Chapter Text
BANG!
The alarm clock was practically punched off the bedside table by one Tina Strode. She yawned, stretching, looking over at her clock with a raised brow. Gently, as if in response to her sudden strike she pushed it back onto the table. What a nightmare. It wasn’t the obvious nightmare a teenager would have, that being of showing up naked to a public event in front of your crush. Instead it was something much more carnal and visceral.
She was being… Chased? Through the woods? Blissfield didn’t have woods as far as Tina was aware -- the town was fairly small, but dream logic was weird. She remembered seeing pieces of human bodies littered over the floor, as a masked killer began to drive his knife into her throat… And then she woke up, hyperventilating and nearly destroying her alarm clock.
She sighed, shaking out her chestnut brown locks that had definitely become tangled over the night. She’d been tossing and turning frequently, and while Tina wouldn’t consider herself as vain as the other popular girls, it definitely was a hot mess. She stretched once more, getting out of bed and checking her clock. Only 7:30am. New record for her, she guessed.
She quickly clambered out of bed, hurriedly getting dressed into a simple button down blouse, jeans and a pair of crisp white sneakers. In the duffle bag next to her bed, she placed her softball uniform -- cyan and yellow colored like the football jerseys -- and a pair of old sneakers that were comfortable to run around in, for later, all on top of her books and laptop. In spite of the fact that softball was more of a summer sport -- and most of the girls on the team (herself included) had moved on to soccer -- getting the extra practise time in before the field was taken that evening for homecoming was essential.
She sighed, beginning to tie her hair back into a ponytail… And that was when Booker knocked on the door.
“Hey, Tin-Tin!” He called, “I’m taking the bathroom, you cool with that?”
Tina chuckled. “Not on my watch, dweeb!” She pushed open the door and ran, still holding bobby pins in her teeth, as Booker quickly followed. He’d gotten a head start to allow himself to throw himself into the bathroom before her, shutting the door behind him. Tina sighed.
“Jackass!”
“Hey, I got Bernardi first period, I kinda need this!” Booker called, “Besides, you think these good looks are natural?”
Tina snigg*red. “Caring about your appearance? That’s kinda gay bro.”
“Aren’t you a lesbian?”
“Touche!” Tina rolled her eyes, and continued doing up her hair, this time using one of the mirrors in the upstairs area to keep track of it. Eventually once she flared it out, Booker opened the door.
“Your turn.”
“Did you put the seat down?”
“Absolutely not.”
“f*ck you.”
“Ew, gross.”
“Coming from the guy who keeps the seat up!”
Booker lightheartedly flipped Tina off, and she replicated the gesture. After getting ready and having breakfast, it was time to go to school. Booker drove, and although Tina had her license, she biked instead. It was quicker and gave her more energy for the day. She figured Booker needed that energy though, he was the quarterback on the football team and the homecoming game was that night.
She placed her bike in the bike rack when she got to school and did a double take -- she saw Nyla Chones talking to… Oh great she was about ready to puke. The blonde haired goddess had made her entrance, and Tina was nearly going to make a fool of herself in front of her crush. She held onto the bike rack for stability… Okay, it’s simple, just ask her out to homecoming, don’t be a coward. Deep breath in, maybe she should make her move when Nyla walked away…
And nope, she was about ready to walk up the stairs, giving an embarrassed Tina a look. Tina pulled her sweater up a little bit, just enough to cover her chin, shaking her head. She dropped the sweater down and walked through the front door herself. Of course, pulling herself inside meant that she was immediately swamped by her friends from the softball team.
“Hey girl! How’s it hanging!” Aurora beamed, wrapping her arm around Tina’s shoulder.
“Morning.” Tina greeted. Aurora paused, blinking.
“You look sad.” She stated, quite bluntly. “Rough night?”
“Kinda.”
“We know what that means…”
“Shh, Cathy!”
Tina rolled her eyes. “No, it’s not that.”
