friends don't look at friends that way

Despite how much she'd grown apart from Chad and Mindy, Willa couldn't help but feel a sense of comfort and protection as she approached the twins' residence. She'd always felt like she belonged there, more than she did at her own house sometimes.

Everyone had arrived except for the three of them, save for Sam herself. Everyone from both hers and Wes' friend groups - that was still alive and not hospitalized, of course.

They were mixed in together, which was an odd sight to see. Usually, Willa's friends separated themselves from Wes'. It was very obvious that the two groups had set their differences aside due to the dire circumstances, which was good considering it could be hard when you're not used to interacting with certain people.

MJ sat in between Amber and Mindy, while Clodagh and Jo had their personal little area as they talked amongst themselves. Chad was sat next to Liv (no surprise there) while Anna sat on the other side of her. Chelsea was next to her - much to Anna's dismay - while Alicia sat on the other side of her. Quinn Reyes - a girl Willa hardly spoke to, sat on the other side of Alicia, while Alice sat next to her. Christian was chatting with Kamira, focusing on whatever it was the girl had been talking about.

It was odd. It was unusual, even, as even though they all knew each other, they didn't truly know each other.

The safety and protection that Willa had felt disappeared as her eyes landed on the last two people in the giant room. Aaron and Marcus sat in the corner, isolating themselves from everyone else.

Marcus already looked at her, an angry look on his features. He had a bandage wrapped around his hand - the same one Willa bit into the night prior. 

His face was extremely bruised. His eyes were black and his nose bandaged, proving that Willa had, in fact, broken his nose. 

Part of her felt bad. She felt bad for doing such damage to someone, especially someone she had cared about. But then she remembered his grimy hands and the way he touched her, the way he selfishly tried to take something that didn't - and wouldn't - ever belong to him.

The feeling of someone touching her back caught her attention, and she glanced over to see Oliver already looking at her. He was the only one who knew what had happened to her, and he didn't make it obvious so. Instead, he just protectively led her to the couch Wes had sat on, leading her to sit next to her brother.

The chatter continued, as they were still waiting for Sam to arrive. Willa felt awkward, keeping her eyes in her lap. Anytime she'd look up she would either make eye contact with Chad or Marcus, and anytime Chad would look in her direction Liv would angrily nudge her boyfriend.

It was like Willa was living in her own personal hell. Somehow, besides the obvious tension, nobody bothered to notice or say anything if they did. That would only make the situation worse, and that was the last thing she needed.

Soon enough, Sam arrived. Only she hadn't arrived alone. She not only brought her boyfriend with her but behind Richie walked in none other than Dewey Riley.

"Dewey!" Willa couldn't help but exclaim as she jumped up from her spot on the couch.

The older man could barely react before Willa was in his arms, tears threatening to spill as she held onto him as tightly as she could.

He hugged her back, a soft smile covering his aged features. "Hey, kid." He mumbled in her hair. "It's been too long."

"I've missed you," She admitted, pulling away. She couldn't help the teary eyes as she looked up at him, her light eyes brighter than usual.

He noticed this sadness before his eyes trailed to the deep purple bruises littering her chest. His dark brows pushed together before looking back at her face, taking in the cut on her lip. "They didn't try to get you too, did they?" He softly asked.

Willa, realizing what he'd been talking about, cleared her throat. She pulled her sweater up before wiping her mouth and shaking her head. "N-no," She stuttered. "Just had a bad fall is all."

Dewey's eyes trailed behind her, taking in the scene. He didn't respond at first, knowing this wasn't the time nor place to push her to tell him what happened. His eyes then fell on Marcus Andrews, who paid no attention to the others talking in the group and watched Willa. His eyes looked dark and angry as he looked at the blonde, almost in a psychopathic possessive type of way.

If it weren't for the bruised under-eyes or the giant white bandage on his nose, the look alone would be more than enough for Dewey to pinpoint that he had something to do with it.

"I should've been around more often," He spoke, putting his attention back to Willa. "Things just haven't been easy lately."

"Yeah," Willa breathed out. "We all go through stuff. It's fine. You're here now, and that's what matters."

"I'm sorry about Magnolia," He told her.

"Me too," Willa drew in a sharp breath, her hands growing clammy.

"Oooh!" A sudden soft voice exclaimed. This stopped any and all conversation through the room and everyone looked over to see Martha - Mindy and Chad's mom. "My brother would be so proud!" She then spoke as she sat the tray of snacks down on the coffee table.

She stood up straight as Willa moved back to her spot between Wes and Oliver. Dewey smiled as he saw the younger woman, a smile that was rare from the older man.

"Hi, Martha," He greeted.

Her jaw dropped as she immediately threw her arms out, wrapping them around him almost in the same way that Willa had only moments before. "Dewey!" She breathed out, almost relieved to see him. "Hi! You look-" She stopped, nodding as she failed to find kind words to say.

