❪ ﹟FIFTEEN ❫ ࿐ྂ
━━ UNDISCLOSED NEW YORK CITY APARTMENT BUILDING !

MOST OF THE group went back to the apartments again that night. All except Ethan, who had a late night Econ lecture, something he complained about constantly. When he leaves, Carina assumes he's still a little upset Mindy could think of him as a suspect, but doesn't tell him that separating from the group is just going to make her more suspicious. What's he going to do? Ruin his grade because Mindy is suspicious of anything that moves? She chooses to bid him farewell with a smile and not read into it.

But now, as she sits in the living room of Sam, Tara, and Quinn's apartment with Chad, she can't stop thinking about it. She hates running it through her mind, Ethan is her friend, but she can't stop. And it's not only him, she finds herself running through her head where everyone was every time one of the attacks happened. It was exhausting, and she hated doing it. So that's why when Chad poked her on the leg, she was happy for the distraction.

"Penny for your thoughts, Care Bear?"

He's been using that nickname a lot more since they got to New York, and she assumes it's because he's trying to bring a layer of comfort back that's been wiped away. Sometimes, she almost thinks it's working.

Playfully, she looks him up and down. Holding out a hand, she quirks an eyebrow. "Where's my penny?"

Chad smirks at her and slides his hand into hers in response. Their palms connect, and he entangles their fingers. He squeezes, and she squeezes back.

"Chad," she whispers. Both their heads were leaning back against the couch, and she sat up a little to look down at him. "Remember what you said yesterday? In my apartment." She bites her lip, trying to act bravely. One of the other things that's been running through her head since this afternoon was the look Mindy had sent her when talking about confessing one's feelings. And even more so, the fact that when she looked at Chad afterward, how he was already looking at her.

The man in front of her must know what she's getting at because the hand not holding hers reaches up to cup her cheek. "Yeah," he murmurs, swiping his thumb over her cheekbone. "And I know how much I meant it."

Without being able to control it, she shivers. "Chad-" she starts, only for the words to get stolen straight from her lips by his. She gasps into his mouth, fingers tightening against his as her other hand falls to his chest. She melts into him, dizzy with the fact that he's actually kissing her. She's kissing Chad. Never did she think she'd get the chance to do this--that he would want to do this, and it's intoxicating.

That is until someone starts gagging dramatically from the direction of the living room. Carina pulls back with a start, looking over her shoulder at whoever it was that did so with a blush that could rival a tomato on her cheeks. "Alright, you two," Mindy drawls from where she's setting the table. "Break it up. It's almost time for dinner."

Carina falls back on the couch, biting her lip to try and smother her smile as she looks over at Chad. His eyes are bright, and she's sure hers match. Shaking her head, she giggles a little before squeezing Chad's hand. Pushing off the couch, she makes her way to the kitchen where Amaya and Tara are finishing dinner. She passes Anika, who's on her way back from the bathroom, and Sam, who was in her room grabbing blankets and pillows. Despite just living across the hall, Sam insisted that they all stay in one apartment.

"Sam, we do not have to stay here. We live across the hall," Carina tries to insist again, squeezing Sam's arm as she passes. Chad seems to follow behind her, Anika taking up residence on the couch. The only one who's unaccounted for is Quinn, but she went into her room almost as soon as the group got back and hasn't been out since.

Sam grabs a bottle off the top of the fridge. "Well, too bad. I insist. Safety in numbers and all that." Amaya shakes her head and moves the pot off the stove, clicking her tongue. "At least let me go get my own toothbrush," she requests from Sam, who chuckles and nods. Amaya thanks her mirthfully, passing them all to go across the hall and grab said toothbrush.

     "Grab mine too!" She calls behind her, blowing Amaya a dramatic kiss when she calls back in confirmation.

Once gone, it leaves only the five of them in the kitchen. "This'll be so fun," Chad says behind her, arm coming up and around her waist, his front to her back. She tenses for a moment, not used to the casual intimacy, but she relaxes soon after. "A little slumber party with the Core Five!"

"Core Five?"

"Yeah," he insists.

