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𝙑𝙊𝙇𝙐𝙈𝙀 𝑰.  ──  CASUALTY OF YOUR DREAMS!

❛ 𝒌𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕 ❜
─── chapter one! ❫

001. ╱ ✹ ⠀⠀ ❝ green flags turned red
from all my bleeding. . . i fell quickly
for words, misleading. ❞

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     THERE'S NO PATIENCE TO GIVE LENGTHY INTRODUCTIONS. At least not yet. Kynlee Manral's phone had been ringing and buzzing nonstop for the past ten minutes, two of her father's co-workers were arguing in the background while her father was trying to finish up the tattoo on her right arm, she had to meet her best friend Chad at the football field in twenty-five minutes, and she was milliseconds away from throwing her goddamn phone out the window. Needless to say, she was annoyed, jittery, and growing impatient. Too much was happening at once.

     "Turn that shit off," Andi Manral muttered under his breath, focused on shading in the fairy wings on the tattoo. The glasses he wore were slowly falling down the bridge of his nose and he pushed them back up.

     Kynlee cast him a pointed expression. "Kind of hard to do with one hand, Pa," she grumbled, struggling to slide her thumb across her lockscreen to turn the stupid thing off. This was the fifth call of the night.

     "Is it that same blocked number?" he asked, not tearing his attention away from her arm.

     She nodded, tapping her foot against an imaginary wall. Currently, she was laying down on a table with her right arm extended out. In her left hand, she was finally shutting down her phone. "Not sure if it's the same person, but it's still a blocked number. Probably spam." The screen turned black and she let out a breath.

     Shouts of disagreement could be heard going back and forth across the tattoo parlor and had been occurring for the last few minutes. The bickering wasn't uncommon; never did a day go by where someone wasn't messing around or arguing about something stupid. Every day it was something different, but Kynlee was too preoccupied with stressing about being late to care about today's dispute.

     Every day after football practice, Kynlee would meet Chad Meeks-Martin outside Woodsboro High and they would either go to Yamato's (their shared favorite restaurant), get milkshakes at Cook Out, or go to one of their houses and do homework together. Sometimes they would do all three. Sometimes they wouldn't do any of those things and they'd sit in his truck and talk about whatever. Kynlee would usually get home around eleven if she went to Chad's (Mindy, Chad's twin sister, would drive her home), and if he was at her place, he'd stay the night in the guest bedroom. He didn't like driving super late at night. There was no reason behind it, he just didn't prefer to.

     This mini-tradition had been going on for nearly two years the moment Chad got his license and his dad gave him and Mindy his old truck. In all that time, Kynlee had never been late when meeting Chad at their high school. For most things in life, she was late, but that? She was never late for that, and she wouldn't be tonight. She refused.

     Kynlee's knee and foot bounced up and down impatiently as she bit the inside of her cheek. With her eyes locked on the clock above her father's head, she sighed. Nineteen more minutes...

     The shop was silent now, for the arguing had come to an end. It was nice, but it was also setting Kynlee's teeth on edge. She didn't like silence. Even though the noise of the tattoo gun buzzing filled the space, it was still too quiet for her. With her ADHD, she found herself getting distracted by too much silence which increased her inability to focus at times. For her, silence was deafening.

     Glancing up from the nearly finished tattoo, Andi narrowed his stare. "Conejito, sit still," he said exasperatedly.

     "I'm trying!" Kynlee snapped, running her left hand through her hair.

     Andi raised an eyebrow, recognizing the familiar behavioral cues. She was far too antsy and irritable. "Someone forgot to take their Adderall this morning, didn't they?" His daughter ignored the question and continued to bounce her knee up and down but at a slower pace. They both knew the answer.

     "Got somewhere to be, Lee-Lee?" Ibrahim called from the front of the tattoo parlor. He was one of the three tattoo artists that operated the shop, including Andi.

     Raising a middle finger in the air, Kynlee rolled her eyes.

     "Of course, she does," Malik replied loudly, winking at the Manral's as he passed by. He was the other tattoo artist at the shop and someone who'd helped raise Kynlee since she was a baby. "You know she's gotta go meet her jock boyfriend after football practice, man."

     Immediately, Kynlee glared over at him. It was no secret who he was talking about and she didn't want to hear it. For years, all he and Ibrahim would do was tease her over the small crush she had on Chad. It was old when she was ten and it was old now at nearly nineteen.

     Ibrahim snapped his fingers. "Ah, that's right."

     "You're both assholes," the black-haired girl hollered, making sure Ibrahim heard her.

