tag you're it // heathers au

one // a friend

1999

Chloe and Jesse were playing around with the croquet set even though they didn't know how to play properly. Chloe's friend Bella came over into the yard, through way of climbing the fence that separated their yards.

"Hi Chloe, hi Jesse!" Bella greeted the half-siblings.

"Hi Bella." Chloe said, only to be called away by her mother. "I'll be back!" Chloe giggled.

"Aren't you going to say hello?" Bella asked.

"No," Jesse sighed.

"Guess what." Bella said but Jesse didn't respond, so she simply continued on. "Yesterday Chloe said I'm her best friend." She spoke as she knocked around a red ball with the coordinating croquet mallet.

"Sure she did." Jesse replied, uninterested in the things Bella had to say. Bella knocked the ball into the woods on accident and went after it, Jesse followed her because he had to watch Chloe's friends and Chloe because he was older. He couldn't allow for Bella to get lost in the woods, as much as he'd enjoy her being gone. Once they were deep into the woods, Jesse snatched the mallet from the younger girl. Jesse was twelve and Bella was ten, just older than Chloe, who was almost nine.

"Hey!" Bella shouted as Jesse took the mallet.

"I'm Chloe's best friend." Jesse hissed.

"Chloe hates you! She says you've been mean to her since forever!" Bella yelled.

"You know what she says about you, Bella?" Jesse asked, letting the croquet mallet swing in his hands. "She says you're stupid and obnoxious." He lied, Chloe had never said a bad word about Bella. They'd been friends for a while and Jesse was sick of it.

"But Chloe's my friend." Bella mumbled.

"Not anymore." Jesse muttered, raising up the mallet and striking Bella right in the side of her head. Bella's temple started to bleed, as Chloe ran into the woods looking for her friend and older brother. Bella collapsed to the ground, hitting the dirt dully. Chloe came up to Jesse, who was smiling widely at Bella's bleeding body.

"Jesse?" Chloe asked, her voice becoming quiet as soon as she sees Bella and the bloody croquet mallet. She froze in place as Jesse pivoted his body to face his sister.

"You don't really hate me, do you Chloe?" He asked in a frightening voice, holding the bloody mallet in his hands as it dripped blood. He was grinning the same way Chloe did on Christmas. Like he was having the best day. Chloe turned away from Jesse and began to run from him. She was screaming as she ran into the house. Veronica came to see why Chloe was screaming.

"Chloe, what's wrong?" Veronica asked.

"Bella! Jesse hit Bella!" Chloe shrieked in fear.

"Is she okay?" Veronica asked.

"He hit her with the croquet mallet!" Chloe shouted.

"What!?" Veronica screeched. The two went outside and saw Jesse sitting in one of the lawn chairs with his bloody croquet mallet.

"I told you!" Chloe pointed at Jesse and the mallet that was dropping blood onto Jesse's pants.

"Jesse Abraham! What did you do?" Veronica asked.

"He hit Bella in the head!" Chloe yelled.

"In the head?" Veronica asked and Jesse nodded, her and Chloe running into the woods to see if Bella was alive. She wasn't. Veronica made sure Chloe didn't get another glimpse of her friend's lifeless eyes. "Oh my god, Chloe come with me right now." Veronica said, going back in the house and grabbing the phone and calling JD to figure out what to do.

"Veronica? Is something wrong?" JD asked as he picked up the call, Veronica rarely ever called him when he was at work unless something was wrong.

"JD! Oh my god!" Veronica panicked.

"What is wrong, darling?" JD asked his wife.

"Jesse killed Chloe's friend Bella. He hit her in the head with a croquet mallet. I think he cracked her skull." Veronica rambled. "I checked, JD, she's dead."

"I'l be home immediately, do not call the cops until I get there." He directed before hanging up.

"Bella's dead?" Chloe asked.

"Shit." Veronica mumbled. "I think so, sweetie. But they might be able to save her." She lied for the sake of her daughter, looking out the window to see Jesse sitting there with a smirk on his face. The same smirk JD had after the 'suicide' of Heather Chandler. She felt such fear in towards the child she had raised as her own.