"What exactly am I supposed to do in here while you "figure something out"?" Eddie said defeatedly.
"Try not to kill anymore teenage girls," Veronica laughed. Eddie looked at her with a very pissed off face.
"What happened to not guilty?" He asked.
"What happened to your hair brush?" She fired back.
"Just lay low. We'll be back with food and drinks regularly. Here's a walkie-talkie so we can communicate with you if there's any updates or if there's an emergency." Steve handed him a walkie-talkie and smiled sympathetically. "The police haven't published your name yet so I think you'll be alright for now, but better safe than sorry."
"Yeah," Eddie nodded. "I'm going to be bored out of my mind, though."
Max grinned at this and Veronica swore she saw a light bulb appear above her head. "Why doesn't Veronica stay here and keep you company? She can stay out of our way and you get company: win-win."
"No." Veronica stood up from the stool she was sat on. "Absolutely not. I'm not staying in a confined space with a guy who has a dead chick in his living room."
"Again, where did that not guilty verdict from ten minutes ago disappear to?"
"He's innocent," Dustin said, getting closer to Veronica and placing both hands on her arms. "You can leave sometimes to go home and sleep if you want, but it's best if someone is here in case things go south."
"So why can't one of you guys do it?" Veronica asked in almost a shout.
"We've done this sort of thing before," Steve said. "It really would be better if it was you."
Veronica looked around at the group with pleading eyes to see if someone would pity her. Nobody's opinion changed.
"Fine," She gave up.
"I don't like her," Eddie looked at Dustin disappointedly.
"You will," He replied, leaving the cabin with the rest following suit. All but Veronica.
≈≈≈
The first hour was silence. Eddie had found a tennis ball and had been repeatedly throwing it off the wall and catching it while Veronica had been humming with her back on the floor and her legs raised against the wall in an L shape. The sound of the tennis ball hitting the wall was driving her insane and no amount of humming was drowning it out.
"Can you shut the fuck up?" She snapped, sitting up to face the long haired boy. Eddie stopped and looked over at her.
"Could say the same about your humming," he said flatly.
"Nothing wrong with my humming," Veronica was a little hurt by this. She hummed regularly with no complaints. Eddie nodded with wide eyes sarcastically.
"So..." He dragged on.
"So?" Veronica replied confused. "Are you trying to start a conversation right now?" He shrugged. "Fine. How old are you?"
"Boring. Nineteen."
"Aren't you still in high school?" She questioned. He nodded back. "So how are you nineteen?"
"Failed. Twice. I'm actually twenty in June." He laughed sadly at himself. He never wanted to be the sad repeat but shit happens, right? "How old are you then? Because you act ten."
"That's rich," Veronica laughed at the immature almost twenty year old high school student. "Eighteen." He nodded again and it was followed by an awkward silence. "Your turn."
"My turn?" He asked. She nodded expectantly. "Oh, to ask a question. What's your biggest fear?"
"Spoken like a true killer," she laughed. "Spiders and ending up like my dad."
"That's deep," Eddie looked up at her. "What's up with your dad?"
She sighed and looked back at the wall. "Drove everyone away. Only person left is me, and I'm out of there after high school."
Eddie's eyebrow raised at her and he waited until she looked round to reply, "Abusive?"
She shook her head 'no'. "Nah, just a raging narcissist who cares more about his job than anyone else."
"I live with my uncle in a shitty trailer park. He's never home, works nights and I'm gone all day." He started to throw the tennis ball again, but because of the conversation topic and the sudden change of mood from snarky to deep she resisted the urge to curse him out.
"Your parents?" Veronica asked lightly. He shook his head while looking down as a silent way of saying he didn't want to go into that. She accepted the cue and moved on. "What's your biggest fear then?"
He laughed sadly and said, "Well, it was drowning but now it's getting arrested or killed for a murder I didn't commit."
"Your turn." He thought deeply for a while and then turned to her.
"What's your biggest secret?" Veronica didn't expect this type of question so early on, nor had she ever been asked it before. She tried to think but her mind came up blank.
"Ask me again in a bit, I'm not sure." He groaned and dramatically flopped himself down onto the ground in mock despair.
"I wanted some hot gossip," he cried out.
"Sorry to disappoint," she laughed. "Tell me yours while I think." He went silent in thought and began laughing.
"I'm a virgin."
