YOU ROBBED ME? I'M CALLING THE POLICE.

☆︎ APRIL, 1998 ☆︎

Indiana's phone had been unplugged for a whole week as the opening weekend of the Stab movie crept up on them. It didn't help that one of the smaller theaters down the road from the Windsor campus was chosen as one of the locations to do an early, Wednesday night screening.

Sidney and Indiana got the most prank calls with people pretending to be Ghostface, but every now and then, Jackson and Randy got some as well. It'd only get worse with the movie coming out. But Indy wouldn't be waking up to the annoying sound of her phone ringing despite the ten different people that tried their hardest to reach the unplugged line.

Instead, she woke up as she usually did to her alarm and then sleepily trudged to the community bathroom to get a shower. The second film theory class was one of her favorites, but she would've preferred it to be a little later in the day, not at eight in the morning. So, she was barely coherent as she walked down the stairs of her dorm with a cup of coffee she made with the pot in her room.

But she sure fucking perked up when she stepped outside and got a face full of cameras. Indiana blinked rapidly and took a step back, her ears catching all the questions being shouted at her by people with microphones in hand.

"Indiana! Do you feel threatened?"

"Do you think there'll be more?"

"Indiana, did you know the victims?"

"What can you tell us about the murders?"

"Please, give us a statement."

Indiana must have looked like an idiot as she looked at them dumbly. But before she could ask what the hell they were talking about, someone grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the crowd. The reporters continued to shout at her, but her savior — Cici — simply shouted, "No comment!"

Cici continued to drag Indiana away from the crowd and toward the film building. Thankfully, none of the people followed after them. But Indiana quickly noticed that most everyone looked at them — her — as they passed.

"What the hell was that?" Indiana asked, looking over her shoulder. "They were asking about victims."

"You don't know?" Cici asked, slowing their pace a bit. The expression on her face was crushed, causing Indiana's stomach to twist. Then Cici sighed. "God, you don't watch the news. How could you know?"

"Know what?"

After sighing again, Cici stopped Indiana, pulling her off the sidewalk so that others could keep walking. When her friend took her hands, Indiana's frown deepened. "Last night, two Windsor students were murdered."

"God, that's horrible," she said, shaking her head. "But what was with the circus back there?"

Cici squeezed her hands comfortingly. "They were killed at that early showing of Stab... by someone in a Ghostface mask."

"Oh, fuck me."

☆︎

Indiana, for understandable reasons, wasn't in her usual seat between Mickey and Cici in their film theory class. She dragged a desk right next to Randy's and leaned her head against his shoulder while he kept his calf resting on her outstretched ankle. They both agreed that they wanted to forget about the two murders for the day.

Granted, that was impossible since the students were killed in a theater, and they were in a film class.

Professor Mac was leaning against his desk at the front of the room as he led the discussion surrounding the incident. Indiana and Randy stayed fairly silent for most of the hour, just waiting for it to all be over.

"You could say what happened in that theater is a direct result of the movie itself," their teacher claimed.

Cici scoffed, clearly not agreeing. "That is so Moral Majority. You can't blame real-life violence on entertainment."

Her comment seemed to stir up some controversy as some of their classmates laughed and others sat up, more alert. Luke Arlington shook his head at her. "What? Wait a second. Yes, you can. Don't you even watch the news?"

"Yeah," Carter Day, his best friend, jumped in. "Hello. The murderer was wearing a ghost mask, okay? Just like in the movie. It's directly responsible."

"No, it's not," Cici argued. "Movies are not responsible for our actions."

"Don't blame the movies. Movies don't create psychos. Movies make psychos more creative," Indiana said, nearly mumbling her words. The whole class looked at her, but she kept her eyes on Carter. "He wasn't wearing a ghost mask like in the movie — he was wearing a ghost mask like the real-life murders that actually happened."

"Then it's a classic case of life imitating art imitating life," Mickey told her, speaking in a careful tone as he looked at Indiana with a soft expression. He didn't want this to upset her.