“Girl troubles then?” Cindy spoke up from the back, “Saw that you were eyeing the Beaver earlier.”
Tina snorted, “Am I really that obvious?”
“Absolutely!” Aurora shouted, punching Tina on the shoulder, “Girl, why the hell haven’t you said anything yet? Homecoming’s just around the corner… Only one chance to land that plane.”
“I’m not gonna land that plane, Rory…” Tina sighed, “She’s only interested in my brother.”
“And?” Heather stage whispered, “I thought that Cindy was straight for three years before we dated. And besides, even if she doesn’t like girls, it’s worth a shot.”
“Yeah, what does Booker have that you don’t?”
“A dick?”
Midway through the conversation, Tina noticed a gaggle of the ‘plastics’ crowding around Millie, and so did the other softball team members. She raised a brow, immediately power walking towards the gaggle, much to the surprise of the rest of her team members.
“Did your mom use her employee discount?” Asked Ryler, the sneer in her voice obvious, as Tina split the group like the red sea.
“f*ck off Ryler.”
Ryler looked at her, and snigg*red. “Hey Vagitarian, mowed any lawns lately?”
“What, you asking about my rates?”
The group was pulled into stunned silence by Tina’s comment, Ryler’s disgusted expression contrasting perfectly with Tina’s satisfied smirk.
“It’s the 21st century, Ryler, maybe you should leave your hom*ophobic bullsh*t at the door. Kay?”
Ryler scoffed, looking at Millie with a smirk. “Anyway, you look adorbs, seriously.” She stated, before she and her group walked off, laughing all the way. Tina scoffed, leaning against the lockers, as Millie paused.
“You… You didn’t have to do that.”
“Yeah, I know,” Tina began to explain, “But Ryler’s a bitch anyway… You do look nice today by the way.” She smiled, hiking her duffle bag over her shoulder and walking off to join her group, her face blood red. Aurora applauded, as Tina frowned.
“Ah, would you look at that!” Cindy giggled, fake fainting onto Tina’s shoulder, “The knight in shining armor rescuing the beautiful princess from harm!”
Tina rolled her eyes, as the bell rang, interrupting the giggling mess her friends devolved into. She sighed. “As much as I’d love to stay and chit-chat…” She fake kissed Aurora on each cheek. “I gotta get going. Training at lunch time?”
“Yeah! See you then!”
However, the normal school day was quite rudely interrupted by an Emergency Alert popping up on everyone’s phones. “Four Blissfield teens found brutally murdered. Suspect at large.” And that’s when everything went from bad to worse.
xxx
“I can’t believe this…” Tina muttered, tossing one of the balls over at Aurora, who caught it with ease.
“I know, Tin-Tin, you said that about seven times already.”
She passed the ball over to Cindy, who threw it up in the air. “It’s possibly shock, Rory,” She threw it over to Cathy, “We all knew Ginny and Sandra, it’s hard to believe they’re gone.”
“Yeah,” Cathy stated, throwing the ball towards the direction of Meghan, who caught it. “And it’s the whole murdered thing that’s setting everyone off… And my form as well.”
“I don’t think you can use ‘classmates being murdered’ as an excuse for slacking off Cathy,” Meghan rolled her eyes once she caught the ball, “Coach Anderson isn’t gonna take any excuses.”
“He’s gonna be pissed though, two of his best line receivers also were killed.” Tina shuddered. “Booker’s gonna have his ass worked so hard.”
The sound of the ball hitting Heather’s hands interrupted the brief break in conversation. “Phrasing, Tina,” She whispered, before clearing her throat. “Anyone got any ideas who did this?” She passed the ball underarm back to Aurora, who held it tightly in her hand.
“Who else?” She juggled the ball between her hands, “You ever heard of that Homecoming Massacre back in ‘77?” She then threw the ball overhead, Tina reaching up to catch it in her free hand. “There’s been mysterious deaths every year since then.”