"Did you just give us a nickname?" Tara asks as Carina attempts to smother her giggles in her hand.

"I sure did. We've been through a lot together, and it's a pretty cool nickname."

"Well," she hedges, tilting her head. Suddenly, she's glad she doesn't have to look Chad in the eye as she disagrees with him. Mindy and Tara seem to have no problem.

"That's debatable."

"It's extremely debatable."

Carina giggles even more, looking at Mindy and shaking her head at her best friend. "You can't just give yourself a nickname, dingus," she tells her brother, shaking her head.

Sam is also laughing next to them, and Carina's eyes swing to the other girl. It's nice to know she's not the only one who's finding this amusing.

"Of course I can, dingus, because I just did."

"Chad," she laughs, putting a hand on the forearm around her midriff. "Stop while you're ahead."

Of course, he doesn't listen to her, and it's one of the reasons she likes him so much. He doesn't let anyone control him, and he's confident in who he is. "Core Five, up top!" he calls, putting his unoccupied hand up in the air for a high-five from Mindy.

Carina, grabs his forearm, attempting to pull his arm down as she laughs more. "No," Mindy denies, and the hand moves in front of Tara. "Down low!"

"Get that away from me."

Finally, he turns to Sam, Carina's hand still holding onto his arm as it moves around the girls. "Please, for the love of God," he begs her. Carina looks at Sam, having a feeling she's going to do it, but Mindy shakes her head.

"Don't do it."

"You know," Chad laughs, shaking his head. "I would like a little more respect and support from my fellow members of the Cour Five. Especially," he pokes Carina in the stomach and she jerks, still smiling. "from you."

"Guys," Anika calls from the living room before she can answer, "what the hell?" She turns the TV up, and as the five of them walk the short distance to the living room, the words fill the apartment.

We're hearing from sources inside the homicide division that the prime suspect is none other than Samantha Carpenter, one of the survivors of the Woodsboro killings in 2022, seen here attacking a woman on the street last night.

Carina covers her mouth her a hand, eyes flickering between Sam and the TV. A video that one of the girls from the night before had been recording pops up on the screen, and Carina rolls her eyes.

In the wake of the Woodsboro tragedy last year, rumors sprouted online that Carpenter was actually responsible for the killings, blaming the crimes on her boyfriend, Richie Kirsch, and teen Amber Free--

The reporter on the TV doesn't get to say more. Instead, he's cut off when Sam takes the remote in her hand and mutes it. The rest watch as she throws the remote down, walks over to the table, and sits down by herself. Carina looks at Chad and Mindy as Tara follows her, shaking her head at the twins in shock. "How can they actually believe that shit?"

Chad shakes his head, and Mindy nods toward the dining room. The three enter the room just at the cusp of Sam saying how hated she is, and Chad hums. "Hey, hey. Just a reminder, not a single person in this room hates you. Okay? We have all been through some fucked up stuff, and we are coping with it differently. But, I mean, we moved here together for one very specific reason. We're a team."

Carina smiles softly at Chad's words, her heart warm because of it. He's right, and it's nice to be reminded of it every once and a while. She has to assume, as her eyes scan the others, all doing the same, they think so too.

"We are," Mindy starts smiling stupidly. "The Core Fucking Five."

Chad lights up, turning to his sister. "Thank you very much."

"Ah, I hate myself," she says immediately, even as she smiles at them all and high-fives Chad. Carina smiles, laughing at the sight of the two getting along and being so close.

"That is what I'm talking about," he chuckles. "You said it. It's the Core Five."

"The Core Five," Carina giggles, shaking her head. "Jesus, look at us."

Mindy and Chad nod at her, and they all look at Sam and Tara. "Say it," Mindy insists. "I'm not gonna say it," Tara denies, but her eyes are bright and open. "I mean, yes, we're a team, but..."

"C'mon," Carina laughs.

"It's got a nice ring to it."

As they all laugh, Carina lets the feeling of being here with her found family wash over her. All until Sam blurts out: "I've been sleeping with Cute Boy from across the hall."

