Falling Waters

|7| -Now-

The hardest part was over. Well, Scarlet hoped it was over. Colter had pulled her through the crowd, telling them to mind their own business and to stop asking questions; saying that they will just have to wait and see at the dance.

Scarlet, who was staying close to him, laughed when he said the part about the dance. As they made their way into the building, Scar felt as if she could breathe again. She walked side by side with Colt, looking up into his eyes every so often to sell it. They continued to travel further in until she saw Ashleigh and Ty which brought a smile to her face.

"Wow," Ash stated as she and Tyler walked up to the fake couple and joined them, accompanying them toward their shared first period. "Already cozying it up, I see."

Tyler chimed in, "You know it is just for publicity." He was always a little slow when it came to common sense. The drums were really his only strong suit.

"Shut up, you two! Someone might hear you." Scarlet snarled at them as Colter took her hand in his.

"But yes, it is." She smiled at some girls that were passing by, giving her a nasty look.

When Scarlet first became their photographer, she used to get death threats. It just became her new routine after that. A normal Tuesday. Quickly, she learned that she would have to be equally petty to actually get anything done.

In the beginning, she grew in popularity around the school. She even made a few new friends, but it should have been a red flag when they only wanted to be friends with her after she became friends with Colt. They used her and so since then, she has just stuck to the tiny cluster they had created, not adventuring out of their close-knitted friend group.

She didn't fully understand why it all started then. If the cards were reversed, she wouldn't have been that obsessed with Colter. Yeah, before the band, he was the new kid. Fresh meat, she overheard one girl call him at one point in time. It was like once "he" started the band, the obsession with him got worse for most of the population of their school. Some kids from the different high schools in town even transferred to Hunting Hills. It got ridiculous to the point there was a waiting list to be accepted to attend the school.

Colter and Scarlet took the back two seats, with Ash and Tyler on either side, like always. Scar began to take out her supplies and record the notes as the teacher talked, since none of the others would. She would always take notes and send them to the group chat later so that they wouldn't fail, which they still did.

Four girls in the front were whispering and pointing back toward the band with grins hanging from their faces as they stared at Colt. Scarlet took notice. After class, Ash and Tyler parted ways and began to go to their next class, leaving Colt and Scar with a crowd trying to listen in on their conversations.

After hell which was known as school, Adam drove all of them back to the house where Emily was waiting, sitting on the couch.

"Okay, so we all need to have a serious talk before tonight's show." She said as all of them dropped their bags to the ground.

Emily pointed towards the table and they all went. She sat down and Adam hurried off to get away from the hostile discussion that was about to happen. She laid down the rules as they all just sat there silent, staring at the table or their laps. None of them dared to speak, especially Colter, who was still a little scared of her from that morning.

She explained that what they had done before the last show must never happen again, or she would quit for good and for the safety of Scarlet. They all agreed to her reprimanding rules and went up to Scarlet's room, where they would sit until they left.