𝑰𝑵𝑺𝑨𝑵𝑬, 𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒔

chapter one

1996– Woodsboro, California

"The small town of Woodsboro, California, was devastated last night... when two young teenagers were found brutally murdered. Authorities have yet to issue a statement, but our sources tell us that no arrest has been made... and the murderer could strike again."

—The young reporter, Gale Weathers, reports.

"Do you believe this shit?" I spook behind Sidney and Tatum, who were intensely interested in the horrific incident that took place last night.

"Elizabeth!— What is going on?" Sidney freaked.

"You don't know?" Tatum turned to her with an offended expression. Sidney simply replied with her innocent 'no'. The girl would die when she hears this.

"Casey Becker and Steve Orth were killed last night." I heard Tatum explain while I lit a fresh cigarette. We walked through the crowd of frightened students. Every single news reporter in town was outside the school getting more and more answers from people that were close relatives to the dead students.

"What? No way." Sidney denied.

"This wasn't an ordinary murder though, Sidney. No, we're talking splatter-movie murder. Ripped open from end to end." My smoke blew towards the disgusted look on Sidney's face. The brief details were giving her chills as they fell out of my mouth.

"Casey Becker. She sits next to me in English." The girl shook her head like she was sad. It's not like she was even close friends to Casey. She just needed to look sympathetic if she doesn't want to get caught for her murder—

"Not anymore. Its so sad." Tatum sighed while brushing through her hair.

"You know her mom and dad found her hanging from a tree, her insides on the outside." I indicated my guts falling out of my body in front of Sidney who just looked away in horror.

"Oh, my God!" Sidney gagged to the idea. Tatum and I shared a giggle at the disturbed girl while I smoked more of my cigarette and imagined how Casey Becker seriously looked hanging from that tree. My subconscious mind has its own path for the day. "—Do they know who did it?" She turned to me.

"—Fucking clueless. I mean, they're interrogating the entire school— teachers, students, janitors." I began to answer.

"-They think it's school-related?" Sidney interrupted me, making us all abruptly stop at the top of the staircase.

"They, don't, know, Sidney.—You should listen more. If you'd been paying attention, this is the worse crime they've seen in years, since Lucas and your poor mother died." I breathed out more of my smoke into Sidney's face once it dropped at the mention of her mother. Not surprised she never gave a rats ass about my brothers death whatsoever.

Lucas had only been dating her for three years before she went off and cheated on him for some jock dude that offered her sex more than Lucas offered. It disgusted me knowing it was all she cared about and every word she ever spoke to Lucas about how much she loved him, was a complete lie. Once he ended up killing himself, she didn't even care or acknowledge it. Hence why we don't get along now— I only tolerate Tatum, while Stu and Billy have been my childhood best friends since we were four. She's just lucky they consider her as a friend to keep her around.

The school bell rang on cue, dismissing me with a smirk as I walked away from Sidney. Tatum followed off in her own direction to class, leaving poor Sidney all alone.

Grabbing a couple old textbooks from my locker, I felt a presence or eyes staring into me from behind my neck. "Billy, you should really start introducing yourself more." I turned to the brunette boy that plastered a fresh smirk on his face.

—"What's the fun in that?" He cocked his head to the side.

"I don't know, you tell me. It makes you look insane, especially with all this murder talk last night." I leaned back into the locker wall while staring at the students that roamed the halls on edge.

—"I was at Sidney's last night. Not that it was any good, again." Billy awkwardly scratched the back of his head. He and the innocent girl have been struggling with their relationship since Sidney refuses to have sex with him. They hit it off once in the beginning, then never again. Now his mood around her is pure anger, but right now, he's bouncing like he's nervous.

"You know— you have better options, Billy." I lock eyes with the boy who smirked closer to me. We've had this on-going sexual tension ever since we had sex ourselves a year ago, before Sidney. It was always casual, but we've never let go of that tension since.

—"Oh, I know—" Billy was about to continue when a pair of hands lifted me in the air and threw me over their shoulder. I was being spun when I realized exactly who it was by their laugh. "Stu, drop me right now!" I laughed with my best friend who held me tight and wouldn't budge.

"Ah, no can do, Lizzy. There's a murderer on the loose, a murderer! I gotta keep you safe with me." He emphasized 'murderer' as he spoke. Our placement was so open now, that the whole school could probably see up my skirt with the way he was holding me.

"Eyes up here, dipshit." I heard Billy say with a hand that pulled my skirt down. Stu gently placed me on the floor and threw an arm around my shoulder. "You need to start wearing clothes, Elizabeth." He scoffed while adjusting his shirt onto his skin.

—"Aww, is Billy being all protective? I'm wearing clothes, see? If I didn't dress like this, do you think guys would still want to have sex?" I stepped closer to the boy, waiting for his response. "Didn't think so." I smiled at the two boys, handing Stu my lollipop that I had taken from my locker. Their stares lingered on me while I walked away, it was all I could feel. Except, I knew Stu's was in a brotherly sense. That's all we've ever been like. Especially since he was so close to Lucas, Stu just felt like a triplet.

But now with Lucas gone, he's my twin.