As Tina passed the ball to Cathy, the other girl rolled her eyes. “Oh come off it, Rory, you really think the Urban Legend is gonna run free?” She snorted, making sure to perfect her form for a second as she tossed the ball to Cindy. Meghan gave her a thumbs up in the process.
“I think Aurora has kind of a point here,” Heather coughed from the back, “I mean, since 1977 there’s always been mysterious deaths in Blissfield, all surrounding Homecoming. Didn’t it start when that guy dumped his mom’s head in front of a Dairy Queen?”
Tina huffed. “Whoever did it, the one casualty from all this is Homecoming -- thank f*ck.”
That’s when Cindy pelted Tina with the softball, right on the face.
“Ow!”
“Look, Tin-Tin, I get you don’t wanna ask her out,” She sighed, “But they aren’t gonna cancel Homecoming. The world could be burning down and Homecoming would still happen. It’s one of the constants of the universe.”
Tina picked the ball up and hurled it at Heather this time. “You better be thankful I didn’t get a black eye from that.”
“C’mon it wasn’t that hard.”
“That’s what your mom said.”
Aurora chuckled. “I am convinced you’re just a dudebro in a teenage girl’s body.”
“That’s what happens when you have a brother, you learn how to be like them.” She snigg*red.
xxx
The loud pumping drone of Dua Lipa rumbled through the bleachers as the crowd loudly cheered and whooped. Tina sighed, having gotten back from the benches to meet up with Aurora up in the stands, sitting beside her with a sigh on her face.
“So, how’s Operation: Beaver going?”
“Not great… I could barely say anything to her,” Tina sighed, “Besides, Brett was a dick. He called her a f*cking paper bag job.”
“Kessler? A paper bag job? That man needs eyes.” Cindy stated from behind the pair. “To be honest she’s not my type but even I can admit she’s pretty.”
“That’s ‘cause your type is Heather.”
“True that.” Cindy handed Tina a red cup, “Relax, it’s just soda.”
“Even if it wasn’t I’m not the designated driver tonight, Booker is.” Tina frowned, “Apparently because I’m ‘too dangerous behind the wheel’.”
Maybe because of that time she nearly swerved the car into a shop window. Or that time she nearly threw it into a pole. Or because of the time that she gave her mother a heart attack by sending the car down a hill at speeds too fast that they were almost considered inhumanely possible. All while she was still learning. It was a miracle she had her license by this point.
Tina took a sip of the soda, nice cold cola, in spite of it being the middle of winter by this point. The body heat of others around her probably stimulated the feeling of heat. As the chanting and stomping of the crowd reached a fever pitch, Tina gripped onto the small, silver locket attached to a similar colored chain around her neck. Her eyes were focused on Millie, dancing around in her mascot costume -- that was sweaty and smelt like off orange soda -- gripping the locket tighter. It must be hell down there for her. Tina was good in crowds -- she liked people -- but Millie by all accounts wasn’t. Maybe it was her crush talking but she wanted to race down the bleachers, maybe cheer her on from the front of the crowd, try to get her to keep moving.
But for some reason… She froze. Something told her that she shouldn’t do that. No… That she couldn’t do that. She let out a breath she hadn’t been holding, as the crowd stood still for a moment. In the back of her mind, she saw a shadow in the distance of the football field. It was there for a second, and then… Gone. Vanished into the flickering lights of the stadium.
After she and Booker drove home -- Booker driving -- they suddenly entered a nightmare. An ambulance and police cars drove past them once they came about their home. As they entered the house, their mother tackled Booker, checking to see if he was safe, checking his body for wounds and bruises. Tina didn’t even get a look in edgewise, possibly because she was up in the stands. She was crying. That was when the TV made a shocking announcement;
A Blissfield High student had just been stabbed in the shoulder by an assailant, thought to be the Blissfield Butcher. Her name; Millie Kessler.
