The rest of the periods went quietly without any disturbances. And by disturbances, Cathy meant Zach barging into the classroom and stabbing Anther and Alexa.

But then during the last period Cathy heard a faint but audible pop to her far right before her history teacher's voice was heard.

"Ms. Taylor, would you please dispose that."  the middle age woman said as she turned to focus her gaze on a certain all black clothed teenager .

"But Ms," said Alexa casually. She stopped to blow a bubble before swallowing it and continuing to talk. "I've checked the school rule book and it says you can't eat, and I'm just chewing and blowing, not eating."

"Well this is my class so my rules matter, so you can't chew bubblegum in my class." Snapped Ms. Hansen, her anger getting the best of her.

"Well I'm a part of this class so I say that you can't put your hair in that eye burning bun anymore," Replied Alexa in a teasingly calm tone.

Glaring at Alexa, the teacher's face flushed red as her hand automatically went up to her poorly styled bun that made her hair stick out from almost every angle. Finally realising that she still hadn't said a word, Ms. Hansen grabbed her notebook and scribbled hurriedly on it before announcing, "and that's detention for you Taylor,"

"But Ms.-" a third voice said before it was cut short by the blonde woman. "You may join Taylor in detention as well Adams,"

Almost laughing out loud at the cheerful chatter Ryan was muttering to himself, Cathy wheeled around in her chair just in time to see Ryan fist powing the air. "Gosh I so wish I was like you." She said before turning in front and leaving the carefree blonde in confusion.

"You two must stay afterschool tomorrow." Concluded Mrs. Hansen with a scowl before marching out of the class as the end of school bell rang.

Stretching and yawning, Cathy's ears perked up when she a voice behind her."Listen up Ryan," the girl said as Cathy she rose from her seat and made sure to avert her eyes from the conversation beside her.

That didn't stop her ears from working though.

"Detention is like the only time I can be alone, my mom's continuously pissing me off at home and I can't stand it there. So please, stop purposely getting yourself into trouble because I need some me time." The girl pleaded. Her voice taking a weak edge to the end.

Hearing Alexa walk away, Cathy turned around and slug her bag across her shoulder as she heard Ryan groan.

"Shall I wait for you?" She asked him as she failed to cover up her expression of pity for the boy in front of her.

"Um, ok, if you want to that is," replied Ryan giving her a small smile before adding, "she isn't always like this you know. Alexa."  He whispered, glancing at the door before looking back at Cathy. "She's been through some serious shit, and her parents aren't exactly what you would call supportive." He said before inhaling deeply. "Do you mind if I call the others?"

☠︎︎ ☠︎︎ ☠︎︎

"I'm so sleepy!!!!" Groaned Cathy as she, Ryan, Kylie and Anther walked down St. Matthew's Road. The dried leaves scrunching under their feet as the early autumn air blew dust into their faces and crows cawed above their heads. Given that the others had said that their houses were down the closer side of the main road, Cathy presumed that they weren't too far away from her's.

"Ugh, same." Ryan said as he finished his rambling about Zach's face when he found out that Alexa had knocked him out cold.

"Oh I wanted to ask y'all," piped up Kylie her eyes moving to the corner as she noticed the boys had finally stopped talking. "You guys decided whom y'all are gonna take to the homecoming dance?" She drawled out with a sly grin.

"Well.." said Anther teasingly as he kicked a rock in his way. "The whole school knows that Ryan's gonna ask Alexa and she's gonna refuse."

"I don't exactly know," muttered Ryan in reply as he stuffed his hands into his denim's pockets. "Last term when I flirted with Macy she seemed pretty affected. The next day she spilled a bottle full of water on my head."

"Oh please," said Kylie snickering. "Everyone knows that she did that cause you stole her notebook to see what she had written in it about you."

"But I steal everyone's diary." Said Ryan, smiling as he caught Cathy's eye before half shrugging as he turned the other way and muttered softly. "They just look so aesthetically pleasing."

"Do you have anyone in mind Cathy?" Asked Kylie, horribly concealing a grin.

"Erm...Not yet, like it's been only my first day," Cathy replied as she stole a glance at Anther who quickly turned his attention to a random tree when their eyes locked. "What about you?"

"Most probably I'll be going with Kyle." Said Kylie merrily as a glazed look came over eyes.

Ryan scoffed at the name.