"This is not a hypothetical," a girl named Alikah said, a deep frown on her face. "It's not about art. I had Biology with that girl. This is reality."

"Thank you. I agree with you," Randy said, nodding to her. Then he looked at Indy's boyfriend. "Let me tell you about reality, Mickey. We lived through this. Okay? Life is life. It doesn't imitate anything."

"Come on, Randy," Mickey said gently, "with all due respect, the killer obviously patterned himself after two serial killers who have been immortalized on film."

"Thank you!" Carter said, glad someone was on their side.

Honestly, it had been one of Indy's biggest concerns when she found out they were making the Stab movie. She knew it wouldn't be long before Billy and Stu were glorified because they were handsome, charismatic men. And girls around the world would hang posters with Luke Wilson and Vince Vaughn on their walls, not caring that they were playing men who manipulated or killed everyone in their lives.

But the movie still wasn't responsible for the murder of Maureen Evans and Phil Stevens.

"Are you suggesting that someone's trying to make a real-life sequel?" Professor Mac asked them, trying to get them to think about motives and such.

"Stab 2? Who'd want to do that? Sequels suck!" Randy exclaimed. And nearly the whole class disagreed. Even Indiana leaned off his shoulder to squint at him. "Oh, please. Please! By definition alone, they're inferior films."

"Bullshit generalization!" Mickey said, raising his voice and looking at him with wide eyes. "Many sequels have surpassed their original."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Name one," Cici said, finishing what Randy would've asked.

"Oh, don't put us on opposite sides of the war, Cici," Indiana said, pouting at her friend across the room.

"Aliens," Luke said, not having to think long at all. "Far better than the first."

"Yeah, well, there's no accounting for taste," Cici said, rolling her eyes with a smile.

"Thank you. Ridley Scott rules. Name another," Randy ordered, earning laughs from the class.

"No," Carter denied. "Aliens is a classic, okay? 'Get away from her, you bitch.'"

"Uh, I believe the line is 'Stay away from her, you bitch,'" Randy corrected, glancing at Professor Mac. "It's film class, right?"

"Yeah, whatever. You know what I mean," Carter said as the class snickered over his mistake.

"Another," Randy insisted.

"T2," Mickey answered, a smile on his face.

Cici looked at him pointedly. "You've got a hard-on for Cameron."

"Big one," Randy agreed.

Indiana couldn't help but laugh along, and Mickey's mouth hung open as he tried not to grin. She blew an air kiss at him, and he pointedly turned his head the other way.

"Wait a second," Luke said, speaking over the laughs. "The first Terminator is historical."

"Yeah," Randy agreed before doing an impression. "Sarah Connor?"

"Yes?" Indy asked, making her voice higher while looking at him with wide eyes. Then Randy aimed his hand like it was a gun and made a shooting noise while Indian slumped over.

Carter gave in, allowing that one to slide. "All right. All right, okay. House 2: The Second Story." The entire class groaned, knowing it was a shit movie compared to the first one. Carter just frowned cluelessly. "What?"

Indiana knew she and Mickey really were meant to be together, because, without any planning, they both ripped out a piece of paper from their notebooks to crumble and throw at Carter, who swatted them away.

"The entire horror genre was destroyed by sequels," Randy insisted, shouting over all the others that were still berating.

"Well, now wait!" Indiana said, looking at him. "The second Evil Dead movie!"

"That's basically a reboot, Indy, and you know it," he reminded her.

"Hey!" Mickey said, waving his hand. If Indy and Randy got in an argument, the whole discussion would be derailed. "I got it, by the way. I got it." The whole class looked at him expectantly. "The Godfather Part 2."

"I'll allow it," Indiana said as the rest of the class seemed to agree with him. He had a smug smile on his face that she loved the sight of.

"Very good," Randy said, imitating Marlon Brando, which amused everyone. "That's the Oscar-winning exception."

"All right, that's enough. That'll be a wrap," Professor Mac said as the end of their class time arrived. "The sequel discussion to be continued."

