Chapter Text
BREAKING: Two East High students, Antoine Elliott (16) and Lily Rose (15), were found murdered at the latter’s home late last night. The murderer has not yet been found. Police ask Salt Lake City civilians to remain vigilant and report any suspicious behavior.
When Gina arrives to school, it’s hard to see anything past the swarm of police cars and press cameras on the school grounds. Gina immediately freezes at the sight, her breathing catching in her throat. She’s all too reminded of last year. Almost a year ago to the day. Of being called out of school and informed that her mom had been found in a motel room just outside of Salt Lake, murdered. The press had already been outside of the school, there to capture the moment that Gina found out, falling to her knees and desperately begging no, for there to have been a mistake, please.
She’s brought back to reality by her boyfriend, EJ, giving her hand a squeeze.
“Hey, you alright?” He asks her.
Gina nods, pasting a fake smile onto her face. “Yeah, of course. It’s just — it’s all a little reminiscent of last year, you know? And it’s almost a year ago to the day…”
She trails off. Once again, she feels lost in her thoughts.
“Hey,” EJ says softly. Gina meets his eyes. “It’s gonna be okay. Whatever it is, we’ll get through it together.”
“Okay,” Gina agrees, smiling when EJ leans down to press a kiss to her cheek.
She doesn’t mention that he had told her that before, only to leave her alone while she was at her most vulnerable. EJ had barely been there for Gina when her mom died. She knows that they had just started dating, and all of that trauma and grief was a lot for a new relationship to handle, but…it’s eaten at Gina for almost a year now.
Still, she never brings it up. Maybe because she doesn’t want to be faced with the question of who was there for her instead.
And EJ is a good boyfriend. Really, he is. He’s kind, and understanding, and protective. Despite having a solid group of friends, Gina struggles a lot with feeling alone. Ever since her mom died, it’s just been her and her older brother Jamie, who’s gone more often than not. Having EJ by her side helps her feel not so alone.
The two of them walk onto the school courtyards together, where their group of friends are already gathered. Although they have a big group of friends, there are smaller groups within the main one that have formed over time. Gina considers herself closest with Nini, Kourtney, Ashlyn and Carlos. EJ is closest with Val and Maddox, although he’s also fairly close with Ricky’s group of friends, which is just Ricky, Jet and Big Red.
Ashlyn and Big Red are the only other couple in the group, although Ashlyn has been hinting to Gina more and more that she’s thinking of ending things with him. Gina has a feeling she might have a small crush on Maddox.
“What’s going on?” Gina asks as she takes her seat between Nini and Kourtney.
“You haven’t heard?” Nini asks with a gasp.
Gina shakes her head no.
“Lily and Antoine were murdered last night,” Carlos explains. “Apparently Lily got some freak phone call and it ended up being a murderer who killed the both of them outside of Lily’s house.”
Gina feels every single part of her go cold. She has to gasp in a breath, and even then, she feels like she can’t breathe.
Clearly, no one is paying attention to her, because her friends just keep talking about it.
“Reports say Antoine’s neck was slashed and Lily was straight up gutted,” Val adds.
“Jesus, Val,” EJ says. “Have some tact?”
“Sorry, sorry, you know I want to be a—“
“An abnormal psychologist with a special focus in forensics,” Ashlyn finishes for her. “Yes, trust us, we know.”
“Gina, are you okay?”
Gina looks up at that, finding Ricky’s worried brown eyes on her. She tries not to let the surprise show on her face.
Her and Ricky don’t talk.
“Yeah, sorry,” Gina says, shaking her head to rid herself of any dark thoughts. “This whole thing just reminds me of a year ago. I mean, it’s awful. Two people were killed."
Kourtney gives her shoulders a little squeeze from her spot next to her. “How are you holding up?”
Gina shrugs. “About as good as is to be expected. It’s almost been one year exactly since her…death.”
She still has trouble saying the word.
