BLOODSPORT
CHAPTER TWO !

   BOTH PAULINE AND MINDY sat quietly at the kitchen island the next morning. After tossing and turning for the remainder of the night, both girls had barely gotten any sleep. Concern for the Carpenter girl was rife, leaving neither able to think clearly.

The clinking of spoons against bowls and the crunch of cereal was all that could be heard as they sat there, forcing themselves to eat something before school. Pauline had just finished her bowl of cereal and placed the dirty dish into the sink when the front door slammed open.

It would have crashed into the wall behind it had it not been for the doorstop that interrupted its path. Both girls glanced up just in time to see Jaqueline Summers still in her scrubs, running into the kitchen, panting violently and hair, that was once pulled back into a low bun, in complete disarray.

   "Mom?" Pauline questioned in confusion. An ache spread through her chest as her mom yanked her into a frenzied hug. "Christ, mom, what's wrong? Is it Tara?"

   Jaqueline held back the tears as images of the terribly injured Tara flashed through her mind. "I saw Tara. Oh honey, it was horrible." She squeezed her daughter tightly for just another moment before pulling back.

"How is she? Is she gonna be okay?"

   "The other doctors think so. She should make a full recovery." The woman confirmed with a slight smile in an attempt to assuage the worry that swam through her daughter's eyes. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement which caused her to glance over. "Mindy, sweetie."

  Jaqueline rushed forward and grabbed hold of the Meeks-Martin girl before she even had the chance to open her mouth. "Have you spoken to your mom? I bet she's worried sick."

   "Hi Miss Summers. And yes, I texted her this morning when I got up." Mindy replied to her best friends mother with a half smile and a chuckle.

   While still lock in an embrace with the woman, Mindy's eyes sought out Pauline, who stood off to the side by the sink, the girl desperately attempting to stifle a laugh at her friend's predicament.

   Mindy shot her a playful glare just as Jaqueline released her from the hug which forced a smile back onto her lips to avoid the woman from thinking the glare was aimed at her.

   "That's good. I want you girls to keep either me or Martha up to date. The psycho that hurt Tara is still out there. It isn't safe to be going off on your own." The woman stressed her concerns for the girls safety.

   Jaqueline couldn't help but feel thankful that it hadn't been her daughter that had been attacked. Just like Tara, Pauline had been alone at home for quite some time before Mindy joined her. If she had never allowed for Mindy to stay over, could that have been her daughter laying in that hospital bed?

It didn't bear thinking about.

   "We will, mom. Don't worry." Pauline reassured with a smile. She quickly crossed over to the kitchen island to grab her backpack. "Why don't you go and take a shower. Mindy and I were just about head to school."

"Be careful." The Summers woman stressed to her daughter. Quickly her gaze turned to the grinning Mindy. "Both of you."

With that, Jaqueline Summers turned on the heel of her black Birkenstocks and ran for the staircase, leaving behind a still laughing Pauline and Mindy.

   "Your mom is such a card." Mindy commented as she and Pauline made their way out of the Summers household, gently shutting and locking the door behind them. "I love her."

   A smile graced Pauline's lips at the compliment her friend paid her mother. "She loves you too, you know? Out of all our friends, you're definitely her favourite." The engine of the vehicle shared between mother and daughter roared.

   "I should hope so." The curly haired girl grinned. Her response had Pauline smiling in return as she backed up out of the driveway, as Mindy threw their backpacks onto the row of backseats.

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IT WAS LUNCH TIME before Pauline saw any of her friends. Almost right away, as the teenage girl has traversed through her classes of the day, chatter of Tara's attack had been extremely prevalent. From how she had been stabbed repeatedly to the notion of the attacker having worn a Ghostface mask, similar to that of the mask worn in the attacks of teenagers in '96 and 2011.

   It had become far too much for the Summers girl, who had made it a point to avoid eye contact with anyone who looked her way. People that had shared classes with her for years and didn't bother to even glance her way before suddenly discussed her and her friendship with Tara at length.

   All she wanted to do was find her friends and ignore everything else that was going on. Her black boot clad feet carried her out of the school and into the courtyard, a smile growing on her lips at the sight of her friends in the distance.

   "Amber!" Pauline called out as she ran towards the group of picnic tables where her friends all sat. Amber was best friends with Tara so Pauline could only imagine how she felt. "I can't believe what happened to Tara. It's fucking crazy."

