A hushed breeze flows into the classroom from the wide and agape windows. The warm breeze tugged at papers on the student's desk, but the papers were loosely weighted by pencil cases and binders, preventing any chaos that may take away the attention from the front of the class. A faint smell of freshly mowed grass and narrow leaf milkweed can be traced in the balmy air.

A content aura lingers above the students, as many had their head rested in their arms or on piles of books as they listened to the soft, reposeful voice at the front of the class. A few boys looked on, ahead at the girl standing before the teacher's desk with a printed sheet in her hand she was composedly reading from. Every few moments, as she talked she would shift a tad bit or brush a strand of wild hair behind her ear- challenging the wind that mildly plucked at it.

"... Taking all of this into account, it becomes clear that Edgar Allen Poe's House of Usher uses personification to exhibit the disease and death lurking in the family of Usher. It is a family on its last legs and is falling apart, just like how the foundation of the house is crumbling with a small crack in the wall to show for it. In the end, this will lead to the downfall of both the house, and the family of Usher." She completed her narration with a small grin, lowering the paper to her chest and taking a soft glance back to the small lake of students before her.

The English teacher behind her at the desk starts to clap, and gazes expectantly at the students who follow her example and began to clap as well as the girl takes her former seat near the front of the class.

"Excellent, (Y/n). I'm glad at least someone was able to get the essay in on time..." She stated glaring around the room and watching as the guilty students either smirked or squirmed in their seats in reaction to the call out "No matter, the due date will be moved to Monday. Anyone who actually completed the assignment on time will receive extra credit- and no homework for the weekend."

A small, pleased sigh escapes your lips, and you notice the silent cheers from your few peers who also managed to finish the 5 page essay in the span of 3 days (which admittedly is a bullshit amount of time to finish an essay, especially given it made up all the time of your three day weekend; but hey, sucks to suck.)

"Psst, (Y/n)!" Katelyn Ross beckons from the seat behind you, poking at your shoulder lightly "You should totally help me finish my essay tonight- Don't worry, I'm already like, 3 pages done- I just need to edit and finish the last few paragraphs."

You turn yourself to her and grin "I'm sorry, Kat. I can't tonight. I'm working with Randy tonight at the store."

She groans in disappointment and runs a hand through her thick dark hair "Unfair. You always work the night-shift, I swear. How'd you, of all people, manage to get that essay done with your shifts?"

You giggle a bit "Determination, I guess. Normally I just sit down and don't stop till I'm done. When I write, everything else becomes unimportant. It's kinda calming for me, if that makes sense."

"Damn, I wish I could sit down and actually do shit. Lucky bastard." She giggles

"Katelyn, language." Miss. Ryan lightly scolds, giving her a small, disapproving look as she reviews the grade book.

"Sorry," She mutters "Won't happen again."

You giggle a bit and gather your belongings together on the table, scooping them into your arms as the bell rings and people start to flood out of the classroom. You're one of the last to start to head from the room, but as you glance to Miss. Ryan you notice her waving you over.

You approach her desk "Is something wrong, Miss. Ryan?"

"No, nothing at all. Actually, it's something really good." She states "I was wondering if you were interested in the collage credit program at the school. I think, with your writing talent, you should consider it greatly!"

You feel nervousness swell in your heart "Collage credit? Do you think I'm ready for a course like that? I mean, that's a lot of work, isn't it?"

She nods slowly "Yes, but I know you can do it easily. I mean, look at your work! I'm sure they'd accept you, no hesitations."

You nodded, nibbling on your bottom lip nervously "Yeah, maybe... I'll grab one of those forms in the front office on my way out today."

Miss. Ryan gleams at this, nodding her head excitedly "Wonderful! I'd love to see you in one of those classes. You know, they get you so much farther ahead."

You nod a bit "Yeah... I should really get going, though. I have to pick my little sister up from school and get to work tonight, so I should really be on my way," You say "But I will look into it."

"Oh, yes, sorry to keep you! You go on ahead." She says waving you off with her hand, watching you walk out of the classroom.

You sigh a little as you approach your locker, stacking your books into the top shelf and shoving your notebooks and folders into your book bag. You throw your bag over your shoulder and tread to the front office. It's there you notice the bright pink forms on the front desk, with the words 'HIGH SCHOOL COLLAGE CREDIT APPLICATION' spread across the header in Times New Roman font. You let out a small sigh as you took the form and folded it into the small pocket on the side of your book bag.

"Hey, (Y/n)." You hear a soft voice behind you call. You quickly turn yourself to the source of the voice. A few feet away from you sits Tatum Riley, legs crossed with her backpack held against her chest. She sends you a wave with her free hand, grinning and silently beckoning you to come over to her.

You accept the offer, stepping over to her "Hey Tatum. After school in the office? You aren't in trouble are you? You know how your brother would react."

At the mention of her brother she scoffs "You know damn well I'm not the one in trouble." She says exhaustively "I'm simply waiting for the culprit."

You sigh softly "Oh boy, isn't this Stu's second time in the office this week? It's only Wednesday." You giggle.

"I'm dating an absolute moron." Tatum groans "I don't know how he manages to get to school without causing the apocalypse."

You nod your head in agreement "He's sure something. What did he even do?" You ponder aloud.

You hear the a faint yell down the hall, before the principal slams the office doors open and shoves Stu out of the room disapprovingly, mumbling obscenities under his breath at the boy as he pushes him from the room, slamming the door shut behind him. All of this, while Stu wore a shit eating grin, aimed at Tatum.

