"HOW IS CHARLOTTE DOING?" Luke asked softly as him, Jason, Grizz, and Clark dug the hole for Cassandra the next morning.
"Like shit," Clark muttered as he stabbed into the hole furiously.
Jason shook his head, "I've never seen her that shaken up before, and I've witnessed her jump six feet away from one spot because of a spider."
Luke glanced at the others, "You guys all saw Cassandra last night? How did you know that she was.. Shot?"
Clark shook his head, "We didn't know at first, but Char suddenly screamed and she ran out of the house without saying a word. She sprinted all the way here and we followed her, only to find Cassandra laying on the sidewalk, bathing in her own blood."
Luke looked at Grizz, "How did Charlotte know?"
Grizz clenched his jaw, "We were just talking in my room, and then Char decided to check on Cassandra to see how cleaning up was going for her. Then we suddenly heard a bang, then another, and Charotte just freaked out."
Jason frowned at the hole, "Who the fuck would do this? More like why? Everything was going well, I mean, it was fucking prom night man."
Clark shook his head, "When one thing goes too well, something bad has to come along. Vice versa. Shit's stupid as hell."
"Helena tried to talk to Charlotte but Charlotte just kept staring at the wall." Luke said, a frown on his face.
Grizz nodded, "She had a hard time sleeping. I had to hold her the entire night for her to actually sleep, or else she would've started to cry. It hurt me to watch her like that, dude." Grizz muttered, "She's with the Pentagon right now, they're taking her on a walk to let her calm her nerves but she's been shaking like crazy."
"I mean, when you're on the phone with your friend and you had to listen to them die, then I would assume you would be pretty fucking shaken up," Clark shrugged as he tossed his shovel to the side.
"Who do you think shot Cassandra?" Luke asked, making the others shrug.
"I can think of a few people," Clark started, "One being Harry,"
Jason nodded, "He was talking pretty crazy at the pool that night, but we know that he wouldn't even dare attempt something like that, his image is too important to him."
"Yeah but why the fuck would someone kill her? I get it if you hate her but why would you want to commit such a deadly crime?" Luke shook his head, as Grizz stared at the ground with lost eyes.
"God.." Grizz exhaled, "She's so vulnerable right now, it pains me to see her like that."
Clark patted Grizz on the shoulder, "Char's a strong girl, she'll recover eventually. What we should be worrying about is the aftermath of Charlotte's recovery."
"What do you mean?" Jason questioned.
"I don't know about you guys, but I know Char, and when she's angry and determined, nothing will stop her from finding out and getting what she wants to know." Clark informed, glancing between the three guys. They simply stayed quiet.
➖
"Who did this?"
Charlotte watched Allie with empty eyes. She sat next to Helena in the front. Helena was holding her hand comfortingly, and Charlotte let her.
The Pentagon was sitting with Grizz, to give Charlotte her space. They knew how badly Cassandra's death affected Charlotte, and since Charlotte was the one to be the last person to talk to Cassandra, it affected her even more.
"Who shot my sister?" Allie questioned, tears forming in her eyes as she glanced around at everyone at the funeral.
"Why did you do it?" Allie's voice started to waver, as the pain shown in her voice. Will started to get up and go to Allie.
"We needed her!" Allie cried out, just as Will came to grab her, "I needed her!"
Will gently lead Allie off the stage while everyone watched in silence. All eyes immediately latched onto Charlotte as she suddenly stood up and made her way to the stage.
Everyone watched with frowns as they caught sight of Charlotte's appearance. She was wearing an oversized hoodie with sweatpants, and her hair was put into a high ponytail but she looked like a mess due to her bloodshot, puffy eyes — from crying so much — and her tired expression.
Charlotte glanced down at her hands before looking up at the audience with a blank look. "I was the last person to talk to Cassandra. I was on the phone with her, talking to her like it was any ordinary night. But," Charlotte inhaled shakily before continuing, "I heard the gunshots and that's when I knew that Cassandra was not okay."
Charlotte rubbed at her face for a moment, while everyone watched and stayed silent.
"I know Cassandra wasn't liked by everyone, but she was the best person to lead us to survival in this new town," Charlotte's soft tone suddenly turned deep and pissed, "But one of you fuckers had to go and shoot her."
Everyone noticed that Charlotte was clutching tightly on the sides of the wooden box that she stood behind. Her fingers were starting to turn white from the lack of blood going to her fingers.
