BLOODSPORT
CHAPTER FOUR !

   THE FREEZING COLD METAL of the interrogation room table traveled through the thick fabric of Pauline Summers black jacket. Alone, there she sat, gaze blurred and hands nervously clasped together.

The group of friends had no sooner left the bar until Wes had been called by his mother, Sheriff Judy Hicks. Their conversation had been short, which consisted mainly of the Sheriff asking that the group head down to the police station. Apparently they had a few routine questions to ask friends of the victim.

Pauline wasn't stupid though, none of them were.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that the Sheriff was looking at alibi's. In violent cases such as Tara's, especially in Woodsboro where friend-on-friend crime was more common that most places, it was usually the friends that were the most prone to violent tendencies.

Despite knowing that she was innocent, with the perfect alibi ready to be given, part of Pauline still felt nervous. Why? She had zero clue. She would never hurt Tara, or anyone for that matter. It just wasn't in her nature to incite violence, whether physical or verbal.

She was the second last to be questioned. Mindy, Amber and Wes had all been inside of this very room and already interviewed. This left herself and Chad, both of which had begun to feel the heat as the group dwindled down. They were innocent, neither capable of hurting Tara but still, innocent people had been accused in the wrong before. Innocent people had gone down for other peoples crimes.

   Just as a chill ran down the Summers girl's spine, the door to the room opened up revealing the figure of Sheriff Judy Hicks. The blonde haired woman smiled down at the girl, a somewhat motherly smile, after all she'd know this girl since the day back in fourth grade when Wes had excitedly told her about his new friend.

   "How you doin', Pauline?" Judy earnestly inquired. She genuinely did want to know. Despite being an officer of the law, the idea of interrogating her sons friends wasn't exactly what she had in mind. "We're just gonna ask you a few routine questions. Just to get a broader understanding of everything that happened. Is that okay?"

Pauline stared back at the woman, observing her as she sat down in the chair opposite her. A tight lipped smile briefly formed upon Pauline's lips as she nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I don't mind."

Judy smiled in return as she pulled out a small notebook from the back pocket of her uniform. "That's great. So, where were you last night?" She then asked, pen poised to prepare writing.

"I was at home." The Summers girl answered honestly.

The was a silence in the room as the sheriff's pen scratched against the paper. She quickly scrawled down the young girls answer, nodding her head in understanding as she did. As Judy finished up writing down the last word, her gaze shot up from the pad to Pauline. "Was anyone there with you?"

"Mindy." Pauline breathed out the girls name. Yet another honest answer. "She came over last night cause my mom was working late at the hospital and she didn't want me home alone."

   "So, you and Mindy were there all night? Neither of you left?" The sheriff questioned with a inquisitive lift of the brow. Surely, two teenagers hadn't stayed home all night, even if it had been a school night.

Pauline had more than enough horror movies, thanks to Mindy and her insistence that she brush up on her horror knowledge, to understand that the Sheriff was attempting to catch her out on a lie.

Instead of allowing herself to fumble, the young girl internally released a sigh before slapping a small smile on her face. "Yeah, all night. We'd gone to bed around eleven, though I'm not sure when we fell asleep. I woke up again at around three when I got the call from Wes about what happened to Tara."

At the mention of her son, the woman's head rose up from the pad and her grip on the pen faltered. "Wes called you?" She asked nonchalantly, attempted to feign disinterest.

Pauline shot the woman a slightly bewildered look. "Yeah. He said you'd explained what had happened to Tara and he wanted to let everyone know. I was able to tell Mindy since she was with me."

Silence once again.

   "Okay... that's all I need from you. Make sure you get home safe." Judy said with a smile as she stood from her chair. Her movements were mirrored by Pauline, who quickly followed the sheriff to the door just as the woman opened it. "Stay indoors and lock every door and window. We don't need another attack on our hands."