“Isn’t the timing of this kind of weird?” Nini asks. She’s twirling a long strand of brown hair around her finger, dressed in her white and red cheerleader uniform. “It’s not like there are a ton of murders happening here all of the time, but now there’s been three in the last year? And almost exactly a year apart?”
“Well, technically last year’s was outside of Salt Lake,” Big Red says, only to immediately be elbowed in the stomach by Ricky. Hard.
“Seriously, dude?” Ricky says. “Shut up.”
Big Red’s eyes go wide and he gives Gina an apologetic look. “Sorry, Gina.”
“It’s okay,” Gina says softly, but her heart isn’t in it. She can feel Ricky’s concerned gaze still on her. “I should get to class. See you all at lunch?”
“Sounds good, girl,” Kourtney tells her.
Gina stands up, relieved when EJ does the same. She doesn’t feel like facing the press by herself, just in case they feel like asking her questions about her mom or what happened last night. Having EJ by her side makes her feel a little better.
EJ’s hand slips into hers as they make their way toward the school. He gives Gina a reassuring smile, and Gina smiles back, trying to convince herself that things are going to be okay.
She just doesn’t know if she believes herself.
School is…weird.
Unsurprisingly, Gina has more than one news reporter slap a camera in her face and try to get a quote from her about the one year anniversary of her mom’s death.
She’s pretty sure that the words she used to tell them off weren’t allowed on television, so she’s not too worried about that.
By the time she gets home, Gina is physically and emotionally drained. Usually her and Nini will go over to each other’s houses after she’s done with cheer practice so they can work on homework together, but the football team has an away game tonight, which means she won’t be back until late. EJ also has water polo practice after school.
So, Gina finds herself in her house alone. It’s a feeling she’s gotten all too used to this last year.
She works on her homework for about an hour, the quiet lull of voices on the tv comforting her as she does. Once she’s finished, Gina heads upstairs to take a shower and then maybe take a nap. The thought of having all her problems go away for a couple hours is just too good to resist.
She must sleep for longer than she means to, because when she wakes up, it’s dark outside. Gina quickly turns on the light of the lamp she has on her nightstand, breathing a sigh of relief when she sees her bedroom looking the same as always; still just as pink and girly. She hasn’t had her room changed since she was a little girl.
Gina is getting ready to text EJ to see what he’s up to when there’s a light knock on her window. She nearly throws her phone at how much the sound startles her. All of a sudden, her mind is racing with awful thoughts, about how Lily had been killed last night at her home and the killer still hadn’t been caught—
Gina’s phone vibrates. It’s a text from Ricky.
“Hey I’m at your window, you didn’t answer the door and I got kind of worried. Wanted to talk to you. Sorry if I scared you.”
Gina’s first instinct is to be mad. ‘Sorry if I scared you.’ Yeah, no shit he scared her. Still, Ricky showing up at her window is enough to have her slightly intrigued. He hadn’t done that in…awhile.
With a roll of her eyes, Gina gets up from her bed and walks over to her window. She opens her light pink curtains, and sure enough, there’s Ricky, squatting outside of her window. He offers Gina a small smile and a wave when he sees her. Gina resists the urge to roll her eyes again as she opens up her window.
“What are you doing here?” She hisses.
“Nice pajamas,” Ricky says in response, his smile going a little dopey.
Gina looks down at her outfit and feels herself flush when she realizes she’s in a pink tank top and matching pink pajama shorts with little butterflies all over them.
“You’re not funny,” she tells him, but lets him inside anyway. It feels almost too familiar.
Gina goes to her closet and puts on an East High hoodie as Ricky crawls into her window, shutting it behind himself. Gina gives him a look once he’s just standing there inside of her room.
“You still haven’t answered my question. What are you doing here?”
Ricky at least has the decency to look awkward. “I was just…I was really worried about you, Gi.”
Gina has to look away at the nickname. She can’t remember the last time he called her that, but it somehow still gets to her.
