it's a gamble to take anymore of you

It had been a few weeks since the first day of senior year began, and Willa already couldn't wait until it was over. She noticed she was now the main victim of Chelsea her her bullying, and she wanted nothing more than to go back to how it was last year beforehand.

Not to mention, Chelsea's taken a... liking to Wes, and it didn't sit well with Willa. However, he was over the hopeless crush he'd had on Tara the year prior, and Willa wanted nothing more than to see her brother happy.

"Have you been ignoring me?" The sound of a deep voice asked from next to Willa. She glanced over to see Marcus standing there, an annoyed look on his features.

"What?" She asked, blinking a few times. "N-no, I'm just- just busy."

"Busy with the newbie?" He questioned, raising a brow.

"Oliver, Magnolia, MJ, Jo, Kamira, Anna, Clo-"

"I get it, I get it." Marcus quickly said, cutting the girl off.

Willa sighed to herself, not liking the way she was spoken to by her 'boyfriend'. She cleared her throat as she shut her locker, turning to face him. "I'm not ignoring you." She stated again, "I've been busy, yes, because it's senior year and a lot's going on right now."

"A lot like- like what?" Marcus asked with a smile. It showed anger, disbelief, and annoyance. "Like anything else but your boyfriend?"

Willa stared at the boy for a moment, unsure of what to think of such a question. She then glanced around to see nobody paying too much attention to them and their conversation. "Marcus you know that's not true. Relationships are new to me, you know that, I-"

"Then take my advice, Willa." Marcus cut Willa off once again. He stepped forward, cupping her cheeks with his hands. "Not spending enough time with your significant other can cause the relationship to die. You don't want us to die, do you?" The tone sounded... off. It sounded manipulative and condescending, but the last thing Willa wanted was to upset him further.

"Right, yeah." She sighed.

"So. Let's ditch the library and the last few classes of the day and head out of here," Marcus suggested to the girl, although it didn't sound like too much of a suggestion.

Deciding to not press him further, she nodded. She knew that this was one of the most important years of her school experience, and the last thing she wanted to do was leave school and go God knows where with Marcus, but she also didn't want to upset him. She'd upset him enough within the last week, let alone today. She just wanted him to be happy... content, even, with her.

She walked hand-in-hand with Marcus out of the school, ignoring the looks of both Wes and her friends. She knew she'd be questioned later, but for the moment she avoided eye contact and focused on her boyfriend.

++

The day went by slowly. She hadn't done much of anything besides sit awkwardly in Marcus' bedroom, watching as he played video games. She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting when he took her to his house, but it surely wasn't sitting in the background while Marcus played whatever game he wanted to that day.

Walking through the front door of her house, she sighed in relief that she was finally home. Since her father isn't around, it's just her mother, and since it's just her mother - she and Wes got the house to themselves quite a bit. 

However, she wasn't alone the way she thought she'd be when she entered. Standing at the kitchen island was someone all too familiar to her, and she wanted nothing more than to turn and go right back out the front door.

"Wes said you ran off with Marcus Andrews today," Chad mumbled from his spot. He leaned his head in his hand, looking at Willa with a look she couldn't describe.

Willa didn't say anything and instead walked into the kitchen. She took a spot on a stool across from where Chad stood, dropping her backpack to the floor with a loud thud.

Her thoughts were jumbled as she thought of what to say, unsure of whether it was a good idea to open up to him. They hadn't been close for a while - specifically when he began dating Liv and she began dating Marcus.

Fighting with herself for a while over whether to talk, she finally caved when she looked up to meet his eyes. "I didn't want to." She admitted, "He just keeps getting so upset at me over the smallest things- I don't know what to do. He says the relationship will die if I don't pay more attention to him, but then I cancel my plans and just sit there as he plays video games with Aaron."

Chad didn't say anything. Willa, who had taken this the wrong way, immediately changed her mind. Of course, it seemed as if she was super back and forth, but she took a moment of weakness and opened up to him just to regret it immediately.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything." She slid off of the stool, bending down to grab her backpack.

"No, Willie, wait-"

"I need- I need to go catch up on homework. I have a study session with Oliver and I don't want to cancel on him." She cut the boy off. She began to walk out of the kitchen and to the stairs, her mind even more confused than seconds prior. "Wes should be home soon, I think. He's been with Chelsea a lot lately so who knows what his plans are."

"Willie I didn't come here to see Wes," Chad quickly spoke before she could cut him off again.

Willa stopped, her grip on her backpack tightening as she turned back to Chad. "Why'd you come here then?" She asked softly.

"Isn't it obvious?" Chad asked with a slight scoff, glancing to the side before looking back at her. "I came for you."

Willa wanted to fold. She wanted to run to Chad and hug him as she'd have done years prior, opening up to him about her frustrations and sadness. She wanted to tell him this wasn't what she hoped for her senior year and how unhappy she was.

Life wasn't supposed to be like this. She and her brother's friends weren't supposed to be split up. They weren't supposed to act like they didn't know each other. They weren't supposed to just glance at each other in passing and act as if the other didn't exist. She was supposed to be enjoying her last year of high school with people she loved and not have to worry about her brother's possible new girlfriend or even her own boyfriend ruining her day.