"Who's Kyle?" Asked Cathy curiously as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

Kylie opened her mouth to speak before Ryan cut in.

"He's this senior that plays football." Said Ryan, his disgust about the boy crystal clear. "Kylie met him on the field while she was shaking pom poms for him, and then guess what? Like a pair of clichè weirdos they started dating."

"We're soulmates Ryan, so you better stop talking about him like that." Snapped Kylie, a crease forming on her her forehead.

"Just because your names are kind of the same it doesn't make you soulmates!" Snapped  back Ryan with a scowl.

"You're just jealous-"

"Hey guys," Cathy quickly interrupted. "This is my house, so I'll see you'll tomorrow at school."

The three others stared at Cathy before Kylie's high pitched squeal made everyone's ears bleed.

"Shut up!" The three of them yelled as a passerby walking down the road gave them a weird look.

"That's amazing Cathy!" Kylie said. Clear, loud- really loud- excitement coating her voice. "Ryan and I live here-" she squealed as she grabbed Cathy by the arm and pulled her with a force that was actually quite shocking for a girl her size.

Wincing as Kylie's nail bit into the part Zach had squeezed, Cathy watched as the 16 year old pointed to the house on her right. "-Anther lives there-" Kylie pointed to the house on Cathy's left. "-and Alexa lives there." She finished, pointing to the house on Cathy's far right which was directly right to Ryan's.

"Well, welcome to the gang," said Ryan giving Cathy a small side hug once Kylie had finished suffocating her.

"We sit at the corner table during lunch." She heard Anther say as he flashed her a smile. "And now that you're an official...just make sure you come on time." He said, the few simple words making Cathy's face break into a smile.

Turning her doorknob, Cathy turned on her phone to check her notifications. Staring impatiently at the loading device she felt her stomach drop when the door didn't budge. Raising her head, the brunette groaned and banged her head on the door when she realised it was locked.

Great. Just freaking great.

And just then, her phone pinged with a message.

𝐌𝐨𝐦 :
13 : 14

𝙸 𝚕𝚎𝚏𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚔𝚎𝚢 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝙼𝚛𝚜. 𝙱𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚔(𝚗𝚘.18/2) 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚏𝚏 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗. 𝚂𝚑𝚎'𝚜 𝚊𝚗 𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚜𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢. 𝙸 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚊 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚍𝚊𝚢!

Mentally cursing her mother for not including that in her note, Cathy turned to her right, the name Brook ringing alarms in her brain.

"Anther!" She called to her left where the blue eyed boy had just rung his doorbell.

Anther turned to face Cathy as her raised his eyebrows to urge her to continue while she walked up to him. "Your mom has my house key," she said. And no sooner had the words left her mouth did the door open.

"Oh you must be Catherine," said a woman appearing at the door whom Cathy suspected was in her early 40's like her mom. Like Anther, Mrs. Brook too had enchanting blue eyes which were only a slight shade darker. Her brown hair was tied in a messy bun as she undid the green apron around her waist, revealing a pink floral dress.

"Yes Mrs. Brooks that would be me. Although I go as Cathy." Said Cathy  immediately feeling weird as she heard her name being mentioned.

"Well then Cathy, you can call me Ava."

"Oh ok." Said Cathy trying her best not to laugh at how rejected and out of place Anther looked.

"Would you like to come in for a cup of tea?" Asked Ava moving a bit so that Cathy could enter.

"Um-"

"Cathy."

Feeling the hair on every part of her body stand straight, Cathy's eyes went wide enough to pop out of their sockets as she snapped her head around. She felt the voices around her fading away and the multicoloured cars honking in the traffic dissolved into a cloak of darkness. The trees in front of her standing out brighter than ever as the temperature around her dropped to such a degree that Cathy could swear that she felt frost forming on the tips of her fingers.

"Cathy?"

Blinking hard, Cathy stared at the woman in front of her. "Did you-did you hear that?" She asked as the feeling of being unable to breathe took over her.

"Hear what dear?" Asked the woman concernly.

"That voi- you know what it's alright." Cathy hurried out as she sucked in a deep breath. "Uh, do you mind if Anther could come to my house?" She hurriedly said while ignoring the fixed stare that was running down her spine.

Turning her head to the side Ava looked at Cathy's left as if just noticing Anther. "Oh you both have already become friends. Well then I'll go get your keys and then the two of you could tag along." She said before heading towards the living room.

