"You ready to for this?" Logan asked as they walked into their Spanish class.
Daphne yawned, "for the Spanish quiz? Absolutely not."
"That's the attitude." Logan joked and Daphne punched him.
"Oh shush, I didn't sleep well."
"Daph, you got eight hours of sleep last night. You went to bed at 9:30 and rolled out of bed five minutes before Alec and I picked you up."
"So? Eight hours isn't enough. I need twelve at minimum, to function." Daphne took her seat beside him in the back of the classroom.
Logan chuckled, "what career is gonna allow that?"
"When I run my own business I get to make the rules."
"Yeah, and what are you going to do for the first thirty years?" Logan snickered.
"Screw you." Daphne elbowed him again and they both burst out laughing. "Maybe I'll just be gold digger or a stripper."
Logan flushed red, "since when are you into stripping? What did I miss yesterday?"
"Aw, you're blushing, does the word stripper make you uncomfortable?" Daphne cooed.
"It does not." Logan sneered, "and a gold digger? Really?"
"That's if the editor or journalist job doesn't work out. I've got two backups." She said cheekily.
"Who's a gold digger?" Alec lumbered in and sat next to Daphne.
Even though Alec was a year older, he was still placed in Spanish one. And Daphne liked having one class with her two close friends, she hated the subject but liked the people in the class. "I am. If my job as an editor or a journalist doesn't work out."
"You? A gold digger?" Alec howled with laughter. "I mean, I could see it."
Daphne whacked him with her notebook and both boys kept laughing. "Ms. Jones, do we need to discuss violent behavior again?" Señorita Cami scolded.
"Oof, busted." Logan jabbed.
"No Señorita Cami, I do not. We were just horsing around." Daphne used her higher pitched, good and obedient tone of voice.
Cami didn't look convinced but began her lesson anyways. Letting out a sigh of relief, Daphne relaxed and kicked Alec under the table. Smiling to herself before beginning their first exam of the semester.
—-
"Alec, you're sitting with the cooler people today." Daphne grabbed the back of his shirt and tugged him from his seat with his teammates.
"Hey, let go." Alec stood up and gave his friends a look and they all nodded at his abrupt departure.
"What's the deal?"
"Didn't you get my text last night?" Daphne sat him down at her table in the back of the cafeteria with Logan who had his notebooks littered everywhere.
"Oh yeah, but it's not six, so..."
"Alec, this is serious, we need to find these Mooney and Luce people. They obviously go to our school." Daphne plopped down on her seat.
"Just I told you two that night, I've never heard of those names before." Alec groaned, eyeballing his friends.
"Hey! Pay attention, unlike you, I want to get to the bottom of this." Daphne snapped.
"When did you get so feisty Daph?" Alec questioned and gave her a look that he knew would make her blush.
"I fear my sister, I want something to contribute to the meeting. And I need you two idiots to help me. I feel like what she found is pretty big." Daphne pretended not to affected by him.
"Ok fine, but only cause your sister scares the shit out of me too. Same with her hot friend, should I ask her out?" Alec licked his lips and this time Logan kicked him under the table.
Daphne shot Logan an appreciative look and he smiled at his brother, making Alec want to punch him in the mouth. "Thank you Logan. And Alec, I swear to god, if you ask Electra out, she will reject you so hard your ego probably won't ever recover."
"Pfft. She won't reject me. I'm gorgeous." He ran his hands through his hair and Daphne ignored the blush creeping up her face.
"Whatever." Logan's tone turned cold, "what do you suggest we do?"
"I'm gonna ask Gabi in my next class, she knows everything about everyone. If she doesn't know them, then we're really gonna be lost. You two should pay attention to the people in your classes." Daphne advised.
"We don't even know what they look like." Alec said.
"Luce is tall and kinda lanky. I'm gonna guess you'll get some weird and uncomfortable vibes from him. Trust your gut. Maybe ask one friend but be discreet, we can't let word go around we are looking for these two goons." Daphne replied.
"Goons?" Alec snorted.
"Shut it you loon. Just listen to the words coming from my mouth." Daphne growled.
"Oh trust me Daph, I am." Alec's voice was smooth like honey and Daphne felt her heart stop.
Was this the moment? Was he finally flirting with me? Holy shit, now what was I supposed to do next?
"Your tricks won't work on Daphne, now lay off Alec." Logan hissed with an edge to his voice.
Daphne snapped out of it and looked at him in confusion. What was his deal? He's being even more hot and cold than normal around Alec.
