Realistic or Modern 𝕾𝖎𝖑𝖊𝖓𝖈𝖊𝖉 𝕴𝖓𝖓𝖔𝖈𝖊𝖓𝖈𝖊 || Main Thread

The reassurance made Freddy give a small sigh in relief. Over his years at school, he came to the conclusion that nearly everyone has found his nerdy rambles to be annoying. And as much as he knew that his friends weren't the type to share the same beliefs, he liked to be precautious. He glanced at his work again. The cork board was more of a mess than he last left it, his scratchy hand writing crudely have written phrases along the lines of, "student?", "teacher?", "popular?" with red yarn connecting them all to the newspaper article in the middle of the board. The article in question being the headline of the local paper a couple of months ago, his dad had written it and from what Freddy remembers, it sold pretty well. "The Porcelain Doll Killer, will he take your daughter?" A little bit insensitive, but it was the paranoia that sold to the residents of Easthaven.

He leaned into her hand. Freddy muttered with a light laugh, who could have expected that this was going to be the start of their week? Before Kallie could have answered his question, the principal's voice came booming from the intercom. Admittedly, it made Freddy jump from where he stood.

Great. He had expected just a regular announcement to leave school and return to their houses immediately, but of course they wanted to get everyone in one area to talk about it. And then the thought it him. The chances were there, Freddy wrote it down on his board himself, when they get to the auditorium, the killer could be in the exact same room as them. Sitting beside them, acting as clueless and scared as the rest of them. Humanity was capable of many heinous crimes but the idea of a student or even a staff member being demented enough to be a serial killer and have the abilities to hide it for so long? A shiver went down Freddy's spine at the thought.

He turned back his attention to Kallie and a nervous smile grew on his face. Now wasn't the time to dive back into a spiral of dread, not when he had Kallie and the rest of his friends as an anchor of support. Freddy took his tetra pack from the desk he seemingly left it on and offered an arm in Kallie's direction. Feigning a down right awful medieval British accent he gave a overly dramatic bow before laughing at his own joke.

Freddy was more than elated at the idea of getting to sit with the rest of his friends. Their last encounter together was so erupt that they all went their separate ways before he could check up on them. Them and the rest of the group will surely stick out like a sore thumb during the meeting, they all technically discovered the body today and the rest of the student body, knowing how nosey they could be would want the full story. Freddy was just nervous about the possibility of talking to the cops, he's infamous for asking them about detective interrogations whenever he and Odette visits her dad in the office. He was also nervous about seeing Ashlynn again, it has only now just came back to him that he owed her a history paper and that was why she came to the chemistry lab in the first place. It was a guilty feeling, feeling responsible for the reason why she had to see that grim scene earlier today. He just hoped that paper was worth it, Freddy knew it would be worth an A+ no doubt.

Odette and her father's conversation was cut short when a his deputy told him that they needed to get to the scene and check it out. It was just a quick hug and asking if she was okay (to which she answered, ) She stood outside the school awhile more, looking at its engraved name at the center of the building. She knew Easthaven was a small town shit show, but ever since the development of a serial killer within the community, it just seems even more quick to crumble into pieces. The turf wars and class conflict between the south and north side of town was bad enough, especially with the new recent additions to the school roster. A bunch of bad apples, the lot of them. The by-product of poor management from their mayor, which was the exact reason why Odette wants to leave town so badly. It's a town with drama you can see in the very high school they have, it's like graduating and staying here is no different from leaving Easthaven high to begin with.

She sighed, focusing back at the present, deciding to go back into the belly of the beast as she moved past the crowd of students outside— sparring a shove against Ryan after passing him and Blake back inside. Odette listened to the sound of the principal's voice echo across the intercoms of the hallway. It wasn't a surprise that the school faculty would want to gather everyone around to inform them of the news, but Odette Whittaker didn't need informing, she was there. Or at least, she saw the body after her friends discovered it. What did the school want to say? That one of the runners for prom queen got killed and her corpse was found fashioned as a doll in the chemistry lab? She would rather go home and wait for the news report on the local news channel or buy tomorrow's newspaper. At least she would feel slightly more secure in the comfort of her own house, where she knows the locations of her dad's firearms.

But at the end of the day, Odette was the student body president, she was expected to be one of the first people to attend to these student body gatherings, even if she really didn't want to. The curse of maintaining a reputation she supposes. When she gets to the doors of the auditorium she spares a peak and notices a lack of her friends. Right. Odette knew that Freddy and Kallie were most likely on their way, their office could easily hear the instructions from the intercoms. Taylor being outside by the vending machines however... Call Odette protective all you want, but she didn't want her hippie stoner to get into trouble and have to be seen escorted by her dad's co-workers to the auditorium.

Odette was then facing a crossroads situation. To risk getting caught leaving the school building to find Taylor or to go inside and leave her to her own devices. The principal did emphasize that there was to be no pitstops.