Indiana was looking at her notebook, but when Randy nudged her leg with his foot, she looked at him and then the door that he was nodding toward. They both spotted Sidney timidly hanging around the doorframe, trying to avoid eye contact with everyone that passed.

The pair quickly grabbed their things, not waiting for Mickey and Cici like they normally did — they'd catch up. However, when they were almost to the door, Alikah spoke up, addressing Randy. "So, Mr. Originality, how would you make it different?"

Randy turned to look at her while digging in his pocket. "I'd let the geek get the girl."

Indiana covered her mouth to keep from laughing as he shot two pumps of breath spray into his mouth. Then they met up with Sid, who instantly started walking down the hallway of the film building toward the exit.

"So," Indiana said, keeping her tone light and breezy, "how's your day going, Sid?"

"So not in the mood for your adorable nature," Sidney grumbled as they got outside. "Three hundred people watched. Nobody did anything. They thought it was a publicity stunt, for Christ's sake."

"And it would have been a good one too," Randy said in a thick English accent.

Sidney sighed. "I'm not in the mood for your adorableness either. It's starting again, Randy."

"It's not," Randy went on in the accent, trying not to grin as Sidney called him adorable. "A lot of shit happens at the movies. People get robbed, shot, maimed, murdered. Multiplexes are a very dangerous place to be these days. Especially when Indy and Mick are at one and dry humping on the back row."

"We do not!" Indiana exclaimed. Then she frowned. "I mean, just once, and it didn't get that — weren't we talking about unpleasant theater experiences?"

"Yeah, and that you both are in extreme denial," Sidney said pointedly.

"What am I denying? I'm not denying," she told her. "It could be starting again, but we won't know until something else happens, unfortunately."

"No, you two are the ones that should be in denial," Randy said, returning to his normal speaking voice. "This has nothing to do with us."

Sidney swatted his shoulder in annoyance. "Randy, a guy in a ghost mask hacked up two people in a movie theater telling our life story."

"Coincidence," he said, shrugging.

"You know what happened at Woodsboro, Randy," Sid reminded him as they came to a stop. "You can't ignore it."

"No, but we can joke about it," Indiana muttered. "The alternative has a much higher therapy bill."

"Look, I know, Sid, but I don't want to go back there again. Can't we just go back to our pseudo-quasi-happy existence?" Randy asked. Then he kept going when he saw Derek approaching them from the side. "Hello, Derek. How ya doing?"

"Hey, Sid," Derek said, only greeting his girlfriend as he kissed her on the cheek. "I've been looking everywhere. I heard. You weren't in class."

"Yeah, I know," Sidney mumbled as they all started walking again. "I skipped. I couldn't take all the 'that's her' looks."

"I thrive off the 'that's her' looks," Indiana said, smiling a little.

"That's because the way you killed Billy was so awesome but also terrifying and dark," Randy reminded her. Indy just winked at him.

"Is there anything I can do?" Derek asked the girls.

"Well, you got any tricks for getting me back to a pseudo-quasi-happy existence?" Sidney asked rhetorically, not expecting an actual solution unless he knew who was at the theater the night before.

Derek sighed and shrugged, thinking it over. "I might just have one for that," he then said, grabbing her hand.

"Yeah?"

"Oh, yeah? What is it?" Randy asked, raising an eyebrow.

Rather than answer verbally, Derek leaned in and kissed Sidney sweetly, who smiled into it. Randy just pouted and looked away while Indy rubbed his shoulder comfortingly.

"That was pretty good," Sidney said, grinning up at Derek.

"Get a room," Randy grumbled under his breath.

"Ooh, me next?" Indiana asked jokingly. When Derek opened his mouth, she cut him off. "Not you, Frat Boy."

Sidney snickered before swooping in and pecking the taller girl's lips in a friendly kiss. Then she moved back to Derek's side and they walked toward the quad.

"Why is everyone kissing Sid but me?" Randy asked, not bothering to hide his pout.

