Alive >> Jake Fitzgerald << Scream

Twenty-Eight.

"Mr Branson?"

The class fell into silence as a group of police officers walked into the room, unintentionally i grasped Jake's forearm, my fingers wrapped tightly around his skin. He slowly looked at me before placing his hand over my own.

I'm going to jail; I thought

Jake and my friends will hate me forever if they think I'm the killer; I told myself

I need to prove my innocence somehow; my conscience whispered

"Don't worry." The corners of his mouth curved up into a comforting smile, "We'll be alright."

Although his words gave me some comfort, I still couldn't help but feel as if the cops were there for me. Jake was the one person, who despite his countless flaws, was always able to make me feel safe. And for me, that was the first time I'd ever felt as if I was in harm's way around him, I felt comforted; but I did not feel safe.

Did they suspect me just as my classmates did?

Did they want to bring me and my friends in for more questioning?

Had they found more evidence?

I couldn't think straight. Not even Jake could keep me grounded, and that was something that had never happened before.

"Can I help you?" Mr Branson straightened his tie as he approached the group of police.

"Yes Sir, you can." The officer nodded, "We have some questions for a student of yours, Audrey Jensen?"

Everyone's eyes fell on Audrey and she immediately became uncomfortable under her gaze. I could tell she was scared the moment her name left the officer's lips, honestly I was scared for her, soon enough it would be her everyone was accusing of murdering her friends. I knew that wasn't true, I'd been around Audrey enough to know that she wouldn't hurt anyone, unless they deserved it of course, however the one thing I was sure of was that she would never, ever, kill anyone.

"Audrey?" Branson shot her look, one that said 'good luck' and hesitantly Audrey stood from her seat, her backpack was slung over her shoulder and she clutched her jacket in her hands, a nervous expression spread across her face.

"You're gonna be okay Audrey." I grabbed her hand as she walked by my seat, "You've got this."

"Thanks." She spoke bluntly, before the police escorted her away.

"What do you think that was about?" Jake spoke with caution, almost as if he was scared he'd say something wrong and upset me again.

"I have no idea. But I know Audrey had nothing to do with this."

"But you don't really know that, do you?"

"What are you trying to suggest Jake? That Audrey killed all of our friends?" I narrowed my eyes

"No, obviously she didn't. I'm just saying we need to be more careful about who we trust, that psycho could be any one of us."

"Even you?"

"No. Not me." He gritted his teeth, "Look, we know it's not you and you know it's not me, right?"

"Right, of course."

"Then from now on, you and me, we're a team." He took my hand in his own, squeezing it tightly, "We trust no one."

"Only each other."

"Right."

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"Noah this is kidnap!"

I thrashed around in Noah's arms as he forced me into one of the music rooms, for someone as nerdy as he was, he sure as hell was a lot stronger than I'd ever thought he was.

"I underestimated you Foster." I narrowed my eyes

"Rule number one of a horror movie, never underestimate the guy with all the theories."

"Noah that sorta sounds like you're implying you're the killer..."

"Maybe I am!" He laughed manically, "I'm sorry, I'm kidding, I'm not the killer. Seriously, I promise."

"It's cool dude, I believe you."

"Guys!" Emma suddenly bursted into the room, she looked incredibly panicked and my stomach immediately dropped, fearing the worst just as I always did.

"What happened with the cops? Why do they need Audrey?"

"I don't know Em..." I sighed, praying that Audrey was okay, "Maybe they just wanted to ask her some more questions about Rachel?"

"That's a phone call." Noah interjected, "Not a perp walk out of class!"

For a brief moment there was only silence in the music room. Emma paced up and down, nervously biting at her finger nails. Noah tapped his foot against the carpeted floor, his eyes flickered behind him to glance at the door every couple of seconds. Whilst I could only watch my two friends slowly melt down.

"Mr Branson." Noah spoke up

"What's he got to do with any of this?"

"We found out the webcam malware came from his homework server." My eyes immediately widened at the mention of the malware, I'd thought that was all over and done with.

"And he's using a fake name."

"Holy shit."

Merely speaking about the malware sent shivers down my spine. It had caused so many unwanted problems, one minute I thought it was all finished with, then I find out that it's still online and worse yet Jake and Will were still blackmailing people. I think it's been shut down again and bam! There it is. Right back online, just the way we'd left it. It would've always inevitably came back, one way or another.

"Mr B may have seen Audrey and I on his laptop, if he thought we could expose him then maybe he could've found some way to implicate Audrey as payback..." Noah briskly ran a hand though his hair, just as he did, the door swung open and no one other than Seth Branson himself entered the room.

"Mr B, hey! How are you?" I tried to act natural despite the terrified expressions on Noah and Emma's faces.

"I'm good thank you Lydia." He nodded, "You know the three of you shouldn't be in here, right?"

"Lydia, Emma and I were just talking scenes."

"Well that's actually what I wanted to discuss." Branson turned to look at Noah, "And considering your propensity for speeches. I'm thinking monologue."

"I'm actually kinda shy."

Mr B placed his hand on Noah's back before he began to guide him towards the door, "Let's talk options."

"Oh, uh sure... Uh okay." Noah mumbled as he was pushed out of the door.

"Fuck!" I yelled, "Now he's a possible murderer too? Is everyone in this town a killer?"

"Hey, it's Lakewood. There'll always be another psycho."

"You can say that again."