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𝙑𝙊𝙇𝙐𝙈𝙀 𝑰𝑰. ── CASUALTY OF YOUR DREAMS!

❛ 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒍 ❜
─── chapter thirteen! ❫

013. ╱ ✹ ⠀⠀ ❝ dug yourself a grave,
no surprise. . . should've known better,
so now, it's time that you die in it. ❞

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     CHAD WORE THE WORLD'S LARGEST GRIN AS HE TWIRLED KYNLEE AROUND IN CIRCLES. Laughter echoed from both of them and floated through the campus quad. For a Saturday, it was surprisingly still littered with students here and there. Most people were minding their business and hanging out with their friends while a few had glanced over at the couple before quickly averting their attention elsewhere.

     For the last three minutes, they'd been dancing together and swaying to the beat of someone playing the drums in the distance. The entire world was filled with only themselves at that moment. They were the only ones that matter for three minutes and that's all they needed to feel alive again after their tumultuous morning.

     "Y solo mírame con esos ojito' lindo' que con eso yo estoy bien, hoy he vuelto a nacer," Kynlee sang softly, holding onto Chad's hand tightly as he held her backside to him with his arm resting across her chest. The couple were now swaying side to side. The lyrics she was singing belonged to Ojitos Lindos by Bad Bunny. "Hacе tiempo que no agarro a nadie de la mano. Hace tiempo que no envío: buenos días, te amo."

     A grin of adoration was stamped on his face while Chad listened. If someone were to ask what his favorite song was, he'd forever say it was Kynlee Manral's voice— singing or not. Especially when they would go on their drives in Woodsboro and scream songs together. However, moments such as this where she was singing directly to him topped everything else.

     Bringing Chad's hand that she was holding to her mouth, she kissed the top of it. "Pero tú me tiene' enredao, me envolví. Iba por mi camino y me perdí; mi mirada cambió cuando tus ojos vi. Bye-bye a los culo', ni me despedí." Kynlee angled her head back and looked up at him with a lovestruck gleam in her eyes.

     He blushed and grinned at the way she was staring at him. "How can someone look and sound so beautiful?" he remarked, raising an eyebrow.

     "Good question," she hummed, squeezing his hand. "I've been wondering that about you for two decades now."

     Chad scoffed with a smile and glanced into the distance. "Nice. That was smooth."

     "I know," she stood on the tips of her toes and managed to kiss the skin under his chin. "You wanna get something to eat? My treat."

     Returning his gaze to the girl in his arms, he nodded. "Smoothies and soft pretzels?" It was an odd food combination she'd developed when the friend group initially moved to New York, but he had to admit that it wasn't bad.

     Kynlee beamed. "You know me so well, you know that?"

     "Do I know you well or are you predictable?" Chad challenged, raising an eyebrow.

     Jaw-slackening, she scowled and playfully pushed him away. "Fuck you. The answer's both," she grumbled, flipping him off.

     "I'm joking, I'm joking," he laughed, following her as she began wandering across the quad. On the other end of campus near her dorm building, there was a smoothie shop and pretzel stand adjacent to each other. Both of which she was a proud regular at.

     As the couple made their way to their destination, they walked in a comfortable silence. Fingers interlaced and swinging back and forth, they took their time. It wasn't like they were in a rush or had to be anywhere. The rest of their day was freed up after the Rules and Suspects meeting concluded.

     The pair split from the main group with Mindy and Sam warning them to stay vigilant while they were out. If last night taught them anything it was that Ghostface wasn't opposed to making an appearance or attacking during the day or in public. Not this version of Ghostface, at least.

     However, the rest of this afternoon was about them and not their present circumstances. It was about feeling and being normal college students as they had been for months. Neither wanted the crimson-stained horror brought on by Ghostface to ruin the lives they fought so hard to put back together after last year.

     Before they knew it, Kynlee and Chad were at the smoothie shop and ordering their drinks, shortly receiving them. Then, they made their way to the pretzel stand. While they were waiting in line, Kynlee finished her smoothie and threw the cup away. Once they had their pretzels, they began walking down the sidewalk.

     "Do you want me to stay the night at your dorm tonight or do you want to stay at mine?" Chad asked through a mouthful of soft pretzel.

     Kynlee snorted. "So attractive." Using his right hand, which was wrapped around his smoothie, Chad lifted his middle finger. A sarcastic smile appeared and Kynlee laughed. "Mine. Minds made a good point earlier about nobody suspecting E because he's so shy and dorky."

     Loosely shrugging, Chad didn't argue against her statement. Logically, it made sense and he was going to go with her decision regardless of what it was. All that mattered to him was that she felt safe and comfortable.

     "Tonight we should play Pokémon HeartGold and watch SpongeBob," she added, taking a bite out of her pretzel.

     "God, I love you," Chad groaned, throwing his head back.

     Rolling her eyes, she shoved his shoulder. "You act like we don't do that at least once a week." They stepped around a group of teenagers and continued strolling.

     "I know. I just like hearing you suggest it. It's hot."