Willa hadn't noticed how bad Dewey looked. It wasn't meant to be in a horrible way, it was just known that after he and his long-time wife, Gale, had split up his life had gone a little downhill.

He'd been depressed, that much was true. But instead of getting the help he needed, he closed himself off from the world, much like Willa had managed to do within the last few days.

"How's the wife?" Martha then asked, failing to find much else to say. 

"Okay, Mom, we're good. Thank you." Chad interrupted before Dewey had a chance to respond.

Wes grabbed some of the popcorn from the bowl, shoving a few pieces in his mouth before offering the last few pieces to Willa. She shook her head, putting her attention back onto everyone else as he just shrugged and ate the last few pieces.

"Alright, kids, have fun." Martha smiled at the giant group. She then left, leaving the group to their own devices.

"I asked Mindy to call everyone here, because-" Sam started almost immediately, glancing around. "Because there's something I have to tell you."

It was a very dramatic way to tell a secret, of course. But it wasn't intentional. Sam telling her 'little' secret to the others was simply to tell them something they may need to know - something that may become of importance. It wasn't to grow closer with the group, gain their trust, or anything one might think. She genuinely thought telling the group the biggest weight on her shoulders was the first step to fixing whatever mess had begun within the last week.

"So let me get this straight," Chad cleared his throat. "You're the daughter of Billy Loomis and, what, one of us is the killer?"

Willa crossed her arms over her chest, her mind stuck in thought. She didn't know what to think, but at the same time, she didn't bother to look at Sam any differently. She didn't know Billy, hell, she hadn't even been alive when any of the killings happened. Sam wasn't like Billy, just like Willa wasn't like Judy and her other friends weren't like their parents.

"The killer told me he knew my secret," Sam explained. "He attacked Tara to lure me back here."

"So what about Magnolia?" MJ immediately asked, raising an eyebrow. "What did Magnolia have to do with any of this?"

"Exactly. Why then immediately go and murder Magnolia and some douche-nozzle that was stalking Liv?" Chad asked.

Alice's lips pursed, looking at Christian. He protectively put an arm around her shoulders, an action that hadn't gone unnoticed by Willa.

"And why does it have to be one of us?" Wes asked.

"Yeah," Aaron agreed. "Surely that's just a reach."

"What about Deputy Dewey here?" Marcus then asked, "Maybe he's the killer. No offense or anything."

"Or maybe it's you," Willa snapped, looking up at him. Everyone looked at her in shock, not having expected such a snappy response when as far as they were concerned - the two were still dating. She couldn't help but chuckle, "Full offense or whatever."

"None taken," Dewey then spoke up from his spot, turning the conversation back to the main topic. "But what's my motive?"

"You got stabbed a billion times, got dumped by your famous wife, and crawled into a bottle." Wes quickly named off, as if it were obvious. "I think it's safe to say you're on the suspect list."

"Wes," Willa breathed out. "It's not him."

"We don't know that," Chelsea spoke up from her spot.

"Well, maybe you're the killer," Dewey responded, looking at Wes. "Cause that cut deep."

Willa glared at Wes, who just shrugged in response.

"That douche-nozzle is connected," Amber then said. "I googled him. His mom is Leslie Macher. Stu Macher's sister."

Alice tensed, and Christian rubbed her back. Nobody else but Willa seemed to notice, though, and so the blonde didn't bother to say anything.

"Who's Stu Macher?" Liv asked.

"Seriously?" Christian asked, "I mean. Seriously, seriously?"

"He's Billy Loomis' accomplice," Alice explained.

"A real loony tune," Dewey added.

"And my uncle," Alice admitted quietly, her eyes slightly wet with tears.

"What?" Sam asked, looking at her. "How?"

"Leslie and Stu had another sister, my mom." She softly explained. "Vince was my cousin. I just- I never really told anyone because it's embarrassing. But since- since Sam's telling- you know, telling her secret. I might as well too. Especially if we're the targets."

"Okay but that doesn't explain what happened to Magnolia," Clodagh explained. "So if Vince was related to Stu, and Tara's attack was simply to get Sam - Billy's daughter - back, what about Magnolia?"

"Well there's nothing about her online, I've already looked." Amber shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe just got in the way or something."

"She was Willa's best friend, right?" Jo asked, "If they're going after people related to past people, wouldn't Wes and Willa be included?"

"Okay," Sam said, leaning back. "Okay! So the first few attacks are mostly on people related to the original killers. Excluding Magnolia, of course."

"Oh my god!" Mindy exclaimed as a look of realization hit her features. "He's making a requel!"

"A what?" Sam asked.

"Or a- legacyquel." Mindy then added, leaning forward in her spot. "Fans are torn on the terminology."

Chad scoffed, "Please speak English."

