"You're the only one I can love,"

"So what are we doing, exactly?" Lia asked, smiling at the boy pulling her along. She was in a better mood than before, although she was still pretty beaten up about Joshua. Deep down, she knew that there was nothing she could do, and if all she did was focus on Joshua's death then she can't focus on the fact that she needs to keep herself and her friends alive.

"Window shopping," Ethan answered, sending her a cute smile. "We're not supposed to meet the others for another twenty minutes, and we're bored, so I figured we could do this until then."

"You're sweet," Lia told the boy, her compliment genuine.

He just slowed to her pace, lacing his fingers with hers. "I prefer savory, but thanks." He joked, earning a giggle from the girl.

"Oh my god, look at that." Ethan pointed to a pair of shoes in a window display. They were very ugly, and something Lia would be caught dead before being caught wearing them. "Maybe I should get those!" Ethan then joked, earning another laugh from the girl.

He was willing to do anything to make her smile and laugh, considering he hadn't seen a lot of it recently. Given the recent series of events, it was understandable why she was sad. But that didn't mean that Ethan hated it and that he'd be willing to do anything for her to make her feel better.

"Please don't," Lia responded, earning a look from the boy.

"You don't like them?" He pouted, to which she just rolled her eyes. "You're right, they're ugly."

They continued their walk along the sidewalk, looking at the miscellaneous things on display in the store windows. Their hands never left each other, Lia's wrapped-up hand swinging along in the air carelessly.

Ethan had been doing an amazing job at getting her mind off of things, even if he didn't realize it. She barely gave any thought to the fact that Ghostface was still out there, or the fact that one of her friends had died the night before.

"Oh, look at this!" Ethan exclaimed, catching Lia's attention. She glanced over, seeing a store with a variety of homemade things.

Part of these items were bracelets of beads, and a good selection of colors, words, and letters. She looked at the ones on display in the window, admiring the pretty blue ones.

"Want one?" Ethan asked, causing her eyes to snap over to him.

"Ethan, window shopping means to specifically not buy anything," She told him.

"So? We can break the rules a little bit. C'mon," He encouraged, pulling her into the small store.

After being greeted by the kind worker, they made their way over to the homemade bracelets. There were even more than on display in the window, and Lia's eyes lit up at the choice of bracelets. Her hand left Ethan's to feel some of them, as the beads and other fabrics were also a big difference from the ones in the window.

"Hey, look," Ethan held out a bracelet to her. "These ones have letters."

She grabbed one, the soft fabric smooth underneath her fingertips. It was a blue color, a lot like the one from the shirt she'd worn at the first party she attended with Ethan. "They're cute," She said, setting it back down.

"Want to get one?" Ethan softly asked, "We could- I don't know, get matching ones."

Lia looked at him, her cheeks turning a soft pink. He just smiled softly, taking his eyes off her so he could look at the selection.

"What, like friendship bracelets?" Lia then asked, her eyes falling back to the bracelets.

"Or, like-" Ethan stopped. He picked a blue one off of the rack, holding it out to her. "As more."

"More?" Lia asked, fighting the smile breaking through. She took the bracelet, her stomach filling with butterflies. The blue was the same shade as the other one she was looking at, although on this bracelet there was an E on it, with a heart right next to it.

Ethan looked at her nervously, his heartbeat picking up. "Y-yeah, I was thinking..." He began, pulling another one off of the rack. "I know we haven't really talked about the night of the party, but-" He stopped for a second, realizing he didn't know where to begin.

"What's going through your mind, Ethan?" Lia softly asked.

They kept quiet, despite being the only ones in the store minus the worker. The music on the radio played loud enough to where the worker couldn't listen in on their conversation, but Ethan glanced around to double-check anyway.

"I think I'm in love with you, Ophelia." He breathed out in one breath, his heart hammering in his chest. "No, I know I love you. I know that's weird, and it's sudden, and we've only known each other for a short amount of time but despite my inexperience in the dating world I've never been more sure of anything in my life."