     Malik scoffed, placing his bottle of beer down at his workstation. The shop had closed an hour ago and it was nearing eight o'clock. The only reason why everyone stayed was to see how Kynlee's newest tattoo turned out. "You know it's true, girl. Literal hearts appear in your eyes every time you see that motherfucker," he gave her a look from across the room.

     "Not to mention they appear in his," Ibrahim commented, passing by with the counted till from the front register.

     "You right." Malik agreed, taking a swing of his drink.

     Breathing out through her nose, Kynlee resisted the urge to flip them off with both her hands. If she did that, she'd definitely fuck up the tattoo and she'd rather die than jeopardize her father's work.

     "Chad has a girlfriend, shitheads," she pointed out, annoyed that she was having to reiterate that fact for what felt like the millionth time that year. It wasn't like they didn't know. The pair had met Liv McKenzie on numerous occasions and saw her last week when Chad came in to get another tattoo from Ibrahim.

     "So?" Ibrahim asked.

     Malik rolled his eyes into the back of his head. If he had a dollar for every time he heard that shit... "Deep down, you know that pretty boy jock only has eyes for you. Y'all are just too chicken to do anything about it," he said, catching the smirk Andi was throwing his way. Even the girl's father agreed.

     "Literally fuck off," Kynlee groaned, dragging her hand down her face.

     "You didn't deny it."

     "He's right. You didn't."

     Tilting her head to the side on the table, she swept her gaze up and down Malik's relaxed figure. Then, she averted her gaze to Ibrahim's cheeky smile at the back of the room. "Don't either of you have some equipment to clean or somethin'?" she retorted, gesturing to the papers and ink littered everywhere.

     Holding his hands up in mock defense, Malik walked away with his beer chuckling. Meanwhile, Ibrahim simply shook his head before disappearing into the office.

     "Tell your boyfriend we said hello!" Malik shouted; his voice was coming from somewhere up at the front.

     "Fuck off with that shit!" Kynlee yelled, grumbling more curse words under her breath.

     Andi snickered, wiping away streaks of blood on his daughter's arm. "Boyfriend," he echoed, holding himself back from laughing at the expression on her face.

     Quickly turning her head in his direction, she glared harshly. "Pa, shut up," she seethed through gritted teeth.

     Andi gave her a deadpanned look, his amusement gone. "I'll talk if I wanna talk, Chiquita. Who's holding the tattoo gun?" he countered.

     "Fuck off," Kynlee bit the inside of her cheek and resumed bouncing her knee.

     "Conejito..." he sighed dramatically, tapping against her temple twice. It was an action he often did to get her to stop fidgeting so much. Most times, it worked. Not tonight, though. "Give me five more minutes." Nodding, she let out a quiet breath and brought her attention to her left hand. Slowly, she curled her fingers down and drummed her fingertips against her palm. It was a gesture she did when she was upset. "You know those pendejos are only messing with you, right?"

     Kynlee glanced over. "They've been telling me that shit my whole life. It's not messing around," she argued softly, pushing the comments out of her mind. Enough of her time was spent mentally beating herself up for falling for her best friend in the first place. Adding other people to the mix wouldn't change anything.

     Frowning, he turned off the tattoo gun and placed it to the side. When his daughter was younger, she was much more open about her feelings for Chad. Andi and Mindy Meeks-Martin were once sources of comfort when it came to Kynlee sharing her feelings. As soon as she hit high school and Chad got his first girlfriend, though, she shut down. She didn't bring the subject up and she went out of her way to avoid it.

     Although it made sense, it still saddened Andi to see his angel hurting and hiding behind the best friend facade.

     "How are things with Gem?" Andi cleared his throat, doing his best to sound casual.

     At the sound of her ex-girlfriend's nickname, she gave her father a look. Seriously? Right now?

     "What?! I was rooting for you two!"

     A laugh escaped her and Kynlee shook her head. "No, you fucking weren't," she protested, watching as he cleaned up the tattoo. Maybe she would be on time... "You told me it was a bad idea from the start, Pa."

     "And was I wrong? No, I wasn't."

     "Don't fucking gloat."

     "Something's not right with her, I'm telling you."

     Kynlee's jaw slackened. "There is nothing wrong with Amber. It just didn't work out." Andi motioned for her to sit up and she complied. "Besides, you're just convinced that—"

     "—you and Chad are meant to be?" He peered over his shoulder from his workstation where he was grabbing the supplies to wrap the tattoo. "Yes, yes I am."

     "I will find another fucking tattoo artist to go to," she threatened, flipping him off with both middle fingers. On the wall, she saw that she only had nine minutes left.

