[ xxiv. CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR ]
Alex Verona sat in the theatre, while watching all the girls, preparing for the Lady of the Lake pageant. Considering her best friend, Brooke Maddox had forced her to come with her as she didn't want to do this alone.
Brooke had tried her best with her fake smiles and standing straight but she let out a laugh when she notice's Alex sticking out her tongue, eyes widen, making weird faces at her. The rest of her competition gave her a look while she shrugs walking off to a corner to check her instagram.
Alex Verona, was scrolling through her contacts on her phone then, she went past her father's number. She wanted to call her father, but had no idea on how to apologize for her outbursts.
She sighs, as she got out of her seat, walking towards the exist to go to the bathroom when she noticed Stavo Acosta.
"What are you doing here?" Alex questions, scrunching her face as she stared down at the tanned boy. "Came here to get some laps and then discovered this circus. What are you doing here?" he answers, smirking at the brunette. Brooke had gotten bored, and noticed another face by the theatre and walks towards Alex.
"To support my best friend, who is standing right beside me. What's up?" Alex then turns to Brooke seeing she had a unamused look plastering her face.
"We seriously need to go on a full on shopping day after this." Brooke suggests to the brunette, as she nods in agreement.
"Okay, we can go after school or this weekend whatever you want. Well, I'll be right back I have to go to the bathroom." Alex tells Brooke as she leaves the theatre.
Alex enters the bathroom, she glances at herself in the mirror and sighs. "Not getting enough sleep is seriously a killer." she mutters to herself as she applies some cherry chapstick onto her lips. She huffs, existing the bathroom as she heads back to the theatre seeing she walked into a conversation between Brooke and Zoe.
"Okay, no, it's not a crush. I'm just a little obsessed with his podcast." Zoe argues back to the petite blonde.
"Ah, Noah Foster. Talk of the hour among teenage girls." Alex interrupts, while Zoe chuckles, glancing over at the brunette.
"Yes, but he was with Riley and that was so sad. Now, he always with Audrey. Although, after that video last fall, I guess guys aren't her thing? Did you see it? Who would even post something like that?" Zoe questions at the brunette and the blonde while Brooke and Alex exchanged looks at one another knowing well who posted that video.
"Mean people who don't think." Brooke answers, shaking her head. "In other news, I definitely think there's something we can do about this whole Noah situation." Brooke tells the beautiful girl while Alex smiled widely.
"Ah, Zoe and Noah. That will be easy considering the two already have that sexual tension down. Eye sex during psych class." Alex mentions, smirking at Zoe while she smiles at her.
"No, guys please. I don't-" Zoe was cut off by Brooke's phone vibrating. "Unknown numbers drive me nuts." Brooke comments as she answered the phone. "Hello?"
"That, in black ink, my love may shine bright."
Brooke's face expression dropped, as she turns away from the two walking away as she continued her conversation. Zoe and Alex exchanged looks and continued their own conversation. "So, why aren't you in the pageant?" Zoe asks, putting her full attention to the brunette in front of her.
Alex shrugs, smiling. "Pageants aren't really my thing, and I have stuff going on so it's the worst timing for anything." she replies while Zoe's nods. "I completely understand, if you ever want to talk though... I'm here." Zoe tells her while the two smiled at one another.
"I really appreciate it, I'll definitely take you up on that offer." Alex responds as they continued to smile at each other. "Well I gotta get to my locker and grab my stuff for psych class, I'll see you around Zoe." Alex finishes as they've said their goodbyes and Alex walks to her locker.
Once she grabbed her things, she notices Audrey and Noah together and walks over to them. She leans on Noah's shoulder, seeing he was taller than her.
"Foster, doing anything tonight? Okay, good keep that schedule clear because we're doing something tonight." Alex notifies the Noah while seeing he was completely dumbfounded for a brief second. "Uh, sure. Completely held me against my will, sounds cool." he replies while she lets out a laugh over his comment.
Alex looks up seeing Kieran and an unfamiliar face next to him. "This is my cousin, Eli. Fill free to ignore him. This is Audrey, Noah and Alex." Kieran greets rudely, while Eli was semi smiling at three friends.
Alex flashed a small smile at the shorter Hudson. "Hey, man. First day huh?" Noah greets with a smile. "School is school." Eli replies cooly.
"Sure. Except, in this school, people get killed by knife wielding maniacs every twenty years give or take." Noah explains while Alex furrowed her eyebrows at the taller Foster.
"You explained Lakewood so perfectly." she told him while she felt herself being grabbed by Brooke. "Excuse me! Girls only moment." she told them as Alex, Audrey, and Emma were being dragged by tiny blonde into the girls bathroom.
"So, out of nowhere, Branson hits me up this morning. Weirdly enough, I blocked him everywhere and he still manages." Brooke explains while the four of them exchanges looks at one another.
"He's a fucking creep." Alex spat, as she was adjusting her leather jacket. "What is it with men from the past mysteriously showing up?" Audrey questions at herself while Emma gave her a look.
