Nerve Wreck

Chapter 21

"So... first Terra... now Hannah."

"Yeah. I get it and all but still, this shit sucks." Jessica leaned back pulling out a cigarette.

"The lesser there are the more nervous I get."

About three weeks had gone by with the last week of the semester approaching quickly. Due to all the stress from school, home and from the attacker, Jessica and Ivy have picked up the bad habit of smoking. Ivy's work took her away from school a lot but she always made sure to ask for the weeks work from all her teachers in advance to not fall behind. This was all too much.

A total of fourteen attacks had the small city on its toes, trying not to crack under all of the tension. The police and FBI both were coming up short. Nothing really connected in the attacks. They were all different from eachother and no patterns were in sight. The only thing they had was a list of possible victims. Officers were tasked to keep tabs on their appointed person from the list. None of the scenes contained anything that could help them figure out who was doing all this.

No finger prints, hair, shoe prints, witnesses, nothing.

As the group of girls walked home from school they said nothing. Some lost in thought. And the others felt uncomfortable and awkward in the silence. It was suffocating for some time.

"Fuck you sad sacks. We're going to Terra's." Scat said as she breathed out as if she were holding her breath. Annoyed, she walked ahead and turned onto Terra's street.

Without arguing the rest of the group followed behind. When they saw Terra's green door they sped up in a bit of excitement of having some fun with their favorite crazy girl. Scat gave three strong knocks and sang Terra's name. The door swiftly swung open to reveal a familiar Korean girl and her fluffy cat.

"Hey babes!"

"What the hell took you so long to come see me? I've been fucking dying over here with my mom nagging so damn much!"

Smiles spread across the girls faces as they walked in and made themselves at home. Terra's mother walked in with a tray full of homemade smoothies. They talked for hours on end and caught up with eachother about how life's changed since the attacks. Most of the conversation was about the attacker for the better part of two hours. Saying all sorts of things about them.

They made up stories about who it could be and made fun of the attacker together. They all began to talk about how life would change once more once the attacker was arrested. They were all too eager for this to end. Talking about visiting the attacker as to spit on their shoes and insult them. They were all letting their anger show as they spoke.

"Umm... hey guys? I've got news." The girls and even Terra's mother turned to look at Gina.

"I don't know if you all remember but I'll be graduating this semester..." She looked down at the floor as her palms were soaked with sweat. She fiddled her fingers.

After a few moments she looked up to notice the girls had small smiles on their faces as they also avoided eye contact. Besides Terra's mom of course, she was grinning at Gina with a proud look on her face.

"We didn't forget hon. We're so proud of you." Everyone began to talk about how much they were going to miss her and they wished her luck in her new found freedom.

They all began to make up scenarios about how they thought Gina would decorate her first home. How it would look like. How big it would be. Would she have a pet? Would all of the furniture be plush? They talked and talked about the future. They took so much interest and fun that they didn't notice the time ticking away into night.

Once the host got tired of having so many people over she pointed out the time and shooed her daughter to put shoes on. Terra borrowed her mother's car to drop the girls off at their homes. As Ivy's playlist played loudly and the girls sung along, no one dared to ruin the good news and fun with their worries and sorrows and doubts about their lives.

One by one everyone was dropped off. Gina didn't bother trying to go home. She simply asked to be dropped off with Scat. The redhead notified the family group chat. They all quickly replied saying to definitely bring her over for the night. Jack hadn't seen the messages though.

Walking in they were greeted by Scat's parents and Jack along with them. He stared in surprise Scat came so late but that quickly fade to happiness when he saw Gina walk in after her.

"Scat, can I talk to you?"

"Sure. Your room though." Scat closed the door behind her and took a seat at Jack's desk. The chair was cold black leather. Hands down the most comfortable chair in the house. Jack simply rolled his eyes as he redirected himself to sit on his bed across from her.

"Well?"

"Not that I'm complaining, but why is she here?" His sister simply shrugged in response.

"Dunno. She just asked and I said yeah of couse. I texted the chat but you didn't look."

Silence.

"Well... you probably already know so how do you think I should approach her? Without making her uncomfortable?" She looked up and leaned back thinking about it for quite some time.

"Shit, definitely don't be straightforward with her right off the bat. She gets freaked out real fucking easy so I say invite her to something fun. Like the arcade. Then buy the end of ya'lls date ask her you wanna go out again but as a couple next time." Jack nodded along taking mental notes.

'That makes sense. She was dumbfounded by something as simple as being helped out of the car.' He thought.

"Should I make it clear it's a date?"

"Sure. Not like it's ya'lls first." Jack choked on nothing but shock.

"W-what!?"

"You've been out with her plenty. Leaving late as fuck at night for the past few weeks. Been seeing her, right?" Scat chucked. They were both total wrecks. How would this work?

Jack simply nodded as he felt his face turn hot. He never really thought of their hangouts as anything more. He was taken aback at how everything was perceived. He wasn't like that but from the outside looking in it was crystal clear there had to be something going on.

His sister walked over to him giving his shoulder a light punch as she laughed at his reaction. She told him she knew he wasn't like that but she didn't know what other conclusion to draw. They walked out into the living room to find Gina and their parents watching TV together. Their dad explained the show they were watching with excitement and way too much detail. The siblings giggled at their old man and took a seat.

'Maybe things will look up.'