     Gasping dramatically, he reeled his head back an inch. "Now that's just cruel."

     "Then drop the goddamn topic and wrap the tat. I'm gonna be late."

     Andi held his hands up in surrender. "All right, all right."

────

     THE SOUND OF HEAVY FOOTSTEPS POUNDING AGAINST THE PAVEMENT FILLED THE EMPTY STREETS OF WOODSBORO, CALIFORNIA. The only source of light came from the street lamps and the occasional car that passed by. Other than that, it was empty and quiet.

     Out of breath, but holding onto sheer determination to get to the high school with only two minutes to spare, Kynlee propelled forward. She could do this... It didn't matter if her body was burning and she couldn't feel her legs. She can do this.

     The moment Woodsboro High School came into view, she gasped for air. "T-Thank God," she wheezed, using what energy she had left to sprint across the front lawn. Maneuvering around the trees, picnic tables, and bushes, she headed in the direction of the gym. It was located on the right end of the building.

     Suddenly, her phone started ringing and she slowed down. She was only a few feet away from the back doors. Without looking at the caller's I.D., she answered. "¿Qué pasa?" Before she left Dragonborn Ink, she'd switched it back on.

     The other end of the line was dead quiet and Kynlee's eyebrows scrunched together. Pulling the phone away to check who was calling, the screen lit up to reveal 'Blocked Number' at the top.

     Who the hell was this?

     "¿Aló?" she asked, waiting for someone to reply. No one did. "Weirdo."

     At that, she hung up and resumed walking closer to the doors. A couple of football players were exiting and gave her friendly waves, which she returned with a simple salute. From her attendance at tryouts every year, being at some of the practices, and showing up to every football game they played, not to mention her being Chad's best friend and having dated one of the players last year, they were all aware of who she was.

     A loud ring came from her pockets and Kynlee internally groaned. "What the hell..." she muttered, seeing the familiar 'Blocked Number' flashing again. "¿Qué?" she exclaimed, irritated beyond words.

     The silence quickly morphed into heavy breathing and she pinched the bridge of her nose. This was stupid. Obviously, this was someone's attempt at being a creep and prank-calling her. So, she hung up again, muted all notifications, turned the sound off, and put it on 'Do Not Disturb'. No more ridiculous phone calls for her tonight.

     Emerging from the building, Chad Meeks-Martin was already searching for his best friend. Almost right away, he spotted her a few yards ahead, glaring at her phone. The corners of his lips tugged upward. "Hey, gamer," he called with a grin on his face.

     Kynlee looked up and involuntarily mirrored his grin. No matter how hard she tried to, she couldn't not smile at the sight of him. "Hey, nerd," she greeted, sweeping her eyes over his appearance. Everything was normal; he looked as good as he always did. However, there were a few bruises on his arm that she couldn't help but notice. "How was practice?" Nodding at the injuries, she raised a brow.

     A brief wave of confusion fell over Chad before he glanced down. "What? Oh, I'm fine!" he reassured her, throwing an arm around her shoulder once they were close enough. In exchange, she grabbed the gym bag out of his hands and they made their way across campus. "One of the guys rammed into me on the field today. Practice was good, though."

     Ears perking, Kynlee felt a gnawing feeling in her gut. "Was it Bryce?"

     Chad knew where this was going and he gave her a look. "Kynz, really, I'm good."

     "Goddammit," she whispered, running a hand through a dark, tangled mess of hair.

     "Listen, Hobbs and Shaw can take it," he defended himself, briefly flexing his arms. Kynlee snorted, shaking her head. "Besides, it's not like I didn't ram back into him."

     Kynlee sighed. "Good."

     "He's a douche," Chad commented, and a question came to mind. "What'd you ever see in him anyway?"

     From the moment Kynlee talked to Bryce Simmons at Amber Freeman's party at the beginning of junior year, last year, Chad did not like him. Sure, he was a decent player on the field, but he was an even bigger one off. The reputation he'd garnered was real and true.

     He would date girls, sleep with them, and then dump them all within the span of a month, sometimes two. And that's exactly what happened to Kynlee Manral and why Chad ended up beating the shit out of Bryce the day after he dumped her and got suspended for two weeks.

     "Honestly? I think I was just tired of being alone." Kynlee admitted, unafraid of the truth behind her intentions last year.

     "Alone?" Chad repeated, bewildered. "What're you talking about?! Dude, you have me. Not to mention Mindy and our group."

