𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐊 . . . 𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐭𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝

𝟒𝟗. 𝐡𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝

49. haunted

season four, episode four: senior camping trip

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To say that Nessa was excited to be in the parking lot of the campgrounds, surrounded by her senior class, ready for an overnight camping trip would be a lie. A grave lie. This was the least excited she had ever been for a school event, well, ever.

After the email incident last night, Jessica had calmed the girl down just enough for her to go into Savannah's room and have a few glasses of wine and play Monopoly. However, her mind was constantly racing.

She unloaded her bags – well, Scott unloaded her bags – and looked around, trying to locate Alex. She wasn't particularly in the right headspace to call him last night, but she knew they needed to talk. This email implicated the two of them most of all.

"I need to go talk to Alex." Nessa told Scott as she located her ex-boyfriend, unpacking his belongings across the parking lot. "Just set our stuff with Tyler and Jessica."

"Okay." Scott said with a nod as Nessa took a deep breath, slowly walking over to where Alex was.

"Hey." Nessa said softly to catch his attention. Alex looked over his shoulder, realizing who was in front of him.

"Hey," he replied. "Are you doing okay?"

"Could be better." Nessa replied solemnly. "You?"

"About the same." Alex admitted. "I talked to Clay, he says he was hacked."

"Do you really believe that, Alex?" Nessa asked worriedly. "I mean we have to do something or this could get really bad. For both of us."

Alex sighed, pulling his backpack on his shoulders. "Ness, I get it. I'm freaked out too, but maybe that's exactly what whoever wrote this email wants. For us to do something that makes us look crazy or guilty."

"Someone wants a confession." Nessa whispered. "And they're sure as hell not getting it from me, so we have to find a way to make sure they don't get it from anyone else."

"Okay." Alex said softly. "We'll figure it out, Ness."

Nessa nodded. Alex began walking off, and Nessa found herself grabbing his arm. There was one more thing she needed to say, and she wasn't quite sure how she was going to handle it. But, Alex deserved to know just as much as she did, if not more.

"There's something else I need to talk to you about." Nessa said quickly, just to get the words out so she couldn't take them back. Alex looked at her, confused and concerned. "Away from everybody."

"Okay..." Alex said. "Are you okay?"

"I'll answer that if you come with me." Nessa said, and Alex followed her to an unoccupied area of the parking lot, against his own better judgment. The entire way there, Nessa tried to figure out the least invasive way to bring this up.

"Are you dating Winston?" she blurted as soon as they stopped walking. Yeah, not exactly her smoothest start, but how else does one possibly bring this up.

Alex's face faltered, his mind racing with things to say that didn't make him sound guilty.

"Nessa, what?" he replied shakily, and he couldn't quite meet her eyes. "I am not dating Winston, that's crazy."

"Alex, Ani and I saw you two in the hallway at the dance." she blurted again, because she had to get to her point somehow. This time, it was her that couldn't meet his eyes.