"Why would anyone want to murder someone? Huh?" Charlotte muttered lowly, as her eyes scanned everyone's faces. "Everyone knows how much Cass meant to some of us, me, and everyone knows that Cass was the one to keep us in line, to prevent chaos from starting, so whoever did that to Cass will regret their actions big time." Charlotte's eyes turned sharp, making everyone still.
"They will regret killing Cass, which ruined the system we had progressing, and they will regret pissing me off."
Charlotte scanned everyone's face one last time before glancing over at Cassandra's covered body. She walked over to her body and placed a hand on the top of her cheek, over the cloth.
"It's time you finally rest, Cass. I'll still be waiting for that milkshake, just like you promised." Charlotte muttered quietly as the boys came forward to move Cassandra's body.
➖
"What Will is trying to say is that the system that we had going on is turning to shit and that we need a new leader to keep this system running." Valerie spoke up, taking a sip from her mug of coffee. She felt very drained from the current events; the whole idea of murder in this town and that there was a murderer amongst themselves made her scared and worried. Coffee was her number one go to.
"Who then?" Kyla questioned.
Will looked at her with a knowing look, "I think we all know who."
Kyla shook her head, "Char's not in the right state of mind right now to take over."
"What do you mean? She's the best option that we've got," Will furrowed his eyebrows, "She was practically co-leaders with Cassandra."
"Right," Valerie cut in, "And now Char feels like she was the one responsible for Cassandra's death."
"Why would she feel responsible? She didn't know that that was going to happen," Will muttered.
"Char was practically Cass's bodyguard but also the boss of Cass, so she feels like it was her fault since Cassandra was Char's responsibility." Kyla informed.
"Char was Cass's boss?" Luke questioned, making Jason snort.
"Char is basically the boss boss, and Cassandra was her representative. Cassandra speaks for Char while Char sits back and watches, or protects Cassandra in this case." Jason shrugged, stating that it was confusing but it was what it was.
"Anyway, Char can't take over, at least now right now, her emotions are all over the place." Valerie shook her head, "I'm also pretty sure she'd just want to stay being a bodyguard, you saw how pissed she got when we called her a leader."
Grizz, Jason, Luke, and Clark were shortly identified as the Guard, the ones who were to keep everyone safe. Whoever was apart of the Guard wore their West Ham varsity jackets. Even though Charlotte didn't have the jacket, she was put into the Guard by the guys, and Cassandra. It wasn't that much of a surprise that Charlotte would be in the Guard though.
Will looked between the Guard and Kyla and Valerie, "Then who would be the one to enforce the rules?"
Kyla leaned forward, watching Will with the same knowing look he gave her earlier, "I don't know Will, you tell me."
Just as Kyla said that, Allie came down the stairs. She raised an eyebrow at the mini meeting happening in the kitchen. "Hey guys.." she trailed off. She was about to say something else when the front door to the house opened and closed shut fast.
Everyone turned their heads to the entrance to see Xavier jogging in with a worried look. Valerie snorted at his appearance.
"What? Did you just run five laps around the town or something?" Valerie teased, taking a sip of her coffee.
Xavier gasped out, "Where's Char?"
Kyla stood straight from leaning on the counter and her eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean? I thought she was with you?"
Xavier shrugged and shook his head rapidly, "We were watching movies and then Miles went to go take a shower and then Char was gone!"
Clark blinked, "Where the hell did you go?"
Xavier stayed quiet for a moment, pursing his lips.
"Xavier," Valerie muttered in a low tone.
Xavier coughed, "I was taking a shit, okay? Look, that doesn't matter, Miles is asking others right now to see where she is and I texted Helena but she hasn't responded yet."
"Where do you think she is?" Grizz questioned, quickly moving to stand from his chair.
Xavier shook his head, "I don't know but—"
Luke's phone went off, making everyone shut their mouths. They watched him quickly answer it and listen to what the other person had to say. Once the call ended, Luke found everyone staring at him with anticipation.
"That was Helena," Luke spoke, "She said she knows where Charlotte is."
➖
"Do we stop her or do we continue to let her beat the shit out of that punching bag?" Will muttered quietly as the group watched Charlotte from the staircase to her basement.
After Luke informed them about Helena and how she told them to go to Charlotte's house, they all raced out of Allie's house without a second thought.