"Okay," Mindy nodded. "Remember the Stab movie that came out last year?"

"Oh yeah!" Liv exclaimed, "The one the Knives Out guy directed! I actually really liked that one."

"Of course you did you have terrible taste," Mindy snapped.

"I hate you," Liv glared at the girl.

 "The point is, the hard-core Stab fans hated it." She said, "You go on 4chan and Dreadit, all they're talking about is how Stab 8 pissed on their childhoods. How they crammed in social commentary just to make it elevated. How the main character's a Mary Sue."

"What's a Mary Sue?" Richie and Jo asked at the same time.

"You really don't want to know." Wes quickly shook his head.

"What's wrong with elevated horror?" Amber asked, "I mean Jordan Peele fucking rules." 

"Uh, obviously, but that's not Stab," Mindy spoke. "Real Stab movies are meta slasher whodunits."

"Come on. It's just a movie." Sam rolled her eyes.

"No, it's not." Mindy quickly denied. "To some people, the original is their favorite thing in the world. The movie that made them love horror. That Mom or Dad showed them when they were ten that bonded them together. And God help anyone who slightly fucks with that special memory. Who makes a movie they think disrespects it."

She then stood up, holding her hands out in front of her. "It sounds like our killer is writing his own version of Stab 8, but doing it as a requel."

Everyone in Willa's friend group was silent, taking in everything Mindy told them. Wes' friend group was silent for the most part, minus a few of them who didn't agree with the curly-haired girl.

"Which is?" Dewey asked, trying to follow along.

"See," Mindy started. "You can't just reboot a franchise from scratch anymore. The fans won't stand for it. Black Christmas, Child's Play, Flatliners... That shit doesn't work."

"But you can't just do a straight sequel, either," Alice added. 

"Yes! You gotta build something new!" Mindy exclaimed.

"But now too new, or the Internet goes bug-fucking nuts," Christian added with a shrug.

"Yes!" Mindy exclaimed again. "It's got to be part of an ongoing storyline, even if the story shouldn't have been ongoing in the first place. New main characters, yes, but supported by and related to legacy characters."

"Not quite a reboot, not quite a sequel," Alice muttered.

"Like the new Halloween, Saw, Terminator, Jurassic Park, Ghostbusters... fuck, even Star Wars!" Mindy exasperatedly said. "It always, always goes back to the original!"

"Are you telling me that I'm caught in the middle of fan-fucking-fiction?" Sam angrily asked.

"Not just in the middle, Sam," Mindy mumbled, her voice much softer than before. "You're the star." She spoke as she sat directly in front of the other girl.

"So," Liv started, catching the attention. "Not to put too fine a point on it, but, according to requel rules..." She then sighed, looking around the room. "Who's next?"

Wes and Willa glanced at each other, Willa's heart racing a little more at the thought of potentially being the next victim.

Chad's eyes found hers and immediately softened. He hadn't even been worried that he might be next despite the fact that he would be more at risk of being killed next than her. He hadn't been worried for his own life but was instead was more worried about the blonde girl sitting across the room from him.

His heart ached, but there was nothing he could do. She obviously wanted to be left alone, and even if she didn't now wasn't the time to try and go to her.

"Going by the pattern," Mindy mumbled, looking around at everyone. "Whoever it is has to be connected to someone that came before."

"I'm starting to regret coming here," Dewey said after a few moments of silence.

"Jesus my mom was a character in one of them," Wes worriedly spoke.

"No one cares about the shitty inferior sequels, Wes, you're safe." Mindy quickly told the boy.

"H-how can you be so sure?" Chad asked. His eyes didn't leave Willa's, although she didn't notice due to her eyes locked down in her lap.

"Well that statement wasn't toward us," Mindy looked at her brother. "Since Randy was our uncle, you and I probably screwed."

"That's not what I meant but okay," Chad muttered, looking down at his lap.

He didn't care about whether Ghostface was after him. He could handle his own. He was worried about Willa, the girl who'd always been afraid of him coming after her. The girl he was willing to sit outside her bedroom all night for.

The thought of it being Willa in that bodybag instead of Magnolia was more than enough to cause pain in his chest, and even as Liv rested her head on his shoulders and linked her fingers with his, he felt nothing.

It was then that he realized that he didn't want to be with Liv anymore. Call it bad timing, call it whatever you want. Chad realized in this moment that with how badly things have turned for the worst - with the fact that they're living with the next Ghostface killer that he was wasting time hiding his feelings. Just as he went to make eye contact with the blonde again, Richie spoke up.

"Or you're the killer, and this whole elaborate monologue is just to cover your tracks."

"I think it's pretty clear who the killer is at this point," Mindy spoke.

"Who?" Sam asked.

"You."

++

Not Chad realizing his feelings for Willa at the worst possible time LMAO