“Sounds great! Come on, Lily!” Sarah said, grabbing my wrist and pulling me toward the snack counter.
“Wait for me!” Max said in a hurt voice.
All four of us stood in line behind Luke and Angela. Emily and Jacob followed, Jacob's arm around her waist. Rachel was alone, and she looked ticked off. She walked past all of us to the front of the line, smiling at Scott and glaring at me.
Scott kept his eyes on me, and I couldn't take my eyes off of him, not that I wanted to. I blushed after a moment and had to look away.
Rachel bought a drink and yelled, “Come on everybody! I want to get good seats!”
“There's nobody here to take them!” Max said, and everyone laughed. He glanced around, looking proud of himself. Now he was going to try to be funny all night. Great. I looked around and noticed that there were only two other people here besides our large group, which was surprising since it was a Saturday night.
“Where is everybody?” Scott asked to no one in particular.
“Everybody's at that thing at the mall,” Angela said.
“Oh yeah, I forgot about the concert,” Luke specified.
We took turns buying our snacks. Scott and I reached the front, and a girl I didn't recognize asked what we wanted.
“Um, just a Coke for me please.”
“I'll have the same,” Scott said.
“Coming right up,” she said pleasantly.
“Hello, Lily, Scott,” another employee called.
“Hey, Mark,” Scott replied. I waved. I'd only seen Mark around school a few times. The girl reappeared with our Cokes.
“Are you new around here?” I asked her.
She smiled. “Yes, it's funny, but every single person I meet asks me that.”
“Get used to it. Welcome to Niceville,” I said with a sarcastic smile.
“Yeah, you're gonna
love
it.” Scott joked. The girl laughed.
I started to pull out money from my back pocket, but Scott stopped me.
“I'll get this for you.” He smiled and I almost forgot to protest.
“Scott, no! That's not fair, I'll pay for myself.”
“Nope, not this time.” He grinned as he handed the girl his money. I stared at the money, willing it to fly back into Scott's wallet with my mind. It didn't work. Why was he paying for
me
? He was acting like this was a date, which it wasn't. This was definitely a group thing! Was he just being nice to me? Did he like me? My stomach fluttered with butterflies.
I finally managed to speak. “Fine, but next time I get to pay.”
“Next time?”
“Um, yeah . . . I mean . . . if you want . . .” I stuttered like an idiot.
He chuckled quietly. “That would be nice.”
“And thanks,” I said politely.
“No problem at all.”
“Here you go,” the girl said as she handed us our Cokes.
“Thank you,” we said in unison.
We made our way to the theater.
“That girl looked like you,” Scott said.
“Really?” I thought about her face and realized that we did look similar. She had green eyes and long, brown hair, but her hair was wavy and pretty and looked soft.
“Huh, I guess our hair and eyes are similar,” I said.
“No, not just you hair and eyes, your faces look alike.”
“I don't understand.” I felt my face scrunch up.
“Your eyes aren't just the same color, they are almond-shaped. And your faces are both long and smooth. You both have those small, button noses. Your lips are full, but not too big for your face. She even talked like you a little bit.”
I stared up at him with wide eyes. How did he notice so much about me? Was that normal or something? He must have noticed my expression because he blushed and looked away.
“It's just simple observations.” He shrugged. I was too stunned to say anything.
The previews had already started, so it was dark, but we could see that we were the only ones in the theater.
“We're the only ones!” someone yelled.
“Let's sit in the back!” I heard people say, but I couldn't tell who. I felt a hand grab mine, and I gasped. I turned around, expecting to see Sarah or Max, but it was Scott. My heart pounded in my chest, and butterflies exploded in my stomach.
He leaned and whispered, “I want to sit next to you. Is that okay?”
“That's perfect,” I whispered, smiling. His fingers intertwined with mine, and I squeezed his hand gently.
Wow, Scott wants to sit with me! Wait âtil Em hears!
I thought.
Angela led Luke to the middle of the second-to-last row. They sat down, and I followed with Scott right behind me. Max ending up sitting behind me to the left. Sarah sat behind me to the right.