     Tilting her head, she raised an eyebrow. "You are so fucking odd, Chad Meeks-Martin. You know that?" She took another bite of her food, nearly done.

     Chad only grinned. "Yup, and you love me anyway."

     Kynlee couldn't help but mirror his smile. "Yeah. Yeah, I do," she sighed happily, ruffling his hair. "Nerd."

     "Gamer."

     Suddenly, the sound of Kynlee's phone dinging came from Chad's back pocket. The pair came to a stop and stepped off the sidewalk and into the entrance of an alley. It was the easiest way to get out of people's way.

     In three seconds, Kynlee had reached around Chad and retrieved her phone. Quickly, she typed in her passcode and clicked on her text messages. An unconscious wave of relief flooded her nervous system and she relaxed at the sight of Tara's contact name.

     "Who is it?" Chad asked, peering over her shoulder.

     "Tara," she replied, resting against his chest.

     Hey! Dinner and sleepover at my place tonight <3

     Kynlee smiled at the message and sent a reply.

     suena bien <3

     At the phrase, Chad furrowed his brows. "Suena bien?" he read out loud, glancing at her. Most of his smoothie was gone now and he was chewing on the last of his pretzel.

     "It means 'sounds good'," she explained, nodding when he hummed.

     I was thinking of making One Pan pasta. You wanna help?

     fuck YEAH

     "One Pan pasta... Isn't that the Mexican pasta thingy Ms. Carpenter used to make? It was some sort of family recipe, right?" Chad checked. The name sounded incredibly familiar.

     Kynlee nodded again, eating the rest of her soft pretzel and tossing the napkin she'd been holding in the nearby trash can.

     Perfect! We're gonna get the ingredients now. I'll see you later!

     see you l8rrrrrr

     Chad tossed his cup and napkin in the trash can, too.

     You and Chad be safe, K! Te amo <3

     Again, Kynlee smiled at the black-haired girl's text.

     you too, t <3 te amo tanto

     "I swear," Chad pressed a kiss to her cheek, "if we weren't dating, you and Tara would be." He'd noticed the grin on her lips and knew it was because Tara's text made her happy.

     Bursting into laughter, Kynlee locked her phone and twisted her head to look at him. "Well, we both know she's equally as queer as Mindy and I are," she shrugged, snaking an arm over his waist and tucking her phone into his back pocket. "So, I'd have a shot."

     Playfully rolling his eyes, Chad tucked her hair behind her ears. "So, we have some time to kill before dinner," he mentioned, feeling both of her arms wrap around him, "and Mindy and Anika are with the others. Ethan might still be with them or be back at our dorm until his Econ class tonight. That leaves your dorm completely free and empty..."

     It didn't take a genius to deduce what he was suggesting, and Kynlee simply smirked. "And what? This is your golden opportunity to give me that hickey?"

     "That, and for us to do some other stuff," he grinned cheekily, shrugging innocently.

     "No sex in horror movies, remember?" On occasion, she'd remind him of that rule but they both knew neither cared about it. Even Mindy, who proudly preached it every chance she got, didn't follow it.

     Scoffing, Chad shook his head and threw an arm over her shoulder. In response, she enveloped an arm around his waist and leaned into his side. They exited the alley together and merged into the crowded streets. "Like that's stopped us before," he countered, kissing the top of her head. "Besides, our lives aren't going to be a horror movie forever."

     "I fucking hope not," Kynlee breathed as they began to walk in the direction of her and Mindy's dorm building. "If our luck is that bad and our lives stay being a horror movie, I might as well die or disappear like Sidney did. I'm not fucking dealing with Ghostface's shit forever."

     Chad gasped. "Kynz, don't say that!"

     "What?!" she replied, raising both eyebrows. "I'm not the final girl or one of them in this narrative. None of us are. That's Sam and Sidney. The killer or killers don't care about the rest of us."

     "Then it's up to you, Mindy, Sam, Tara, and I to make sure we live through this," Chad said, tugging her closer to his side. They maneuvered around a group of tourists and continued down the sidewalk. "It's like Pa said: Don't trust anyone. Don't trust our new friends. Stay close to our family, and stay close to me."

     Kynlee nodded and turned slightly to kiss his neck. "I will," she vowed, ready to talk about anything else.

     Luckily, he was thinking the same as her. "And speaking of staying close to me..."

     "Mm-hmm. I can see my dorm now, lover. Walk faster."

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❝ you know i'm 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 at 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒔,
you know that you're my 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔. . .

and i'll 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 repeat 𝒊𝒕! ❞

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Suena bien ━━ Sounds good
Te amo tanto ━━ I love you so much
Te amo ━━ I love you

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     HAPPY NOVEMBER!!!!!!!! i can't believe it's november, that's wild.

     this is such a short and filler chapter, but it's just to give some breathing room before the next chapter (which is over 7k words and very intense)!

     the next chapter is already done and will be out tomorrow! updates for this book might be a little more frequent than usual. i have the back half planned out and some of it is already written, which is great. i'm very excited for what's to come.

     i hope everyone (who celebrated/celebrates) had a fantastic halloween!

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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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