Indiana raised an eyebrow. "In your fourteen years of knowing Sidney, have you ever asked to kiss her? I've found that tactic works quite nice."

Randy squinted at her with a scowl on his face. "Stop pointing out the flaws in my life, Popcorn."

"I don't like that movie all that much," she said, shaking her head.

"Want to rent it this weekend?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Making a date with my woman, Meeks?" Mickey questioned, coming up behind them. He'd already pulled out his camera, wanting to document everything now that the whole world knew about the murders. Cici was dragging her feet, clearly annoyed about being left behind to walk with him.

"No, but Sid's not too far off from stealing her," Randy joked as Mickey threw an arm around Indiana.

"Oh, don't listen to him, baby," Indiana said, smiling up at her boyfriend. "I'd leave you for Cici way faster than I would for Sidney."

"I hate when you make that joke," he grumbled.

Cici smirked and pulled Indiana out from under his arm to link their arms. "She's not joking."

Mickey huffed in annoyance before moving quickly and throwing Indiana over his shoulder. She laughed and hit him on the back, but didn't try all that hard to get free. Once she stopped struggling, he shifted her around a bit so that he could keep one arm wrapped around her securely and hold the camera with his free one.

"At least it's a good view," Indiana mumbled, looking pointedly at Mickey's ass while he walked with the others to catch up with Sidney and Derek. "A real good view."

Mickey let out a pretend hurt scoff. "Stop objectifying me."

In response, Indiana smacked his ass, making Randy and Cici laugh as Mickey just grinned. His hand crept along her thigh and he pinched the inside, making her squirm.

By the time the four of them found Sidney and Derek, Hallie and Jackson had joined them on the edge of the quad. But they couldn't go to the spot they normally liked to sit at because news vans and reporters were swarming the area. The Chief of Police was holding some kind of press conference to address what happened.

They stopped by a section of a stone wall that led to some stairs that led right down to the center of the quad where everyone was gathered. Finally, Mickey set Indy on her feet so that he could properly shoot his crowd footage. Though he did tap her ass as payback for her smack earlier, which made her grin.

"Oh, my God. This is huge," Randy said, looking at how many people were there.

As Indiana sat down, she heard a painfully familiar voice asking the chief a question. "Do you have any suspects?"

"Oh, my fucking god!" she said, keeping her voice down. "It's Gale The Bitch Weathers."

"I'm glad my nickname for her is catching on," Jackson commented while sitting next to her, looking out.

Randy pulled Sidney away from Derek so that they could look at the woman. Gale was there, right at the front with her cameraman shooting her instead of the actual press conference. She looked different — like she had money and didn't have to wear cheap, brightly colored suits anymore. Exploiting the Woodsboro victims looked good on her.

"Star of the Gale Weathers press conference, based on the book by Gale Weathers. Soon to be a major motion picture starring Gale Weathers," Randy was ranting, speaking directly to Mickey's camera.

"Please," Jackson snickered, "she wishes she were as talented as Jennifer Jolie — and she's not even all that talented."

"Be kind," Sidney mumbled halfheartedly. "She helped that night."

"She didn't do shit," Indiana said, scoffing. "Well, she kissed Dewey, failed to shoot a gun, and barfed when I killed Billy."

"Yeah, she did all that," Randy agreed. Then he peered at Gale, taking in her form. "She had calf implants."

"Studied those leaked nudes real hard, did you?" Cici asked, smirking at him.

"That was Jen Anniston's body and Gale's head," Indiana informed her with a small smile. "I know Jennifer Anniston's body like my own."

"Chief Hartley," Gale continued to question, "do you plan on giving the town a curfew?"

"I'm going to get closer," Randy declared before walking off to try and sneak into the crowd of reporters.

Derek quickly replaced the gap left between Sidney and Jackson. "So that's her?"

"Yeah," Sidney said, sighing a little.

As they were sitting, observing the circus, they were approached by five girls, all of whom were in Delta Lambda Zeta. Leading them were Allison Lois, who was the one to recruit Hallie into the sorority and also the President of their chapter, and her best friend, Melanie Murphey. Cici rolled her eyes and kept her back to them — she'd rather watch a press conference about brutal murder than speak with a Delta Lambda.

