Y/N:
"just to let you know, mindy takes these things a little too serious so don't take it to heart if she labels you as a suspect."
it was the following day, ethan showed up to the apartment in the morning so i can walk with him to the university.
"note taken. if you don't mind me asking, why would she think it's me? i mean im practically seen as the nerdy shy guy in this group, i wouldn't even dare." he replies.
"we would have never thought amber would hurt us and she did, so ever since that we've been trying to be careful on who we let in our lives." i look down.
he stops walking and turns to me, "just to be clear, what do you think?" he asks.
"what do you mean?" i slightly tilt my head in confusion.
he hesitates to respond as he stares down to my lips and back to my eyes, "you don't think it's me, right?" he says in a low but sincere tone.
"no, of course not. and i'm sorry you have to be dragged into this mess, but since your living with chad and my brother and we're all practically friends, you have to know these rules because the killer targets anyone who's in contact with us" i say.
"i know we haven't known each other for long, but i can tell your a good soul. and i would never paint you as a bad person." i look at him.
he moves his gaze back to me as a smile forms on his face, "you really mean it?"
"yeah, i do." i smile back.
"thank you Y/N. that really means a lot. and just know that i will never do any thing to hurt you." he moves closer as he places his hand on my cheek, "i'll always be here to protect you."
my gaze follows down to his lips, as i was tempted to smash mine against his but it was too soon, and i didn't want to humiliate myself knowing he might not feel the same way.
i felt my phone vibrate, as i slowly move back and pull it out, seeing that i have a new message from tara.
tara: hey where are u guys? we're all here already.
me: sorry, me and ethan got carried away in a conversation but don't worry we'll be there shortly !
tara is typing...
tara: ooooh sorry for interrupting your romantic time ;)
me: tara !! we had a nice platonic talk i promise it was nothing like that !! we're on our way.
tara is typing...
tara: that's what they all say...
i playfully shake my head and turn my phone off as we began walking again.
~
"about time you two show up." mindy says as she looks over to us.
"seriously, ryan's protective ass was already overthinking that you guys were up to something." sam states.
"hey let them be, i'm sure they wanted their alone time before coming here." chad shoots us a smirks.
"okay none of that, we're here already so let's just get this over with." i walk over and sit next to tara on the bench, ethan following and sitting next to me.
mindy stands in front of all of us, "okay nerds, listen up." she claps her hands.
"as terrifying as this all is, i'm actually glad i get a chance to redeem myself for not calling the killers last time."
"okay." she sighs, "the way i see it, someone is out to make a sequel to the requel." she signals her hands.
"um what's a requel?" anika raises her hand, sounding confused.
mindy points at her, "sweetie, your beautiful but let's hold questions for the end."
anika smiles at her.
"stab one took place in woodsboro. stab two took place in college." sam speaks up.
"so do we think that the killer is trying to copy the movies?"
"that is a possibility. heroes now in college, check. suspicious new characters brought in to round out the suspect list and or body count. check check and check." mindy explains.
"i don't like this." ethan shakes his head and looks at me.
"but it can't just be about stab two."
"why not?" tara asks.
"it would make sense if this were just a sequel." mindy answers.
"but we're not in a sequel. because nobody just makes sequels anymore."
we all confusedly stare at her.
"we're in a franchise!" she says, "and there are certain rules to a continuing franchise."
"i had a feeling." quinn simply states.
"rule one, everything is bigger than last time. bigger budget, bigger cast, longer chases, shootouts, beheadings, you gotta top what came before to keep people coming back."
"beheadings?" chad questions as he puts his pen up.
"beheadings."
"rule two, whatever happened last time, expect the opposite. franchises only survive by subverting expectations. if the killers last time were whiny snowflake film nerds with letterboxed account instead of personalities, you can bet the opposite will be true here."
"and rule three, nobody is safe. legacy characters?" she waves her hand, "cannon fodder at this point, usually brought back only to be killed in some cheap bid for nostalgia."
"it's not looking too good for gale and kirby." she grins, "oh and that's not even the worst part."
"this is the part where she tells us the worst part." chad says looking over his note pad.
"the worst part is franchises are just continuing episodic installments designed to boost an IP. which means main characters are completely expendable now too."
"to laurie strode, nancy thompson, ellen ripley, sally hardesty, jigsaw, tony stark, james bond, even luke skywalker all died so they're franchises can live on." she looks over at us.
"that means it's not just the friend group. any of us could go at any time, especially sam, tara, Y/N and ryan." she finishes.
there was a loud silence until ethan spoke up, "wait, any of us?"
"yeah." mindy answers.
"am i in the friend group?" he questions, "of course you are." i sweetly smile at him.
"am i like one of the targets?" sam oddly stares at him.
"am i gonna die a virgin?" he randomly asks which catches me by surprise.
"not if Y/N helps you with that." chad responds making my eyes wide in embarrassment as i look over to him, "chad!"
a few snickers are heard coming from our friends, "chad come on man, really?" ryan groans sounding disgusted.
"well that was a weird over share." mindy laughs, "which brings us to our current suspects, ethan." she points her hands towards him.
"the shy dorky guy who no one suspects, because he's so shy and dorky."
"wait why am i on the suspect list? just because i'm randomly chad's and ryan's roommate?" he asks.
"roommate lotteries can be juked, you could have fixed it to get to us." mindy harshly replies back as ethan rolls his eyes.
"quinn, the slutty roommate. a horror movie classic." she walks over to her, "sex positive, but thank you?" she awkwardly states.
"how did you come to live with sam, tara, and Y/N?"
"i answered their ad online." quinn looks over at us earning a nod from me.
"okay, say no more you already implicated yourself enough." she stops her.
"mindy, that ad was anonymous." i reply coming to quinn's defense.
"and you know we vetted her. plus her dad's a cop." tara adds, "and that makes it more likely she's the killer. because having a cop dad is a great cover! do you not remember how these movies work tara?!" she yells.
"is she always like this?" ethan turns to me, "like i said, she gets real deep with this stuff." i whisper to him causing him to awkwardly smile at me.
"and finally anika." she walks over to her girlfriend as they blow each other a kiss, "never trust the love interest." she says in a serious tone which causes anika's smile to disappear.
"okay so we have our rules." sam speaks up, "and we have our suspects."
"wait, wait, what about you guys?" ethan points out.
"i mean i think it's pretty safe to rule out the six of us who went through this last year in woodsboro." mindy crosses her arms.
"agreed." chad grins.
"no not agreed what if the trauma you all went through caused one or six more of you to snap." quinn responds, "and also three of you are related to killers so that's already a valid reason to be labeled as a suspect."
now i love quinn but why would she say that.
"or what if the fame you got from the killings made you thirsty for more. let's be honest here, some of the theories online about sam are-"
ethan gets interrupted by tara, "don't you fucking dare." he widens his eyes at her reaction.
"hey, that wasn't very nice." i nudge his shoulder, "right, i'm sorry." he quickly apologizes.
"okay, but she has a point. i mean let's face facts, if we're all suspects, your all suspects." anika motions her hand at all of us.
we all go silent as i'm sitting there processing and thinking about everything mindy brought up. as much as it hurts to say, she made very good points.
and even though i didn't want to suspect our new friends, chances are never zero. we just have to be alert.
this wasn't going to stop me from having a soft spot for a certain boy though.
~