wild games

the invitation.

a/n; edited 13/6/17.

the old library is covered in shadows as reagan drives up the street toward it. turning into the parking lot, she's surprised to see a familiar mustang, glinting slightly under the weak moonlight struggling to push through the thick clouds. a busted up jeep is parked haphazardly closer to the emergency exit door of the building, and a silver Volvo sticks out like a sore thumb on the far side of the lot. swallowing thickly, reagan pushes back her blond hair and rereads the invitation she'd received earlier today. well, she's definitely in the right place. and, it looks like she's not the only one who got an invite. stepping out of the her old Chevrolet Impala, she locks it quickly and makes her way over to where a gang of people she can just about see stand in the shadows of the old library. 'jess? justin?' she frowns, counting up the number of people there.

'hey,' zach greets her, his hands stuck deep into the pockets of his varsity jacket. 'you get one too?' removing one hand he holds up an identical slip of card to the one in her jeans pocket. she nods, and looks questioningly at the rest. they all nod and hold up their invites. tony is standing near the back of the group with clay, looking sheepish. reagan raises a brow at her best friend; 'you never mentioned it,' she comments, casually. tony shrugs, broad shoulders stretching beneath his leather jacket. 'neither did you,' he counters quickly, moving up to stand next to her.

'none of us did,' jess admits, 'the invite said come alone...'

'and we all turned up, at midnight, to an abandoned building on the far side of town, having been invited by a faceless stranger?' a deep voice laden with amusement startles jess into a shriek. reagan spins around, automatically lunging at the newcomer - marcus cole easily pushes her back and laughs. 'wow, guess i'm not the only one who got asked here, huh?'

jess' eyes slide past marcus and she groans. 'apparently not,' she mutters. five more newcomers approach, a strange group to see together - montgomery de la cruz, sheri holland, courtney crimsen, tyler down, and ryan shaver.

'so, you all got invitations too?' tyler asks. montgomery snaps at him to shut up, then asks the people who had been there before him, 'anyone know what the fuck is going on?'

'nope,' reagan pops the 'p' on the word and rubs her arms with her hands. there's a bitter chill in the night air, seeping in through her black hoodie and causing shivers. zach slips off his varsity jacket and slides it over her shoulders. reagan smiles at the sweet gesture, trying to resist - 'but now you'll be cold!' - but zach won't hear any protest. he buttons it up for her and asks if that's better. 'much,' she sighs happily, zach's heat and scent surrounding her. montgomery's face twists into a snarl, and he stamps his foot to redirect everyone's attention.

'so?' he spits impatiently. 'are we all gonna stand here like dicks for the night?'
marcus makes his way towards montgomery and sizes up the abandoned library. 'should we go in?' he looks to the group for agreement, and after a minute or so of hesitation, they agree. 'it might be warmer inside,' sheri mutters into her scarf, teeth chattering. justin laughs as he jimmies open the emergency doors - 'sweetheart, this place has been empty for years. there's no heating,' the cheerleader lets out a cry of despair.

inside the dark building, standing in the empty foyer, they decide to split up, and search all around the place. what they're looking for, none of them are certain of. 'but we'll know when we see it, i'm sure,' reagan told them before heading off with tony, and clay. jess, and sheri went one way, justin, montgomery, and marcus another. courtney makes a face of disgust when tyler suggests they go together, and practically drags zach down a pitch-black corridor. his squawk of alarm echoes through the deserted foyer, causing tyler and ryan to laugh. as the only two left, they take the last route. after about twenty meetings, each group has circled back to the beginning.