They met Helena and Miles in the living room of Charlotte's cozy home and went downstairs to Charlotte's basement to see her punching furiously at a punching bag. Her basement looked like a fitness centre slash dance studio, with the workout equipment along with the large empty space and wall mirrors.
Charlotte wore a baggy t-shirt with shorts and was currently beating the life out of the large punching bag. Everyone was dead silent as they watched Charlotte. The only sounds heard was the punching against the leather, and Charlotte's pants.
"I don't know, I think we should just let her finish her session," Miles whispered, "This might be her way of getting over Cass's death."
"How? The poor punching bag is getting its ass beat like there's no tomorrow," Xavier shuddered.
Valerie threw Xavier a look, "That's the point of a punching bag you dumbass,"
Xavier stuck his tongue out at Valerie, which made her slap the guy on the arm. He quietly whined to Kyla about it but Kyla waved him away.
"How do we stop her? I'm pretty sure she's seeing red right now," Kyla pointed out.
Helena shook her head, "Oh, she's definitely seeing red right now."
"When Char gets sad or even goes through a rollercoaster of emotions, her last and final stop is usually anger so she's letting off steam right now before she returns to normal." Miles muttered, making the others glance at him.
He raised his hands up in surrender, "Sorry for being a good and observant friend,"
"Uh, who's going to stop her?" Allie questioned, finally speaking up after watching Charlotte in silence. She was in awe and in shock by how angry Charlotte was, by how loud and hard her punches sounded.
Everyone suddenly looked at Clark who scoffed, "The fuck? Why me?"
"Because you guys are like best friends," Xavier shrugged nonchalantly.
"So are you four!" Clark exclaimed, motioning to Xavier, Kyla, Valerie, and Miles.
"Shouldn't we get the boyfriend to stop the girlfriend?" Jason raised an eyebrow, pointing at Grizz who rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
"We're not there yet,"
Valerie barked out a laugh and placed a hand on Grizz's bicep, a funny looking grin on her face, "Well as the president of the Chareth club, we gotta fix that—" Kyla jabbed Valerie in the rib, making Valerie let out a weird noise and fall into Miles who held her up.
"Shut the fuck up, Val," Kyla hissed and then pointed at Grizz, "You're possibly the only one that Char would listen to if you told her to stop,"
"Chareth?" Xavier whispered to Valerie who nodded.
"It's their ship name. Grizz's real name is Gareth,"
"Your real name is Gareth? What the fuck—" Xavier was interrupted by Grizz who seemed hesitant.
"What? Why me?"
"Because she'll fuck us all up," Kyla shuddered at the thought, "She'll knock the girls in the neck and then the boys in the dick,"
"I'm one of the boys with the dick," Grizz raised his hand slightly.
Xavier glanced over, "Yeah but Char actually likes you and wants your babies, now hurry up and—"
Charlotte threw one final punch and it sent the punching bag flying off the stand. The bag slammed onto the ground with a loud 'bang' and it made everyone jump. Kyla and Valerie let out screams while Jason and Clark let out weird shouts.
Charlotte finally looked over at them with a raised eyebrow, "Did you guys really think that there was some sort of soundproof glass between us?"
Miles smiled sheepishly, "No, we thought you heard red too,"
Charlotte snorted and went to unwrap her bandages around her knuckles, "Heard red?"
Helena gasped out loud and rushed toward Charlotte when she caught sight of the red knuckles. Charlotte must've been punching so hard that the bandage couldn't even protect her.
Charlotte tried to yank her hands away from Helena's grip but Helena grabbed her wrists tightly. "You have to stop hurting yourself, Char," Helena muttered, softly touching Charlotte's knuckles.
Charlotte escaped from her grasp, "I'll be fine, Helena, I need to get used to the pain if I'm going to be boxing again,"
Helena furrowed her eyebrows, "What are you talking about? Why are you boxing again? You gave it up in ninth grade.."
Clark's ears perked up at the mention of ninth grade, as he recalled his talk with Charlotte about her time in New York.
Charlotte clenched her jaw, "Yeah well I'm going back to it. There's a killer out there, Helena, and since most of you guys don't know self defence then it's my job to keep you guys safe."
"My sister's death wasn't your fault, Charlotte." Allie frowned, stepping forward to get a better view of Charlotte's busted knuckles. She slightly clenched her jaw at the sight of them.
