Dots and Dashes | Billy Loomis, Stu Macher; Scream 1996

Three

The front office always made her nervous. She was never one to get in trouble, and she knew that she had nothing to do with what was going on, but the whole situation still put her on edge.
    Ophelia found some comfort in how it wouldn't just be her and the principal. She was sure that the sheriff and Dewey would be there, too. They were both familiar faces, and she had known Dewey for years from being close friends with his sister. Ophelia was sure he would try to make things as comfortable as possible. As comfortable when being asked about a murder, that is.
She was never quite sure what it was, but Mr. Himbrey always made her uncomfortable. He seemed normal enough, but Ophelia had always felt like something was a bit off with the man in charge of her and the rest of the student body. For all Ophelia knew, that feeling could have come from her anxiety, but she wasn't so sure. Part of her wondered if she asked whether or not she could find at least one person who felt the same.
    Ophelia uncomfortably shifted as she passed through the doorway into the main office, looking between the regular staff behind the counter and all of the officers just sitting around and occupying the space. Luckily it didn't take too long for Dewey to come to her rescue and start walking her towards Himbrey's office.
    Once she stepped inside, Ophelia met the gazes of Sheriff Burke and Mr. Himbrey. Sheriff Burke offered her a polite and mildly sympathetic smile as he motioned for her to take a seat.
    "How've you been, Ophelia?" Sheriff Burke asked.
    "Pretty okay." Ophelia shrugged, letting herself seem overall dismissive. She wasn't about to say that she would much rather be anywhere else. Ophelia wondered if she was unknowingly playing a dangerous game.
    The sheriff nodded. "Is it alright if we ask you a few questions?"
    "Of course."
    "Alright." He sighed. Ophelia had a feeling Sheriff Burke didn't want to be there either. "Did you know either of the victims?" Ophelia glossed over the fact that Burke didn't say their names. Her focus was on the sheriff's use of the word victims - it was something unfortunate she couldn't change.
    "I did." She answered over the lump trying to form in her throat. "I had classes with both of them and occasionally tutored Steve." Ophelia wanted to shrink in on herself as she watched her response get copied down. The office was already stuffy, but with Himbrey's relentless gaze and Sheriff Burke's mere presence, the office was suffocating.
    Ophelia refrained from voicing her thoughts, but she knew this would be one of the worst experiences she would ever have.
                        ***
    Ophelia was right; answering Burke's questions under principal supervision was miserable. The situation was dreadful, and Ophelia was willing to put it right up with her parent's divorce. At first, that thought seemed dramatic to Ophelia, but after a brief comparison of her feelings, she realized she wasn't far from being correct.
    She hoped she could find some level of solace in being with her friends now, but that didn't change much of how Ophelia felt. She was still sad, still drained. It didn't help that Ophelia also knew what their conversation topic might be. She couldn't guarantee it, but Ophelia was sure that at least some of her friends were in the same boat as her.
    "All students are encouraged to return to their homes promptly from school grounds. Avoid strangers and walk in twos and threes-" Himbrey's voice over the loudspeakers made Ophelia cringe - the feeling of suffocation increasing as she briefly hid her eyes in the side of Tatum's knee. Between their seemingly concerned principal over the speakers or Tatum and Sidney's conversation about their interviews, Ophelia felt as though she couldn't escape.
    "Hey, did they ask you if you like to hunt?" Stu asked, turning to face Billy on the other end of the fountain.
    "Yeah, they did." He answered, leaning back against the concrete. "Did they ask you?"
    Stu only nodded in response. Ophelia knew that not everyone would get the same questions entirely, though she didn't expect that question to come up.
    The girl moved to distract herself again, eyes drifting towards the ground, looking intently at all of the cracks and ridges in the concrete. Hearing about whether or not a woman could gut someone wasn't something Ophelia liked the idea of arguing over, though she knew her answer. The only thing that kept her from speaking up was that Ophelia knew the girl that got gutted. Ophelia Wells knew Casey Becker - they talked together, they hung out outside of school, and the girls even knew each other's parents. Casey Becker was someone in Ophelia's life, and the fact that Casey would never be seen or heard from again didn't sit well.
