f i v e
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"CHAD said to meet him at the school in ten minutes, we can all ride to the hospital together," Alex nudges Jamie's side, waking her from her nap.
"Okay, let me just fix my hair," she walks into the bathroom, grimacing at the rat's nest on her head.
As she searches for a brush in her makeup bag, she stumbles on a little baggy, two pills sitting in it and taunting her.
Her dad had done a full sweep of her room after the incident, but clearly, he missed a spot. She wasn't quite sure how she felt about it.
"Jamie, hurry up!"
"Yeah, I'm coming, relax," she shouts back, eyes never leaving the bag.
She gulps, feeling the urge to take all the stress away, even just for a moment, but remembers the looks on her family members' faces around her hospital bed last time.
"Not worth it," she whispers, but puts the baggy in her jacket pocket, returning to her search for the brush.
"Jamie, for the last time-" Alex begins to walk over to the bathroom door, but Jamie opens it herself.
"God, don't have a conniption," she brushes past her, ignoring her suspicious look.
"Let's just go," Alex leads them down the hallway.
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"I said ten minutes, not twenty," Chad jokes as the trio walks over to the picnic tables, finding space amongst the group.
"Jamie's a diva," Eli responds.
"We did not take that long," she rolls her eyes, laying back on the table, head resting in Amber's lap.
"Hello to you too," she chuckles.
Alex sits next to Wes, who continues telling everyone about this morning. "I called Sam."
"She's coming?" Amber asks, disgust in her tone. "Watch everything get worse."
"I'm just saying, with everything going on this is the time to take our relationship to the next, most intimate level," Chad says to Liv.
"Now is not the time for sex, Chad," Alex kicks his foot.
"Said no one ever," Jamie snorts.
"Have some faith in me, thank you."
"He wants me to accept his Find My Fam request," Liv explains, and Alex chuckles.
"Oh, that's gross," Eli screws his face up. "It's practically stalking. Why would I want someone to know exactly where I am at all times?"
"It's the smartest thing to do with a would-be killer on the loose. You know exactly where I am, and I know exactly where you are," Chad defends himself.
"Aw, so you can stalk me like a jealous boyfriend?"
"And you can stalk me like a jealous boyfriend," he retorts, making Amber gag.
"Is this because you two aren't having sex yet?"
"You bring up a very good point. Not that I want to sound like a stereotypical jock that wants to get into his girlfriend's pants, but-"
"Great," Liv cuts him off.
"You are such a teenage boy," Alex shakes her head.
"Don't do it, Liv-"
"Wes, don't be a cockblock, man," Eli laughs.
"Not what I meant. I'm saying that with a psycho out there, you make yourself harder to find. Delete social media, tape over your phone camera, disable GPS-"
"Yes, thank you very much, Edward Snowden."
"Hey, I missed Wes' safety rants," Alex pouts.
"Speaking of, your mother interrogated us about Tara's attempted murder. I give her 2 stars," Jamie jokes.
"Me too," Chad points out. "Such a fun experience."
"I'm sure she's asking everyone, I mean, Ghostface is back," he argues.
"Why not start with his favorite victim's kids, right?" Eli sighs, leaning back.
"Press still isn't saying Ghostface," Amber reminds him.
"My mom doesn't want to cause a panic."
"It'll get out by the second or third killing," Mindy shrugs.
"There was no first killing. Tara's still alive," Amber glares.
"Mm, I mean, she could still die."
"Mindy!" Alex gives an incredulous look. "Have some tact."
"Or the killer could come back for her."
"Fuck, Mindy, come on."
"I'm just telling you, arm up, okay? Pepper spray, check. Taser, check," the blonde continues his rant.
"Girlfriend repellent, check," Amber teases.
"Wes, it's not doomsday, okay? Relax," Jamie assures.
"Uh, no, this is serious, okay? There's a serial killer on the loose. This is not the time for your shit."
"My shit?" she sits up, eyebrows furrowed. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You know the answer to that question, J," Eli sighs.
"Explain anyway."
"He means your blatant ignorance of how dangerous a situation can be," Alex retorts.
"Okay, fuck you," she stands, dusting her skirt off.
"Oh, come on, Jamie, don't go," Chad frowns.
"Yeah, we shouldn't be separated!"
"I'll be fine," she narrows her eyes, walking away.
As she walks past a red convertible, some guy calls out to her, making Liv look up in recognition. "Shit."
"What?"
"Vince."