Carina stops, trying to smother her smile behind her hand. She looked at the other three college students, waiting for one of them to respond before her. "Boom!" Mindy shouts, clapping her hands at the same time that Tara goes, "I fucking knew it! I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!"

Bursting into giggles, Carina watches Sam's face as Tara shouts. "You called it," she agrees. Tara was the first to pick up on the fact that Sam might be sleeping with Cute Boy, and obviously, she was going to milk that.

"I knew from that day you had that hickey," Mindy laughs, pointing at her own neck. Carina claps her hands, nodding enthusiastically. "Yeah, were you even trying to hide that?"

They all start laughing again, and she can't get over how right it feels. Even before yesterday's news, it's been so long since all of them were laughing like this together and not so focused on what might looming over their heads. It's nice.

"I feel like," Tara starts, "we should high-five or something."

Carina shakes her head behind her hands, but doesn't mean it. She feels too light to mean it. She'd do anything right now because her friends are happy.

"The Core Five high-five! May we, please?" Chad begs, looking at all of them as he sticks his hand in the air.

"Don't call it that," Tara laughs, sticking her hand up to join Chad's. "But we'll do the high-five."

Carina reaches her own hand up, clasping it around the top of Chad's hand, smiling at him as she leans a little more into his space to reach the high-five. She looks at Mindy, raising an eyebrow.

Mindy sighs, but both her and Sam are smiling when their hands join the three already in the air, and Carina feels so happy she might be able to burst with it. It almost seemed like nothing would be able to ruin this moment.

They pull their hands back, and Chad laughs, "Listen," just as Sam's phone starts ringing. For the first time, no one seems to panic when she pulls it out, and for good reason. Tara looks over, grabbing the phone and presenting it to the table triumphantly. "Is that him?" They all start grabbing for it, all giggling.

Carina smacks Chad on the arm lightly, shaking her head at the actions of the group around them. He turns to her, grabbing said hand and keeping it in his. Her smile turns a little more fond, and she squeezes it.

"Hey, so what are your intentions?" Tara jokes, putting the still ringing phone to her ear after winning it in the battle of grabby hands.

"No, Tara. Not right now." But Sam's laughing with the rest of them as she reaches for her phone back. "It's fine. I'll call him back."

"Okay."

"Poor guy."

Carina pouts, but doesn't add in. She can't blame Sam for wanting to live in this moment a little longer. She does too.

Before she can tell them all that like part of her wants to, there's a THUD! from the direction of Quinn's room, followed by what sounds like moans. Carina hides her face into her hands, giggling nervously. "Jesus, when did he even get here?" She can't remember him coming in, but that doesn't dissuade the possibility.

"Yup," Tara agrees, "Quinn and her gentleman caller are back at it again."

"She's getting it, too? Okay," Mindy jokes, referring to the intensity that seems to be coming from this round of Quinn's sex life. Carina gags, shaking her head. "Girl," she laughs, dropping her hands and shaking her head. Reaching in her pocket for her phone when she hears its familiar chime, she first assumes it's just her Aunt Gale.

She came back to New York soon after last year's events, claiming she couldn't stay in Dewey's town. Carina had never blamed her, and she'd heard from her Aunt a few times since. But, after last year, Sam and Tara had made sure to clarify Gale wasn't going to write a book on what happened. So when Gale ultimately wrote a book, it strained things between them again. However, she's heard from her quite a few more times than normal since the previous days events. Carina loved her, and it was nice to know she cared. Especially because part of her still worried Gale blamed her for her Uncle Dewey's death.

Yet, before she can grab her phone, she's surprised to hear everyone else's go off as well. Maybe a news alert on Ghostface?

Only, when she pulls it out, that could not be farther from the truth. Instead, it's an impending Airdrop from Danny, and when she pulls it up, it reveals an image of Ghostface. Expect, not just Ghostface. Ghostface in their apartment, and attacking Quinn. Carina gasps, her phone slipping from her hand and onto the table as she spins in her chair to look in the direction of Quinn's room.

"Help! Stop!"

So much for nothing being able to ruin it.

madi speaks! 💌
don't speak to me about what's to come.