Chapter Text
I should’ve stayed at West High.
Why didn’t I stay at West High?
I wouldn’t have stabbed anybody.
But Eva didn’t stay at West High. She transferred to Giles Corey and her new team captain, Riley, had just fucking stabbed Kate.
Kate was sitting on the coffee table, staring at her leg and swearing, while Eva pressed a rag to her wound. “Kate, you’re gonna be fine. You’re gonna be okay.” She was the only one at Kate’s side, because everyone else was too busy tying up Riley. Which, yeah, was important, to be fair, but Kate was about to bleed out oh my God.
Kate laughed dryly, but then cut herself off with a sob. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Eva.”
“Look, we’ll get an ambulance, okay? You’ll be fine.”
“God, it hurts.”
“SHE HAS A LANDLINE!” Annleigh screamed from the doorway. “YOU HAD A LANDLINE THIS WHOLE TIME!”
“Did you call the police?” Eva demanded.
“Oh! Right.” Annleigh turned away, dialing 911.
Just as Riley woke up and claimed that the cops would listen to her, the stars must have been in Eva’s favor, because that was the perfect time to say:
“Actually, I’m really hoping they do.” She played the recording she’d taken of Riley’s confession.
“Delete that.”
“But I thought you loved going viral?”
Annleigh and Reese helped Kate up the stairs, and Eva quickly followed, grabbing her bag as she went.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kate leaned her head back, squeezing her eyes shut. All around her, paramedics were yelling for a stretcher, were yelling for this and that and God please just shut up and let me think . Next to her, Reese was rubbing her shoulders and repeating some bullshit about everything being okay.
Nothing’s going to be okay. Farrah and Chess are dead and Riley killed them.
Riley. Cheerful, bubbly, team captain Riley had killed Kate’s best friend.
And Reese, the same kind-hearted girl that was reassuring Kate, had killed Clark. Clark hadn’t done anything wrong! Well, yeah, he had snuck into an all-girls cheerleader sleepover to propose to his girlfriend, but he was sweet and selfless and kind and Reese had killed him.
“Stop touching me,” she said through gritted teeth, and thank God, Reese took her hand off her arm and stopped touching her.
She was so woozy from the blood loss that she could barely think, and her leg felt like it was on fire, like it was exploding - or imploding, Chess would point out. Was this what Chess’s last moments felt like? Was this kind of awful pain the last thing she felt as she bled out on the bench after Kate just left her there?
Chess had died, and Kate could have stopped it. If only she’d stayed, if only she’d tried to talk about it with Chess instead of storming off, Chess would be asking if she could hear her instead of Eva.
“I’m not having a panic attack, Eva,” she muttered. “I got fucking stabbed and I’m freaking out.”
Someone scoffed. “Yeah, she’s fine if she can still argue.”
“Shut the fuck up, Cairo,” Eva snapped. Kate had defended Chess the same way the night of the first sleepover.
And Chess died.