to appreciate the clarification and her attempt at easing the thoughts in his mind.

Her and Ethan are less than a foot apart now, and even though this would normally cause one of them to step away, neither of them makes a move to do such.

Ethan's eyes begin scan over her body, examining her costume. Marjorie is dressed in a leather jacket with a large white collar folded over the top. A red, flannel skirt covering her upper thighs while sheer black leggings envelope the rest of her lower body. Black combat boots are tied up to her shins.

"Nice outfit," he says quietly. Finally meeting her gaze, Ethan seems to register the fact that Marjorie is smirking now. She's amused by the uneasiness in his stomach.

The look she's giving him is enough to make him even more nervous than he already is. The dark eyeliner and slight eyeshadow makes her more alluring as well.

"What're you doing?"

"Nothing," she replies with a nonchalant shrug.

Instantaneously, Marjorie reaches up and wraps her hand around the nape of his neck, carefully pulling him down to close the distance between them. Their lips meet, pressing together softly.

Ethan's hands slowly slide up to Marjorie's waist, gripping her tightly yet gently and backing her into the door. The girl gasps quietly, which only allows him to deepen the kiss. Marjorie's free palm holds his jaw and faintly caresses his skin.

As much as she hates to admit it, Marjorie missed this feeling. Nostalgia floods her thoughts, remembering all the times their skins touched.

When Ethan starts to slip the fabric of her skirt over her thighs, the door slams Marjorie into his body. They cry out in surprise, Ethan's arms folding around her torso to steady her.

The person on the other side of the wood is shocked at the scene, spitting out apologies almost immediately. "Shit! I'm so, so sorry! I did not mean to cockblock—" They rush to close the door, intending on leaving the pair to continue.

However, Marjorie's eyes widen at the revelation of what just happened. She removes her hand from Ethan's shoulder and covers her mouth with it to keep a shriek from escaping. She's made a huge mistake. Again.

"Mars?" Ethan whispers, his brows furrowed as he gazes down at her.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck—" The girl hurriedly pushes his arms off of her and pulls down her skirt, yanking open the door and bolting out of the bathroom.

Marjorie ignores Ethan calling her name.

____________

An hour after she exited the bathroom and left the boy by himself, Marjorie rounds a corner and spots Chad and Ethan, jumping up and down as Chad tries to hype up the cardboard knight. Marjorie resists the urge to cringe at the words coming out of Chad's mouth as she approaches them.

"You guys look ridiculous," she shouts over the music. They both glance down at her, Chad swallowing his shot as Ethan spits his back into the tiny cup. "You know that right?"

"Shut up, Mars. What're you even dressed as?" The athlete teases, looking the girl up and down. "An emo goth chick? Not that it's a bad thing, of course."

Marjorie squints at him. "I was aiming for a 90's rock look, but that works too." The blonde tips her chin downward, staring at the liquid that fills the party cup in her hand — Marjorie made a pit stop at the drinking table after downing her last one in the bathroom. She holds the cup toward Ethan, who narrows his eyes in confusion. "It's non-alcoholic."

She's hoping that he'll keep what happened in the bathroom to himself, especially knowing that Chad's incessant questioning and teasing will never end if he finds out.

"Oh, thanks." Ethan thanks her, gently taking the drink from her and sipping it.

"Come on! Mars, you're ruining my plan. I gotta get Ethan out there, introduce him to some girls!" Chad focuses his attention to Ethan, patting his friend on the back and eyeing someone standing in the crowd a few feet away from them. "How about her?"

Marjorie follows his gaze and notices a dark haired girl dressed as a Gryffindor from Harry Potter dancing with her friends, a joyful grin displayed across her face. She's beautiful.

Ethan seems to have a similar thought to hers. "She—She's gorgeous."

"Right! Ask her out."

The curly haired boy's head whips to Chad, immediately refusing and shaking his head with a smile. Marjorie tries to hide the dejection she feels, knowing that she has no right to feel that way. "No, wait, no! I can't just go up—"

Chad starts to playfully hit his palms against the cardboard armor that covers Ethan's torso, encouraging him to ask the girl out.

"Shut up!" Ethan laughs, causing a slight smirk to appear on Marjorie's lips.

"You gotta have confidence!" Chad informs, adjusting the collar of Ethan's navy blue henley shirt. "Plus, look at you, man. You're a snack! You're practically an entire meal all on your own."

Now, Marjorie recoils— for two reasons.

The boy's eyes are filled with both shock and happiness at the compliment. "Really?"

Chad beams in satisfaction. "Yeah! You're Ethan Landry," he leans his left arm on Ethan's shoulder and they smile at each other. Until Chad turns the other way and yells out, "Hey, excuse me! Howdy, how you doing?"

"Chad—"

"Yeah, I would just give up." Marjorie advises the boy, subtly grabbing a hold of the cup in his hand and gulping down the beverage.