"Getting defensive lil bro?" Alec stood up and had a glint in his eyes that infuriated his brother.
"Keeping her from the likes of you is my job as her best friend." Logan defended.
"What the fuck?" Daphne thought aloud.
Alec shot her a heart stopping smirk, then glanced back at his brother. "Ah yes, as her best friend." Alec winked and walked away towards his friends.
Daphne felt like her body temperature had increased ten degrees, when had it gotten so hot in here? And how obvious had she just made it that she was crushing so hard on Alec Andrews.
"Asshole." Logan grunted.
"You're acting weird today. Are you ok?" Daphne pretended Alec's last sentence hadn't changed the air between them.
"I'm fine."
"Subtext, you're not fine. Logan, I've been dealing with his teasing since we were kids. I know he's joking, don't you know that too? You live with the guy."
Wish I did.
What the fuck?
"He's been pushing my buttons about football and about this gir—" Logan stopped himself immediately and Daphne squealed.
"What?! Who's the girl? Oh my god, you didn't tell me you liked anyone! You dick! You're my best friend, you're supposed to tell me this stuff."
"There's no one. Just drop it."
"Oh no, you're in too deep now." Daphne wiggled her eyes brows.
"Was that the bell?"
"Nice try, you've got five minutes. Spill."
Knowing he couldn't get out of this one, Logan caved. "Fine. I do like someone."
"Who?" Daphne sang.
"I like..." he paused, trying to come up with a name but it seemed as though he'd forgotten every girl's name in their grade. "Haven Alicia." His eyes fell on the girl with curly black hair and smiling almond eyes. She was in his guitar class and he had always thought she was cute.
"Haven? Oh my god I love her! We have English together!" Daphne clapped her hands.
"Don't say anything, please." Logan ordered sincerely and Daphne's bubbly mood sank.
"Fine. But you won't make a move dummy, you're too chicken. You just need a little nudge."
"Daphne, please, do not say or do anything. I don't want that right now. It's not like you don't have a crush either." Logan packed up his books.
"I do, and you know who it is." Daphne defended as she finished her carrot sticks.
"Actually, I don't think I do. Remind me, who is he again?" Logan threw her words back into her face and he knew Daphne's answer. It's been obvious since day one that she'd had a thing for his asshole of an older brother since she was nine.
"I like Nick Miller."
"That's a tv show character."
"Come on, he's awesome."
"Real person."
"Fine, I like Maxwell Easton. He's hot." Daphne wasn't technically lying, he was her second choice.
"Maxwell? He's an idiot."
"He's a nice guy, we're bio partners for lab. He's funny." Daphne giggled.
"I'm done with this conversation." Logan stood up and Daphne followed him to throw away her trash.
"Fine, but we will discuss Haven again." Daphne turned her head and ran into Logan's backpack when she saw the boy from Saturday night wearing a Def Leopard shirt and ripped black jeans and a chain dangling out of his pocket. He had bleached blonde hair and she recognized him immediately.
"What's with you Daph?"
"Logan, our guy we saw Saturday night, Luce. He's Rowan Atkins."
—-
"So let me get this straight, we are just gonna show up at Magnolia's, tell her that she's likely going to get murdered and that she should lay low and/or leave town for a while?" Electra asked as her and Juliet parked on the road by Magnolia's mansion on the North side of town.
"Yep." Juliet tried to keep her tone neutral as she tried to prevent her eyes from drifting to the neighboring house.
One that she used to be so familiar with.
"Shouldn't we be a little less forward?"
Juliet bit her tongue, and answered tightly. "Fine, we'll be civil in the beginning."
Electra had the strange urge to grab Juliet's hand, but fought against the idea. She hadn't been able to stop thinking about their little "moment" last night. Sure, they'd only held pinkys and Juliet had only touched her leg, but Electra hadn't felt that kind of spark with someone in a long time.
Juliet approached the white door and rang the door bell with Electra standing beside her.
"A woman opened the door with curled golden blonde locks, thick lips with red lipstick, and wore a light pink blouse, high waisted blue jeans, and grey tennis shoes. Juliet buried her disliking for this girl.
Magnolia Brown. The perfect southern belle.
Juliet wanted to strangle her.
"Juliet Jones? Is that you?" Magnolia grinned as if she'd forgotten what she'd done.
"Hello Magnolia." Juliet put on a faux smile.
"It's been years, how have you been?" She asked with her fake ass southern accent. She couldn't fool Juliet, Magnolia had moved here when she was eight. No accent sticks around for that long and is that strong and developed by age eight.