    "It's called tact, you fuckrag." Billy spat, pulling Ophelia from her thoughts. Ophelia refused to let herself hear the whole conversation, but she knew enough to guess that one of the boys explained the process of gutting a person. A shudder ran through Ophelia's body at the thought, and the hairs felt like they were going to stand at the back of her neck at how thick the tension around them was. The pairs of eyes flickering between her and Sidney weren't helping.
    Ophelia spared a glance up and around at her friend group. Ophelia's ears barely picked up Stu's weak apology, seeing his eyes go from Billy and Sidney down to where she was on the ground and practically between his girlfriend's legs. The pair stared as Stu's eyes lingered on Ophelia a second longer than necessary, an amused glint in his eye. Ophelia bit the inside of her cheek and pressed her fingertips in with her nails as she broke eye contact. Ophelia's always liked Stu's eyes.
    "Hey, Stu." Sidney but in, quickly moving to change the subject. Ophelia wouldn't admit to the muted disappointment that pinged within her. "Didn't you used to date Casey?" Ophelia increased the pressure of her teeth against her cheek. Sidney's diversion wasn't good enough for her.
    Ophelia let go of her cheek, looking up at the couple above her. In their friend group, Ophelia was the only one of the girls that knew the full details of Stu and Casey's brief relationship and couldn't help her curiosity about how Stu would answer. She had seen the rise and fall of the relationship on both ends, and Ophelia was just grateful that it wasn't messy. No matter how it ended, Ophelia didn't care at that moment. The curious side-eye Tatum was giving her boyfriend was too amusing.
    Stu sent Sidney a dopey grin and a carefree laugh, but Ophelia could hear the nervous edge underneath it. "Yeah, for two seconds before she dumped-"
    "Before she dumped you for Steve!" Randy cut in, leaning over Ophelia and getting into Stu and Tatum's faces. Ophelia felt herself subconsciously back further into Tatum's legs, which parted to give her more space. Ophelia squeezed Tatum's calf as a wordless thank you.
    "I thought you dumped her for me." Tatum clarifies in pointed curiosity, letting one of her hands ruffle Ophelia's hair in response to the quick pressure. Ophelia tried to hold back, but a quiet giggle still passed her lips at the look of offended disbelief on the beautiful blonde's face. Ophelia had hoped Tatum heard, but she knew that wasn't the case when Tatum's knee gently knocked against her head. She jokingly kissed the part of Tatum's knee that hit her head.
    "I did." Stu defended. "He's full of shit." Tatum looked over at Randy with annoyance and intrigue in her eyes. Ophelia already knew that she'd likely press the subject later. Stu looked ready to hit the boy, his blue eyes demanding that Randy shut up.
    "And are the police aware that you dated the victim?" Randy asked, his voice suddenly high and nasally. Ophelia rolled her eyes and shook her head. She couldn't tell if she thought Randy was funny at the moment - a morbid slip in Ophelia's sadness. Randy was joking about the double murder of people Ophelia considered friends and accusing Stu of committing those murders. It shouldn't have been funny to her. Ophelia almost couldn't believe him, but this was something Randy would do. Whatever Randy had against Billy and Stu was something Ophelia didn't think she'd ever know, but it bothered her.
    "What are you saying?" Stu asked, now looking at Randy with disbelief. "That I killed her or something?"
    Ophelia frowned. She wasn't sure why Randy was trying so hard or how suddenly honest his suspicion and dislike of Stu was. Ophelia had nothing that could be concrete proof, but she would bet anything that none of her friends were murderers. No matter what others could try using as evidence against them, Ophelia was sure that none of them did this.
    "It would certainly improve your high school Q." Randy quickly quipped back matter-of-factly with a raised eyebrow and a satisfied smirk across his lips as he popped a grape into his mouth.
    Tatum leaned against Stu, staring coldly at the Horror Geek. "Stu was with me last night, okay?"