     Rolling her eyes, she swung the gym bag back and forth. "I'm talking about being alone physically and intimately, dumbass," she explained, unaware of the prolonged stare her best friend had on her. "I wanted a relationship. Bryce walked up to me at Amber's party and he was cool enough. At least he seemed that way at the time and when I ignored the red flags."

     Chad frowned as a flash of the black-haired girl crying in his arms appeared in his mind. "You settled."

     "Hell yeah, I settled," she scoffed. "It was stupid. I know that now."

     "You deserve way better than that asshole," he said earnestly.

     Kynlee gave him a half-smile. "Thanks."

     A slight smirk spread across his lips and Chad cleared his throat. "Speaking of better..." he trailed off, wiggling his eyebrows.

     "Don't even fucking start with me—" Kynlee was promptly interrupted.

     "How are you and Amber? Things have been tense since she broke up with you."

     And there he goes...

     "Fucking hell."

     "What?! I'm just curious!" Chad's voice had raised an octave. "You haven't talked to me much about it and I'm not trying to pry..."

     Jaw-dropping, she quickly argued against that. "Yes, you are."

     "Okay, yeah, I am." Chad shrugged and nodded simultaneously.

     "But it's fine," she said, going back to his original inquiry. "We're fine."

     Chad lifted an eyebrow. "Are you fine?" To him, that was the more important question. Whether she and Amber were okay didn't matter all that much in comparison to how she was doing. That was his main concern and had been his whole life; he always wanted to make sure she was all right far before he checked in with himself.

     Humming in confirmation, Kynlee steered the two of them around a tree. They were gradually working their way toward the opposite side of the school where the student parking lot was.

     "Yes, I am," she answered honestly. "Tara and Wes keep asking me the same thing, too, and it's like no one believes me."

     Tara Carpenter and Wes Hicks were the other two members of their friend group. In total, there was Kynlee, Chad, Mindy, Wes, Tara, and Amber. The initial five had met in a daycare group a year after being born. From there, their parents formed a play group where the kids could play together while the parents got a much-needed break. So, for most of their lives, they didn't know life without one another.

     Then entered Amber Freeman during seventh grade in middle school. Her family had just moved into town from Montana due to a job offer her mother received. Kynlee and Tara had met her in their shared science class the first week of October and clicked instantly. Since that day, she'd been integrated into the friend group.

     Lastly, the most recent addition was Liv McKenzie. Everyone was aware of who she was, for Liv and Tara worked together at a local boutique last summer right before junior year. It wasn't until April of this year that Liv and Chad began dating, and Liv was brought into the fold.

     Titling his head to the side, Chad pursed his lips. "I mean... you and Amber dated for a good few months and then she dumped you out of the blue. I could tell that you liked her."

     Out of the blue? Well, it certainly appeared that way to everyone.

     "I did, but it wasn't meant to be. She and I both know that now, so there's no need to talk about it. Is there?" Kynlee retorted, giving him a forced, tight-lipped smile.

     The real reason behind Kynlee and Amber's breakup wasn't one neither of them had shared with anyone. It also wasn't something Kynlee was proud of or thrilled to discuss. After all, she was the reason why Amber broke up with her.

     "You know you can talk to me about relationships, right?" Chad asked, squeezing her shoulder reassuringly. In the past, they had always confided in the other when it came to romantic relationships, but something was different when it came to Kynlee's relationship with Amber. He didn't know what, but something was off. "I mean, I talk about mine with you."

     Kynlee quickly nodded. "Yeah, of course." The pair were approaching Chad's navy blue truck and her eyes searched for a certain brown and pink-haired girl. "Uh, speaking of relationships, where's Liv? Wasn't she supposed to meet us here?"

     Digging his keys out of his varsity jacket pockets, Chad shook his head. "I forgot to tell you," he pressed down on the car keys twice, watching his headlights flash when the vehicle unlocked. "She texted earlier, saying something came up. It'll just be us tonight." A thought came to mind and he grinned again. Kynlee's eyebrows fell into a jagged line and she stared at him apprehensively. "Best friend date! Up top!" He raised his hand in the air, for it was no longer draped across her shoulders.

     "Hell fuckin' yeah!" Kynlee cheered, not letting on how relieved she was that she would no longer spend the night watching Chad and Liv be together and she wouldn't have to feel her heart breaking further.

     Chad took his gym bag from her and tossed it in the backseat, along with his gear and backpack. Meanwhile, she stood off to the side. She knew that if she were to go ahead and get in the car he'd pout over not getting to open the door for her. It was so cute when he pouted, but she loved the smile he wore every time he opened the door for her more.