Ethan shuts his eyes and wrinkles his nose in embarrassment, using his right hand to brush his eyelid. The girl with her friends spins around, responding to Chad with a smile.

"My friend here"—he gestures to Ethan, briefly glancing at him—"He's a snack, right?"

The Gryffindor barely looks at Ethan before tilting her head to the side and nodding slightly, humming as she politely denies the statement. When she faces her friends again, they all shake her heads and giggle.

"What did that mean?" Ethan questions.

Marjorie cringes, wondering how he can kiss so well but can't tell the difference between a good and bad response from a girl.

Chad chuckles, trying to keep up his optimistic front. "Nah, it's good, it's good. Well, it's not bad. It's room for improvement!"

Suddenly, Anika appears from around the corner, tapping Chad on his arm to get his attention. "Hey, Big Guy, you're needed." She walks away just as fast as she talked.

Chad exhales deeply, following after his twin's girlfriend with no hesitation. Marjorie purses her lips, setting down her red cup on the chair behind her. She slides the athlete's Woodsboro letterman jacket off the backrest and clutches onto it with her fingers.

"Let's go." Marjorie reluctantly pulls Ethan along by his wrist, which he allows with no protests. They weave their way through the many groups of people, apologizing when they accidentally run into anybody.

Ethan and Marjorie finally reach their friends, only to find Chad trying to keep Tara from going upstairs with Frankie — a frat boy who's a total and absolute ass. Everybody knows that.

"Hey, partner," Chad calls up to him. Frankie and Tara are halfway up the staircase when they turn around to look at the cowboy. "Tara's good down here."

Frankie steps closer to Chad. "Sorry, bro. I didn't catch that."

Chad chuckles insincerely, letting his grin drop slightly. "Yeah, you did."

"No, Chad." Tara stumbles down the steps, catching herself as she places her hands on the boy's chest. "It's fine." It's clear that Tara is drunk: her footsteps are disoriented and her words are slurred, along with her eyes being very drowsy. "I want to."

Anika stands by the foyer beside Marjorie and Ethan, her arms crossed apprehensively at the entire situation.

"Yeah, yeah... see, Chad?" Frankie meets Tara at the bottom of the stairs, glaring down at him cockily. "She wants to. Come on." He whirls around, his hand gripping Tara's bicep harshly as he begins to drag her up.

Marjorie lets go of Ethan's wrist, stepping forward with a defensive expression. "The fuck is wrong with you—?"

Chad doesn't hesitate to snatch Frankie off of Tara, throwing him all the way down to the level floor. "How about you get your fucking hands off her!"

The frat boy tumbles into another party-goer behind him, shoving back at Chad instantly. "Get the fuck off me!"

They start to push each other repeatedly, spitting out profanities as they yell. Tara manages to pull herself off the staircase and tries to get them to stop, while Marjorie reaches out and grabs the girl's arm to keep her from interfering.

As the fight begins to escalate, Mindy maneuvers around people and is shocked to find her brother engaging with Frankie. "The hell?"

Marjorie somehow notices Sam pushing her way through the crowd that has gathered, heading straight in between Chad and Frankie. "Guys, hey! Yeah, sorry to interrupt." Chad immediately stops pushing Frankie when he sees Sam. The woman directs her next sentence to the frat boy, "I'm just gonna tase you in the balls real quick."

Before Frankie can process her announcement, Sam grips his shoulder to keep him from moving away as she pulls out her taser and aims it to his crotch. He doubles-over, crying out in pain and holding himself while twitching.

Marjorie lets out a giggle, releasing her hold on Tara's arm while Ethan grimaces at the sight.

"Don't ever lay hands on my sister," Sam seethes.

"You fucking bitch!" Frankie slams his palm against the wooden floor angrily.

"Sam." Tara seems more aware than before, staring at her older sister in disbelief. "Are you fucking kidding me? You're stalking me now?"

The girl storms out of the frat house, leaving Sam and her friends to follow suit. However, some guy in the mass yells out, "Holy shit— it's that psycho girl!"

Sam's head whips around, looking at all of the people watching her with disgust. Her jaw is clenched in anger, and she rushes after Tara a second later.

"Here we go again," Mindy remarks. She hooks an arm around Anika's body and guides her out the front door.

Then Marjorie hands Chad his letterman jacket, waiting for him to pull it over his shoulders before walking out with him and Ethan trailing behind her.

As they pass by the guy who hollered the insult towards Sam, Marjorie shows an insincere smile and reaches for the red cup in his hand. "Hey, can I see that? Thanks."

Then she throws the drink across his face, causing the beverage to splash into his eyes and gaping mouth. "Fuck you."

Marjorie drops the cup and allows it to clatter to the floor, kicking it with the edge of her boot before stalking out of the frat house.