"What, that creep you hooked up with last summer?" Chad sits up, eyes following her stare.
"You could do better," Alex tilts her head, glancing at the man.
"Yeah, he worked with me and Tara."
"He worked with Tara?" Amber glances over, Mindy snapping a quick picture of him.
"Yeah, and he's been stalking my Instagram for the past couple weeks, posting the creepiest shit."
"Vince... That name sounds familiar," Alex looks over.
"Time to introduce him to Hobbs and Shaw," Chad flexes, and Alex gags.
"What do you see in him?" she asks Liv, making her laugh.
"He's leaving anyway," Eli looks over, adjusting his sunglasses.
"Thanks anyway, boys," Liv grabs his arm, making them notice the bruises across his skin.
"Tara said she fought back hard," Amber hums. "You've got bruises."
"Yeah, it's from football practice," he sneers, just as Wes checks his phone.
"Tara's awake. She just texted. You guys ready?"
"Yeah, let's go," Alex grabs her purse.
"I can't, there's something I've gotta do, but tell Tara I hope she feels better," Liv admits.
"Oh, okay," Mindy narrows her eyes.
"I'll meet you in the car, Eli, I'm gonna find Jamie."
"I'll come with."
"No, she'll feel like we're ganging up on her. I'll be quick," she shrugs, walking towards the back of the school.
As she approaches the corner, she gets an uncomfortable feeling, only made worse by the phone vibrating in her pocket.
AMBERRR is calling...
"Hey, Amber, I just told Eli to-"
"Hello, Alexandra," a gravelly voice responds, making her start to walk faster in search of her sister. "Lovely to meet you."
"Sorry, the feeling isn't mutual. What do you want?" she looks around.
"Didn't your mother teach you better than to go off alone? Happy belated anniversary, by the way."
"Very funny," her jaw clenches, while she continues to look around, making sure no one is approaching her.
"Tell me, Alex, have you ever wondered what it felt like to be your mother? Living in fear all the time?"
"I'm not afraid of you," she stands firm, finally spotting her sister leaning against a picnic table.
"You should be. You will be," he taunts before hanging up.
"Jamie, what the hell?" Alex frowns. "Now is not the time for your dramatic outbursts."
"Couldn't deal with it anymore. You guys treat me like a liability or something."
"J," Alex sits down next to her. "I know we've been tough on you lately, but it's because we care."
"Doesn't always feel that way," she sighs. "But uh, in hindsight, it was stupid of me to run off alone."
"Speaking of, Ghostface just called me."
"He called?"
"Yeah, as soon as I walked away to find you. He said if I'm not scared now, I will be."
"Let's get out of here," she stands, hazel eyes scanning the trees behind them for a hint of a black robe.
"Yeah," Alex nods, speedwalking back to the Jeep.
"For future reference, can you be pissed off in a place where we can see you?" Eli crosses his arms.
"Sorry," Jamie looks down. "Alex got a phone call."
He perks up at this, eyebrows furrowed. "From Ghostface? What'd he say?"
"A few taunting words about Mom, minor threats to my life, a promise that I'll be in fear soon," she explains, as he starts the drive to the hospital.
"Wait, when did he call? You were only gone for a few minutes."
"As soon as I walked away from the car. It's like he was watching, waiting for us to go off alone."
"He is," Eli reminds her. "So from now on, we don't separate. You go anywhere, bring me or Jamie with you."
"Yeah, definitely."
"Why'd you answer anyway? You never respond to unknown numbers."
"It said Amber was calling."
"Tara said the same thing this morning."
"Well, it's not that hard to clone a phone these days," Alex shakes her head. "So, maybe be mindful before you answer any calls."
"Is it bad I'm hoping this is all one big practical joke?"
"Wouldn't be surprising, our family seems to be the butt of every joke in this town," Eli's grip on the steering wheel tightens as he pulls into the hospital parking lot.
"Some elaborate joke," Alex quirks an eyebrow, opening her door.
She should be afraid, truly. Part of her was, she was made very aware of how dangerous this situation could and probably would become, but she couldn't give whoever this was the satisfaction of seeing her fear.
"Ready?" Amber asks, leading them down the hallway.
"Yeah," she nods, putting on a nonchalant face, which Chad sees through.
"You okay?" he whispers.
"Just fine, why?"
"Your face is all tense."
"No, it isn't."
"Yes, it definitely is," he chuckles, only growing more amused by her annoyed face.
"Stop it," she pokes his arm, making him poke her back.