Tears began to fill Willa's eyes as she began to shake her head. "I-I need to go. Oliver's waiting for me."

Chad stood there as Willa turned back around, making her way to her room. Once she was in she shut and locked the door behind her, wiping her cheeks of any tears that may have fallen.

It didn't take her long to sit at her desk and get on her laptop, pulling up the Facetime option. She'd been planning this session with Oliver for a while, the boy offering to help her with her Sign Language lessons to get her ahead.

Of course, Oliver insisted she didn't need them as she was already doing quite well in class. She could communicate basics and talk with him much easier than before, but according to Willa until she was better at it, she needed to keep practicing.

Oliver was quick to answer, a huge smile covering his face as he popped up on the camera. Willa waved, causing him to wave in return.

'What is the lesson today, Mr. Porter?' Willa signed, with little to no struggle.

Oliver didn't say anything at first, and instead, his smile fell. This caused Willa to frown, thinking of the correct hand movements before signing something else. 

'Is everything okay?'

'Marcus said something to me today,'

Oliver wasn't the type to sign in long sentences as he knew Willa still struggled with certain signs, so Willa thought over what he signed before responding to let him know she'd understood what he said.

'What did he say?'

Willa didn't want to talk about Marcus. She didn't even want to think about him. He should be the last thing on her mind right now, as this was supposed to be a study session, not a conversation about her boyfriend.

'Something about how I won't last long here in Woodsboro,' He signed, moving his hands carefully.

It was hard to understand what Oliver was signing sometimes, considering they were talking on Facetime instead of in person. Connection tended to get interrupted and it was easier to miss things, but the two did exceptionally well - especially Willa since this is a new learning experience for her.

She took in what he said, a frown forming on her face. 'What else did he say?' she signed, anger bubbling up at such a small comment.

Oliver hadn't been in Woodsboro long, and she didn't know him as well as she knew other people. One thing she did know, however, is the fact that he didn't deserve any of the bullying he was suffering.

The boy looked at her for a moment before beginning to sign his response. 'Something about how every year a new killer emerges.' He stopped to let Willa take in what he said, not missing the look on her face at the word killer.

'That with my disability I'd be the first on the list, whatever that means.'

Willa's lips pressed into a thin line, her anger rising by the second. Marcus had no right speaking of such things, whether it be from the infamous Woodsboro killer to Oliver's hearing loss.

'Marcus is a jerk.' She signed without thinking, almost immediately regretting it. 

'Then why are you with him?'

The question hit deep in Willa, not expecting it. She sat frozen for a moment, her body so still that Oliver almost thought the connection was interrupted.

'The killer he's talking about doesn't emerge every year, but it does happen quite a bit,' Willa started, ignoring the question about Marcus. 'There's been a few instances where people have gone crazy and killed people, attacking citizens of Woodsboro.' Her explanation was slow as she had to focus on the right hand movements, also moving slowly enough so that if the connection messed up Oliver wouldn't miss too much.

Oliver's brows pushed together, taking in each and everything she signed to him. He waited patiently for her to think about what to say next, her breathing shaky as if she had just finished a run.

'It's been someone different every time. The first time was way before we were born, most of us Woodsboro teens. Two teenagers went psycho and killed their friends and attacked others.' She signed, ignoring the fear building in her chest. 'Then the next year or so, more people were attacked. Chad and Mindy's uncle died during that massacre.'

'Were they caught?' Oliver asked, resting his hands down in his lap after signing.

'All of them are dead, as far as we know.' Willa signed, 'I've never known much about it, my mom tries to keep that part of her life away from Wes and I.'

Oliver didn't respond, and Willa cleared her throat before continuing. 'My mom survived the last one, thankfully. Others... weren't so lucky.'

'Willa, you don't need to explain if you don't want to.'

Willa sent a soft smile, shaking her head. 'It's nothing big. I mean it sucks, people died, but I never lived through it. My mom lived through it, same with everyone else who's still here. There hasn't been a real Ghostface in years, I don't think it's going to happen again anytime soon.' She paused, her smile falling. 'Well, I can hope I guess.'

'Surely it's done and over with,' Oliver signed. 'Plus you said it's been years since the last, right? Maybe this Ghostface character you speak of is long gone by now.'

Willa nodded, not liking the direction their conversation had turned in. She sighed, giving a quick sign that she agreed. She then looked at the time, realizing how much they'd wasted talking about something that was so far in the past. 'It's getting late. We should get to our actual session now.'

Oliver smiled with a nod, agreeing with her this time. He began to talk about where they'd left off in their last session, and although Willa wanted nothing more than to learn more signs and improve her knowledge, she just couldn't focus. Her mind was on the eerie and familiar Ghostface, the exact same one that haunted her town years ago.

She knew Oliver was right and that there was surely no way Ghostface would be back, but a part of her felt like that wasn't the truth.

Shoving her paranoia to the side, she smiled at Oliver as he continued with his signing.

Ghostface was gone and hadn't been around in years. Things were normal now, so much to the point where the haunted mask was nothing more than that.

A haunted mask.

++

It's been forever since an update, I apologize <3 I've been a little inactive lately because I've been doing stuff outside of Wattpad, so when I'm online I'm not working on all my stories as much as I want to. Please be patient, I still plan on working on all my stories as much as possible <3