"Nina Patterson's death is a great shock," was spoken over the loud speaker ad everyone sat in the learning center waiting to see the grief counselor. "Once you've visited with the grief counselor, you are free to leave." Nina had been announced dead earlier that morning, and it was the new big news. Will was right. There would be something to take the place of headline over Audrey. "Classes will resume tomorrow."

"This wifi sucks." Jake complained as he stared down at his phone. "The cops aren't saying much. Her parents found her body, the victim of foul play. I need gory details."

"Oh shut up." Olivia snapped at Jake.

"Wow, babe, who crawled up your asshole this morning?" Jake scoffed.

"My best friend just died." Olivia sighed before moving over to sit next to her sister.

"Um, hello, ms, why am I here?" Noah's asked everyone as they walked by.

"That's the mandatory part of mandatory grief counseling." Emma explained to him.

"I feel shock, mid interest, but not grief." Noah said to her.

"Guys, Nina was murdered in cold blood." Riley sighed as she looked at her friends. "Do you not even care?"

"It just doesn't seem real." Olivia sighed as she stared down at her hands.

"Oh, here we go." Jake smiled. "One of her neighbor's said that her throat was sliced ear to ear. The press is all over this. They're playing the whole 'maybe Brandon James is back' angle."

Olivia shook her head as she heard the name, and Emma tensed up. "Brandon James is dead." Emma snapped. She got up and left.

Olivia sighed before starting to get up, but Jake grabbed onto her hand. "Don't go, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that. It just kind of popped out." Olivia nodded before sitting back down.

"Who's Brandon James?" Kieran asked as Jake placed his arm around Olivia. She leaned into him.

"Uh, he killed a bunch of students about twenty years ago." Noah explained to him. "He cut some others up." Noah stated as he moved closer to Kieran pulling up a picture of him on his phone. "This is him."

"My dad got stabbed." Olivia sighed as she played with her hands. "He almost died."

"Brandon had Protoss Syndrome, like the Elephant Man." Noah started talking again. "People say he was born a monster, but I believe he was bullied an beaten into one."

"And you know all this because?" Kieran asked him.

"I don't know." Noah sighed. "Some boys like football, I like serial killers. And Brandon James is my Dallas Cowboys. He's the classic case of the deformed man who lived in the shed. Mom homeschooled him; Dad was ashamed of him. His brother, Troy, was the only one who cared about him. Whenever he went out, he wore this post op surgical mask."

"What made him start killing people?" Olivia asked him.

"Rumor is he feel in love." Noah smiled at her. "His brother said Brandon was obsessed. Wrote her anonymous love letters, made her little carvings. Brandon found her at the Halloween dance. He got up the nerve to talk to her. It went okay at first, but the a bunch of drunk jocks jumped him. After a lifetime of taking it, something in Brandon snapped. He had killed five students by the time he was done. The man hunt ended at Wren Lake. The girl agreed to meet him. Nobody ever knew who she was."

*

"At this point, we're questioning persons of interest." The group of six listened to the sheriff speaking about Nina's death in a podcast. "The first person on the list is Nina Patterson's ex boyfriend, Tyler O'Neal. If anyone has any idea on his whereabouts, please contact us."

"So, Tyler did it, for reals?" Riley asked her friends as she shut off the podcast.

"Emma and Olivia's mom worked the scene." Will stated as he looked at the girls. "Tell them what you heard."

"A neighbor saw Tyler's car parked outside Nina's house around the time that Nina was killed." Olivia explained to her friends.

"There was no sign of force entry, and his finger prints were found on the glass in the kitchen." Emma finished for her sister. "Now his foster parents can't find him. No one can."

"I knew they were always at each other's throats, but how could he do that?" Riley sighed.

"Do you think that one keg is gonna be enough?" Brooke asked out of the blue as she stared down at her tablet.

"Do you really think that a party is a good idea tonight, Brooke?" Emma questioned her.

Brooke scoffed. "It's a prayer vigil." She looked back down at her tablet before continuing. "People in morning get thirsty."

"So, you're mom is tight with the sheriff, right?" Jake asked and the two Duval girls nodded. "Do you know if they went through Nina's laptop?"

"No, sorry." Emma sighed as she shook her head. "My mom just handles the autopsy."

"I can't believe Nina's just a body now." Riley stated.

"She kind of was always just a body." Jake joked. "Top shelf all the way."

"Hey man, have respect." Will snapped at his best friend.

"I have extreme respect." Jake defended himself. "And so did the rest of the basketball team, and most of the football team, and a couple of the lacrosse boys-"

"Alright, stop it." Olivia pushed Jake's shoulder lightly. Jake winked at her, and pulled her into his lap.

"And the sheriff is going to question every single one of them." Brooke smirked at him. "Where were you on Monday night, Jake?"

"I was with Will and Olivia." Jake smirked back at her. "Up to no good."

"Wait, you told me your phone died and you were stranded." Emma said as she glanced at Olivia, and then turned to face Will

"I was." Will stated. "Jake and Olivia picked me up." Emma definitely did not believe him. "What?" He asked her before attacking her cheek with kisses.

"Uh, I have to go." Emma stated as she spotted Audrey. "I'll see you guys later." She got up and quickly left.

As soon as Emma was gone, Will kicked Jake in the leg. "What?" Jake questioned before looking down at Olivia. "I was thinking that tonight we could sneak off to one of the many bedrooms in Brooke's lake house and have some sexy time?"

"Jake, I'm sorry, but I plan on morning my best friend tonight." Olivia had been trying to end their whole thing, or whatever it was, for a week now. She knew she did like Jake, but she just couldn't bring herself to actually be a real relationship with him and risk ruining their friendship.

"Come on, you'll get to morn her plenty tonight." Jake protested. "And besides, knowing you, you'll probably be getting super drunk anyways and wanting The Jake." Olivia scoffed. "I only get you a little bit because you don't want to go public, which I totally respect, but if we did go public, we could have sexy time a lot more."

"Sounds tempting." Olivia smirked at him. "I'll have to think about it."

"Just, please." Jake begged her. "I'll make sure you don't regret it."

"Let's see if you can convince me at the party." Olivia smirked at him

AN: this is a pretty long chapter. I know no one is reading this, but I'm updating anyway because I like it and maybe with more updates, more people will read. 

If you are reading, please vote and comment what you wish to happen in future chapters!

Thank you very much, lovelies. Have a nice day💞💞