"No," he chuckles, earning an eye roll before she leans up to whisper.
"Ghostface called me," she sighs, and the extent to which his eyes widen would be hilarious under different circumstances.
"What? Are you okay?" he immediately goes into panic mode, looking her over.
"I'm fine, Chad. Don't say anything in front of Tara," she assures. "Please?"
"Alright," he looks around, making sure there wasn't anyone following them down the dark corridor.
As soon as Amber opens the door, both of them put on an unbothered face, smiling warmly at Tara. Alexandra's was much more convincing, as she was quite familiar with the task of putting on a brave face, unfortunately.
"Hey," Tara smiles, as everyone files in, Eli lingering by the door, both to watch for danger and to avoid the conversation.
"Hey. How're you feeling?" Jamie asks, joining Amber on the side of the bed.
"I'm as okay as someone who's been stabbed seven times can be," she jokes.
"Too soon," Alex shakes her head.
"Did you guys end up getting a place to stay?" she flits her eyes between the three siblings.
"Yeah, the Hilton on the edge of town."
"That place is ridiculous," Wes turns to them.
"Not important," Alex gives him a look, not wanting Tara to feel any worse about what happened, before sitting on the armrest of Mindy's seat.
They continue to talk aimlessly about various things, before it goes silent as Tara's older sister, Sam walks in the room with a man behind her.
Eli sizes him up, ultimately deciding being paranoid wasn't going to help anyone, so he steps out of the way, joining his sisters on the other side of the room.
Sam looked surprised to see the three Roberts' kids, knowing last she'd heard, they were never coming back to Woodsboro. But if she was here, then anything's possible.
"Sam?"
"Hey. How are you feeling?" she crouches down by Tara's bed.
"You came," Tara's smile grows.
"Of course, I came. This is my boyfriend Richie."
"Nice to meet you, and I'm so sorry if I'm intruding," he smiles, and Alex furrows her eyebrows at him, not expecting Sam to date someone so...
Dopey? Nervous? All of the above? He just seemed so nice, not that anything was wrong with that, but something felt off.
"It's nice to see you again, Sam," the siblings hug her at once.
"When did you get so tall?" she points to Eli, who shrugs.
"Puberty, I suppose," he shrugs.
before she moves over to Wes.
"Thank you for calling."
"Of course," he smiles.
"Look at your hair. I like it," she ruffles the blonde locks, turning to Richie.
"These are Chad and Mindy, the twins," she points, making the two wave in sync. "And Wes. I used to babysit them all."
"How I always like to be introduced."
"And these are Jamie, Alex, and Eli," she smiles. "I've known them since they were in diapers."
"You really are getting old," Jamie jokes.
"And Amber, hey," Sam hesitantly greets her, sensing the animosity rolling off her in waves.
"Hi. Nice to see you," she tightly remarks, not meaning her words.
"Hi, I'm Richie."
"Hi," she gets short with him.
"Where's Mom?" Sam looks around, somehow not surprised that three kids who were forbidden to step foot in town were here for her sister before their mom was.
"She got stuck at a conference in London. She called me earlier."
"Yeah, for all of ten minutes," Amber rolls her eyes. "Uh, look, guys, Tara's really tired, maybe we should give her some space."
"Not you, Sam. I want you to stay."
"But the rest?" Chad raises an eyebrow, making Jamie and Alex point to the door simultaneously.
"Yes."
Once they get in the hallway again, Alex checks her phone, seeing a text saying their father was on the way. "Look, we need to mentally prepare for the lecture our dad is gonna give us, but we can meet you guys later tonight?"
"Yeah, I'll pick you guys up," Chad agrees, fully prepared to relay the news of Alex's phone call to their friends.
"Alright, see you!"
"Just how bad do you think this is gonna get?" Jamie whispers.
"Scale of one to ten?" Eli raises an eyebrow, continuing once the brunette nods. "Twelve."
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a/n: just to be clear to all i am absolutely horrified by the news regarding spyglass and melissa barrera, and i truly hope scream 7 gets a new production company that doesn't support a genocide. i am delighted that jenna has ended her contract and hope the rest of the cast follows.
i am going to finish this book, however, as the films are the work of radio silence and the amazing cast and i want to tell the story of the roberts and that will of course include the carpenter sisters. therefore, if scream 7 comes out with a new cast and is produced by spyglass, i will not be watching or writing for that.
to conclude, fuck spyglass and support melissa and palestine in whatever ways you can!!
xo, author