Tainted Love (Scream 1996) BillyxOC

Chapter Nine: "Everybody's a suspect!"

Stu and I cleaned up the house a bit, putting away anything that could potentially be broken or stolen that our parents would be pissed about before heading back into town. "Can we stop by Bradley's? I wanna invite Randy," I said, and he nodded, parking out front.

We walked in, finding him stocking the shelves. "Hey dweeb," I joked, but frowned when Stu hit the movies in his hands, making them fall to the floor.

"Jerk," Randy mumbled, picking them up quickly before looking at us. "To what do I owe the pleasure of a visit from the Macher twins?"

"You coming to our fiesta?" Stu asked.

"Yeah, I'm off early, curfew, ya know?" Randy nodded.

"Wow, it's packed tonight," I said, looking around.

"We had a run in the mass murder section," he joked. I smiled, shaking my head, just happy I'm not working today.

A girl I recognized from my math class came up asking, "What's that werewolf movie with ET's mom in it?"

"The Howling. Horror, straight ahead," Randy answered, pointing her in the right direction. She walked away, and he frowned, glancing at me for a moment. "Oh, now that's just in bad taste."

"What?" Stu asked, both of us following Randy's gaze.

I frowned when I saw Billy standing in the middle of the horror section, eating some candy while talking to a couple of girls. It seemed like they were flirting with him and he smirked, shaking his head, and then looked up, his gaze meeting mine. His smirk turned into a grin and he sent me a wink.

"If you were the only suspect in a senseless bloodbath, would you be standing in the horror section?" Randy asked, exasperated.

I looked back at him and Stu spoke up in Billy's defense. "What? It was just a misunderstanding. He didn't do anything."

"You're such a little lapdog. He's got killer printed all over his forehead."

"Oh really? How come the cops let him go then, smart guy?" Stu snapped, his eyes narrowing.

"Cause they obviously they don't watch enough horror movies. This is standard horror movie stuff. Prom night revisited."

I rolled my eyes, a typical Randy answer. "Yeah? Why would he want to kill his own girlfriend?" Stu asked.

"There's always some bullshit reason to kill your girlfriend."

"Oh?" I laughed.

"That's the beauty of it all, simplicity. Besides, if you get too confusing you lose your target audience."

"Oh yeah, and what's his reason?"

Randy shrugged, mumbling. "Maybe Sidney wouldn't have sex with him?"

Stu chuckled. "What? Is she saving herself for you?"

Randy looked up with a spark in his eyes. "Maybe. Now that Billy tried to mutilate her. Do you think Sid would go out with me?"

I shook my head as Stu started laughing. "No, I don't at all! No!" I elbowed him, earning a glare before he looked back at my best friend. "You know who I think it is? I think it's her father. Why can't they find her pops, man?"

Randy took a deep breath. "Because he's probably dead! His body will come poppin' up in the last reel or something. Eyes gouged out, fingers cut off, teeth knocked out! The police are always off track with this shit!"

Stu and I exchanged a look, and I smirked. He should have known not to get Randy onto one of his horror movie rants. "If they watched Prom Night, they'd save time. There's a formula to it. A very simple formula! Everybody's a suspect!"

I flinched as he yelled, getting everyone in the store to turn and look at the three of us. Stu made a gesture as if he were smoking a joint and then pointed at Randy.

Randy ignored him. "I'm telling you, the dad's a red herring. It's Billy!"

I sucked in a breath as Billy approached us behind Randy. He turned Randy around, grabbing him by the collar. "How do we know you're not the killer, huh? Huh?"

Randy's eyes widened, and he gulped. "Hi, Billy."

"Maybe your movie-freaked mind lost its reality button. Ever think of that?"

I debated stepping in, but Stu pushed me out of the way, going up behind Randy, and resting his arms on his shoulders. Randy glanced at him before looking back at Billy. "You're absolutely right, I'm first to admit it. If this was a scary movie, I would be the chief suspect."

Stu smirked. "What would be your motive?"

Randy looked between the two boys and then at me. "It's the millennium. Motives are incidental."

Billy smirked, patting Randy's cheek. "Millennium. Hm, I like that."

"Millennium, good word, kid," Stu laughed, letting go of him.

Billy took a step back, glancing at me before strolling out of the store.

Randy looked away from him, back at Stu and me. "You're telling me that's not a killer?"

I shook my head. Yeah, Billy's been a little weird, but he's not the killer. He can't be.

"Just bring some movies and we'll see you at the party," I said, walking past him to follow Billy out of the store.