Chapter Two: Jesse [Part One]

Sitting on the stairs by herself, Lucy had her hands in her lap as the emergency services rushed passed by her and straight into the lounge. It was as if everything was in slow motion. There was nothing Lucy could do to help. She'd never felt so helpless in her entire life. A few moments passed and a hand appeared on Lucy's back in an attempt to comfort her. The only sound in the house was from the paramedics in the lounge, trying to revive Lizzy. Eve was sat on the sofa, watching the paramedics through her tears as they performed CPR on her mother. Jason was stood behind Eve, holding onto his wife as she sobbed her heart out. Lucy looked up to see Tate sat on the step beside her with his hand on her back. Instead of freaking out like Lucy had done on the past few encounters with the intruder, Lucy smiled out the corner of her mouth as tears streamed down her face.

"Don't cry," he whispered. "That's the thing with this house. Nobody dies exactly."

Looking at him in confusion, Lucy didn't have the chance to ask him what he meant by that as he stood up from the stairs and walked towards the door that led to the basement. Taking one glance back at Lucy, who was stood watching him, he held his hand out for the door handle and turned it before disappearing down the stairs. As Lucy was about to follow him to see where he had been hiding all this time, two arms wrapped around her waist.

"I'm so sorry, mum," Lucy cried as Eve sobbed in her daughter's arms.

"It's just one of those things," Eve sniffled as she lifted her head off of Lucy's shoulders to reveal her red raw eyes that were stinging with tears. "We knew it was going to happen sooner or later. I just thought we'd have more time with her."

"Mrs. Miller," one of the paramedics said as she walked over, leaving the rest of the team of paramedics. "We've tried all we can but.. I'm so sorry for your loss."

Eve nodded as she gulped back the lump in the back of her throat. Heartbroken, Jason wrapped his arms around his wife and daughter and held them close.

"We've already alerted an undertaker to come and collect your mother's body," the paramedic continued as the other paramedics filed out of the house, carrying all their equipment with them.

"Can we have a moment alone with, you know, the body?" Jason asked.

The paramedic nodded before she followed the rest of her team out of the front door, closing it ajar behind her. The whole house was in absolute silence. A house that was days ago filled with joy and laughter as they celebrated Lizzy's 73rd birthday had suddenly been turned into a house of sadness and grief. Holding onto each other's hands for support, Eve, Jason and Lucy made their way across the hallway towards the lounge, where Lizzy's lifeless body laid on the bed that she had only just began to call home. Clutching hold of Lizzy's frail fingers, Eve kissed her mother's cold cheek and brushed her mother's hair behind her ears with her fingers.

"She looks so peaceful," Lucy wept. "At least she's in a better place now. Not in pain. Not suffering. Away from this fucked up world."

Curled up in a ball on top of the covers on the bed that Lizzy was laid in just a matter of hours ago, Eve cradled her mother's shawl as she wept into the pillow. The television was playing to itself in the corner of the room, but Eve's sobs could still be heard over it. Without saying a word, Jason warily laid down beside Eve, draping his arm over her whimpering body and held her tight. Lucy, sat on the stairs, watched on as her father comforted her mother.

Dressing herself in the black dress her mother had chosen out for her at the mall last minute, Lucy looked at the photo of her grandmother that stood on the dresser. Nothing felt the same since Lizzy passed away four days ago. The house felt cold - it had a sense of eeriness about it. Although Lucy rarely spoke to her grandmother when living on the other side of the planet to each other, she always felt a strong bond with her and was especially sad with the passing. Elsewhere in the house, Eve was fixing her bright red lipstick before placing the black hat on top of her head that belonged to her late mother. Taking deep breaths, Eve tried to keep the tears at bay whilst Jason admired his wife's strength as he leant against the doorway into their bedroom.

"It'll be over soon," Jason reassured as he walked over to Eve, as she stood in front of the window and overlooked the grounds of the house.

