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Stephanie Lauter ignored her dad a lot. Usually because her dad was always spouting some bullshit about how she needed to do better in school, or do this to make him look better for the election, or this, or that, or more shit about the election. It was always about the election!
But one thing Stephanie Lauter knew for sure about Mayor Solomon Lauter was that he knew of some fucked up things that happened in Hatchetfield. So when he had told her not to go to school that day after news of the meteor last night, to meet up with him and get the hell out of Hatchetfield, maybe she shouldn’t have ignored him. But a big argument had occurred the previous night, and Stephanie wasn’t going to let her dad win that one.
She went to school, frustrated and out of it. When she went to search for Pete, she only found Richie. ….Ah, yeah, Pete was probably at Beanie’s getting a hot chocolate, but where the hell was Ruth? She’s always with Richie. Richie looked a little frightened.
“Have you seen Ruth?! I can’t find her anywhere! We were going to walk to school together, but she had already wandered off when I got there, and she hasn’t replied to any phone calls, and now the school seems weirdly empty! I haven’t run into Max or the football team once!”
…..Okay. That was a little… unusual. Her dad’s unusual desperate behavior, now this? Stephanie debated if to shrug it off, keep the cool persona, or if to freak the fuck out. She went with option number one.
“I haven’t. Pete’s at Beanie’s though, right?”
Richie nodded. “He’s been texting me fine, but he hasn’t seen Ruth either! The last time either of us heard from her was when she was going to Mamma Mia last night at the Starlight! After that meteor, too… What if she got injured?!”
…Pete’s fine. That’s a relief, at least? Steph hadn’t heard about anyone getting injured after the meteor, though. But it’s weird timing… At a loss on what to do, awkwardly put a hand on Richie’s shoulder, which made him jump.
“sorry. sorry. uh…. it’s going to be… alright… I think.”
God, she sucked at this. He just stared at her with wide eyes.
“Let’s go to class, alright? Ruth and Pete will probably show up. Maybe… Ruth just… think positive.”
“Maybe she got isekai’d by truck-kun.”
“I have no idea what the fuck that means.”
Richie grumbled about something under his breath, probably another anime recommendation for her, as he walked off, hands grasping his sleeves. Stephanie walked off as well, making a note to check on him later and make sure Ruth showed up.
…..She’d never get to check back in with him.
The real problem started near the end of class. That’s when the singing and blue shit started. Stephanie had been skipping, having left on a nurse’s office pass several minutes in to go to smoke club. There was a honorary member there today, Alice Woodward. She must’ve snuck in, since she goes to school in Clivesdale. Fuck Clivesdale. She was with Deb, who Stephanie was pretty sure she was dating. It was hard to tell with Deb sometimes.
When Stephanie first heard singing, it was one of the cheerleaders in the hallways, so she just assumed it was just for fun. But when she saw the big ass blue gash in Stacy’s stomach, that changed. Stephanie bolted without an explanation to the group she was with, far away from that hallway. She ran until she reached the entrance to the locker rooms, where she heard a scream and immediately bolted away again, ignoring the fact the scream sounded familiar as her adrenaline took over.
Eventually, she just found a locker and stuck with it, hiding inside. How fucking ironic. A popular girl shoving herself in a locker. Pete would laugh at that one for sure. ……Where was Pete?! Stephanie shimmied her hand to her pocket, going for her phone, only to realize she’d dropped it. FUUUUUUUUCK. ALL HER PHOTOS WERE ON THERE!
After several minutes, when Stephanie couldn’t hear anything else coming, she slowly got out of the locker to search for her phone. When she did, she came face to face with Peter Spankoffski.
“PETE! WHERE! THE FUCK! HAVE YOU BEEN?! The school has gone to shit! There was, like, blue shit, and screaming, and SINGING?!”
Stephanie hugged Pete.
Instead of getting a hug back, she got a punch through the gut as Pete began to sing.
….God, she really should’ve listened to her stupid dad.
Stephanie Lauter slumped to the ground as Pete sang to her. Moments later, she joined the song, slowly getting up. The two walked hand in hand, away from the hallway, past a discarded phone on the ground. But it wasn’t Stephanie’s phone.
The screen lit up with messages.
“yo”
“doofus”
“hey”
“idiot”
“seen any crazy singing people lately? they’re like fucking everywhere”
“…you still at beanies?”
“pete?”
“are you okay?”
“pete you nerd fucking answer me right now”
“pete”
“I’m going to hate you so much if you don’t fucking answer”
“pete please don’t be fucking dead”
…..
“you’re fucking dead”
“okay”
“fuck”
“I love you”
“I’m sorry”
“I’m so fucking sorry pete”