It had been a week since Britney's breakdown in J's. Of course, it had been far longer since she had spoken to Cori. Why would they speak? There wasn't a chance two teenaged drama queens would get over the scrap they had in the woods. Often Britney wondered what Fiona would think of all this? That night, that fateful night, Britney wanted to go to a party in LOUD but Fiona and Cori wanted to go to J's. If she hadn't have given in, if she had forced them to go to the party would Fiona still be alive? Would she still be dead? Was this all her fault? If she had just been more thoughtful would her best friend still be breathing? And while mulling that over, Britney had the notion that she was next on the murderer's kill list filling up her head. It was getting increasingly difficult to pretend that she was totally sane and A-okay, especially in front of her parents. So, after school on Friday, just before the evening fell on the town, Britney found herself outside Spike's flat again. She raised her fist to knock but hesitated.
"Right boys, I'm going to work,"
That was Ebony's voice and footsteps moving towards the door. Nerves and fear of interacting with these boys caught onto Britney and she ran back down the hall again, hoping they couldn't hear her.
"I'll go with you," Elliott said, getting up from the cream couch. He had given himself the day off and was quite bored. Not quite as bored as when he actually goes to work but still bored. He was in need of a drink and a small amount of social interactions.
"I guess I'll follow you both down in an hour or so," Spike replied lazily, flicking from channel to channel. There was nothing on TV. He had no reason not to go with his friends there and then, "I'm meeting Peter for pints,"
Elliott wrinkled his nose. He didn't like Peter.
"New best friend?" Ebony joked.
"Yeah why don't you move in with him?" Elliott said a bit bitterly.
"Why don't we all just move into J's?" Spike shot back, making himself even more comfortable on the sofa, "I'll see you both in a while, yeah?"
"Yeah, see you there," Elliott nodded, opening the door for he and Ebony to leave.
"See you later, man," Ebony called as they left, "Nice work on hiding your judgey opinions," He nudged Elliott as they made their way down the corridor.
"Peter's a bitch, Eb," Elliott stated simply, "I shouldn't have to pretend he's not,"
"I know he's full of himself and says things he shouldn't but he's friends with Spike so, y'know, be nice," Ebony said.
"Don't,"
"Don't what?"
"Don't be all righteous, I know you're still sore about Spike being a slut,"
"...Yeah, you're right. Who gives a shit about being nice, eh?" Ebony smirked out a sigh and went to ruffle the raven black hair on his friend's head, "Come on, let's get to the pub,"
"Yeah, never touch my hair,"
•~~×~~•
"So, weed, MDMA and some sort of powder?" Olivia looked down at the notes on Cleo's coffee table, unsure how to approach the situation.
"She had a busy night," John let out a small chuckle, folding his arms and leaning against the doorframe.
"Do you think she died a virgin?" Femme asked the room suddenly.
"Why would you ask that?" Ariel gasped a bit, unable to remain calm at the very mention of anything that reminds her of her little growing situation.
"I don't think so," Cleo scoffed, "Like, I didn't see anything on the file about that but I'm going to assume she wasn't one, no,"
"Do you think that's why?" Annabelle spoke up, "I mean, why she was killed?"
"How'd you mean?" Francis tilted his head.
"Maybe someone was jealous of her popularity, or they thought it was sinful or... maybe I'm wrong, I dunno," The youngest in the room blushed and tucked her hair behind both her ears simultaneously.
"...Hang on a second," Cleo looked at John, "Wasn't that exactly what Britney was going on about when she was doped up with MDMA?"
"The Axeman is coming for my sins," John readjusted his glasses, "I believe it was,"
"We should organize to speak with her about that," Francis laughed a little because it was so obvious.
"I'd watch it around her. She might have some form of psychosis after saying shit like that," John said.
"You mean, she's insane?" Annabelle whispered like it was schedules.
"No dear, Britney just might be anxious to the point where she's imagining things," Cleo chuckled, "I mean, her best friend was murdered, nobody is okay after that,"
"Especially if you're the one who killed them," Francis muttered causing a silence to fall on the room.
"Okay, it's not out of the question but we should definitely see about talking to her first," Ariel was the first to speak up.
"What about that Reyn guy?" John took off his glasses and pinched his eyes shut, very tired, "Wasn't he brought in?"
"Yeah, with that guy. I don't know his name," Annabelle frowned.
"Bradley," Cleo flicked through her notebook, "Victor seen them but we don't know if they're witnessing or if they're actually guilty,"
"So, right now we've got sinning as a theme in question and witnesses who might be lying," Francis summed up.
"Let me know if you find anything else but I think this is a good moment to leave it," Cleo said, beginning to pack up all her notes, "Get some rest and be safe,"
"Pub?" John asked her as the youngsters dispersed.
"Oh, no. Sorry, John," She shook her head, "I'm absolutely knackered, I need some sleep,"
"Okay, yeah, no worries," He smiled and nodded once before pulling his jacket on.
"J's or nah?" Femme proposed to her friends as they made their way out if the apartment building.
"Probably nah," Olivia laughed, her hand slipping into Francis'.
"Yeah, I've got lots of homework that I should actually do," Ariel said as she fumbled with her coat's buttons. The bottom three buttons just weren't fastening and it annoyed her.
"You know it's been a rough week when you have to choose between maths and murder solving," Francis jested, earning a loud giggle from his girlfriend.