"We bought all this to be closer to here, yet we weren't quick enough," Eve sighed, collapsing into her husband's arms.

"You heard what the doctors were saying at the hospital. Her time had just came. Her body couldn't get any worse so her body just gave up. There was nothing you could have done. There was nothing the hospital could have done. There was nothing that any of us could have done," Jason consoled, rubbing his wife's shoulders in an effect to comfort her worries and anxieties. "Lizzy wouldn't have wanted you to get all cut up like this. She would have wanted you to remember her life as she remembers you through all those happy childhood memories you tell me and Lucy about."

Eve nodded as Lucy walked into the room, holding a teddy bear. "I thought we could put this teddy bear in the lounge as a reminder of Nanny Lizzy," Lucy smiled. "She got me it when I was a baby and I know we won't forget her but it'll be nice to look at it and instantly be reminded of Nanny Lizzy's warm smile and big heart."

"That's a lovely idea, Lucy," Eve smiled, trying ever so hard to fight the tears back.

Four days had passed since Lizzy's funeral. Jason and Eve were on their way to Lizzy's favourite spot in the centre of Los Angeles to scatter her ashes, as she wished in her will, and were staying overnight in a hotel to celebrate their twentieth wedding anniversary, leaving Lucy to have a girls sleepover with her new friends from school. Last period on a Friday afternoon meant Lucy had chemistry, but instead of studying equations and elements, Lucy was sat at the back, texting her friends about the plans for the weekend, using the chemical textbook to disguise her phone.

"You won't get away with it," Jesse whispered in Lucy's ear as he caught on to what she was trying to go.

Lucy threw daggers at Jesse before turning back to her phone on discussing what movies they were gonna be watching tonight. Crystal wanted to watch the latest Zac Efron rom-com film, whereas Sophie and Summer wanted to watch a horror film - apt since they were spending the night without adults in the infamous 'Murder House'.

"She's got eyes like a murderer that one," Jesse continued, pointing discreetly towards Ms. King.

"Lucy, in terms of structure and bonding, why does magnesium have a higher melting temperature than sodium?"

Lucy froze. She didn't know the answer. She didn't even understand what was meant by the question Ms. King was requesting her to answer. Deep down, Lucy knew that Ms. King was purposely picking on Lucy as she knew fine well that Lucy was texting on her phone instead of paying attention like she should have been. Jesse grabbed his notepad and began to scribble down notes.

"Look through your notes you've made in this lesson, Lucy," Ms. King instructed.

Lucy looked down at her notepad and paused for a moment. The page was blank. Luckily for Lucy, Jesse carefully put his notepad on top of her own notepad.

"Magnesium has a higher melting temperature than sodium due to the fact that metals lose electrons so that they can achieve a full outer shell within their structure or, in some cases, empty their outer shell, leaving a metal ion with a positive charge. Solid metals have the outer electrons delocalised throughout a lattice of metal ions, holding them together by the electrostatic attraction between the negative electrons and the positive ions. Magnesium has two electrons in its outer shell, whereas sodium only has one. So in magnesium, there are twice as many delocalised electrons and the ions have a positive two charge, meaning that the attractive forces holding the lattice in place are much greater than in sodium. To melt the metal solid, you have to overcome the forces between them using heat so you need more heat, and thus a higher temperature, to overcome the attractive forced within magnesium."

Sighing a chary sigh of relief, Lucy mouthed a sincere thanks to Jesse before handing his notepad back to him.

"Very good, Miss. Miller," Ms. King smiled as she turned her back to the class and continued to write notes on the board. "But next time, I suggest you pay attention in class and don't rely on Mr. Porter for help."

"Sorry, Miss," Lucy smirked to Jesse.

As Ms. King resumed her tedious lecture on the reactivity of the noble gases, Lucy poked Jesse's arm with her finger. "Why did you do that?" she whispered.

"What do you mean?" Jesse asked, putting down his pen to look at her.