"Hello, girls," Allison spoke up once they were close enough. "Enjoying yourselves?"

Hallie smiled brightly at them, knowing she had to please them since she hadn't been fully initiated into the sorority yet. "Hello, Sister Lois, Sister Murphy."

"Hello, Pledge," Melanie said, not bothering with Hallie's actual name. Jackson narrowed his eyes at her, not appreciating the lack of respect — even if all the current pledges were receiving the same treatment. "Hi, Sidney."

Sidney forced a polite smile. "Hey."

Then Melanie smiled brightly at Indiana, tucking some hair behind her ear as she did. "Hello, Indiana."

"Hi, Melanie," Indiana greeted, smiling at the pretty blonde. "You look so pretty in blue. You should wear it more."

Mickey let out a huff and snaked his arm around her waist, pulling her against his side, unable to hide his jealousy. But also, he knew it was impossible not to fall in love with Indiana, so he couldn't blame Melanie for blushing from Indiana's attention.

"This must be flat-out hell for you," Melanie went on, a caring look in her eyes. "How are you holding up?"

"It's sweet of you to ask," she replied, making Mickey squeeze her waist tighter.

"We manage," Sidney added.

Melanie finally took her eyes off of Indiana to speak to Sidney. "It's really weird, isn't it? To think this fuss is all because of you. I mean, not directly, but in some six-degrees-of-Kevin Bacon way."

"Yeah," Allison agreed. Both girls were so clueless to how insensitive that sounded. "Now, Hallie, are you going to bring your friends to our little martini mixer tonight?"

Sidney forced a smile that looked more like a grimace. "I have a lot of work to do."

"We'll be there," Hallie said, putting a hand on Sidney's shoulder to silence her.

"Oh, good," Allison said, smiling at her. "Because, Sid, we have our eyes on you."

"And can you make it, Indiana?" Melanie asked with a hopeful expression.

Indiana glanced at Cici. "You still stuck at home as the sober sister tonight? I was gonna come and hang out with you."

"Yeah," Cici grumbled. Then she sighed. "Go to the party."

"I'll bring you back a drink," Indy promised.

Cici scoffed in amusement. "I'm the sober sister, Indy."

She just grinned and looked back at Melanie. "I'll swing by."

"We'll swing by," Mickey corrected, practically pulling Indiana onto his lap as he did.

Melanie sent a glare his way that could rival the ones Cici had stored away for him. But other than that, she kept her mouth shut. She wasn't so far gone as to think she had a chance with how obviously in love Indiana and Mickey were. All she could do was admire from afar.

"Well, you all hang in there," Allison said, looking between Sidney, Indiana, and Jackson, "and if there's anything we can do—"

"—The Delta Lambdas are very sensitive to your plight," Melanie finished for her, placing her hand to her heart.

"Yeah," Allison said before waving. "Bye."

"Bye."

"Bye, Melanie," Indiana called, ignoring Mickey when he pinched her side. The group of girls giggled around Melanie as they walked off.

"You gonna start to dress like that once you get in?" Derek asked Sidney, a teasing smile on his lips. None of them could picture Sidney in soft pastel skirts and flowery dresses.

Sidney scoffed and looked back at the press conference. "That's not going to happen."

Mickey rolled his eyes and completely wrapped his arms around Indiana while getting her fully on his lap. She leaned against his chest while tracing little patterns on the backs of his hands. "The Delta Lambdas are the biggest bunch of fucking—"

"Hey!" Hallie cut him off, glaring at him. "I'm pledging Delta Lambda, thank you."

Indiana turned her head enough to see the look Mickey shared with Jackson, both boys clearly not thinking that it was a fair argument.

"Now, you know I hate to agree with him, Hal," Cici said, rolling her eyes, "but of all the Greek organizations, they're the fucking worst."