While Brooke and Alex exchanged looks at each other. "Wait, what does that mean?" Alex asks Audrey, completely confused.
"Emma's deadbeat dad resurfaced, too." Audrey bluntly answers, while Emma scoffs. "Okay, not cool. It's a totally different thing. I wasn't ready to share that!"
"You weren't ready to share it with me? With us?" Brooke questions with a scoff, pointing at her and Alex.
"The person I told this morning wasn't exactly supportive so..." Emma let off, while Audrey furrowed her eyebrows at the Duval.
"And how was your breakfast this morning?" she asks, cocking her head to the side. "It went really well." Emma says with almost no emotion while Audrey almost let out a laugh.
"I can tell that's 100% not true." she points out. "Okay, are you two legit fighting?" Brooke mentions as she points at her two friends. "Yeah, I can't really tell." Alex adds, squinting at Audrey and Emma as Emma shook her head.
"No, it's fine. It's just... Audrey has some unflattering opinions about my dad, that's all." Emma responds, as she fixes her hair.
"No, they're memories. Not opinions. And sometimes, maybe people are going through big things that have absolutely nothing to do with you, Emma. Big shocker! Example A: Jake would've been six feet under if it wasn't for Alex. Again not about you!" Audrey corrects Emma as she left the bathroom, leaving just Alex, Brooke and Emma alone.
˚˚˚
"What exactly are we waiting for?" Noah asks Alex while she smiles innocently. Before she could answer, she hears somebody calling Noah. "Hey Noah! You here for some B movie action?" Stavo asks while walking towards the two.
"Yup, just meeting up with some folks." he answers, while Alex formed a straight line with her mouth, staring down at the Acosta boy. "Did you invite him?" Alex asks Noah in a not so whisper tone. While Stavo shook his head, flashing a smile.
"Actually no, just came here to watching a movie, Verona. Noah if you have a second, I've been listening to the podcast." Stavo replies while a smirk grew on Noah's face.
"A fan of The Morgue, huh?" he questions while Stavo nods. "Yeah. Sounds like you're making real progress with this whole Piper accomplice thing." he compliments, while Alex was texting Brooke.
"Thank you." "Your welcome. I was just wondering, what if you do find someone?" Stavo questions, while Alex froze remembering what Jake had said last night about the Brandon James masked killer accomplice.
"Don't you think he or she, or even they, won't be happy about it? That means you get hurt, or worse. Didn't you save your boyfriend from something? Or someone?" Stavo turns to the brunette, while she froze there.
"Noah, I need to talk to you later." she whispers to him as she is going to tell him about what he knows, while she earns a smirk from the tanned boy.
"Okay, food for thought." Noah mentions, slightly nervous. "Uh oh, here comes trouble." Stavo comments while Zoe and Brooke finally arrived.
"Here we are!" Brooke announces smiling innocently with Alex as she links arms with her brunette. "Oh hey!" Noah greets, smiling at them, but mostly at Zoe.
"Did you invite him?" Brooke asks in a disgusted tone, which earned a giggle from Alex.
"No, uh. Where's everyone else?" Noah asks the three girls. "Oh it's just me, Alex and Zoe! You know each other right?" Brooke replies, smiling at the Foster. "Yes, a little bit. Ish." Noah answers, "Kind of." Zoe also answers while everyone chuckles.
Soon it died down fast, now everyone is in complete silence. Brooke nudges Zoe, making her have a conversation with Brooke. Alex smiles at Brooke, Alex shaking her head as Stavo stares at the smiling brunette.
"Uh, did you do the reading for AP English yet? Of Mice and Men. Wow, oh my god. In what world does a strangling rabbit get you a bullet to your head?" Zoe asks, while Noah plugs his ears. "Ah, Spoiler alert. I didn't actually-" Noah was soon cut off by Zoe.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to ruin it for you." she apologizes while Noah reassures her. "That's okay, it doesn't matter."
Brooke was impatient with how slow their interaction was. "I'm just going to speed this up a little bit. Noah, if you're smart you'll ask Zoe out. And if you're lucky she'll say yes. Right? Yay!" Brooke claps, while Alex nudges Brooke laughing at her. "Shut up, Verona." Brooke mentions, while smiling at the brunette and then her smile faded once she saw Stavo Acosta.
"What are you doing here?" the blonde asks, staring at him. "Just seeing a movie. Something I can do for you... or?" Stavo questions as he stares up and down at Brooke Maddox.
"Can I just have one Stavo free day? Do you have any of those?" Brooke begs, earning a smile from the Verona girl.
"Yeah... the thing is we'll all out of that." Stavo answers, while Alex scoffs. "I want a refund then." While Zoe was snickering as they were bickering.
"Let's go." Brooke tells then as she grabs Alex's hand and links arms with Zoe as she links arms with Noah while Stavo followed them form behind.
"Who thought you'd be so excited to see Killer Klowns from Outer Space?" Noah inquires, while Brooke groans. "Is that what we're seeing?"
Alex's phone chimes, she grabs it from her back pocket seeing it was a text from Jake.