“You seemed off at school today, so I thought I’d check on you. Just to see how you were holding up. But then you didn’t answer the door, and I kind of…assumed the worst?”
Gina feels a bit of her cold demeanor melt away. But just a bit.
“I get that,” she says quietly. She knows all about assuming the worst. “But I’m fine, so…you’re free to go.”
Her heart breaks a little at the hurt look Ricky gives her. It has Gina speaking again before Ricky can even respond.
“Look, Ricky, obviously I appreciate you checking in on me.” And being the only one at school today who actually noticed I wasn’t okay is what she doesn’t add. “But you can’t just climb up to my bedroom window anymore. It’s not appropriate.”
“Right,” Ricky says, his eyes searching Gina’s face for something, anything. “Not after what we did.”
The words cut through the room like a knife. Gina feels like panicking all over again.
“You can’t — you can’t just say things like that,” Gina scolds. “We swore we’d never bring it up again. So why the hell are you in my room talking about it?”
Ricky shakes his head. “I don’t know,” he says softly, like he’s given up. “I guess I just missed you. Like, so fucking much.”
Gina’s resolve weakens just a tiny bit. Minuscule, really. She takes a few cautious steps toward Ricky, pretending that she isn’t affected by the way his eyes never leave hers as she walks closer to him.
Once she’s close enough to him to touch, she reaches out to lightly place her hand on Ricky’s arm. His eyes flick down at the touch before quickly going back to Gina’s face.
“I’ve missed you, too,” Gina whispers. “But I’m sorry, you need to go.”
Ricky nods. He looks less hurt now and more accepting. “I know,” he says quietly.
Gina moves her hand from his arm and watches as he moves back toward the window. She bites back the urge to laugh.
“And please use the front door like a normal, civilized human being.”
Ricky turns around with a small smile on his lips. “I don’t know, I kind of like the window. Makes me feel strong.”
“You can live without the boost to your ego. A fall from a two story window? Less certain,” Gina quips back.
Ricky lets out a surprised laugh at the words, which causes Gina to smile back at him. The problem with Ricky is that it always feels a little too natural, falling into this pattern with him. All it takes is a little bit of time alone together and they’re bantering and making each other laugh.
Ricky must be thinking along the same lines, because he nods, says another ‘right’ and goes to walk out of Gina’s bedroom door. He opens it, but then hesitates once his hand is on the doorknob.
“Gi?”
And there’s that nickname again.
“Yeah?”
“I really did just come here to see if you were okay,” Ricky says softly, apologetically.
“I know.”
He gives her an inquiring look, and Gina sighs.
“Honestly? Everything is kind of shit right now, and it probably will be for a while, but…I’m okay. Or…I will be okay. I just have to get through these next couple of weeks.”
Ricky nods. “Okay.”
He looks like he wants to say more, but Gina watches as he walks out of her bedroom instead, closing the door behind him.
Almost A Year Ago
When Gina opens the door, she’s surprised but also not to see Ricky standing there in front of her. The two of them have always been close friends, but lately there’s a weird tension between them ever since Gina started dating EJ.
Unfortunately, Ricky has caught her mid-cry. It feels like that’s all she’s able to do these days.
Gina sniffles, trying to wipe the tears away with the back of her hand. Maybe if she ignores the fact that she’s crying then Ricky will, too.
“Hey, Ricky, what’s up?” She says through shaky breaths.
Ricky’s eyes are wide, his mouth hanging open, before he’s quickly wrapping Gina up in a hug. “Oh, Gi,” he murmurs, and Gina aches at the pain in his voice. “I just wanted to see…I mean I can’t imagine…I’m—“
“It’s okay,” Gina manages to say. She knows that Ricky has never been the best at words. “You don’t have to say anything. Just…just this is nice.”
Ricky hugs her even tighter at the words. It’s the most comforted Gina has felt all week.
“I’m here now, okay?” Ricky murmurs to her. “I’m right here.”
And that’s how it starts.