How it Began

|16|

FP goes to Alice's house before school and searches for the spare key he knows is under the mat. Her parents are at work so he has to let himself in.

He walks upstairs to her bedroom and opens the door, sighing when he sees she's still asleep. He crouches down beside her bed and shakes her shoulder to wake her, planting kisses all over her face. Her eyes flutter open and she looks at him. "I'm not going to school today." She informs him before rolling over.

"Al-"

"No, FP. I'm not going."

His face softens and he pulls back the cover to get into bed with her. He wraps her in his arms and kisses her temple. "We can't not go, Al."

"Yes we can."

"Alice."

She turns in his arms to face him and looks him in the eye. "FP, I haven't slept in two days, I am not going to school today. I'm determined to get even a little bit of sleep."

"You really haven't slept in two days?"

"Everytime I try I just picture his hands around my throat, I can feel the oxygen leaving my body. Or I can just see the blood after Fred hit him. Or the body. Or is burying the body. I just can't not picture it. So, no, I haven't slept."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know." He runs his hand through her hair and tucks it behind her ear.

"Can we just skip a few periods, maybe I'll be able to sleep with you here. I know I'm safe with you."

He nods and kisses her forehead. "Go to sleep baby, I won't let anything happen to you." She snuggles in closer to him and closes her eyes, he feels her body relax and tries to get some sleep himself.

At school Fred comes up behind Hermione and sees she's clearly on edge. "Hey, honey." She jumps when she hears his voice. "Woah, sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"Sorry, I've just been a little spooked he past couple days."

"I understand. It's been hard."

"You're having a tough time too?"

"Can you blame me?" She looks around the halls. "Where are the porn stars? Are they not coming this morning."

"Knowing them probably not."

"You don't think they got..." She trails off, not wanting to think that her two best friend may have gotten arrested for the murder.

"No, no they couldn't have, we probably would've gotten a call from them from in the slammer by now."

"You're right. We should stop by their places after school just in case though."

"If they're not here by lunch we will." She nods and he kisses her forehead.

Later in the day FP and Alice show up and Fred and Hermione find them at their lockers. "There you two are! We thought you got arrested or something!" Hermione tells at them.

"I went to go pick her up but she was still in bed so we slept in." FP explains.

"Idiots, we thought you were in jail."

"I haven't slept in two days and I finally got a little bit of sleep with FP there. Be thankful we're here at all." Alice says, slamming her locker door.

Mary shows up and snaps the four of them out of conversation. "Hey guys!"

"Hi, Mary." They all say in unison.

"Oh my gosh, Alice, what happened to your neck." Her and FP share a look and she knows that the marks on her neck from the dead man's hands must be very prominent. "What happened?"

"Oh, um..." She struggles to come up with an excuse. "FP and I were trying something new."

"Ew spare my ears the details."

"Gladly."

"Hi guys! What are we talking about?" Hal asks when he approaches the group.

"Alice and FP's freaky sex life." Mary says.

"No. We're not." Alice adamantly says. The bell rings and luckily effectively ends everyone's conversations. "I have class. I'll see you guys later." FP follows her and wraps his arm around her waist as they go.

_

"Alice?" The teacher asks halfway though class. "You're going to rot in prison." She informs her.

Alice feels her heart rate pick up and she manages to stammer out a response. "Wha-what?"

"I asked you if you knew the answer." The teacher repeats. She feels herself relax as she realizes her mind is making her hear something completely different. She gives her answer and watches the clock, praying class will go by quicker so she can get the hell out of there.

After class FP walks over to her at her locker. "Hey, how was class, babe?"

"Well my teacher asked me for the answer and I thought she said I was going to rot in jail so why don't you tell me how class was?"

"Let's go home, baby, no point in staying if it's this hard."

"You sure?"

"Positive. Grab your bag, I'll take you home and we can sleep some more. Seems like you need it." He kisses her head and she turns to grab her bag from her locker.

He takes her hand as they go to exit the school and she accidentally runs into Mary. She drops the water bottle in her hands and it spills all over the floor. Alice sees blood, bright red blood instead of water and she freaks. She books it down the hallway and Mary stares at her like she's a freak. "What was that about? It's just water, it's not like it got on her or anything."

"She's just a little tired that's all." FP explains before running after her.

He finds her in the parking lot, leaning against the front of his truck with her head in her hands, crying.

He wraps his arms around her and hugs her tight, holding her close and stroking her hair. She clings to him like he's life support. "It's going to be okay. We're all going to be okay."