[28th December]
"Someone is approaching the guest room in real life."
Right after Johnny had said that my eyes darted open and flew to the door where Silas was standing with heavy breaths.
"Where's Ethan!?" he demanded, looking around the room in haste. "I'm literally right here." I turned to Ethan who was lying on his bed watching a movie. "Thank the gods! The birthday boy is alive and well!!!"
Right! It was Ethan's birthday today. Wasn't he supposed to celebrate Christmas with his family, though? Silas suddenly whined and waddled to the eldest. "Let's bake a cake in the afternoon! Though, Nick might not allow," Ethan scrunched his nose.
"Your breath stinks. What's got you all worked up anyway?" he paused his movie. "I've not brushed my teeth yet, shut up. I just had the worst nightmare!" Ethan raised a brow. "Care to elaborate?"
"You turned into a dinosaur!!!!"
I snorted and burst into laughter. "Don't laugh! It's legit!" Silas pouted, tightening his hold on Ethan's arm. "You would be my last, precious meal if that was your concern." Silas feigned offense and hoisted himself from the bed. "Atrocious!" he gasped dramatically. We chuckled at his comical expression.
"Happy birthday, by the way." he smiled at me. "Thank you." "Weren't you supposed to spend the day with your family?" I asked. "As if I could even." Ethan rolled his eyes. "I had to postpone my own birthday party to next weekend for obvious reasons!" He groaned exasperatingly. "It took some convincing since my parents wanted to keep the 'Christmas Spirit'. It will be a new year already next weekend." oh right!
New years would be in three days!
"By the way, I haven't heard from Rikki all weekend. Should we give him a call?" two of them nodded at each other. "You...don't have to join if you're not up for it." Silas smiled at me. I grinned back. "Alright, thanks."
"Should we call Dylan as well?" Silas shook his head. "He's probably up in the mountains where there's no line at all." Ethan gasped. "What if he encounters a bear? How is he going to get help??" Silas scoffed as he dialed Rikki's number. "He wouldn't even try to look for help. He'd make the bear cry with just his words!" they bellowed but ceased when Rikki picked up the phone.
"...hello?" his voice was groggy. "Rikki! What are you doing right now?" Silas greeted cheerily. Rikki scoffed. "Dreaming until you woke me up." the pair rolled their eyes. "Typical. Anyways, don't sleep for too much if you don't want to get coronary heart diseases!"
"You should tell that to yourself, old man! By the way, congrats on being a year nearer to decaying." Ethan's eyes twitched in irritation.
"You little-!"
I decided to go look for Nick while the three chatted away but my phone started to ring on my way down the hallway. I glanced around before locking myself in the toilet. "Hi,"
"Hey," Jay's voice was raspy as he let out a deep chuckle. "Just wanted to hear your voice before I get stuck in a bloody two hours long conference," he sighed gloomily. I blushed a deep red and giggled. "Now you've heard it." I subconsciously sauntered back and forth the bathroom with a giddy smile on my face.
Jay whined. "Don't hang up just yet!" "I wasn't going to," I laughed. "Hm... I was thinking we could go on our third date later in the day or on Monday after school," he hummed to himself as he thought about it. I could almost see his excited grin and his legs swinging back and forth.
Unfortunately, today wouldn't do. Tomorrow...maybe but Johnny would've returned by then. I smiled. Might as well be his first 'official' date with Jay. "Today won't do...we have plans." I cleared my throat. "It's Ethan's birthday," I whispered.
Jay hummed nonchalantly. "I know. I already got him a gift. I'll give it to him tomorrow." how thoughtful.
"So, a date after school Monday!" he giggled shyly. I nodded with a smile. "Yes, Monday." "I already have plans on where we're going to go! We could sit on the rooftop of my car and listen to our song while we stargaze again!" I beamed as I recalled our first date.
Flashback [22nd December]
"I've been thinking," Jay spoke. I turned to him. "Hm?" we were staring at the stars as we rested on the opened boot of his car with a blanket draped over us. Jay insisted on staying a while more after our ice cream date.
"I wanna do something like what other couples do...like having our own song?" I raised a brow. I didn't take Jay to be that type of romantic. "What song do you think it should be?" he shyly smiled, scrolling through his library. "Ah!" he halted at one song.
