REESE

- 5 -

The sound of footsteps echoed about the hall as students made a beeline for the courtyard, eager to leave the confines of the school for the day and to return to the sanctity of their homes to do whatever while clusters of others stuck close to the lockers, shoulder-to-shoulder in circles, their attempts to keep their conversations from passerby clear as day. Reese and Stu were amongst said clusters, waiting not-so-patiently on their friends. Tick tock. Tick. Tock. Tick tock. The aforementioned group of friends had made a promise to meet after school, partly to discuss the topic presented at the assembly that morning, partly to discuss... Randy's plan -- Randy wouldn't shut up about it.

Tick.

Stu decided to entertain himself in the form of annoying Reese; damnit to Hell! The next thing that Reese knew, she dropped f-bombs both left and right, her eyes flashing with a mixture of shock and rage and her body beginning to jerk as she tried to grab Stu's hands, desperate to stop him and the pokes that he unleashed upon her without a shred of mercy! <Stop!> Reese wanted to scream. <Stop or I'll slit your throat, Macher!> For very, very, very obvious reasons, she wouldn't scream such a thing in such a place at such a time.

Tock.

Some of the other students in the hall had stopped what they'd been doing at the time to see what all the fuss was about, multiple pairs of eyes now on Reese and Stu -- didn't your parents ever teach you that it wasn't polite to stare like that, you heathens!? The urge to beat Stu to death right then and right there grew by the minute, but Reese knew better than to succumb to it. Where in the Hell are they!? Where in the Hell are these idiots!? Where in the Hell are they!?

Tick.

The sound of footsteps ceased to echo about the hall as more and more students joined the crowd... only for something to seize their attention, Stu's, included. A piercing scream sliced through the once silent hall, followed by the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps, prompting Reese to spin on her heels to locate the source of the aforementioned something! <What...> Billy? <... in the..?> What appeared to be a man donning a costume reminiscent of the costume that Billy and Stu used as the basis for GhostFace sprinted down the hall, his presence, alone, startling students into forming an opening in the crowd for him to pass through, his arms flailing above his head and his screams bouncing off the walls as he made his way to the entrance before disappearing through the large, double doors and out of view!

* * *

Billy sighed and shook his head, "Sid, you need to consider seeing a therapist."

To tell the truth... Billy wasn't too sure how he felt about a copycat, but now wasn't the time to start on it; he had somewhere to be and, thanks to Sidney, Tatum, and Randy, who just had to stop every 5 seconds for no apparent reason, he was running on the late side. All that Billy wanted to do was to get to said somewhere and get home. That was it. Seriously. That was it.

It had been a long, long day, starting with an assembly focusing on the murder of Becker and Orth that lasted almost 2 fucking hours, followed by all of the students and the staff being dragged down to the principal's office to be interrogated by law enforcement, the usual, usual boring classes, and now... a meeting. <Meeks,> Billy rubbed his temples, feeling a headache in his midst. <has to go. Soon.> Could this day get any longer, any wors -- yes, yes it could. Billy let out a shaky, barely audible breath, continued to rub his temples in an attempt to keep his fast-forming headache at bay, and made a beeline for Stu's locker, no longer giving a damn if the others were in his wake -- hurry up!

* * *

Out of breath from Stu's earlier "game," Reese leaned against the nearest locker, closed her eyes, and debated whether or not to ask Billy if Stu could be added to their list; I mean, after the previous entries were in the ground, of course. Reese rolled her eyes. <It wouldn't hurt to suggest it ~> Speaking, or, to be accurate, thinking of The Devil, Reese heard Stu chuckle and issue a greeting -- who was the 1st to get here?

Reese snapped, "You are LATE!"

A familiar voice snapped back, "You are LOUD!"

"... Loomis?"

The sound of Billy's voice prompted Reese to instinctively open her eyes to look at him, her once rigid expression softening at the sight of his pained one. Sidney, Tatum, and Randy... were nowhere to be found. OK, but how in the Hell are you going to set a meeting... and not show up to said meeting? Stu draped an arm around both Reese and Billy, seemingly unbothered by the bull. Reese and Billy shot each other a look that screamed, "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" before shooting Stu a look that screamed, "BACK OFF!" Stu responded to this by tightening his grip.

"Hey," Another familiar voice causes their heads to snap up. "we're here."

Much to both Billy and Reese's shared joy and dismay, Randy, Sidney, and Tatum entered their line of sight, all three obviously, obviously wanting to be anywhere but the meeting -- Randy... why did you call for it... if you didn't wanna even wanna attend it!? Without bothering to release Billy and Reese from his grasp, Stu started down the hall with Randy, Sidney, and Tatum in tow, ignoring Billy and Reese's unified protests! Let go, Stu!

Randy stammered, "I-I thought we might as well get it out of the way."

Reese barked, "You could've at least showed up on time!"

"SORRY!"

"TOO," Billy roared, thrashing about in Stu's grasp. "LOUD!"

Reese roared back, "LOOK WHO'S TALKIN'!"

Randy roared as well, "I SAID I WAS SORRY!"

Shit... the sooner that this meeting ended... the better.