    "Yeah, I was." Stu agreed, pulling his girlfriend into him. Based on their tones, Ophelia suddenly felt out of place between Tatum's legs, feeling like she was intruding. Ophelia wasn't sure that either of them would say it bluntly, but she could only assume that the two were thinly veiling them having sex. The idea of sex made Ophelia's stomach twist as though it were bunching in on itself. Ophelia's thoughts and feelings towards sex were complicated at best, and they only got more complicated when she thought about the people involved in the act. Sex didn't interest Ophelia and hadn't ever since she learned what it was, but Ophelia still felt a twinge of anguish in her chest.
    "Was that before or after he sliced and diced?" Randy questioned, trying and failing to add a gravelly quality to his voice. Ophelia tilted her head, letting it rest against Tatum's thigh.
    "Fuck you, nutcase." Tatum spat, annoyance and disgust present as her eyebrows furrowed. "Where were you last night?"
    "Working, thank you." Randy sassily replied.
    Ophelia found herself feeling somewhat thankful for Randy's stupidity. The tension over the group was slowly beginning to fade, and Ophelia felt that credit belonged to him and the way he let all of it roll off of him. The conversation was still heavily accusatory, but it didn't feel that way anymore, not as it did before.
    "Oh, at the video store?" Tatum asked in a voice full of mockery. "I thought they fired your sorry ass."
    "Twice." Randy answered, jaw snapping a grape between his teeth. The look on his face screamed satisfaction.
    Ophelia tugged on the boy's pant leg. Randy jumped, and all eyes went to the girl on the ground. "I wouldn't brag about that, man." She giggled, nearly sounding ditzy. "Shouldn't have gotten yourself fired in the first fucking place." Ophelia's giggles faded with her biting remark, but Stu practically burst while the others just laughed at her snark. "Even then," she mumbled, "you saw Billy, Stu, and I when you were working, dummy."
    "See?" Stu nearly demanded, thrilled to prove his innocence. "I didn't kill anybody."
    "No one's saying you did." Billy interjects, leaning forward. There was a pointed edge to his voice, and Ophelia wondered if she was the only one to hear it. Ophelia acknowledged that she could have imagined it, given their conversation, but she wasn't so sure.
    Ophelia let herself look towards Billy. His face was in its usual neutral position, but his jaw seemed almost set. Ophelia wondered if she had perceived his tone correctly, realizing that she might have based on how tense Billy's jaw was. It made sense to her, though. Randy hadn't outright said that Stu was the one that did it - Billy must have just been looking out for his friend. Ophelia's lips briefly twitched upwards.
    "Besides," Randy starts, an odd look on his face. "Takes a man to do something like that." Despite Randy's attempt at mimicking Stu and echoing his words from earlier, the impression came out more like a stoner's. Still, another fit of giggles left Ophelia. Randy's mouth proved to work much faster than his brain in the wrong moments.
    "I'm gonna gut your ass in a second." Stu threatened jokingly, though Ophelia couldn't help but question it. The threat and the group's current topic of discussion made it seem to be in poor taste.
    Ophelia leaned into the stone fountain behind her as the boys continued to bicker. She found herself still struggling to gauge the mood around her and decided that it would be best for her to give up for the time being. Once she realized that she couldn't even tell her mood and the group's moods apart, that was Ophelia's cue. Her heart and mind were so scattered and fast-paced that she was overwhelmed, coaxing Ophelia into a disassociation episode. Nothing felt real, but everything was still present, the noise in her head loud and muffled while Ophelia sat numb, despite every nerve in her body feeling bare.
    Ophelia's eyes shut. A few moments passed, and Ophelia felt herself give in to the feeling. Nothing registered other than nimble fingers moving gently across her head. Ophelia's foggy mind assumed it was Tatum. Stu was too busy pointlessly arguing for his innocence, and Sidney was too far away.
    Ophelia's eyes fought to open themselves again in time to see Sidney storming off. Ophelia frowned, about to ask what happened before she heard Stu's laughter above her, the words liver alone sounding past his amusement.
    The girl reached up, feeling for the closest part of Stu's leg she could find, and pinched. "Whatever you did, you took it too far," Ophelia grumbled over Stu's exclamation of pain. She then pointed at him over her shoulder, keeping her eyes lazily forward. "Think of retaliating, and I will steal your girl, Stu. Don't think I won't!"