"I'll go keep my bag and come," said Anther flashing Cathy a slightly panicked look before darting up the stairs.

Feeling her breath hitch at the top of her throat, Cathy felt her palms coating with sweat as the sensation of wanting to throw up came over her. Sucking in a deep breath as Anther and Ava returned to the doorstep, Cathy plastered on a fake face of calmness as she thanked Ava for the key.

"Do you have anxiety or something?" Asked Anther as he tried his best to keep up with Cathy's fast strides while she hurried to Ryan's house.

"Who doesn't?"

"Or asthma or whatever?"

"Yes and no." Cathy replied, her throat burning even more with each step. "Like my mom ges anxiety attacks and she needs her inhaler and all but it's not that serious for me."

"I heard it." Anther said after Cathy had sucked in a couple more deep breaths. "Your name. Something- no someone said your name."

Cathy stole a quick glance towards Anther to see concern and maybe, just maybe, a slight twinge of fear in his eyes.

She opened her mouth to say something reassuring but clamped it shut when no words came out. Stopping in front of Ryan's porch, Cathy rang the doorbell to which Ryan answered a few excruciatingly painful seconds later.

"Uh Ryan, would you and Kylie like to come to my house?" Asked Cathy as normally as she could.

"Ah ok...just give me a sec." Said Ryan as if her sudden request was perfectly normal. Trying her best to calm her nerves, Cathy watched as he turned around and hollered. "KYLIE!"

"Yeah!?" Yelled Kylie in reply as she almost stumbled down the steps.

"Come on." Said Ryan, leaving the door for Kylie to shut.

Fear and paranoia taking over Cathy completely, the brunette didn't stop glancing behind her back as they walked upto Alexa's house. Ringing the bell with shaking fingers, Cathy waited impatiently while Anther shrugged in reply to Kylie and Ryan's questions .

"What do you want?" Was Alexa's greeting when she opened the door as she chewed on a bubble gum while glaring at Cathy.

"Could come to my house? Uh, consider it as a small spend the day," said Cathy.

"Not interested," replied Alexa, already halfway in closing the door before she'd even replied.

Knowing that was about to happen, Cathy blocked it with her foot.

"Please," she said. But instead of her voice coming out pleading, it sounded panicked. "I need your help."

Alexa's pale blue eyes just stared at Cathy's hazel ones for a few long seconds before she exhaled. Most probably noticing how each vein stood of on Cathy's body, she exhaled. "Fine. Y'all go ahead. I'll put on my slippers and come.

☠︎︎ ☠︎︎ ☠︎︎

"You seriously made these?" Asked Anther as he drained bit into the cookies Cathy had made the day before they moved.

"Yes Anther" Cathy replied while rummaging through her bag.

"It's great," replied Anther grinning.

"Thanks," muttered Cathy as she buried her face deeper into her bag so that her blush wouldn't be seen.

"So why did you call us here?" Asked Alexa, annoyance evident in her tone.

"For this," replied Cathy, finally  pulling out the leather bound notebook she'd bren searching for. It's cursive letters spelling out  "Cat" in golden ink, catching everyone's attention.

"Cat huh?" Anther mused as Cathy placed the notebook Beth had given for her birthday onto the fluffy blue carpet for the others to see.

"You know what, I'm gonna call you Cat." Anther finished as Cathy felt her heart sunk with memories of her late best friend.

"Only I'm allowed to call you Cat." Beth had laughed. "Not even your future boyfriend, or girlfriend,  whatever you want." winking she'd added.

In order to get the painful ordeal done with, Cathy hurriedly flipped the pages to the one where two newspaper cuttings were. One being about her and Beth going into the woods while the other being Beth's obituary and about her empty coffin funeral.

"I heard something before," Cathy began as the others poked their heads to see what was written on the paper. Gulping, Beth's face flashed in Cathy's mind as she said, "and I don't want to die."

* * *

A/N

If you've read up to here then idk whether I should call u crazy or thank you.

I'm gonna go with both.

THANK YOU, U CRAZY HUMAN BEING THAT'S READING MY BOOK.

Oh and lmao when I wrote that part where Kylie screams, I was actually thinking of a friend of mine that's really really loud and screams the exact same way. Like istg you'd probably hear her all the way from mars😂