MY SOUL TO KEEP - YELLOWJACKETS

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN — THE DEATH OF A FRIENDSHIP

When Isabelle and Melissa woke up the following day, the couple realized they hadn't gone as far away from the Doomcoming party as they thought. Their dresses were covered in dirt, thanks to where they decided to fall asleep that night.

     "Sorry about your neck," Melissa apologized half-heartedly. Isabelle pressed her lips in a thin line as she remembered what else happened during Doomcoming before shrugging, thinking they had bigger things to worry about than a hickey or two. Melissa awkwardly glanced at the ground. "Are you, um... not talking again?"

     Isabelle quickly shook her head. "I can talk," she said, so quiet that the Clark girl almost didn't hear her.

     "Good," she said, giving Isabelle a quick smile before taking her hand and walking over to Lottie, Akilah, Mari, and Shauna just as the group woke up. It was silent between them, and especially so when they watched Shauna pick up the knife she was going to use on Travis.

     Isabelle still couldn't wrap her head around it. For a second, she thought—or maybe hoped—it was all a shared dream between the group of girls. Of course, the dried blood on the knife told her it was real.

     In her drugged state, she almost watched Shauna murder Travis.

     The group still hadn't spoken as they shamefully returned to the cabin. Gen was already there, sitting on the steps, holding her head in her hands and leaning her elbows against her knees. Crystal approached her and silently sat next to her, holding a cup to give to the Roth girl. Natalie, Travis, and Javi were nowhere to be seen.

     "Hey, I, uh, boiled some drinking water if you guys are as hungover as I am," Coach Scott offered as Isabelle stared at her Converse, trying to ignore everyone's eyes on her and the others.

     "Thanks, Coach," Melissa awkwardly said when everyone else was silent.

     "Has anyone seen Jackie?" Shauna unexpectedly asked, only for Van to look at the cabin as Lottie motioned toward it.

     Jackie was standing in the doorway, crossing her arms, and glaring at Shauna when Isabelle darted her eyes in her direction before returning to staring at her shoes. "I have nothing to say to you," the team captain snapped and glanced at Isabelle, who felt her cold stare on her despite barely being able to look at her. "To any of you. I mean, what the fuck?"

     "Yeah, like you're so innocent," Mari commented.

    "Hey, I'm not the one who went completely fucking insane last night." The Taylor girl took a few steps closer but stayed on the porch, far away from the group.

     "Right. No, you were too busy screwing Travis," Van said.

     "Can we not?" Gen groaned, rubbing her forehead to soothe her growing headache. "This is stupid—"

     "Hey," Coach Scott interrupted. "Look, I'm sure that we all... said and did some stuff that we regret last night on account of the shrooms." Isabelle finally looked up. She and the rest of the teenagers looked at him, confused, not understanding what he was talking about in the slightest. "So, I think that the best thing for us to do is just—"

     "Wait, wait," Shauna interrupted. "Shrooms?"

     "Okay, yeah," Van sighed, rubbing her eyes. "That makes sense."