Before Hallie and Cici could get into a full-blown argument that would potentially worsen the feud between the DLZs and OKBs, Sidney spotted someone even more familiar than Gale Weathers wandering by a tree, looking a little lost. And he had two other people with him leaning against the tree, looking significantly less lost and more so amused by his lostness.

"Oh, my God," Sidney breathed out, getting up and walking away without elaborating.

"Sid?" Indy asked, looking at her in confusion.

"Oh, shit!" Jackson said, looking ahead. "Indy, come on."

Jackson grabbed her hand and pulled her off Mickey's lap. After two steps, she finally saw what the other two had. Just across the quad was Dewey, Virginia, and Sophia. At seeing their loved ones, all three broke out into a sprint to reach the tree faster.

"Dewey?" Sidney called, catching their attention. All of them smiled when they saw them coming.

"Virginia!" Indiana exclaimed, so excited to see her sister even if only a month had passed since Spring Break.

Indiana ran to Virginia, who lifted her off the ground in a big hug, Jackson practically tackled his sister, and Sidney was so happy to hug Dewey.

"What are you doing here?" Sidney asked, stepping back from Dewey and grinning.

"Oh, I was worried about you," he said. "I heard about what happened and I was on the next plane."

"He called me, asking if I wanted to come — I hadn't even heard the news yet," Virginia said while keeping an arm around Indy.

"And I left without telling Mama," Sophia added with a big grin. "She knows now, of course. I'm not allowed to leave Dewey's side. She's pissed about them letting me come, though."

"She had the cash, so didn't question her," Virginia said with a shrug.

"How the hell'd you afford a plane ticket?" Jackson asked Sophia, raising an eyebrow. "Doesn't matter that you've been working there for four years — tips at Cricket's aren't that good."

"I took your big savings stash hidden in the hollowed-out bottom of your old Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots that's in the back of your closet," she shamelessly admitted.

"Oh, my god!" Jackson exclaimed, glaring at her. "You robbed me? I'm calling the police."

"Something tells me you're gonna be at the bottom of their totem pole, what with the murder and such going on," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Can we all talk?" Dewey asked, looking between the three college students. If he let Jackson and Sophia get into an argument, it wouldn't stop.

"Yeah," Sidney nodded, nodding her head to the side.

The six of them moved over to a gazebo. It had an empty picnic table that they all sat on, though Sophia and Indy opted to sit on the top rather than the bench. Obviously, there was no mystery as to what they flew across the country to talk about.

"Are you all okay?" Dewey asked them.

"We're fine, Dewey, or we were," Sidney told him. "I mean, things were okay until now. But, theater's going great. I got my first starring role. We open in two days."

"That is great!" he said, grinning proudly at her.

"Yeah, and Indy broke the school record for most three-pointers made," Jackson added.

"And the Jax's team was ranked eighth in our conference," Indiana said, since everyone was bragging. "But really, you've gotta stay in town for the show. Sid really is so talented."

"Yeah. I'm loving it. You know, and we've got some great friends," Sidney added, looking out at the grass where the others were wandering around aimlessly, waiting for them to finish up. "And I'm seeing someone. Nice guy — pre-med, no apparent psychotic tendencies."

"Has there been any new developments on the Hallie situation?" Sophia asked nosily.

"As a matter of fact, I was literal seconds from asking her to a party tonight on a real date to distract her from a fight with Cici before your annoying ass got in my line of sight," he told her.

"Shut the fuck up!" Indiana said, looking at him in disbelief. "You were?" Jackson just nodded in confirmation. "God, we get you and Hallie together, then Cici and Randy will fall in love now that she's realizing Ted is a loser on the verge of an alcohol problem, and then we'll be the four hottest couples in Ohio."

"So, things with Mickey are still going good, I see," Virginia said with an amused smile. She knew it, of course, as Indy mentioned her boyfriend at least five times per phone conversation, whether it was a funny story about something dumb he did or something that made her fall more madly in love with him.