But heaven knows that she could never pick the latter.

Odette quietly closed the auditorium door once more and hurriedly made her way to the exit. The school was beginning to crawl with cops, and as much as they were her dad's friends and she has seen them during her birthday parties and arranged brunches, in a murder case, they would not let her slide and exit. So she tip toed and made she to check every corner she took before continuing to speed walk towards the school's front entrance. It wasn't an easy feat whatsoever but she somehow managed. Quickly, she exited the school doors once again and found herself roaming the campus before she got to the little spot of the vending machine where her friend stood. Well, her friend and public enemy #1, Romeo Hawthorne.

She smiled at Taylor, choosing to ignore Rome all together for the sake of an easy interaction. Odette lets out a hand for her to take.

ryan was now following blake and ashlynn into the building, a feeling of overarching dread leaking into his mind as his footsteps lead closer to the auditorium door. then ashlynn, as if she was moses parting water, cleared a pathway for the three to enter. ryan glanced over at blake before a small smirk appeared on his lips.

damn she really was good for something afterall, he thought before laughing and shaking his head. he followed the two toward the auditorium, before being interrupted by their last piece of the puzzle.

as romeo approached, a small laugh came from his lips, before shoving rome a little bit in a playful manner. but then he glanced, and didn’t see his sister prodding after him. a small frown of confusion slid its way onto his once smiling face, an eyebrow raised.

shit, where the fuck did she go?

as soon as the thought entered his mind, it quickly made its exit as he saw a visibly high taylor made her way past him with odette. he let out a sigh. if tay was going to be with anyone in this very moment, it probably needed to be odette. he knew the two were friends, so, odette wouldn’t betray her, right? right.

the now group of four made their way into the auditorium and of course ashlynn made it very clear that if anyone touched her, she would make it very apparent not to do it again. the four sat together, and ryan glanced at his sister who seemed lost in her head. he wouldn’t doubt it at this point. but the male was too busy worrying about his sister to even realize that the principal was speaking, and calling out names.

then his name was called, and he heard his friend call out “the fuck!”

at that point, in that very moment, he knew things were going to go completely south.

He was glad his little antics could rise a laugh out of Kallie, heaven knew she needed that. They all did. Freddy's been trying to remember his cork board, the detective notes he scribbled onto there. He pictured the red yarn rather than the pale face of Evelynn Dermot in the chemistry lab, he was a third party— someone who was not affected whatsoever, he had no reason to be upset. There was no reason for him to feel responsible in any way for her death, he just couldn't help but see the death of Evelynn and the death of... them to be one of the same. It was annoying; itching at the back of his skull and unable to satisfy.



Freddy took another sip from his juice pack before leading Kallie out the door, making sure to lock it behind them, no porcelain doll killer is going to use their office as another crime scene. The walk between the two towards the auditorium was just what he needed, quiet comfort the two were providing each other despite the utter chaos happening outside their persons. He chose to ignore the frightened faces of his peers as they made their own pathing to the auditorium, instead focused on his juice pack, analyzing the tiny details of the label and design. The mutter of Kallie brought his head back to the world around him, the entrance was crowded. It was like watching a colony of ants trying to get back to the hill all at once. He said under his breath.

It was a little bit amusing to see Kallie go on her tiptoes, he knew who she was looking for, and thanks to his height he didn't need any extra leverage to scope the parameter. Call him blind (because he legally is) but she seemed to have spotted their two other friends before he could. He followed her lead and felt a huge wave of relief to be sitting with all of his friends, seeing that regardless of all the current events, they were all in one piece.

A smile and wave was all he had time to give before the principal began saying his speech. He shouldn't be surprised by the news he was giving, but the words announcing Evelynn's death still stunned him to silence. It wasn't unordinary for his name to be part of the list of people, he knew that the police would want to take some statements from the witnesses and Freddy literally held the key to the room where her body was found. Glancing to his friends he noticed how unnerved Taylor was, and like the beanstalk he is, he stretched a hand to rub her shoulder. He spoke like it was fact, but he knew that it wasn't guaranteed, the police could have them in separate rooms for statements if they wanted to. But he didn't like seeing his friend worry so much.

Before Freddy could rise out of his seat, the loud cuss of Blake made him jump right back down. Fight or flight, more like freeze in fear. He understood his anger, well, not really. Unlike most of their parents, he knew that his would want him to tell them everything. "An inside report from a student at the scene of the crime." If anything, besides the nervous jitters that inherently came with getting interviewed by the police, Freddy would rather spend some extra time there than go back home and have a second interview with his parents.