I would be great if you hadn't killed my girlfriend. If you hadn't killed the love of my life, I wouldn't be like this. I wouldn't have gone through what I've been through if it hadn't been for your stupidity and horrible, careless judgement.
"I've been fantastic. Magnolia, this is my friend Electra. Electra, this is Magnolia, we went to high school together until sophomore year." Juliet introduced trying so hard not to explode.
"Hi, it's nice to meet you." Electra shook Magnolia's hand politely.
"It's great to meet you Electra. Any friend of Juliet's is a friend of mine." Magnolia smiled sweetly and Juliet wanted to scream.
Friend of mine is yours? Are you gonna get her drunk and kill her in a car crash like you did with my last friend?!
"Come on inside, I've got tea and cookies in the oven." Magnolia opened the door and the two girls stepped inside.
There were flowers and oil paintings of southern landscapes on every wall. This house was exactly as Juliet remembered it being from three years ago. Nothing changed, except for...her eyes fell on the picture frame on the table near the entrance to the kitchen. She recognized the auburn hair and fair skin from anywhere.
How dare she.
How dare she have a picture of Eden in this house. How dare she pretend to care about her after what she did!
"Tea?" Magnolia offered and Electra followed her into the kitchen.
Juliet shuffled her feet to catch up to them in the kitchen. If she kept staring at that picture any longer she would snap like a twig and all hell would break loose within her.
The kitchen had clean white cabinets, black countertops and the newest steel appliances, everything was spotless.
Juliet loathed this house.
She took a seat next to Electra who was the only reason she hadn't snapped Magnolia's neck.
"What brings you two by? Golly, I just can't believe how long it's been Jules."
I can. "I know, how was boarding school?" Juliet already knew what had happened at boarding school. Magnolia's grades suffered, her drinking problem got worse and she slept with a teacher.
How had she lost her Eden to this bitch?
"It was a rollercoaster, but I went to rehab my senior year, turned things around and I graduated. I figured I'd take a gap year cause I wanted to help my parents with the store. How about you?"
Liar. You're here cause your parents don't trust you.
"Gap year too, still not sure what I want to do." Juliet answered bluntly.
"I understand, it's so hard to choose what to do. There's so many options." Magnolia smiled and turned to Electra, "what about you?"
"I can't really afford to go to college so I'm just floating around until I figure something out. But I'm helping Juliet crack this case." God bless Electra for putting us back on the right track.
"Case? Still working those little school crimes, Julie?"
Juliet blinked and watched Magnolia flinch. She must've received the message from her death glare not to address her by that name. Only one person would ever be able to call her that and now she was dead.
"I've moved on from those." Juliet answered tightly. "Electra and I are solving the murders committed by The Morning Star, you know, the serial killer lurking around town."
Electra kicked Juliet and gritted, "calm down."
Magnolia set her teacup down so daintily Juliet wanted to grab it and shatter it against her head. "Wow, I applaud your ambition. You were always so brave and fearless, I could never go after that guy. So what brought you here? Do you think I'm The Morning Star?" Magnolia giggled.
Juliet dug her nails into her palms, she hadn't done this since before she'd met Eden. She felt the trickle of warm blood on her fingers and she retracted her claws.
I wish you were.
"No, we are here to warn you." Electra stepped in and Magnolia gave her a confused look.
"Warn me? About what?"
"We think he might target you next." Juliet said unforgivingly.
"What?" Magnolia gasped.
"What Juliet means, is that we are starting to understand his patterns and how he linked those two girls to the reason behind the murders." Electra began.
"What's his reason?"
"He's quoting Biblical passages and he's killing people who exhibit one of the six things the Lord hates. And we think he's going after you next." Electra added calmly.
"Me? Why? What did I do?"
"You're joking." Juliet growled and all eyes snapped to her.
"Excuse me?" Magnolia looked at her worriedly.
"What did you do? Don't you know that already or did you drink so much that you forgot about what you did three years ago?" Juliet raised her voice.
"Juliet. Stop it." Electra warned.
"I'll make this simple so your pea sized brain can understand, Magnolia." Juliet spat and glared at the frightened blonde girl. "The six things the Lord hates are: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers." Juliet glared daggers at her.
"Hands that she'd innocent blood. Can you tell me why that might mean something to you?" Juliet accused and Electra stood up and grabbed Juliet's arm and dragged her out of the kitchen.
"Go outside." She demanded in a low undertone.
