back of my mind whispered, What if it’s not Jason? What if it’s a serial killer and you’re about to be gutted like a fish? But I stuffed down the thoughts. It was a knee-jerk reaction to the situation, to the fear clawing up my throat. It was Jason.
It had to be.
“Screw this,” I murmured, steeling myself to run. But as I went to take off, another two figures rushed out of the shadows, grabbing my arms and pinning me against the wall.
“Jason,” I hissed as my brain tried to process what was happening. “This isn’t funny anymore. Tell your fucking idiot friends to back down before I scream.”
Their hands tightened and I thrashed against them, but they were too strong, and I was probably going to have bruises tomorrow. “Cameron, Asher, you’ve done a lot of messed up things to me in the past, but this is—”
The figure—Jason—ate up the distance between us in long sure strides, stopping mere millimeters from my body. “Jason?” I breathed, no longer convinced it was him and that I wasn’t about to be gutted like a fish.
Fear gripped me, as he dug his hand in his pocket. I sucked in a sharp breath as he began to lift his arm, waiting for the glint of metal. But it never came. Instead my vision went dark as something was shoved over my head and this time I did scream. The silence had been eerie enough. But this was worse.
This was fucking terrifying.
“Calm the fuck down,” someone said, but the blood pounding between my ears made it difficult to distinguish if it had been Jason or Asher or Cameron. Or someone else entirely. My heart crashed violently against my chest, making it difficult to breathe as every possible scenario of what was about to happen flooded my mind.
“Please,” I cried. “Just stop. Just—”
A hand fixed over my mouth again, and I gasped, fighting for breath, the smell of polyester overpowering my senses. But it all stopped when I felt something move against my stomach, painting torturous patterns. Oh God. My fight response withered and died, rendering me paralyzed, as I waited for the flash of pain. But it never came as a blunt object moved over my t-shirt. Confused, and drowning in a tsunami of fear and paranoia, I let my body go completely lax as my captors began to pull me away from the wall, guiding me to who only knew where. Seconds ticked by, my legs stumbling to keep with up them. And then the world came back in an overwhelming blur of color and noise as the hood was ripped off my head.
“W- what?” I blinked rapidly, sucking in greedy lungful’s of air, as I staggered toward the sounds.
But as my vision began to settle, I realized something was wrong.
Very wrong.
I was on the fringe of the parking lot, looking out over the pep rally. And everyone was staring back at me.
Everyone.
The laughter started like a storm. The rumble of thunder far off in the distance, creeping closer with every crack of lighting. Until it was right on me; each rumble like a violent shiver up my spine, each crack like a jolt to my heart.
“Hails?” Flick pushed her way through the crowd, her eyes alight with panic. “What…” Her eyes dropped to my chest and she gasped, “Oh shit.” The color drained from her face.
My fingers reached for the hem of the tee, stretching it out so I could just make out the words. There, painted in blue pen, was the words ‘I ride Raiders for fun’.
Embarrassment burned through me, flaming my cheeks, as I met my best friend’s sympathetic gaze. “I will fucking kill him,” I ground out, not caring who could hear me.
She took a cautious step toward me. “Jason didn’t do this—”
“Of course he did,” I hissed, already searching the crowd for his smug face.
“No, he didn’t, Hails.” Something about the conviction in her voice gave me pause, and I slid my gaze to hers. “He’s been here the whole time.”
“But that’s not…”
“It is, I promise.”
Just then, I felt him. My eyes snapped up and sure enough Jason was there, in the middle of my gathered audience, his eyes hard on me. Flick was right. It couldn’t have been him.
“And Asher?” I asked, my voice shaky.
“He was right there too. I watched them cream the Eagle three times in a row.”
I didn’t know what to feel when I finally said, “And Cameron?”
“He was there at the start, but