Although Freddy didn't necessarily like Blake, he made a good point. How did they get the list of witnesses so fast? He couldn't help but glance towards his best friend. He whispered to her. Freddy took her whisper back as the god's honest gospel, he trusted her not to lie and he knew that she wasn't one to lie about this. There would be no shame in telling her dad anything. It must've been the other students in the halls or maybe even the security cameras.

He followed her lead and stood up from his chair, although staying behind a couple of steps, waiting for his other two friends to join them, giving them a small smile for at least a little bit of comfort.

She rolled her eyes simply at the words leaving Rome's pretty mouth, Odette couldn't see why Taylor would even consider being in the same vicinity of him. She was pretty sure that Taylor was a little high off her ass but Odette made it her responsibility to be her support as they walked towards the auditorium. And if she had to deal with being alongside Romeo to ensure that? She was fine with compromising, at least for now. By the time they got to the entrance, the boy had parted ways with them, to her satisfaction but the amount of students blocking the entrance did annoy her. It wasn't this packed when she first had arrived to the auditorium. And after moving her way through the crowd, hand still gently gripping onto Tay's to make sure she didn't lose her, they finally made it inside.

The president lead her friend to a row of seats in the middle, although she normally would sit somewhere in front, she knew that Taylor wouldn't quite appreciate that. It wasn't that bad anyway, if Odette would admit, she'd rather stay in the sidelines for this assembly. As a teenager, it was hard to take in that this was now the reality they are facing, with a girl they once knew was now dead. And her killer was running free, and they've been running free for a very long time.

It didn't take long for Freddy and Kallie to join them, she gave them a smile before returning her attention to the principal who began discussing the happenings of the day. She knew her dad was out there, currently investigating the scene. This entire case has been swallowing him whole for the past months, it was almost like seeing Freddy get into his theory mode except it was against her father's control. Where her best friend looked like some mad scientist who enjoyed the process, her father always looked drained, ripped and crumpled paper littering his study in the house. Odette would occasionally find herself going over there to drape a blanket over his hunched, sleeping form against his desk. She silently prayed to whatever higher power looking after them that Evelynn would be the last victim this killer would take.

Her brows rose at the call of the names. The school must really be upping their game finding the witnesses so quickly, it was honestly a startle for the girl after hearing her name be called. Freddy made a good point, the sooner this was done, the better and at this point refusing to be interviewed would be more of a problem at the end of the day than not. But of course this would earn a rise out of other people who were called, specifically Blake, who quickly stood from his seat in outrage as the rest of the student body made their way out of the venue. She wanted to be annoyed, but she just couldn't find it in her at that point, the day was getting long and Odette simply wanted to get this case solved so the school could feel like a safe place again.

The whisper from Freddy caught her by surprise. He was worried for her, she could see that, if she was the person to snitch on everyone, Blake would be furious. She whispered back,

Odette promptly stood from her seat and began walking towards the stage, still walking with poise in her step as she met with the principal. There was the assumption that her friends were following behind, but she was more focused on acting as orderly as possible in front of the principal, hoping to make this short and sweet. Her smile was tired but still on her face nonetheless. Clasping her hands behind her back, she waited for the rest to join her on the stage, hoping that the three amigos and the ever-so-beloved queen bee will finally concede and just help the investigation to an extent.

as shit started to hit the fan and more of them gathered toward the stage, ryan heard his friend speak again, before glancing back at tay, visibly upset about something. she was probably worried about being questioned by the cops no doubt, especially since it was like she woke up with glassy eyes everyday.

“hey, hand me one of those, bud,” he said to rome, before taking one of the “mints” he had offered and letting it dissolve on his tongue, sticking his tongue out and laughing a little bit. it’d take about 30 minutes to work, so surely he’d probably be done speaking with the cops and the now arguing with ashlynn principal. he’d have a long, but fun ass ride home, that’s for sure.

“who the fuck knows,” he whispered before continuing, “it’s not like any of us actually saw what happened anyway.”

he followed his friend and his sister’s other group of friends to the stage, and of course rome had some shit to say to odette. not like it mattered, anyway. he was always fucking with her.

“daaaaamn!” he yelled, a set of chuckles coming from his mouth. then, his sister spoke, and the obviously frustrated taylor shut him up.

she wasn’t her usual self, carefree, and honestly, high. he almost forgot that sober tay existed before now. it wasn’t like he didn’t fuck with odette, but around his sister, he wouldn’t. he knew the two were friends and honestly, odette saved her ass with a lot of shit. like earlier.

Odette held back a sneer of disgust as Ash tried her luck in sweet talking with the principal to get out of the interrogation. She expected nothing less out of the cheer captain but still wanted to expect more from her nonetheless. You would think that after another murder taking place in the hands of the notorious town serial killer, in their own school no less, people like Ashlynn would want to cooperate. Perhaps she's just glad her main competition for prom queen is no longer in the picture. She stole a look at Kallie, motioning her eyes towards Ash's display like, "Can you believe this?"