"What? You're not the one in charge of this operation." Juliet scowled, glancing over Electra's shoulder to see Magnolia with tears rolling down her cheeks.
"You don't get to order me around like everyone else who's scared of you Juliet. You're acting like a child and until you cool down and are ready to have a civil discussion, you are not allowed to be in here while I talk to her." Electra ordered.
"She deserves everything I say to her."
Electra slapped Juliet across the cheek and Juliet backed off with a fire blazing in her eyes. "You're gonna regret that."
"Outside now! Go take a damn walk and if I see you here within ten minutes you're really gonna regret defying me." Electra pushed Juliet out the front door and slammed it shut behind her.
Taking a deep breath and walking back to the kitchen, Electra saw the crying girl. "I'm sorry about her. I don't know what her deal is today, normally she's way less of a bitch." Electra humorously apologized.
Magnolia wiped her eyes with the fall patterned napkin. "No, she's right. I deserve to hear what she said."
"I'm sure you don't. Juliet's got anger issues, and she lashed out for no reason. I'm sorry about her."
"You must be new around here." Magnolia blew her nose.
"Look, Magnolia. I read the case file at the library. I know that three years ago when you were sixteen, you were driving under the influence on Halloween night. You crashed and a girl named Eden was killed. You walked away with no sentence other than community service hours and a fine to pay. That's all I know, and The Morning Star is targeting people who have sinned. Carla had haughty eyes because she was proud women who liked to boast about her successes. Heather was a lying tongue because she'd been cheating on two boys named Jaxon and Isaac. And since you accidentally killed Eden, it's very likely that you're his next target since he seems to be going down the list in order. Juliet and I came here to warn you that your life may be in danger." Electra informed the sobbing girl as calmly as possible.
"Oh my god. Oh my god. What am I gonna do?" She panicked, shaking like a leaf.
"Hey, calm down. Drink your tea." Electra handed the cup to Magnolia who accepted the gesture.
"There you go. Now listen to me very closely. Do not go anywhere alone, especially at night. Stay near your house and your family because he will do anything to lure you away from home. When you go to work, pay attention to your customers, if any of them make you uncomfortable, stay away from them. Don't answer the phone if you don't know the number, just be more mindful and aware of your surroundings and you should be fine." Electra rested her hand on top of Magnolia's frozen ones for comfort.
Magnolia sniffled and nodded. "O-ok. Thank you. Thank you so much."
Electra nodded, "you're welcome, we just want you safe and we want to catch this guy. If we can stay one step ahead of him, he might slip up and we can catch him and make sure he doesn't hurt anyone else."
"You're very kind. I don't deserve this after what I did." Magnolia whimpered.
"Don't let Juliet get in your head. I'm pretty sure she hasn't slept in over forty-eight hours."
"No, she's right. And I know she won't tell you what happened. She never tells anyone about that night."
Intrigued, Electra tried to disguise it. "You don't have to tell me, I've seen the facts."
"Trust me, I need to get this off my chest and you need to hear it. Maybe you'll be able to help Juliet get through this, she hasn't been the same since that night." Magnolia drank her tea and her shaking subsided.
"If you're comfortable, feel free to talk."
Magnolia took a few breathes before she began her story. "Before sophomore year, Eden Landon moved to town in June. We were cousins and we'd always been close, we were so excited when her family moved out here. Eden was such a sweet and compassionate girl, she was loyal and didn't have a rude bone in her body. I invited her to the end of the school year party in Foxwood forest and that's where she met Juliet for the first time.
"Eden was private about their relationship but it was obvious that she was hopelessly in love with Juliet. And that summer, whenever I saw Juliet, I knew something about her had changed. She was super tough and she never seemed super bubbly happy, you know? Anyways, her whole demeanor had changed, and at the time, I don't know why I was so mean to Juliet. Maybe it was because I was worried she'd steal Eden from me. So I started saying things that scared Eden, like how I thought being a lesbian was weird and it made everything between girls and it ruined friendships. I suspected Eden loved Juliet as something more than a friend so during the school year, I tried to set her up with the guys on the football team.
"Eden never seemed interested in them no matter how cute they were. And us being cheerleaders, I was so afraid that her liking girls was so bad would ruin the team dynamic." Magnolia wiped her eyes, "I hate myself today for thinking that." She choked up, "but then, two nights before Halloween, I get a phone call from her and she sounded really upset. She didn't say why and I invited her to Fletcher's house where a few of us were playing stupid games like spin the bottle." Magnolia rolled her eyes at the sad cliche.