Lia didn't say anything, her eyes wide. She just looked at him, causing him to glance anywhere but her eyes. "I know I probably just screwed up any type of friendship that we could possibly have had, but-"

Ethan didn't get anything else out. Lia jumped up, and her arms flung around his neck as she pressed her lips to his. This caught him off guard, but he quickly recovered, returning the kiss. They pulled away quickly, as they both remembered they were still in public.

"Is this your cute and awkward way of asking me to be your girlfriend, Laundry Basket?" Lia asked.

"Did it work?" He asked.

"Yes," She mumbled.

He just smiled even bigger, pulling her in for a tight hug. "I'm so glad," He admitted. "I've been wanting to tell you how I felt for a while, but couldn't bring myself to it."

"I'm glad you did," She mumbled, pulling away from him.

Standing back on her feet again, she looked at the second bracelet he pulled off of the rack. It was identical to the one she held, except instead of an E, it said O. "Why O?" She asked.

Ethan gave her a 'seriously?' look, one which she just returned. "Because your name is Ophelia," He said.

"I'm well aware of my name, Ethan Laundry Basket." She joked.

"And I told you from the moment I found out your real name, right?" He asked, "I'll call you Ophelia from now on."

"Ugh, you're such a geek." She playfully pushed at his chest, rolling her eyes.

Before Ethan could respond, Lia's phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket and answered, "Hello?"

"Where are you? Everyone's here waiting on you and Ethan." Ozzie's voice rang through her ears. Her smile fell, realization hitting her features as they were supposed to meet the others.

"Shit, Ozzie. I'm sorry. We're on our way!" She exclaimed, hanging up the phone. "They're waiting on us."

"Let's pay for this then we'll go. We're not too far, anyways." Ethan grabbed the bracelet from her hand.

They got up to the counter, quickly paying for the tiny bracelets. Once they paid they booked it out of the shop, basically running until they got to where they had all agreed to meet.

Embarrassment filled the two as they were watched by everyone. The group sitting around consisted of Tara, Sam, Tatum, Mindy, Anika, Chad, Amanda, Cleo, and Ozzie. 

"Jesus took you guys long enough." Amanda scooted over, leaving room for the two to sit down.

They gladly took their seats, Mindy taking that as their queue to stand up. "Okay, nerds. Listen up! As terrifying as it is, I'm glad I get a chance to redeem myself for not being able to call who the killers were last time."

Ethan pulled Lia's hand into his lap as Mindy began her rant, ripping the tag off of the bracelet with his initial. He gently placed it on her hand, before holding his out for her to do the same. She did so as she listened to Mindy, her eyes repeatedly glancing between his wrist and the girl standing in front of everyone.

"The way I see it, they're making a sequel to the requel." She held a finger up.

"What's a requel?" Anika asked.

"You're beautiful," Mindy said with a smile. "Save your questions till the end."

"Do you think the killers are copying the movies this time?" Tara asked.

"That's completely possible," Tatum said. "We're in college, just like the second one."

"Nobody just makes sequels anymore, we're in a franchise! Bigger cast, bigger budget, bigger body count, longer chases, shoot-outs, beheadings, new characters brought in just to either round out the suspect list or the body count-" Mindy rambled on, "Legacy characters are expendable, brought in just to be killed off in some cheap bid for nostalgia, meaning it's not looking good for Kirby and Gale."

"Thank god my mom decided not to come," Tatum mumbled.

"Laurie Strode, Nancy Thompson, Tony Stark, James Bond, Luke Skywalker, what do they all have in common?" Mindy asked, glancing between the group. "They all died, so that way their franchises could live on!"

"So by friend group, we're in the group, right?" Cleo asked.

"Yes," Mindy said.

"Obviously, doofus, one of us has already fallen victim to Ghostface," Ozzie mumbled. He'd said it quietly that way Lia wouldn't hear, but she heard it anyway so when she looked up from her lap, her eyes grew cloudy with tears.

"Right, sorry," Cleo muttered.

"Am I a target?" Ethan then asked, putting the attention on him. He'd done it to avoid the topic of Joshua any longer, so he then added. "Does that mean there's a chance I'll die a virgin?"