   The Freeman girl was quick to pull Pauline into a hug once the multi-tone haired girl reached her. "Tell me about it. You're coming with to see her later, right?"

   "Of course." Pauline smiled as she nodded her head. As she pulled back from the embrace and moved to sit next to Mindy, who flashed her a grin before returning to scroll through her phone, she spoke up to catch Wes' attention. "Hey Wes, thanks again for calling last night."

   Wes Hicks, who had intensely staring down at his phone glanced up at the mention of his name. "Don't mention it." A notification rang through on his phone causing his to jump to his feet and lift the device up to his ear, walking away to talk in private.

   Pauline watched him go just as the voice of the vice principal echoed out over the courtyard. "Attention Panthers. A reminder that all classes and school activities are cancelled tomorrow due to public safety concerns."

   Wes returned just as the announcement reached its end. "Everything okay?" The Summers girl asked, concern mixed into her voice. He looked slightly stressed which worried her.

"That was Sam." He answered with a half smile.

   Samantha Carpenter. More commonly known as Sam, Tara's older sister. They all knew the older woman. She'd taken off the moment she turned eighteen, leaving with bidding either her mother or baby sister a goodbye. Pauline could remember how absolutely devastated Tara had been the day Sam took off.

"She's coming?" Amber brusquely inquired while she stared over at the Hicks boy as he sat back down.

"Yeah." Wes nodded his head as he shoved his phone into the pocket of his jeans.

   The Freeman girls face immediately switched. Her expression had morphed from quite neutral to pissed off in seconds. ""Watch everything get worse."

   Before anyone could question her response to the notion of Sam returning home to Woodsboro, Chad came waltzing over with his arm thrown of his girlfriends shoulder. "Listen, all I'm saying is, with everything going on right now. I think it's firm we take our relationship to the next, most intimate level."

   "He wants me to accept his Find My Fam request." Liv Mckenzie informed everyone as the two sat down. Her eyes rolled at the way  Chad threw his arm protectively over her lap.

   "It's the smartest option with a would-be killer on the loose." Chad defended his suggestion with a shrug. He wasn't entirely wrong, at least that's what Pauline thought. "You know exactly where I am and I know exactly where you are."

"Aw, you can stalk me like a jealous boyfriend." Liv sarcastically mocked, leaning down to speak into her boyfriend's ear.

   Her words caused Chad to turn his head, his nose nearly tapping hers. The boy laughed as he uttered, "And you can stalk me like a jealous boyfriend."

"Is this because you two aren't having sex yet?" Amber laughed at bickering between the two.

   The muscular boy pointed over at the still chuckling girl. "You actually bring up a very good point. Not that I want to sound like a stereotypical jock trying to get into his girlfriend's pants—"

Liv was quick to cut him off with a sarcastic, "Great."

"Don't do it, Liv. There's a psycho out there. You make yourself harder to find." Wes advised, glancing around everyone as his face become much more serious. "Delete social media, tape over your phone camera. Disable GPS."

   "Yes, thank you very much, Edward Snowden." Chad fought back a roll of the eyes at Wes and his endless list of rules to follow. It was as clear as ever in that moment that Wes was the son of a police officer. "Actually, your mother just interrogated me about Tara's attempted murder, which was very fun."

   The Summers girl watched on as Wes looked off in the distance. By following his line of sight, she found herself staring over at his mother, Sheriff Judy Hicks. Pauline sent the woman a smile when the two made eye contact.

Breaking off eye contact with his mother, Wes quietly muttered, "I'm sure she's asking everybody. I mean, Ghostface is back."

    "The press still isn't saying Ghostface." Mindy corrected with a slight lift of her phone, indicating that she had been checking for updates. "It'll get out by the second or third killing."

   Pauline shuddered at the thought of yet another person in Woodsboro donning that mask and slicing through a group of kids similar to themselves. She hoped with every fibre in her being that it was a mere coincidence and not part of some bigger plot to incite violence upon the citizens of Woodsboro.

   A sickened gasp caused the Summers girl to turn her head to see Amber looking extremely offended. "Jesus, Mindy, there wasn't a first killing. Tara's alive."