Once he was in the clear, he shuffled over to his lover and wrapped his arms around her "Hey babe, I'm a free man now!" He cheered excitedly, nuzzling his face into the side of her head

Tatum rolls her eyes in response, returning the hug lazily "What was he chewing your ass out about now?" she asked.

"Well, apparently, spray painting dicks onto the school's Woodsboro sign doesn't fall under 'school spirit'." He half-joked giving her a large, proud smile.

"Jesus, you're obnoxious." Tatum postulated, lazily placing a hand on her hip "One of these days Himbry is gonna see you in his office and just... lose his shit on you."

Stu lets out a bold chuckle "Ah- 'One of these days'? He does it every time I walk in!"

You giggled a small bit, watching the two bicker. Up until this moment, your presence wasn't registered in Stu's mind. Your small chuckle attracted his attention, and he turns to you with a confused look "Why are you here?" He asked, more in confusion rather than an attempt to be rude "Never thought I'd find you in this part of the office."

You quickly shake your head "Oh, yeah, no- I'm not in trouble. I'm just grabbing this form for the collage credit thing."

"Oh, fuck, really?" Tatum spoke "I couldn't handle doing collage work in high school. Henry did that a year back, but dropped out because it stressed the hell outta him."

"Yeah." You mumble "I just thought it'd be neat."

Stu laughs a bit "I call bullshit on that. Don't you already do a bunch of shit? Do you even have like, a life?"

You pause and turn to stare at him, a large smirk painted on his face as his eyes glinted mischievously "W... Well I-I-" You try to mumble out a response.

"Stu!" Tatum scolds "Don't be an ass!" She turns to you and smiles apologetically "He doesn't mean that, he just says dumb shit sometimes."

"No, It's fine, I guess." You say chuckling nervously "I should really get going, though. I have to work tonight, so... See you both later!"

They both watched you move at a quick pace out of the office. Tatum turned and gave Stu a look, one he knew all too well. He returned the harsh glare with a sigh "What? Babe, I didn't even do anything."

Tatum simply throws on her bag and turns, starting to leave the office. Stu starts to gather his things and quickly follows her, calling 'babe!' as he rushed up to follow her outside, where Sidney and Billy wait, sitting on a worn bench outside the school.

"Finally, you both took forever." Sidney groans, but quickly perks up when she notices the irritated look on her friends face "Oh, what did Stu do now?"

"Nothing-"

"You can't just say that shit to someone, Stu! It's rude!" Tatum snapped at her boyfriend, before turning back to Sidney "He told (Y/n) she didn't have a life."

Sidney shifts to glare at Stu, and although billy doesn't verbally show interest as he lay against Sidney, he does pay special attention to the developing conversation- noticeable by a slight shift to the side and his eyes focusing on the couple before him curiously.

"God, Stu, why? She hasn't done jack shit." Sidney scolds.

Stu shrugs "Exactly. She hasn't done anything. Think about it, that girl is probably miserable!"

"Jesus Christ, you can't just assume people live in downcast because they have a busy life. She works and goes to school, end of question." Tatum argues.

"She does more than that," Billy chimes up quietly, seemly in thought "Drama club, president of the book club, art club, green club. Not to mention the hours she works... Sure, that looks good on a resume, but it's stressful for a person."

Stu nods "Exactly, she's already got a lot on her plate, why would she take a College class to add on to that?"

"She can handle it! She's always been like that, ever since middle school, when... well, you know." Tatum adds, quieting herself as she comes to her final point.

"How do we know?" Billy adds, this time not as quietly, and with much more insertion into the discussion "She isn't our friend."

"Now, why would you say that Billy? We like her, she's nice." Tatum states disapprovingly.

Billy shifts himself and shoves his hands in his pockets "I'm not saying she's bad. Don't you just find it strange that we don't know anything about her? That nobody knows anything about her? She doesn't have any close friends, she doesn't hang out at the mall with anybody. When me and Stu see her on the streets or at the store, she's alone." He argues with a slightly defensive tone, not easily picked up on "The best she's got is Randy- and he doesn't even know her favorite horror film. He's always able to squeeze that question out of people; but not her."

The four grow silent for a moment, not knowing what course of action to take as Billy glances over all of them, waiting for some rebuttal or agreement. But he was met with nothing, as most of them probably couldn't offer much besides 'well, I never thought of it that way'.

"I think it's about time we head back. We can head to the movie store, get some movies." Tatum announces suddenly "Dewey's working tonight, and my mom doesn't mind if you guys come over as long as we all keep the door open, don't do anything she wouldn't do, and yada, yada."

Sidney grins, shaking off the previous conversation "Oh, yeah that sounds good. I just gotta call and remind my dad. I told him Thursday, but you know him."

"Right." Tatum agrees with a nod before turning to the boys "So, ya'll coming over?"

Billy nods a small bit, clearly still affected or hung up on the last argument that was cancelled abruptly "Yeah, I think me and Stu just gotta head to my place real quick before hand to talk to my pops. You know it takes a special type of convincing to pull it off with him." He says. Stu nods his head in agreement.

"Yeah, I know." Sidney chuckles "I guess we will all meet there?"

"Mhm, be at my place at around 6. I want us to go movie searching together." Tatum announces.

With the final decisions made, Sidney gathers her stuff from the bench and rises up, Billy follows her actions, but moves himself over to Stu so they can both head off together while Sidney and Tatum go their own ways. With a final goodbye the groups is separated. Tatum and Sidney heading to Tatum's car, and Stu and Billy both heading down the sidewalk. Strangely, though, nobody seemed to notice the two were going the exact opposite way from Billy's house.