The winding sidewalks through the streets of Blackmore University were packed to the brim as moving day for the summer semester began in full force, students new and old ready to kick off the new term in the place they were about to call home for the next year. Music drifted around the quad as already, tables were filled with club presidents looking for new members, friends reuniting after a short break home following finals, and families helping their loved ones get moved in and settled before what would inevitably be teary goodbyes later.

Natalie Fields slammed her car door shut, the last of her moving boxes tucked under an arm as she wove her way through the parking lot, dodging the crowds while looking around in awe at the view before her. Ever since she was a kid, she'd always dreamed of one day moving to a big city, and the campus laid out in front of her in the heart of New York City was nothing short of something straight out of a movie. She passed her way through the double doors of Bender Hall, securing a spot on the nearly-full elevator that would take her to the fourth floor, home of room 412.

However, when she reached her room this time, she noticed the door slightly parted, signaling that she was no longer alone in the suite. Instead, a blonde girl stood in the common area, unpacking items into one of the cupboards in the small kitchen. When the door creaked open the rest of the way to signal Natalie's arrival, the girl quickly turned in her direction, giving her a bright smile.

"Hi!" the girl greeted, coming over to shake her hand. "You must be Natalie, right? I'm Lydia Reed."

"Yeah, that's me," Natalie said with a smile at the girl's friendly disposition. "Natalie Fields."

"Knock knock," a third voice chimed in, accompanied by the sound of knocking as a new face appeared in the doorway, this time one of a brunette with a few pale blonde streaks in her hair who watched them with an excited smile, a suitcase resting by her side. "Natalie and Lydia, right? I'm Anika."

"That's us," Natalie agreed. "I hope you guys don't mind, I took the room on the left."

"Not at all," Anika assured her. "I was going to unpack for a bit and then see if any parties were on campus later. Either of you ladies care to join me?"

"Yeah, that sounds fun," Lydia agreed. "A few friends from my hometown were planning on checking out some frat party tonight, we could probably tag along with them."

"Yeah," Natalie nodded, trying to contain her excitement at the idea of experiencing her first big city college party. "I'm in,"

As Lydia retrieved a speaker from her room, setting her phone up so an old Paramore song began to play through the speakers, the three roommates turned back to their respective rooms, eager to get unpacking. Natalie set the final box on her bed, turning to the rest of her belongings as she began to put together a mental checklist of what all needed to be done.

She first turned to the suitcase at the foot of her bed, which housed most of her clothing. Unzipping the suitcase and opening the box full of coat hangers, Natalie found herself falling into a routine of unpacking as, one by one, the suitcases were emptied and packed away in their new home under her bed. Slowly, the empty white room began to transform into more of a home, and as Natalie set down the framed picture of her family as the final piece to decorate her desk, a quick feeling of homesickness washed over her, but she quickly pushed it away.

She was finally following her dreams of moving to a big city, and she wasn't about to let a little homesickness get in her way.

The sun was beginning to dip behind the buildings in the distance when Lydia finally knocked on Natalie's half-open door, peering her head inside to see where the blonde sat at her new desk, already jotting notes down in her planner. "Hey," Lydia said, "I just heard back from my friend Chad, they're heading over to frat row now if we still wanted to go meet up with them. Anika's almost ready."

"Yeah," Natalie said, closing her planner and hopping up from her chair, giving herself a final once-over in the mirror. "Yeah, that sounds good."

As the girls left Bender Hall, heading out into the New York summer night, the sidewalks had shifted from families bidding their college students goodbye to friends new and old heading out for their first night of the summer semester, the traffic mostly headed towards frat row. Natalie, Lydia, and Anika joined the crowd easily, following the majority as Lydia began to scan the houses for the correct letters of where her friends had planned on meeting up that evening.

"So where are you both from?" Anika asked. "I'm from New York, born and raised."

"Minnesota," Natalie informed them. "Small town, so I guess you could say this is a pretty big leap."

"I moved here from Atlanta," Lydia explained as they entered frat row, and her eyes lit up as she found the correct house. "That one!" she explained, pointing at the third house on the street. "Omega Beta Zeta,"

Lydia led them through the open doors of the house, already full of people spilling in and out of the building as the party began in full swing. Music blared through the house from a speaker in a nearby room, and Natalie was instantly hit by the smell of weed and cigarette smoke as they walked inside. Everywhere, people moved from one room to another, red plastic cups in hands as well as the odd couple making out in empty corners of the rooms, causing Natalie to instantly avert her eyes.

To Natalie Fields, it was like something straight out of a movie.

There they are," Lydia said, gesturing for Natalie and Anika to follow her as they rounded the corner, where several groups of people milled about in the living room as well as a few dancing to the music blasting through the speakers. "Tara! Mindy!"

Natalie's eyes scanned the room until she caught two girls now looking in their direction, bright smiles on their faces as they waved the three of them over. The one on the left was tan and had long dark hair pulled back into a ponytail while the other girl was light-skinned with a head of short dark curly hair. While the two looked familiar to Natalie for a reason she couldn't quite place, an unfamiliar third girl stood nearby them, with brown hair cropped around her shoulders.

"There you guys are!" the first girl said, pulling Lydia into a tight hug as she greeted her friend. "We wondered when you were going to show up, the guys just went to go grab us some beers."

"Natalie, Anika, this is Tara and Mindy, two of my friends from back home." Lydia introduced. "These are my roommates, Natalie and Anika."

"Nice to meet you," Natalie said.

"You too," Mindy replied. "This is my roommate, Jay." she introduced, gesturing to the girl on her other side, who gave them a wave.

"Alright, ladies," another voice entered the mix, and Natalie turned to see a light-skinned guy flanked by two other boys, one on either side of him, their arms all loaded up with cups of beer. The boy on his left had curly brown hair, and the one on his right wore his more close-cropped on his head. "Drinks are served."

"Chad!" Lydia exclaimed to the first guy, whose expression brightened as he noticed the three newcomers, instantly handing the blonde the first red cup full of beer. "This is Mindy's brother, Chad. Chad, these are my roommates, Natalie and Anika."

"Natalie and Anika," he repeated, passing a cup to each one of them. "Nice to meet you both. These are my roommates, Kyle and Ethan."

As Natalie's gaze moved from where Chad stood back to Mindy and Tara behind him, recognition began to click into place as she recalled seeing their faces all over the news almost nine months prior, when news outlets everywhere had reported that the infamous Ghostface killer had returned to Woodsboro, California. She now recognized Tara Carpenter, the younger sister of Sam Carpenter, the daughter of the original Ghostface killer Billy Loomis, and the first victim of the 2022 massacre. Chad and Mindy she now recognized as the Meeks-Martin twins, who had narrowly escaped with their lives alongside Sam and Tara last fall.

Natalie turned back to Lydia, watching her new roommate with curious eyes. "Where did you say you were from again?"

"Atlanta," Lydia said. "We moved there when I was eight. I'm from California originally."

"Yeah," Natalie murmured, looking back at them with an awestruck expression. "That I gathered."

As the music shifted, Anika let out a gasp as the opening chords of a pop song Natalie didn't recognize began to blare through the speakers. "Holy shit, I love this song!" she exclaimed. "Come on, guys, let's go dance!"

As Anika began to move closer to the dance floor, followed by the others, Chad turned back towards Lydia and Natalie with an amused grin, nodding his head back in the direction of their retreating friends.

"What do you say, ladies?" Chad asked, extending an arm for each of them. "Shall we?"

Natalie chuckled, taking the boy's arm with a smile. "We shall."