"The one you recommended me," Moonlight by Dhruv! I nodded, a tint of red on my cheeks. "Alright," he played the tune before lying back down.
"Don't you think we kind of chose it in a hurry? Jay hummed in agreement. "It is kind of rushed but it's special to me because you told me about it."
A knock sounded from the bathroom door, pulling me out of my trance. "Jay! I got to go!" he paused. "O-oh, okay. Bye-bye!" he waited for me to hang up and I did the same. "...so, are you going to hang up?" "I was thinking you'd do it," I groaned. "Not this cheesy thing! Alright, I'll hang up-!"
"Wait, Johnny!" Jay suddenly summoned. "What? What is it?" I glanced at the door. Silas was pleading for me to hurry up so he could take a quick dump. He has a toilet in his room why is he so keen on this one!? "It's just...
I love you."
I was taken aback by his sudden confession that I stood speechless in the middle of the toilet for a couple of seconds. "S-say it back!" Jay grew flustered at the silence he was given.
"S-sorry! I love you too, Jay. So much." I say it as if it was my last. Because it might be. He giggled in satisfaction. "Okay, you can end the call now, I love you!" he said again. "Gah! Stop!" I was fifty shades of red by now. "Bye-bye!" I answered in a rush and ended the call.
"Loverboy, open up for goodness sakes! I'll take a shit right here and now!" "Keep it in your butt, please!! Don't you have your own toilet anyway!?" I hurried to open the door and he dashed in. He wordlessly shoved me out and slammed the door in my face. Rude!
-
"What are you up to?" I found Nick in the kitchen with an apron on. He was dressed in a casual grey turtleneck and plain trousers. "Hm, making brunch for you lots." he delicately set a perfectly prepared fried egg onto a plate. "So, I learned something else in my dream today," Nick perked up. "I'm all ears." he paused his actions.
"Has any teenager died in that park besides that kid from our school?" I asked beforehand. His eyes widened slightly. "I got a call from my father this morning. He said another student from a neighboring school was found dead in the park last night." he sighed. "It's just not stopping,"
I tapped my fingers on the counter in thought. "Did you get his name?" Nick nodded.
"His name was Tommy Hill." my breath hitched. Tommy was the name I saw on his jersey! "Is he...by chance a volleyball player?" Nick gasped. "Did you know him before?" I shook my head immediately.
"I saw him in my dreams!"
Before Nick could even process my words, the pair were hopping down the stairs in excitement, making weird noises in the process. "Nick! Can Rikki come over!?" Silas' grin was wide as he clutched his phone protectively. I assume Rikki was still on the line. "I don't see why not." Silas angled the screen to Nick. "Hey kiddo." he waved at the youngest.
"Only Ethan is over right now?"
"Johnny's here too," "Oh." "Jay left yesterday morning to run some errands with his parents!" Ethan tried to change the topic, sort of.
"He might come today!" Nick frowned. "He can't. He said he had to attend another meeting with his father," he returned to his cooking. "Whaaaaaaat?????" Silas whined, a dejected pout on his face. "Can't his dad run his errands alone?" he groaned exasperatingly. "Well, Jay is the only heir of their company so, it is important to bring him around." Silas smacked his lips, not completely satisfied with the truth. "Makes sense..."
"I'll be there in like, fifteen minutes." with that, Rikki hung up. Nick told us to eat up before the youngest arrives. "Are you sure you won't have a hard time when he arrives?" Nick raised a brow at me as we waited at the door for the pink-haired teenager. I smiled. "I'll be fine. It's been so long." I assured him.
"Rikki!!"
Silas and Ethan immediately stretched out their arms to pull the junior into an embrace. "Humph! Why is it so warm here??" Rikki whined and pried off his older friends. "Take off your winter coat already," Nick snickered at him. "Oh," Rikki was about to remove his jacket until he made eye contact with me. I jumped a little.
His lips parted in the slightest before they thinned. He gave me a curt nod before returning to his jacket. I was astounded he'd even acknowledge my presence. The rest had already gone back into the house, leaving me and Rikki at the front. I was holding the door for him so I couldn't really leave.
He looked so confused as he clutched his coat with his hands and hesitated to take another step. Was it because of me?
"I'll help you with the jacket," I reached out my hand towards Rikki. He glanced down at it before passing me the jumbled-up cloth. "Err, thanks..." he muttered before following me in like a lost puppy.