Charlotte shook her head, "Yes it was,"
"How so? You couldn't have predicted that was going to happen." Grizz frowned.
Charlotte clenched her jaw, "She sent me home that night, but I shouldn't have listened to her and stayed back to clean.."
"Then you would have been there when the shooter was there," Luke started, but Charlotte quickly spoke.
"Then I could have stopped them,"
"No, you would have been shot too," Allie spoke up, "And we wouldn't know what to do if we lost the both of you."
Charlotte rubbed at her face, "I just," Her tone softened, "I could have prevented her death, either I was the one to see who killed her or the one to be shot, I could have saved your sister."
"Well that was in the past," Will called out, "And now we're in the present and we need you to not blame yourself over Cassandra's death and move on since you're the only one that can prevent everyone from going chaotic."
Charlotte pursed her lips. She stayed quiet for a moment before nodding, "I know, which is why I was down here letting out steam, to recover."
"Right," Valerie raised her hand, "How come you left without telling Xavier or Miles? You had us all worried!"
Charlotte raised an eyebrow, "What are you talking about? I sent Xavier a text message saying I was heading to my house to release some anger."
Everyone slowly looked over at Xavier who blinked. He reached into his pocket to pull out his phone. Everyone watched with blank looks as Xavier whistled lowly, while he touched his screen.
"Oh, would you look at that," Xavier chuckled awkwardly, "There it is,"
Kyla groaned while Valerie punched Xavier on the arm. Miles sighed, "What the hell, Xavier?"
Xavier threw his hands up in surrender, "I forgot I changed her name to Jackie Chan last night!"
"Why the fuck did you change her name to Jackie Chan?" Jason snorted, lightly shoving Xavier on the shoulder. He stumbled forward with a grin.
"I was drunk last night, don't blame me!"
"Anyway, I hope you all know that I'm not stepping up to be the next leader, I prefer being the bodyguard." Charlotte added.
"Okay, I gotta ask, why do you hate being called a leader? Did something happen?" Jason blurted out, glancing between Charlotte and Helena.
Helena looked at Charlotte who stared at the ground. Before Helena could say anything, the others started to ask as well.
"Yeah, did something happen?" Allie asked, a soft frown on her face.
Charlotte kept her gaze on the ground, avoiding eye contact. "I'm not comfortable with sharing."
"Do you guys know?" Will muttered to the Pentagon but they shook their heads.
"Char's not ready to tell, let's not push her," Helena tried to say but Jason continued to push it.
"You're going to have to tell us eventually, everyone knows you're the true leader of this new town." Jason pointed out.
Luke nodded in agreement, "You don't have to tell us now but you can trust us, Charlotte."
"Wait, did something happen during the time you left town?" Jason suddenly realized, making Charlotte inhale sharply.
"Shut the fuck up Jason!" Clark suddenly snapped, glaring at Jason.
Jason furrowed his eyebrows and raised his hands up, "Woah man, I was just asking some questions, why you getting mad?"
"If Char isn't comfortable with saying anything then don't push her!"
Everyone watched Clark with wide eyes as he glared at Jason with his fists clenched.
"Calm down, Clark," Kyla uttered, her eyes wide from Clark's sudden outburst.
Grizz looked at Clark, and then at Charlotte who was lightly frowning at Clark.
"It's okay, Clark," Charlotte called out, making Clark look over at her. Once he saw her small smile, his tense form relaxed. He nodded stiffly and backed down. Grizz furrowed his eyebrows at the two.
Charlotte looked at Allie, "Bring people you trust," Then she looked at everyone else, "I'll tell why I don't like being a leader tonight at Miles' house."
Charlotte knew that Allie was the one that was going to take over the role of being the boss, whether she wanted to or not, so that's why she told Allie to bring people she trusted.
Helena looked at Charlotte with a sad frown before reaching forward and placing a hand on Charlotte's arm. "Are you sure?"
Charlotte nodded, "Jason's right, I'm going to have to tell people eventually. Especially since we're in this new town." Charlotte glanced at Clark who was frowning at her. She sent him a reassuring smile, not noticing that Grizz was watching her send a message silently to Clark.
author's note
don't worry grizz, charlotte only wants your babies. next chapter is going to finally reveal why charlotte hates being identified as a leader and why she got so mad at the others on the bridge that day.