Masks / Scream

The Cutting Board

"Ev?"

Hearing my nickname caused me to bring my head up from where it was before. Which was staring sadly into my latte. I was shocked to see the concerned face of Will Belmont sitting right in front of me.

"What do you want, Belmont?" Brooke questioned, interrupting me.

"Nice to see you too, Brooke," Will said sarcastically. "Look, Evelina, I know we aren't on the best terms, and I know you really don't like me, but Jake told me you were really upset, I just wanted to check on you."

He really was concerned, and, surprisingly, I didn't want to rip his head off. Instead I smiled. Brooke, however, was not convinced.

"Don't you have a girlfriend to console? Or are you bored of her already?" She questioned bitterly. Will opened his mouth to speak, but I beat him to it. "Brooke, it's fine," I assured her, placing a hand on her shoulder. She rolled her eyes and eventually gave in.

"How are you two holding up?" He asked, his eyes darting between the two of us.

Brooke sighed before answering. "We aren't." I looked down at my latte. "I thought coffee could cheer me up," I started, "but every person I see drinking a shot makes me think of her."

Will and Brooke chuckled softly. "Well, yeah coffee kind of fixes everything for you, Ev. But you're right. She had an insane espresso tolerance." Brooke and I smiled. "Yeah. She could drink any grad student under the table," Brooke added, looking up at the pictures on the walls. "That night we were studying together for finals. She was basically levitating," I added, remembering how we all crashed after 1:00 AM, but Riley stayed up till the start of school and aced the test.

We all laughed together, but then I remembered she was gone. I felt a tear slip down my cheek, but quickly wiped it away. "So is this what being friends is like?" I questioned, glancing at the boy that had been coming to my house since we were 3. I thought back to all the times Jake and him would bother me, and I'd go to my mom, over exaggerating about what they had done. All she would tell me was, "Boys will be boys, Evelina."

"It's, uh, not so terrible, huh?" He asked, smiling.

I shook my head, "No. Not today at least."

-

"What do ya think, Ev? Titanium? Black Onyx?"

I lifted my sun hat off of my face. "Both sound equally depressing to me."

Brooke and I both thought that Riley would've wanted us to do something fun in her honor. We weren't exactly the most active girls, so we decided to lay out by my pool and tan. We used to try to do it with Riley, but she always ended up dragging us to do something more lively.

"Black Onyx." Brooke sighed. "Riley would approve."

Just then both of our phones chimed. I tugged on the band of my navy bikini top as I sat up. Grabbing my phone, I shielded my eyes from the sun to see the screen.

"You've been tagged in a photo!"

I looked over to Brooke, who turned her phone only so I could see she had gotten the same notification. That's a little odd. I tilted my head to the side and my mouth, along with Brooke's, gaped open.

"Lakewood's hottest clique is being murdered!"

Below the title was a poll. Pictures of Riley and Nina were crossed out with large, red x's. In between them were photos of myself, Brooke, and Emma.

"Vote for who you'd rather see on the chopping block"

Brooke and I shared concerned glances.

"Cast your vote to see results"

My eyes darted to the votes.

"Emma - 2"
"Evelina - 3"

I let out a sigh of relief knowing that only 3 people wanted me dead. A sharp gasp came out of my best friend.

"Brooke - 346"

-

"Yes, mom, Brooke and I are on the course -"

I was speaking on the phone with my concerned mother. I decided to take Brooke out to where we always used to go when one of us were sad. The pond on the golf course we both lived on. There was nothing really special about it, it really was just a man-made pond filled with lost golf balls.

"Yes! I promise we will be safe -"

I rolled my eyes. She was going on about how we shouldn't be out when "kids these days are dropping like flies". At least that was the way she put it.

"No, do not send Jake out here - No! He's just going to annoy us."

I could hear Brooke chuckled softly next to me.

"Mom - mom," I loved my mother to death, but she was extremely overprotective and extremely peppy sometimes. "Ok, ok. Bye mom I lo -" She cut me off to tell me that Jake was on his way.

I rolled my eyes. "I love you. Goodbye." And with that, I hung up. "Sorry about her. You know how obnoxious Marianne Fitzgerald can be," I said, chuckling at my mom's concern.

Brooke smiled. "Trust me, you're lucky to have Marianne." I gave her a sympathetic smile.

I knew Brooke's mom wasn't around much. And I think Brooke was as much of a fan of her dad than I was. And trust me, I was definitely not one. Because Brooke and I lived on the same golf course, and because my parents went to school with her mom, I had been going over to the Maddox household enough to know that the mayor wasn't as sweet as he came off to be. Sleepover after sleepover revealed that he was just a workaholic who cared about nothing else other than his work and finding a new woman every weekend.

Plus, I'm the type of kid who tells her parents everything. When my parents heard about this, they didn't act surprised. They just told me that it wasn't any of my business, and it really want. But I couldn't help but feel bad for Brooke. She was my best friend and deserved so much more.

Just then Jake showed up. "Ev, mom told me you guys were here." He noticed Brooke's gaze, which was straight into the pond, no snippy remark coming out of her lips. "What's up?"

Brooke's head shook. "Everyone hates me."

I slung my arm around her shoulder. "You saw the poll?" Jake questioned. Stupid question, Jake.

Brooke scoffed and dragged her eyes up to meet his. "Did you vote for me too?"

"Hell no." Jake replied, his signature smirk across his face. "I gotta keep you two around."

Brooke and I smiled. "Gotta have one attainable hottie to keep you grounded?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at the two. Oh come on, don't doubt that they wouldn't make the cutest couple. Plus I was Jake's twin sister, I knew how big his crush was on my best friend.

"Especially with Riley being gone," Jake added, his smile fading as he looked to the ground and swallowed.

Brooke sighed. "Last night I left my friend alone."

"I just wanted what I wanted."

She glanced between the two of us.

"I don't want to be that person."

Jake motioned to Brooke and I. "Come 'ere."

He slung his arm over her shoulder and I leaned against the two.

"Thank you guys," Brooke said, "I don't know what I'd do without you."

-

Author's Note

What??? I updated???

Lol sorry it's been literally forever, I swearrrrr this time I will be updating more often. I promise! Thank you so much for reading again and please let me know what you think so far. Thank youuu!! It means to much!

- Emma