Miss you.
She smiled at the text, while Stavo was behind her glancing over at her phone. "Is that from the infamous boyfriend?" he asks, leaning towards Alex. "Yes, it was actually. I'm going over to see him later, I'm sure he would love to meet you. You know, proper introductions." Alex jokes, while he licks his lips and takes a sip of his drink.
"Audrey said she was going to sneak us in tonight right? But... she's not here." Noah mentions as he notices a new guy by the door, he scrunched up his face while Alex shrugs. "I'm pretty sure you can survive without $15 plus candy money tonight, Noah."
"She's been MIA a lot lately." Noah adds, while she shrugs. "I don't know what's up with her, I'll talk to her later." Alex tells him.
"Can I get a small popcorn?" the group heard from a far, seeing it was Mr. Branson. Everyone watches his every move, all froze. "Who's that guy?" Stavo asks, confused on why everyone was all shocked seeing this random guy.
"That is Mr. Branson, he used to teach at GWH." Zoe answers his question. "Yeah, he used to do a lot of things." Noah adds, while Alex nudges him in the stomach, which he later groans in pain. Brooke walks over to him, while the all exchanged looks.
She clears her throat and then Seth brings her to the side. "I know what you're thinking but this is... this is totally a coincidence." he tells her, while Brooke isn't believing one word of it.
"Oh yeah, you unknown call me this morning, and then you just happen to show up here?" she questions while Seth scoffs. "I see you a lot of places in town. I avoid you so you don't know."
"Well that's not a smart thing to say. P.S. I see you but you don't see me." she spats, while he lets out a chuckle. "Do you actually think I'm stalking you?"
"You absolutely misled me before." she mutters, not taking her eyes off of him. "If you don't think what we had was real, there's nothing I can do." he explains while she lets out a laugh.
"Your name wasn't real, your backstory wasn't real. Your history of not dating girls who wind up dead wasn't real." she spats while he was bewildered. "Is that why you locked me out of your house while people were dying?"
"I don't trust you."
Alex shook her head, knowing well her friend needed her. "Hey, Mr. Branson don't you have somewhere to be?" she asks, with a yellow smile.
"Alex Verona, I remember that night. You were the one telling Brooke don't let me in." Seth mentions, while she cocked her head to the side. "Well... I wasn't wrong." she scoffs.
"You never even gave me a chance to explain. You just shut me out. Brooke, it wasn't just sex. I still care about you." Seth says, as he strokes her cheek but then pulls away his hand. "I think you should go, Mr. B." Alex insists, folding her arms together as Brooke and Alex walk over to their friends.
"We can at least finish talking." Seth calls out, while Brooke shook her head to her friends. "Hey, Mr. Branson." Zoe stammers at her once teacher.
"Oh, this is not at all uncomfortable. Any new missing girls to report?" Noah questions at his once favourite teacher. Seth scoffs, shaking his head. "I never liked you, Foster."
"Hey, no need for that boys. In the meantime, I'm keeping my plate full. This is my new friend, Stavo. He's the Sheriff's son so, be nice." Brooke mentions, pointing at Stavo as he catches on to Brooke's little white lie. He grabs a hold of her waist, as she was surprised with his actions.
"Is this old dude bothering you?" Stavo questions, while Alex stares down at the ground snickering.
"You are not dating this guy." Seth scoffs while Stavo pulls Brooke into a kiss as Seth was watching them. "Baby, if we're going to see the movie, we should get in there." Stavo tells Brooke while she was completely stunned over what just happened.
"You know, on second thought, I'm not stoked about sitting in a dark room with a teacher. Let's just find something else to do, guys." Brooke spats, as she stares at Seth Branson.
"You've changed Brooke!" Seth calls out as the group walk out of the theatre. Alex grabs a hold of Brooke's hand. "And for the better, you're doing great B." Alex compliments while Brooke lets out a slight smile, still trying to sink in that encounter with her former secret boyfriend.
˚˚˚
By the time it was the ending of the night, Noah was getting into his car until Alex stopped him.
"I have to tell you something, and hopefully it doesn't sound crazy because it's the truth and I've been freaking out because you are probably right." Alex stammers until Noah's stops her, in confusion. "Wait what? What am I right about?" he questions, furrowing his eyebrows.
"You were right... about Piper's accomplice. Jake told me that there was somebody wearing the Brandon James mask and he was going to kill him."
"Oh my god... this is huge. We have to go!" Noah exclaims while Alex gave him a look.
"Where?" she asks as he hopped into his car.
"To see Jake! I need full details, if he's right that there is someone out there... finishing what Piper started. Then we are all screwed, all of us." Noah explains, making Alex gulp.
"Noah... it's happening again."
˚˚˚
NOTE: wowwow 21k views... and its 360 in fan fiction!!! thank you guys so much! i felt so sick today and i've felt a bit better so i thought i would update. and again i changed all my covers and now I'm pretty satisfied with all of my covers. but anyways i hope you guys enjoy this chapter and holy shit im excited to write the next chapter! x