"I gave Eden a few drinks and her and Fletcher played seven minutes in heaven in the closet. Later that night, Eden told me that she'd told Juliet she loved her and Juliet freaked out and left. Eden was so upset, they didn't speak for two days. Then we went to a Halloween party and I selfishly told Juliet that Eden had made out with Fletcher the night she'd run out on Eden. I've never seen her look so betrayed but I loved it because it meant that Eden was mine forever and she couldn't be stolen away by Juliet. Eden confronted Juliet and I don't know what happened between them, I was way too drunk to remember much after that. But, at 3:30 in the morning, Eden and I were so drunk we couldn't see straight. I had a curfew at 3:00 a.m., and I stupidly decided to drive us home." Magnolia began to cry.
"Eden was too drunk to know what was going on. She was so depressed that night, her talk with Juliet must not have gone well because she hadn't even questioned the safety of me driving. Eden was always one who followed the rules, she never stepped out of line." Magnolia's voice cracked, "we were driving down the highway since the house was out of town and I saw a car cause I'd drifted into the wrong lane. I lost control and we drove through the guard rail." Magnolia bit her knuckle. "We were both wearing seatbelts but the car rolled and Eden was killed instantly. The passenger side of the car was crushed.
"We both went to the hospital and my parents were determined to keep this as quiet as possible. Somehow they kept Eden's parents from taking the measures they should've taken and I got off with a slap on the wrist essentially." Magnolia met Electra's eyes with a broken and regretful stare. "I got a slap on the wrist for killing my best friend! I should've been the one to die in that crash because I made the dumbest decision to drive that night. I have to live with this every day until the day I die." Magnolia sobbed, "I was shipped off to boarding school weeks later, but I couldn't function. I saw Eden every night and I couldn't stop seeing the crash, I still have nightmares. I lost control at school and did so many things I'm not proud of. My parents were furious with me and they sent me to rehab and that has done wonders. I wouldn't be alive if I hadn't gone." Magnolia wiped her eyes and met Electra's broken-hearted stare.
"I wake up everyday with the reminder that I killed her. Come here." Magnolia stood up and lead Electra towards the picture of Magnolia and Eden on the table near the front door. "She was my best friend, and I want to forget about that night, but I don't ever want to forget her and pretend she didn't exist. She deserves to be remembered and that's why I have this." Magnolia handed the picture to Electra.
Electra stared at the blonde girl with tanned skin, a huge grin on her face wearing a yellow sundress as she hugged a girl with beautiful fair, milky white skin and the prettiest auburn colored hair that Electra had ever seen. Eden was wearing a vintage Friends printed t-shirt of the cast from season one. She wore black ripped jean shorts and her hair was curled past her shoulders. Her smile looked so natural, like she was happy all the time and didn't need to fake a smile for pictures.
She was beautiful, Electra would never deny that.
"Wow," Electra ran her thumb up the sides of the frame. "I'm so sorry."
"Everyone is. But no one as much as I am." Magnolia whispered.
"I appreciate you telling me this, I know it's hard."
"I've tried to bury it inside for so long, I needed to talk about it again. Thanks for being so understanding." She thanked Electra with a grateful gleam in her honey colored eyes.
"I'm here if you need someone to talk to. And I think at some point, I promise I'll get Juliet to speak to you. I think you two both need to address this together."
"I don't ever expect her to forgive me. I was so horrible to her and she's never been the same since that night. But, if you succeed, I'll be ready to talk whenever she is." Magnolia reached for the picture and Electra handed it back to her.
"At some point, I promise she'll come around. Thanks again for telling me this. This was really helpful."
"You're welcome. Thank you for listening." Magnolia put the picture back on the table and Electra moved towards the door.
"I've got to run, I'm sorry to leave so quickly."
"You're good, thanks for coming to warn me."
"You're welcome, stay safe okay?" Electra reached for the handle.
"Electra?" Magnolia glanced at her, "the anniversary of Eden's death is in a week. Please keep a close eye on Juliet, she's never as okay as she pretends to be."
Electra opened her mouth to ask more but decided she'd asked enough questions. The poor girl had given her more than enough answers for one day.
"Okay, thank you for the advice " Electra closed the door and saw Juliet staring at the house across the street, looking defeated and lost in a world Electra would never be able to follow her into.
A/N: hopes you guys enjoyed another long chapter! I added some backstory, what did you all think? Also, did you like the parallel between Jughead's anger during interrogation and Juliet? Like father like daughter huh?
Thoughts on Magnolia? Predictions for the future chapters?