"Really good," Indiana said, looking over at Mickey with a content smile. He was saying something to Cici with the camera pointed at her, and she flipped him off.

"You know, we're just worried," Dewey said in a more serious tone. Knowing where he was going, Sidney glanced down while Indiana and Jackson shared a tired look. "Look, Sid, Indy, Jackson, if there is some freaked-out psycho trying to follow in Billy Loomis's footsteps, you probably already know him."

"Or her," Sophia cut in, reminding the others of Tatum for a moment, "or them."

Dewey nodded with her. "They're probably already in your life. They get off on that. I just want you guys to be careful."

Clearly upset by the mere thought of it, Sidney got up from the table. She moved to lean against one of the posts of the gazebo. "Oh, you - you think we don't know that, Dewey? But what are we supposed to do? Just cut everybody off? Crawl under a rock? What?"

"They aren't killers," Indiana told him defensively. "Derek, Mickey, Hallie, Cici — they aren't killers. They wouldn't do this to us."

Virginia sighed and stood from the table, reaching to run her hand through Indiana's hair comfortingly. "I know. Just watch out for each other. Keep an eye out. Dewey and I are going to talk to Chief Hartley and the local police — see what their plan is."

"And I'm just gonna hang around," Sophia said, looking around the campus.

"No," Virginia said, chuckling. "You're gonna do what your mother wants and stay with Dewey."

Sophia huffed and crossed her arms childishly while Jackson snickered. She stole his money, so the least she could do was endure a few days of being surrounded by Dewey and Virginia's 'will they — won't they' bullshit that she'd gotten enough of on the plane ride there.

"But we will hang around," Dewey told Sidney. "I wanna make sure you're safe, if that's alright with you."

Sidney smiled at him, knowing Dewey felt protective over all of them, but especially her since she'd been Tatum's best friend for most of her life. "Yeah. I'd be honored."

"Alright," Dewey said, nodding to them. Then he slowly made his way down the steps of the gazebo, the nerve damage still causing him to limp a great deal.

Virginia kissed the side of Indy's head. "I'll find you in a little bit and let you know what they say, Gremlin."

"Have fun playing detective, Goblin," she said teasingly. Virginia rolled her eyes before following Dewey. Sophia just groaned and went after them, her combat boots dragging with every step.

The trio took a moment longer on the gazebo before leaving it as well and walking to their friends, who were making their way over too. Though they all kept glancing back at Dewey, Virginia, and Sophia as they left. Randy had also rejoined them, getting bored of spying on Gale.

"Hey," Sidney said once they were close enough.

"Hey. You okay?" Derek asked, putting his hand on her arm.

"Uh-huh." She nodded simply.

Derek looked back at Dewey, unable to place him unlike Virginia and Sophia, who he met on the day they all moved in. "Who was that guy?"

"An old friend," Sid told him.

"My future brother-in-law," Indiana added confidently. "He doesn't know that yet, though."

"Deputy Dewey, Woodsboro's finest," Randy said with a little smile. "What's he doing here?"

"He's worried," SIdney said, laughing a bit. "Our surrogate big brother."

"God, nothing like a funeral to bring a family together," he muttered.

"You know it," Jackson agreed.

"I'm going to go say hi," Randy said before jogging to catch up with the others.

Mickey looked at the three that'd missed part of the press conference, deciding to fill them in. "Chief Hartley said the girl was stabbed seven—"

"Drop it," Derek interrupted in a firm tone.

Indiana leaned on her toes to whisper in Mickey's ear. "Tell Jax and me later," she instructed. Sidney, as always, was sensitive about the topic, but Indiana was curious to know all the details in case it could help later.

"Hello, Sidney, Indiana."

There it was. That grating, annoying voice that belonged to none other than Gale Weathers. All of them looked to see the reporter, who'd come right up to them. Her cameraman was there as well, clearly operating the camera propped on his shoulder. There were lots of other onlookers and reporters from other news stations as well.

"How are you?" Gale asked Sidney.

"Hi," Sidney greeted stiffly. "What do you want, Gale?"