   Mindy's head tilted. "I mean, she could still die." She wasn't entirely wrong. Some killers of the past did return to finish the job. It was just so morbid to think about.

   "What the fuck?" The Freeman girl balked at Mindy's blasé attitude. She couldn't believe how unattached Mindy was acting as if her friend wasn't laying up in a hospital bed.

Mindy simply shrugged her shoulders. "Or the killer could come back for her."

   Pauline shifted away from the girl with an upset look, nudging Mindy in the side as she moved away. "Mindy, stop it. You're not funny."

   Pauline loved Mindy but the way in which she would act in regard to real life crime was ridiculous. Liking horror movies was one thing but to be completely desensitised to attempted murder of a friend was another. She just didn't understand why her best friend was acting this way. Perhaps, a defence mechanism?

Pauline could only hope that was the case.

   "I'm just telling you, arm up, okay?" Wes worryingly insisted to the group, holding out a hand as he began to count things to follow on his fingers. "Pepper spray, check. Taser, check."

   "Girlfriend repellent, check." Amber mocked. Her words incited laughter amongst the friend group and a roll of the eyes from Wes, who quietly muttered, "Nice, thank you."

"Holy shit. Is that..." the McKenzie girl's voice trailed off as she stared at a figure in the distance, a disturbed look becoming plastered across her face. "Vince?"

Everyone's head turned at the mention of Vince Schneider. They were well aware of him and his creep tendencies. Unlike regular, everyday people who sought relationships with people their own age, Vince opted for a younger, more jailbait-esque crowd.

"Wait. The creep you hooked up with last summer?" The Meeks-Martin boy questioned as his brows furrowed with anger. His gaze jumped back and forth between Vince and Liv.

"Yeah, he worked with me and Tara."

Amber's head turned at the mention of the currently hospitalised Carpenter girl. "He worked with Tara?"

"He's been stalking my instagram the last couple weeks." Liv continued to explain after nodding in the raven-haired girls direction. Her gaze remained on the creep that lurked by his car. "Posting the creepiest shit."

Out of the corner of her eye, Pauline could see Mindy staring over at Vince. Her head turned just in time to see Mindy snapping a photo of the grimy looking man. "Mindy! What are you doing?" Her hand shot out and knocked Mindy's away.

An incredulous gasp fell from Mindy's lips as she stared down at her phone which hit the picnic table. She couldn't believe it. Pauline has knocked her phone out of her hands. Part of her was actually impressed considering that Pauline chose to avoid confrontation at all costs.

   "It's probably time to introduce him to Hobbs and Shaw." Chad threatened as he stared over at the man, flexing both of his biceps as a means of intimidation.

"Maybe not the best idea to incite violence right in front of the sheriff. Looks like he's leaving." The McKenzie girl lowly spoke with a roll of the eyes. Her gaze shot down to Chad's muscular arms with a grin. "Thanks anyways, boys."

Amber watched the pair for a brief moment, trailing her eyes over the Meeks-Martin boys exposed arms. An accusatory tone dripped from her voice as she uttered, "Tara said she fought back hard. You've got bruises."

Chad's eyes turned downcast as he attempted to defend himself from Amber's thinly veiled accusation. "It's from football practice."

"Yeah, come on Amber. Chad would never hurt Tara." Pauline defended the boy. Similar to how Mindy was her best friend, so was Chad. In Pauline's eyes, neither sibling was capable of such an attack.

   The fact that Amber even questioned him really pissed off the Summers girl which is exactly why she shot the dark-haired girl a quick glare which was responded to by a roll of the eyes.

"Tara's awake. She just texted." Wes rushed to his feet in an instant, the boy glancing back and forth between his phone and the group. "I'm going to the hospital. You guys coming?"

"Yeah." They all muttered as they rose to their feet, gathering whatever items they had sitting around. They were all in quite a hurry to see Tara.

Liv hesitantly spoke up. "Oh, I can't. But I'll meet you guys later." She confirmed as she watched them all begin to walk in the direction of the parking lot.

"See you later, Liv." The Summers girl bid her a farewell before racing on to catch up to the group, leaving behind Liv who remained sitting at the picnic tables.

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jamielee's thoughts.
chapter two. not proofread.
im trying to grow the story gradually and integrate pauline into the group naturally. next chapter will be sam's arrival. anyway I hope you enjoyed the chapter :)