FINAL BOY || Ethan Landry

- CHAPTER SEVEN -

SO, IM TRYING this new thing where I stay with the group so if anything goes wrong I won't immediately be blamed. That's why I'm sitting next to Ethan in a van as Kirby Reed tries to track down ghost face.

Mindy and Kirby won't stop arguing and I'm pretty sure Chad hasn't stopped glaring at me since we stepped into the van but I can hardly pay attention to any of that after what Dorian told me...

"Emmett, your father and I were in love and the minute your mother outed him to everybody was the moment he lost me." He says. "Derek, who was Mickey's best friend at the time, threatened to jump me if Mickey didn't break things off with me."

I stand there shocked. "So...what did you do?" I ask.

"There was nothing to be done. Mickey wouldn't talk to me out of fear...but that wasn't enough for Derek. He and his friends did jump me one day, and when Mickey found out...that's when he snapped."

"Him becoming ghost face was never about Sydney or blaming the movies, like he claimed. He lied. It was always about revenge. He wanted to kill Derek and your mother and everyone who got in the way..."

"But..?" I urge him to continue, knowing there's more.

"But, when it came time to kill your mother, he found out she was pregnant with you." He says, knocking the wind out of me.

"H-he didn't kill her...because of me?" I question in disbelief, confused as to how a murderer could feel so strongly about a child he never met.

"He loved you the minute he knew you were alive...and so he went to me that night. He talked to me for the first time in months and he confessed to everything. I knew I should have been disgusted with what he had done but I was too in love with him to care." He admits. "Then he told me if anything ever happened to him, that he wanted me to look after you. Unfortunately, your mother had rightful custody over you so there was nothing I could do."

"Wait so you're my..."

"Your godfather." He finishes for me.

God, if only I had known then...maybe I would've had the sense to find him.

But I didn't, and I can't change the past.

"Geolocation coming through right now." Kirby says, breaking me out of my thoughts. "He's in the upper west side. He's in an apartment building half way across the city." She says in confusion.

"On West 96th?" Tara's voice comes in.

Kirby's eyes widen slightly. "How did you know that?" She asks.

There's a long silence before Sam's voice breaks out through the intercom..."Gale."

~•*•~

ETHAN AND I sit together on the couch, waiting for any news about Gale. We may not have been close, but she knew my dad and introduced me to Dorian so the least I could do was sit here with everyone.

Speaking of sitting together, Jasmine and Tara look pretty comfy. Tara's head is on Jasmine's shoulder as Jasmine's arm wraps around her.

I make eye contact with Jasmine and smile at her. She just rolls her eyes coldly at me, making me frown. What was that about?

"Hey, I got here as fast as I could." Cute boy breathes, after coming through the door.

Everyone eyes him warily. "Did you??" Tara snaps.

"I'm scared, you guys." Mindy mumbles. "I really don't want to get hurt again."

"Neither do I." Chad agrees quietly, and for once in my life I feel sympathy for the guy. This must be hard for him. For all of them.

"I don't want you getting hurt again either." She directs towards Chad.

"I know." He replies softly before laying his head on her shoulder.

"Where we're you, Emmett?" Jasmine asks me, as if she's given up. "Where we're you the day Anika died? I know you, and I know you didn't have Econ. I also know that despite you claiming to be gay, you'd never settle down for anyone, and if you did, then you would've told me!" She sobs. "So why didn't you tell me?"

I stare at her with guilt filled eyes. "I'm sorry Jasmine, okay? I shouldn't have kept you in the dark and I know I've been a terrible friend recently, but you have to understand that I've been going through a lot right now and Ethan's been there for me."

She scoffs. "When have I not been there for you??" She asks. "I've always been there for you!!"

"Yeah, but I don't love you in the same way that I love him!!" I shout and everyone goes silent.

I don't realize the damage I've done until a wide eyed Jasmine decides to break the silence. "You love him?" She questions in disbelief and my eyes widen. Holy shit. Do I? Yeah, I think I do.

"I uh...I have to go." I say as I go to walk away, avoiding eye contact with Ethan.

"Oh no you don't." Sam says as she grabs the collar of my shirt, pulling me back. "You can be embarrassed all you want but you're still a suspect, so you're not leaving."

My cheeks turn red as I look anywhere but at Ethan, who has been really quiet this whole time.

"What do we do now?" Chad asks.

Sam looks up at us in an odd mix of determination and defeat. "Maybe he gets to win this time." She says, making us all confused. "He wants to punish me. Me. So maybe I let him."

"Absolutely not." I say, surprised at myself for speaking up. "We started this together, so we end this together. I may not be in your weird friend circle, and you may think that I'm an asshole but I'm not gonna let someone else sacrifice themselves when all this can be prevented."

"He's right." Jasmine joins in. "We can stop this mother fucker."

"We're a team, remember?" Tara cuts in.

Mindy then stands up. "Actually, we're a family."

"Let's go!" Chad shouts as he stands up in excitement. "Core four! Come on."

"Core four." They repeat.

"Core what?" Cute boy interrupts.

"Yeah, it's an us thing." Chad tells him.

"He's gonna keep coming after us." Tara says. She's right. There's no where we can hide.

Tara suddenly lights up with an idea. "We could use that though."

This should be interesting.