"Rikki, have you eaten breakfast?" Nick asked as we passed by the kitchen. "Mum made pancakes." Nick hummed with a grin. "Alright,"
"Rikki! You wanna play games?" Silas asked as he stepped down a couple of flights of stairs to reveal himself, controllers in his hands. "Hell yeah!" I watched as the pair giggled all the way to the entertainment room. I sighed in relief and approached Nick who was sat on the counter with his notebook again. "Theorizing again?" I asked. He nodded; his brows furrowed in concentration.
"Johnny-I mean-" ever since I had told them the truth, they started having a crisis on what to address me. "It's okay, just call me Johnny," I waved at him. He nodded with haste before resuming. "I don't want to sound ridiculous like before but..." he sighed, closing his notebook before setting it aside.
"I really think someone else will take the fall tonight." his eyes were intense and filled with certainty.
"Why?" if that was the case, all our effort and time protecting Ethan would go into the drain.
"Ethan literally has no enemy!" Nick swung his arms around. "I don't know how to say this but no more how many times I've thought about it-Ethan is also a very open person so you'd know about his domestic life-I can't come up with anyone. Not to mention, Ethan is the peacemaker in our group too! He's a council member and everyone in our school adores him." I scratched my chin. "What if someone is envious of him?"
"I don't think that particular person would go through such lengths to have Ethan gone. He doesn't have a girlfriend, and his grades are only average. He's not like...seen as a competition, you know?" I nodded.
"Okay, skip that. Who are you assuming will die tonight?" he stared at me, baffled. "I-I don't know? I don't even have a clue who the murderer might be!"
"But if it was someone from our friend group, who do you think it would be?" Nick stared at me, unamused. "What?" "Not funny, Johnny," he said through gritted teeth. "I didn't say it was?? I'm serious!" was that out of pocket? he suddenly scoffed.
"Sometimes I doubt that you're telling the truth. You might be playing a prank on us, for all we know." I gasped in disbelief. "You can't blame me! You're known to be the prankster along with Rikki." he nudged his chin towards the stairs.
"I'm not! Please believe me." I sighed tiredly. "You better be, or else you've wasted a lot of our time playing a meaningless game." his blunt words stung a ton even though I was being honest. "I'm not..."
"Firstly, I think Dylan would be the victim." I furrowed a brow. "But he's up in the mountains," "Who knows?" he shrugged. "The killer might change his location." plausible.
"I don't think I'd even need to list down the reasons for my suspicion. He's offended enough people with his spiteful attitude, especially strangers who aren't used to him." I winced. That was so true. Dylan was always so snarky and judgemental without any reason. Sometimes I wondered if he ever considered playing nice.
"Second, Ja-"
"Cake-baking time!!!!!!" the trio cheered as they marched down eagerly. "Cake?" I side-eyed Nick. Did he overlook Ethan's birthday? "It's Ethan's birthday!" I hissed at him. He suddenly realized and straightened his posture.
Come to think of it, he was the only one in the house that hadn't wished Ethan yet. "Oh right! What flavor are you guys planning to make?"
"It has always been chocolate!" Ethan huffed, clearly offended that his friend forgot his favorite flavor. I suppressed a laugh. He really forgot everything! But it was partly because of the mission so I cleared my throat and wiped the grin off my face. "Do we have all the ingredients?" I asked. They tensed up before glancing at one another. "I don't think so..."
We search high and low for the ingredients needed for the recipe but lo and behold,
They didn't even have a single item needed for the baked good! Not even eggs!! Did we use them up yesterday?
"Okay, pack up! We're going to the mall!" Nick rushed to put on his winter coat when someone coughed with intent. "What about Ethan?" said boy was pouting and sulking. He loved grocery shopping. "Oh," Nick looked over us. "Silas and Rikki, mind staying home with him?" they immediately nodded.
All of a sudden, Rikki's phone vibrated. "Hello? Mum?" we stared in anticipation as the youngest nodded along to his mum's words. "Oh...okay." he hung up and glimpsed at us. "I have to go. Mum said I have a visitor..." he simply stated, confused himself. "Alright," we waved at Rikki as he walked through the door. Nick turned to Silas after that. "Watch him." he pointed at the oldest who scoffed loudly.
"I'm not a baby, for goodness' sake!!"