"Well, I was hoping I might get just a few words with you," she said. Then the cameraman stepped to the side, and Cotton Weary, the man originally thought to have murdered Sidney's mother, walked up in a gray suit.

"Cotton," Sidney said in disbelief. She hadn't seen the man since the trial when she was just sixteen.

He smiled at her, not looking malicious in any way, at the very least. "Hi, Sidney."

Before Sidney could even process his arrival, Gale was facing her camera and speaking into her microphone. "Here we are at Windsor College, where Sidney Prescott has just been reunited with Cotton Weary for the first time since she wrongly accused him of murdering her mother—"

Sidney quickly pulled the microphone down from her face, growing angry. "What the hell are you doing?"

"We want to know how you feel. Tell us everything that's happened, looking back on the last two years," Gale said, ignoring how clearly she didn't want to be doing this.

"Um, Sidney," Cotton spoke up, and Gale put the mic in his face. "I'd just like to say that I forgive and forget, and just like you, I'd like to get back on with my own life."

"Do you have any comments?" she then asked Sidney.

"You bitch!"

Sidney moved forward, but Gale held up a finger. "Ah-ah."

Derek had grabbed Sidney's shoulders and pulled her back. "Deep breaths. Lot of deep breaths." He began to lead her away, Jackson helping in case she decided to snap. The others moved to follow as well.

But Gale just wouldn't give up. "Oh, Sidney, share with us, please," she begged. Then her gaze fell on Indiana, who was glaring at her. Though she moved to leave as soon as she realized she had her attention. "Indiana, as the most experienced with wielding a knife, care to comment on the grizzly murders that commenced last night at the early showing of Stab, based on the bestselling book The Woodsboro Murders?"

"A comment?" Indiana asked, looking at her in disbelief over her shoulder. Gale really was clueless, because she just nodded eagerly, thinking that she'd get something since Indiana wasn't running away. Indiana turned her head back away from Gale and took a deep breath, looking at Mickey as she did. He raised an eyebrow, silently asking her what she was gonna say. And, well—

Indiana spun on her heel quickly, her knuckles meeting Gale's cheek so hard that it actually hurt them both. Gale dropped so fast that Cotton couldn't even try to catch her. The onlookers looked on with wide eyes as Gale covered her nose that was gushing blood, accompanied by a split lip. Three spots on her cheek were stinging from the rings Indy was wearing.

"Get fucked!"

Gale Weathers had been punched three times in her life. Indiana Winger packed the hardest.

No one tried to restrain Indiana — she wasn't going to go in for seconds. She just took another deep breath and faced her boyfriend once again. Mickey had an impressed look on his face, never so goddamn grateful that he always had his camera on.

"Did you get that on film?" Hallie asked the cameraman with a sly smile as the rest of their friend group went off.

"Yes, I got that on film," he replied in a high, mocking tone.

Cotton called after Sidney as they all left, but it was useless. Clearly, Gale had made some empty promises and led him to believe this interaction was going to go differently.

As they walked, Mickey picked up Indiana's right hand and looked at her already bruising knuckles. "Damn, Sweetheart, she's gonna have to pay good money to fix her face after that. Hope it's not the same guy that did her calves."

"Good, considering I helped her make all her money," Indiana huffed. Then she smiled as Mickey gently kissed her knuckles. "That felt so fucking good."

"It looked fucking good," he said, grinning at her. They were passing by a building, which he slowly backed her against. "That was so hot, Indy."

"Yeah?" she asked teasingly, moving to wrap her arms around his neck. "I thought all guys wanted some weak damsel in distress type?"

He shook his head and leaned down, his nose brushing hers. "You're the toughest person I know. And I'm so fucking in love with you because of that — and about a hundred other reasons."

"Oh? And what are the other reasons?"

Mickey leaned in the rest of the way, kissing her softly. She melted against him, all her earlier anger over Gale fading away as she kissed him back, winding her fingers in his hair.

"For starters," Mickey whispered against her lips as they parted, "that's reason number one."