Ethan and I were met with the rest of the group outside as Sam reached out to Tara. "Will you stop Tara?" Sam yells at an angry and annoyed Tara. "I can't believe you embarrassed me!" Tara shouts back with fumbling anger. "That guy was being a dick; he was going to take advantage of you," Sam says while still following Tara. "So! If I want to hook up with a dickhead, that's my decision; it's MY decision!" Tara says the rest of the group behind Sam is just watching.
I bite my lip and stated playing with my hands, I hated whenever they fight. It always made me uncomfortable, all the yelling and screaming. Ethan looked down beside him and noticed me visibly uneasy. He hesitatingly grabbed my hand and held it gently, trying to calm down my fidgety fingers. I whipped my head towards him, and he looked at me with the softest, most caring eyes. This caused me to slightly smile, and I shifted a bit closer to him. I felt...relaxed.
My attention goes back to Sam and Tara's bickering. "I'm just trying to look out for you," Sam says, trying to let Tara know she genuinely cares. "I know you are, but you can't do you for the rest of my life. You have to let me go," Tara responds more calmly.
Suddenly a group of girls approaches us and says, "Hey!". A girl yells to Sam and then throws her drink at her, "Murderer!" Sam pushes her, and before she can do anything else, Chad and Tara pull her back. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Sam shouts at the group. My anger starts to rise.
"Stay away from her; she knows what she did." I had enough of their bullshit, so I ran towards them. "Take that back, shithead!" I attempt to tackle her, but a pair of soft yet strong arms pull me back from my waist. "Ignore them," Ethan says softly enough for me to hear, his hands still around my waist. My face turns a slight shade of pink as I stare up at him, but my focus goes back to Sam and the group of girls.
"I didn't do anything," Sam defends herself as the group walks by. "Sure, bitch," one of the girls says before they all walk away. "I'm so sick of this shit," Sam curses underneath her breath as the rest of the friends walk away. I stopped following and turned to look at Ethan. "I have tissues. I have like three tissues," the dork says and hands Sam the pieces of tissue. I wait for him, and he's surprised that I did. We stared at each other for a moment, and as I continued to walk, he followed along.
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Sam comes into the apartment living room with a cute guy from next door behind her. Quinn sees him and says, "Cute boy. Nice." We all look at the news reporter on TV talking about a murder that has just happened. "Holy shit, that's the weird dude from my flimsy studies class!" Most of us froze in shock as the reporter revealed that a Ghostface mask had been left behind at the crime scene. I nervously gulp, the feeling of fear creeping back again.
"We're leaving the city," Sam says. Chad makes the cute guy from next door leave, and Tara stands up. "Let's talk about this for a sec, because this may not be related to us," Tara says as she tries to convince her sister. "Are you serious right now?" Sam is clearly pissed off. "It's a big city on Halloween; there are masks everywhere!" Tara and Sam start to argue again.
But I heard nothing. All of their voices slowly become distant as I zone out. My bottled-up fears and nightmares come rushing back to me. Causing my heartbeat to become faster, my breathing pace quicker, and my eyes to widen in fear. Suddenly, I could hear someone whispering to me, "Lauren, Lauren. Are you alright? Hey Lauren," the sudden gentle shaking snaps me back to reality, and the first thing I see is his soft eyes. "It's okay," he whispers to me again as he brings my hands into his.
Suddenly the phone rang, and everyone quickly turned their heads towards it. "Who is it?" Tara asks Sam as she picks up the phone. "Why did all of you freak out when the phone rang?" Ethan innocently questioned me, still holding my hands. "Sam, my dad wants to talk to you," Quinn says, handing her phone to Sam. Sam talks to Mr. Bailey, "What do you mean?" Sam looks confused. "What's going on? "Oh, okay." She nods her head and hangs up. Apparently, her ID was found at the crime scene and needed to be investigated.
Sam takes some of her stuff. "I gotta go, guys," she says, and she enters her room. We looked at Sam, a bit confused and curious about what just happened on the call. Ethan then stood up and excused himself, saying, "I have to go too; I need to study." I gently grabbed his hand again and looked up at him. "Be careful, alright, stay safe, please," I said softly, staring at him with some fear in my eyes. I did not want to lose another loved one. "I will; don't worry," he says, smiling as if he's trying to reassure me. Sam walked out of her room with her jacket and didn't say a word to us. She walks out of the door. Tara grabs her stuff and quickly follows Sam.
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