Of course.
Then Rachel took the seat on the other side of Scott. He shifted a little and positioned his body closer to me, which made me surprisingly happy. He smiled at me and winked. I laughed quietly and looked at my lap. His hand still held mine. Jacob and Emily took their seats last. In the back row away from everyone else.
“Aw, I wanted you to sit here, Lily,” Sarah said.
I turned around. “Oh sorry,” I said, smiling apologetically. Though, I definitely wasn't sorry. I was perfectly content to sit with Scott.
The movie started and everyone got quiet. Throughout the movie, there were whispers and giggles. The movie also did its job in making people scream, jump, flinch, and curl into each other. I didn't care; I could only pay attention to every little movement of Scott's hand around mine.
Suddenly, I felt a hand run through my hair. I jumped and turned around. Sarah waved at me and leaned back into her seat. I stared at her for a moment, then looked over to see what Emily was doing. I immediately wished I hadn't, and turned back around quickly. Jacob was practically on top of her, and they were kissing very intensely.
“That was weird,” Scott whispered in my ear.
“Yeah, really weird,” I whispered back. I turned my head toward him and my breath caught. His face was closer then I'd thought. His defined jaw and cheekbones shined in the strange shadows caused by the screen. He was gorgeous. I felt my face get hot, and I quickly looked back at the screen. He kissed my hand, then set it back down again. My breath picked up, and I squeezed his hand. I thought I heard him laugh quietly. He gently rubbed my hand with his thumb. The armrest wasn't down, so I scooted closer to him. Slowly, he wrapped his arm around me. I thought I heard Rachel huff, but I didn't care. All I cared about in that moment was Scott.
“Ahhhhh!” Someone's scream behind us made me jump out of my own skin. Scott and I spun around to see a bucket of popcorn overturned on Sarah's head and popcorn piled in her lap. Everyone was laughing and pointing. Even Scott and I joined in. Sarah yanked the bucket off her head and chucked it at one of the guys, then began to pick the remaining popcorn out of her hair. Another yelp was heard, and it seemed like everyone was throwing popcorn at each other and laughing. People were jumping over seats and running through the aisles. Little screams were heard here and there, but mostly laughter. Thankfully, they soon ran out of popcorn and everyone settled back into their seats. I brushed popcorn out of my lap.
Rachel huffed as she picked some out of her hair. “Scott, is there any popcorn on me?” she asked in a flirty tone.
He glanced at her for a moment. “I don't see any.” He turned back to the screen. She had a scowling look on her face, but I ignored it.
I wasn't really paying attention to the plotline of the movie, but it was getting pretty gruesome. The murderer had already killed four blondes. The police had mentioned that they thought it was a serial killer since he was targeting blondes.
“Lily, did you notice that the main character has blond hair? And he's killing all blondes? It's like he's trying to clue Ciara in,” Scott said enthusiastically.
“You're right. He's picking girls that look like her before he actually goes after her.”
He nodded and continued watching the screen.
A few minutes later, a figure moved down the steps. I could tell by the striped polo that it was Max. He disappeared around the corner and returned a few minutes later. He must have gone to the bathroom. I took in a deep breath. Scott smelled really good. I lost myself in him again. I shivered in the air-conditioned room. I put on my jacket, then snuggled back into Scott. I sighed, and he leaned his head on mine. I could have stayed like this forever.
By the end of the movie, Scott and I had been right. The killer was targeting the main character, killing off her friends in his twisted idea of a gesture of love. When the lights turned on, we all stood up to stretch. I watched as Luke bent down and kissed Angela gently on the lips. Practically the whole school was jealous of them. Not me . . . I looked behind me to find Sarah and Max burning holes at me with their stares. Ugh.
Emily and Jacob were holding hands and staring at each other. Ew. Rachel was standing with her arms crossed and staring at the screen that was now playing the credits to creepy music.
“Guys, let's sneak into another movie. I mean, no one's here,” Jacob, of course, suggested.
“Yeah, let's do it!” Sarah agreed.
