Mixtapes & Polaroids | Sam x Deena

38

"How could you forget a bag full of drugs?" Kate whisper yells.

The four of them were briskly walking through the halls, their subtle attempt at a jog making them look more like those groups of middle aged mothers who go for a walk early in the mornings. They were on full panic mode, with Kate being quickly brought up to speed by Simon as they all head to the bathroom where Deena last saw the backpack.

"I don't know! She bitch slapped me!" Deena defends quickly.

"It's a bag of drugs not a makeup pouch!" Kate chastises, but even with all the stress and all of the arguing she was happy.

She was happy to be back, though she knew she'd end up there sooner or later. Deena and Simon were the softest spot in her tough little heart. Kate could set the world on fire without a care, she could walk away without guilt for her convictions, for her dreams, but when it came to them the whole story shifts because Kate would love to let herself and the universe believe that she'd be fine even if she was all alone but she knew the truth.

She'd be just fine as long as she had them.

"You're not helping!" Deena exclaims.

"You're stressing me out!" Kate fires back, just as frustrated.

"You guys are stressing me out!" Simon frantically cuts in, jogging in between them to push them apart.

"Can everyone calm down!" Sam sternly exclaims as they all flood into the bathrom, Deena immediately heading to the sink counters where she had last seen it only to find an empty space and her stomach turning.

"Where is it? Oh fuck. I'm dead. I'm so dead. Fuck." Deena begins to ramble, hands in her hair as she paces while her friends all watch her worriedly.

"Maybe someone put it in the toilet." Simon suggests and everyone deadpans his way.

"Why would anyone stuff a backpack in a toilet?" Kate asks, face cringed into confusion as an increasingly stressed Simon shrugs.

"I don't know maybe they were high?"

"Go look." Sam urges him on, with Deena on a downward spiral and the backpack nowhere in sight the tension was building at a heavy rate as Simon practically kicks open every stall.

"Well is it there?" Kate calls out when he goes into the last one, the one farthest from them. Silence sinks in as they all nervously wait for him to emerge and for a moment, Deena thinks maybe she's got a chance.

"No but someone did leave this" Simon steps out holding a half empty pack of probably stale cigarettes and Deena crumbles.

"I'm so dead. I'm dead. I'm going to jail." She rants, face buried in her hands as she slumps against the tiled and vandalized bathroom wall.

"What does it look like?" Kate asks the defeated girl, determination shining in her eyes as Deena's hands drop back to her sides.

"A red backpack?"

"Seriously? How are we supposed to work with that?" Kate complains as Sam slips a hand into Deena's, giving her an almost supportive squeeze.

"Come on, really think about it." Sam gently coos as Deena nods, trying to comb through her memories until finally, something sparks.

"Uh— keychain! There's a dice keychain on the front zipper."

"Okay red bag with dice, everyone got that?" Kate glances over each of them, all nodding except for Simon, who still looked very deep in thought with a hand caressing his chin.

"What shade of red is it?" He asks with complete and utter seriousness.

"You've seen it!" Deena exclaims, bewildered as Sam shakes her head trying to fight back a laugh.