     "I almost forgot! How'd the tattoo turn out?"

     "It's so sick! I'll be able to properly show it to you later."

     "Does it look just like our drawing?"

     The tattoo Kynlee had gotten done was of a design she, Chad, and her father worked on together on a random Saturday. It was a drawing of a naked fairy floating with a star that Chad drew and the word 'ANGEL', in her father's handwriting, above its head. On the left thigh of the fairy, a heart was drawn. The heart originated from a Christmas card Kynlee received from her Abuelo when she was a kid.

     "Mmm-hmm. Pa knocked it outta the park, C," she said, not catching how Chad smiled at the rare nickname she used every now and then. "I think this one's my favorite so far."

     "You mean out of the ten million you already have?" Chad motioned to all the visible tattoos covering her hands and arms. She had one on her left leg, a few on her stomach, and butterfly wings on her back.

     Scowling, she feigned offense. "It is not ten million. I lost count." She had no clue how many she had at this point. "It's over twenty, though, for fucking sure." That much was definitely true.

     "I swear, all you've done since you turned eighteen is get tattoos." Chad jogged over to the other side of the truck and opened the passenger door.

     Kynlee sent him a grateful nod before replying, "You're one to fucking talk. Ibrahim has done all of yours and you have five. Not to mention, I turned eighteen last year. You've only been eighteen since the beginning of this month."

     All right, she had him there.

     "Okay, okay. Fair enough," he sighed, shutting the door once she was inside the vehicle. When Chad made his way to the driver's side, he quickly climbed in and automatically voiced the question either of them would always ask. "So... scream songs?"

     One of their shared favorite past times was screaming to songs they loved late at night. It wasn't something they were always able to do with their other friends or Liv. So, if it was just them, they made a point of blasting music and shouting at the top of their lungs while they drove through Woodsboro.

     Kynlee gave him a knowing expression, having already plugged her phone into the AUX cord. "Duh." She pulled up the playlist she'd created years ago, clicking on the first track.

     The familiar introduction to Blink-182's Darkside blared through the speakers. In unplanned unison, the two locked eyes and smirked.

     "SHE'S A GIRL DRESSED IN BLACK FROM ANOTHER WORLD!"

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❝ you were on my 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅 all the 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆. . .
𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 out a 𝒇𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 for 𝒕𝒘𝒐. . .

what i'd 𝒅𝒐 in a room 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒆, only 𝒎𝒆 and 𝒚𝒐𝒖! ❞

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Conejito ━━ Bunny
Chiquita ━━ Small, petite
Pendejos ━━ Assholes
¿Qué pasa? ━━ What's happening?
¿Aló? ━━ Hello?
¿Qué? ━━ What?

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     WELCOME TO CASUALTY OF YOUR DREAMS, EVERYONE!!!!!

     i am so excited to finally have this book published and to actually be writing it. i've been thinking about writing a scream book since scream 2022 last year, and when i fell in love with mikey madison + mason gooding. with the harassment of my two best friends, i finally caved and decided to write it.

     i hope you enjoyed this first chapter! i can't wait for what's to come!

     SIDE NOTE: since scream 2022 didn't give us much background on the side characters and their actual lives (aka the friend group), i wanted to add in my own ideas that i feel suit each character. most of this book is canon, but i will be adding things here and there to make the characters feel more real and personable.

     ps... in my meet my oc's book (𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐋), i have published an entire section for this book where you can go and read more about it and about kynlee manral! just wanted to mention that in case anyone was interested. it does contain spoilers, though.

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     here are pictures of kynlee's tattoos for reference! essentially, her character has all the same tattoos her faceclaim, lizeth selene, has.

the one on the far right is the one kynlee got in this chapter!

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˒⠀𝑹𝑬𝑴𝑰𝑵𝑫𝑬𝑹. . . ▬⠀⤸

Thank you all for taking the time out of your day to comment on this story. It means a lot and helps the story be spread to a broader audience &&& allows me to grow as an author. All I ask is that people vote on each chapter, please. As a creator, it takes time to write and develop stories. So please, vote on every chapter. It means a lot more than I could ever express.

Don't forget to vote & comment!

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˒⠀𝑪𝑶𝑷𝒀𝑹𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻. . . ▬⠀⤸

❝ All Rights Reserved.
No part of this publication may be
reproduced, distributed, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, including
photocopying, recording, or other
electronic or mechanical methods,
without prior permission of the author,
except in the case of brief quotations
embodied in critical reviews and
other noncommercial uses permitted
by copyright law. ❞

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