“We don't have anything else to do, right Lily?” Emily asked, obviously being rhetorical. I knew that even if I said no, she would have forced it to be a yes. She just wanted to be with Jacob longer.
“No, we don't. Sounds good to me. Are you going to stay, Scott?” I asked. I would do anything to spend more time with him, even if it meant doing something wrong, like sneaking into another movie without paying.
“Yeah, I'll stay, only because you are, though,” he said, squeezing my hand and flashing me a smile. I beamed up at him. I was so shocked and happy, I thought I would explode. Everyone else agreed to stay, except Rachel.
“I'm going home, guys,” Rachel said. “Bye, everyone.” Everyone said goodbye, and she stiffly walked down the aisle and left the theater.
And then, out of nowhere, a blood-curdling scream broke the silence. We all jumped. Everyone was silent.
And then, another piercing scream.
O
ne by one, we ran out of the theater. We reached the big opening where the exits and snacks were. Rachel was standing up against the wall with one hand covering her mouth, the other pointing toward the ground past the counter. She was breathing heavily, and tears ran down her face
“Oh my . . . who would . . . ?” she started, and let out a wail that broke off into a sob. Her body slumped to the floor. My brain was scattered. What was she pointing at? My heart felt like it was pounding in my throat, and I tried to swallow. We all slowly walked forward. And then I saw what Rachel was pointing at.
“Oh!” I gasped and my hand went to my mouth. Other gasps followed quickly. I wanted to look away, but I needed to fully assess what was going on. Someone cursed. There were five dead bodies scattered across the room. Two people were lying next to the doors, and three people were lying by the snack counter wearing employee uniforms. There was blood smeared all over the doors.
I walked to the closest part of the snack counter away from the bodies. As I peered over the counter, I saw seven more bodies. I fought the urge to look away again. I noticed that all of the bodies were facing down except for one. It was the girl who worked the concession stand, the girl who handed us Cokes, the girl who looked like me. I didn't even know her name. She was slumped against the counter, and her long, brown hair flowed around her pale face, her green eyes stared off unblinking. She really did look like me, or . . . used to. I could barely finish the thought. The blood pooled around her body, and there was a slice in her throat. I gagged, and Scott grabbed my waist, pulling me back.
Angela had fainted into Luke's chest, and he was stroking her hair with a worried expression. Emily was staring at me, and Jacob was hugging her from behind. He was looking at the doors with a frightened, angry expression. Sarah walked over and put a hand on my shoulder. I was too entranced in thought to pay attention to her. Could my father be doing this? No. No it couldn't be . . . it was all a horrible coincidence. But what if he was? I saw his face in my mind, but this time, I didn't see us standing in the sun by a lake. I saw his eyes bloodshot and angry as he stumbled through the front door of our old house. Could I even put it past him? Was he still this angry? What about the innocent people he had just murdered? Were my friends in danger because of me? Was my family?
Max was holding his stomach like he was going to be sick . . . and then he was.
Rachel was still crying and mumbling incoherent thoughts. Sarah had pulled her up and placed a hand around her shoulders.
All of sudden, Rachel let out a wail and bolted to the door. She slammed into it, trying to open it.
“No, no, no! It's locked!” she cried. She banged her fist on the door, then slumped on the floor and buried her head in her hands.
“How can the doors be locked from the inside? This doesn't make any sense,” Max said in a shaky voice as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
Jacob started yelling, “You left during the movie! It was you, Max, wasn't it! You sick . . .” Jacob was suddenly in Max's face, shaking him by his shirt collar.
“What? No! I went to the bathroom!” Max defended himself.
Luke put a hand on Jacob's shoulder. “He didn't do it. He'd be covered in . . . blood.” He had trouble getting his words out, though his voice was steady and strong.
“The bathrooms are in the hall anyway, and he wouldn't have seen any of this. There also wasn't enough time. And, no offense Max, but he has no muscle,” Luke rationalized solemnly.
Jacob slowly released his hold. His eyes were flashing back and forth between things I couldn't pinpoint. “Sorry. I'm just freakin' out, I mean look at this . . .” Another curse.