"Sure thing, Sheriff." The Summers girl laughed lowly as she stepped back out into the hall, stoping once she stood in front of the row of chairs that lined up against the wall.

   Sitting in said chairs was the remaining Chad and of course, Mindy. With both her brother and best friend needing to be questioned, the young girl had stayed behind for them despite having been the first person questioned over forty minutes prior. Wes, Amber and Liv had all already taken off.

   "Chad, you wanna come in?" Sheriff Hicks asked with a gentle smile, gesturing for the boy to rise from his chair and follow her into the room.

   Both Chad and Pauline shared a brief smile as they passed one another. His a product of nerves while hers was one of comfort, the girl hoping her smile could sooth any worries that may have been festering inside of the Meeks-Martin boy.

   The door to the interrogation room softly clicked as it shut. "What'd she ask you?" Mindy then asked, the curiosity dripping from her voice. She remembered to keep her voice low so as to not seem suspicious.

   "Just where I was last night and if I was with anyone." The Summers girl replied with a shrug as she sat down next to her friend. "I told her the truth. That I was at home and that you were there with me."

   Once free from the questions, Pauline suddenly felt really...odd. The horrid nerves that had gnawed away at her insides still remained which made no sense. To her, the very moment that Sheriff Hicks had smiled at her should have quelled the feeling and yet, it hadn't. She still felt horrible.

   Knowing that a would-be killer lurked in Woodsboro, perhaps lying in wait for the perfect opportunity to strike, scared the fuck out of her. At any moment, like many a teenager before her and her friends, they could be yanked deep into the shadows and slain before they had the chance to scream for help.

"Hey, you okay?" Mindy gently nudged the girl, breaking her out of her own mind. When all Pauline did was weakly nod her head, Mindy shifted in the chair to face her worrisome friend. "Lina."

Pauline's bottom lip became briefly entrapped by her teeth as she glanced up at the Meeks-Martin girl before her. "I'm just worried, that's all. We know that we didn't do anything, that we'd never hurt Tara but does she?" The thought of becoming a patsy, the fall guy for someone else's actions terrified her.

As the aura of panic grew thicker around the now frowning Summers girl, Mindy let out a reluctant sigh. "I'm not gonna lie, given the track record of teenage killers in this town, I'd say there's a very good chance she thinks we had something to do with it."

That certainly hadn't been what Pauline had wanted to hear but she supposed the honesty was appreciated all the same. Better to know the truth than to be lulled into a false sense of security.

When the frown didn't fade from Pauline's face, Mindy reached out and grabbed hold of the girls hand, swiftly interlocking their fingers with ease. "But, you know, if it makes you feel any better you're probably at the bottom of her suspect list."

Despite the warmth that bloomed upon her cheeks at the unexpected hand holding, Pauline was able to pull herself together enough to sarcastically quip. "Weirdly enough, that makes me feel worse somehow."

   A grin grew across Mindy's face as she tightened her grip. With an exasperated sigh, she jokingly complained, "There's just no pleasing you."

Their hands remained intertwined as they relaxed back into the chairs, where they would spend the next ten minutes waiting for Chad to be released for the interrogation room.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"YOU'RE TORTURING YOURSELF." Chad complained from where he lounged across the couch, his muscular body taking up the vast majority of the space. The trio had been having what Mindy had coined a 'Stab-a-thon', which consisted of watching all of the Stab movies back to back. To 'wind down' as Mindy had stated when she suggested it.

   For the past couple hours, the teenage boy had sat in observation of the relationship between his twin sister and her best friend. He noticed the ever growing smile that grew upon Pauline's face at every little thing that Mindy said. Every joke, every time she would act out the lines from the Stab franchise, every little thing had Pauline smiling.

The smitten schoolgirl schtick was becoming very old. For the last year, Chad had been forced to endure the constant fawning that was most definitely not covert. It was almost sickening to see and the one thing that the truly couldn't understand was how blind Mindy appeared to be. How she didn't see how in love with her Pauline was had the boy perplexed.