Her judgement of the cheerleader between her and Kallie didn't last as Rome stepped onto the stage, feeling as if it would be fun to take a jab at her. It seems that their minor alliance for the sake of Tay wore off and he was back to his insufferable ways. This was getting ridiculous, and Odette's patience was truly getting tested by nearly everyone's incompetence. But before Odette could retaliate, mouth practically burning with the fire she was about to let out, Taylor had defended her. It caught the president by surprise as her cheeks lit up at the small, yet powerful act. Her face was stunned until she met the look in Rome's eyes and her expression grew into a smug smirk in his direction.



She would have stuck out her tongue at the man too if she didn't see the police in the corner of her eye, who now stood alongside the principal. Redirecting her attention, she looked at the policeman. A coworker of her dad, Odette knew the man by face but not by name— not that anyone could blame her, ever since the first strike of the Porcelain Doll Killer, the police office have been mass hiring people in an attempt to keep the town safe.

Being the first one to be selected for the interrogation didn't worry Odette whatsoever, if anything she was glad to get it out of the way so she can go home with her friends, if she was lucky Freddy would offer a sleepover with her, Kallie, and Taylor. She gave a small smile and nod, glancing at her friends with confident eyes as they made their way off the stage and towards the front row. She walked closer to the officer, hands still gently clasped together.

He muttered at Blake as he reached out to place a hand on Kallie's shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. Freddy and Blake were always in a different world from each other's but their worlds would always manage to merge when it came to Kallie. And although Freddy wasn't a man of action, he couldn't take the jock down even if he tried, but he stood his ground for the sake of his friends to whom he lead him and Kallie closer to on the stage.

As Ash continued on her futile negotiations with the principal, which Freddy did his best to tune out, he glared daggers at Rome. He said after Kallie. Freddy has been friends with Odette since he ever moved into this crumby town, and he didn't see why people like Rome would think it'd be funny to set her off. Especially when it was in the middle of an investigation between a dead classmate of theirs's. Admittedly, being friends with her for so long, Freddy knew how controlling she could get when it came to the smallest things but he thought that her control freak self was necessary at this point in order to give police at least some information to help catch the killer.

A look of concern was sent to Odette when Freddy heard that the police officer wanted to interrogate her first but he followed behind Kallie as they went down the stage and towards the front seats of the auditorium. About to answer Kallie's question, his thunder was stolen by Blake who then proceeded to make jokes. Freddy huffed. He sat beside Kallie, stealing one more glance up at Odette who was sitting next to the officer, getting her round of questioning. Freddy shuddered, remembering the exact moment he unlocked the lab room and twisted the doorknob, unaware of the horrors behind it. Taking a sip of his juice box he motioned Tay over to the free seat on his other side.

There was a part of Freddy that expected to see the prom queen runner enter the very doors of the auditorium, claiming it was all a joke and that they'd be seeing her at school the very next day like nothing happened. But that wasn't the case, he'd probably see her body bag if the police doesn't clean it up in time the whole interrogation was over.

Freddy was able to not get Kallie to leave his sight after the body discovery and got to catch up with Odette. Tay on the other hand seemed to have herself pre-occupied by all sorts of things when they met up with her.

rome’s words to ashlynn made ryan chuckle low, he raised a brow before smirking and whispering “it’s always the best when they’re angry. that shit gets you going,” he said, before playfully nudging his bro and laughing while glancing and winking at blake. the high was just kicking in from the tablet he took earlier, and now the serotonin was flooding his brain, a warm and fuzzy feeling as people would call it.

unlike his sister, who it mostly made anxious toward the end, ryan was suddenly relaxed, and slumped in his seat, awaiting his name to leave the principal’s mouth. he glanced over at his sister, who was oblivious to his high, and of course she was around the group of freaks that looked like they would be called the meddling kids riding around in the mystery machine.

he never understood why she was always around them. he knew his sister inside and out, like the palm of his hand. they were best friends their whole childhood. but he couldn’t explain why she was so interested in such a brady bunch. freddy was someone that believed in mythical creatures and binge watched finding bigfoot, odette was like one of the sanderson sisters had a love child, kallie was so quiet it hurt to be around her. he never understood it. tay was always around the guys and ashlynn, why couldn’t she just be friends with them? what’s the point of being a middle man? ryan shrugged the thought off, they were weirdos but they were still people, he guessed.

then, he heard ashlynn’s comment to rome, and he had to put his two sense in. “you’re right, ashlynn, but maybe it’s because your manual was written in some foreign language that hasn’t been discovered yet,” he chuckled before rolling his eyes.

“you females are more complicated than car motors,” he added, before slumping down more, laughing once more. these tablets were bringing out the uttermost dickish comments, and he was enjoying all of it. he then turned to blake, before grinning. “you’ve got your hands full, bud.”