"What an odd overshare," Amanda and Mindy spoke at the same time, before sharing a look.

"No, but seriously, I'm kind of wondering the same thing." Cleo motioned to Ethan, "I don't think anyone wants to die a virgin."

"Well, lucky for you, most virgins survive the movie." Ozzie sent a smile to the girl, who just narrowed her eyes.

"Shut the fuck up, Andrew Garfield. Nobody asked you."

"Ouch, that hurt." He held a hand to his chest playfully.

"Okay, go on." Sam motioned to Mindy, bringing the attention back to the girl.

"That brings us to our current suspect list; Ethan." Mindy started, stopping in front of the boy who sat next to Lia. "The dorky guy who no one suspects because he's so shy and dorky."

"Okay, wait." Ethan sat up, straightening his posture. "Why am I on the suspect list? Because I'm randomly Chad's roommate?"

"Roommate lotteries can be juked." Mindy glared lightly at him, "You could have fixed it to get next to us."

"Just like with Lia and Amanda, here, as well." She pointed to the two girls. "Who just so happens to be dormmates with mine and Anika's room."

"I had no idea who any of you were until I met you," Amanda spoke, holding her hands up in defense.

"You say that, but it might not be true." Mindy replied, "I'm not going to dig too much into Lia, considering last night's events but just know you're still in a way a suspect to all of us, simply because we didn't know you until recently."

Lia didn't say anything, and instead just sighed as she leaned back. She couldn't blame the group for thinking everyone was a suspect, especially since they'd been through it all before.

"Cleo and Ozzie you guys go into that category where you probably aren't the killer but you're in it because you add to that higher kill count-" She stopped, motioning between the two.

"I can't tell if that makes me feel better or worse," Cleo mumbled.

"Quinn, the slutty roommate." Mindy did a chef's kiss, "A horror movie classic."

"Sex-positive, actually, but thank you?" The girl spoke, making it sound like a question.

"How did you come to be roommates with Tara, Tatum, and Sam?" Mindy asked, stopping in front of the girl.

"I answered their ad," Quinn responded matter-of-factly.

"Stop right there, you've already implemented yourself enough." Mindy held a hand out, turning away from the girl.

"We posted an anonymous ad, also her dad's a cop!" Tara exclaimed, seeming to sick up for the roommate.

"Which means it's the perfect cover! Don't you watch these movies?" Mindy asked.

"Well, Lia's dad's an agent, right? Wouldn't that put her even higher on the suspect list?" Quinn questioned, glancing at the redhead.

"Just as much as you," Ethan couldn't help but say back to the girl, earning a look from her.

He knew he had to play it cool, simply so it wouldn't make it obvious he knew who the killer was. Mindy was almost right on the money, only if she hadn't guessed Lia and Amanda beforehand. 

Sure, he wasn't a killer exactly, but he was Ghostface before it all started. Would that still count?

"And my beloved Anika," Mindy said, changing the subject. "Never trust the love interest."

Anika's smile fell quickly, seeming partially offended Mindy would even consider her to be a suspect.

"What about you?" Cleo asked, glancing between the five who had yet to be put on the list.

"I think the five of us are safe having gone through this last year," Mindy said.

"Not to mention my mom and dad before that," Tatum said.

"Agreed," Chad spoke with a nod.

"Not agreed," Quinn said with a shake of her head, "Maybe the trauma sent you over the edge. The fame made you thirsty, considering the stuff about Sam-"

"Don't you fucking dare," Tara snapped at her roommate, a stern look on her face.

It grew silent between the group after that, tension seeming to rise. 

"So how do we settle this then?"

++

2224 words.

I have no way in rewatching the movie, and the transcript I found online is so bad :( Meaning none of the lines add up or who says it. Obviously it's not a huge deal considering I'm already changing a lot and twisting it to fit my timeline, but I do like to have something to look at and reference on for when I do write scenes from the movie 

Hope you're enjoying <3 

Posting two chapters today (Saturday) because I won't be active tomorrow so this is tomorrow's chapter! See you guys with another chapter on Monday!

* This chapter is not edited *