Pauline rolled her eyes. "Not now Chad. She's gonna be back from the bathroom really soon. I don't want her to hear you." The girl lowly muttered, keeping her voice quiet to avoid Mindy potentially hearing them.

   "I'm just saying. Keeping up this little..." his hand rose up in the air as his fingers twirled about. "Charade of yours is only gonna end in tears."

A glare was thrown his way in an instant. "Yeah, yours when I punch you. Stop talking."

   Chad groaned as loud as he possible could, throwing back his head into the couch cushion in true child tantrum fashion. "Just tell her! I'm getting really sick of you pretending that you don't want to jump her every five seconds!"

   "You're so gross. Can you not?" Pauline balked at how crass the boy was being. That was his sister and until the Summers girl wasn't romantically interested in her, he should keep out of her business. "I'm not discussing my sex life, existent or non-existent, with you."

   A deep and heavy sigh was pulled from his chest as he rolled his eyes. He knew in that moment that his approach would get him no where. Chad shifted on the couch to sit himself up before focusing his gaze solely on his low spirited friend.

   "Look, Mindy's my sister and talking about her or her relationships is not ideal but you're one of my best friends, and seeing you torturing yourself isn't fun." The boy soberly explained. He meant every word. Pauline was his friend and watching as she loved someone who knew absolutely sucked.

   The boy rested back into the couch. "I'm telling you, Paulie, just tell her. She might feel the same." While almost certain that Mindy was as equally infatuated with Pauline as Pauline was with her, it would definitely require a huge leap of faith on the Summers girl's part if that relationship was to ever take the next step.

Mindy certainly talked the talk but she most definitely did not walk the walk.

"What if she doesn't?" Came the mumbled response. The woeful expression that became marred on the features of the young girls face had Chad regretting the decision to speak on the subject at all. Hurting her hadn't been his intention after all. "I don't want to lose her."

   Pauline swallowed back the lump that grew in her throat as her chest grew more heavy and her eyes began to sting. Before either could utter another word however, Mindy came sauntering back into the living room, a large grin on her face accompanied by a loud, theatrical clap of the hands.

   "Who's ready for Stab 3?" The curly haired girl happily exclaimed as she moved in front of the DVD player. She was quick to turn back around and point over at Pauline, who had quickly wiped away any tears that could have potentially fallen. "I know you are. Only you would prefer that movie over the rest."

   "Hey, don't be mean. I just find the story interesting. I liked the setting of a film set, sue me." Pauline jokingly said as she raised her hands high in the air in mock surrender.

"Yeah, Min, don't be such a movie snob." Chad added with a chuckle.

   "Whatever." The horror film fanatic stated with a roll of the eyes. With the DVD player remote in hand, Mindy plonked herself down on the couch, her body pressed up right up against Pauline's. "I'm pressing play. Silence from the peanut gallery, please."

The feel of Mindy's body pressed so closely to her own had the young Summers girl holding her breathe. "There's all that space over there. Are you trying to climb into my shirt?" She uttered with a forced laugh. She hoped to distract away from the blush that had no doubt begun to form.

Mindy cuddled up closer to her in response. "You're nice and warm. Stop complaining. You know that you'd just pout if I moved away."

She wasn't wrong. Long before Pauline wished to feel the soft brush of Mindy's lips upon her own, to pull her close and hold her hand whoever she pleased, she would always huff when Mindy sat too far away. It didn't help when young Mindy would joke that it was because Pauline smelled.

   "Just press play." Was all Pauline could mutter. She fell back into the couch cushion, allowing the plush fabric to shape to her body as she forced herself to ignore thumping that bloomed inside her chest.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

jamielee's thoughts.
chapter four. not proofread.
so none of this is from the actual film, I just wanted to incorporate some more scenes to build relationships. anyway I hope you enjoyed the chapter :)