"You didn't have to help me out there. You could have just watched me suffer the burn that comes along with not paying attention in class," Lucy smiled.

"Well, I didn't want you to leave me in the lurch like that if anything like that happened to me so it's sort of like you owe me now," Jesse grinned. "Plus, I kind of like you sitting with me and I wouldn't want you to get moved."

As Jesse turned back to continue making notes from the board, Lucy sat looking at him with a huge grin on her face. Maybe this Jesse guy wasn't like the stereotypical popular boy after all. Maybe he was a decent guy.

Pulling the car up onto a clearing in the trees, Jason turned off the engine and sat back in the driver's seat, looking at Eve, who was sat in the passenger seat beside him, clutching onto the urn of ashes as she looked out the window through the trees. The worldwide renowned Hollywood Sign stood proudly on the hill, hidden in the distance through the trees. As Eve unclipped her seatbelt and got out the car, Jason hung behind in the car for a few moments before following in Eve's path as she made her way through the trees and towards a bench - the bench that Lizzy had specified in the instructions she left for Eve in her will. Clambering over all the fallen trees and branches that laid across the deserted path, Jason held onto his wife's shoulder as she carried on holding onto the urn with all the strength in her hands. After a short distance, they made it to the spot.

"This is it," Eve smiled to Jason as she looked at the piece of paper Lizzy's lawyer had given them that was instructing whoever would scatter Lizzy's ashes. "This is the spot."

"I can tell why she picked it," Jason said as he wrapped his arm around his wife's shoulders and admired the view.

A clearing in front of them showed the Hollywood sign in its full glory as the sun beamed down. Trees shaded a little park bench that was sat alone in the middle of the clearing in perfect view of the sign. In contrast to the hustle and bustle that was happening just a matter of miles away in the City of Los Angeles, the spot was like a peaceful haven with the twittering of the birds that sang along in the tree tops above being the only sound they could hear. A slight breeze rustled through the trees and through Eve's hair as they walked closer towards Lizzy's designated spot. Reaching the spot, Eve took one last look down at the urn before she removed the lid and began to scatter the ashes in the breeze that was blowing away from them. Smiling, Jason and Eve both watched the ashes dancing in the wind.

"It's like she's here with us."

Little known to them as Eve poured the last of the ashes from the urn into the wind, a shadowed silhouette of a figure was watching them, behind the safety of the trees. The moment that Eve and Jason turned around to make their way back to the car, the shadow disappeared through the trees, into the darkness of the park without a trace. Climbing back into the car, Eve looked out the window and smiled. "She's going to be happy here," she smiled.

"She is."

"Do you think Lucy's going to be okay at the house tonight?" Eve asked, turning to look at Jason with a look of concern on her face.

"Of course she is," Jason reassured firmly as he started the engine. "She's got her friends stopping round and it's only for one night. Nothing has happened in that house so far so we've got nothing to worry about. She'll be fine."

"I know," Eve nodded. "It's just she gets scared so easily."

Sat on her bed, Lucy looked up from her textbook to see Tate walking over towards her. "You go to Westfield High, don't you?"

"Yeah, why?" Lucy asked, putting her textbook down on the bedside table and watching Tate as he sat down on the bed beside her.

"Same. Well, used to," he smiled. "Do you like it?"

"Yeah," Lucy nodded.

"Really?" Tate asked.

"Yeah."

"So you're one of those people who actually enjoys going to school and learning and being told what to do and when to do it?" he laughed.

"Yeah. What's wrong with that?" Lucy asked, feeling a little offended.

"Nothing," Tate smiled suspiciously. "So where's your beloved mommy and daddy?"

"My mum and dad going to Glendale for the night to scatter my grandmother's ashes."

"Home alone?"

"No, I have some friends coming over," Lucy replied sternly.

"Friends are useless," Tate warned. "They always let you down. In this world, people are just out for themselves."

"I'd rather be that than lonely though," Lucy smiled.

"Lonely? You think I'm lonely?" Tate asked.

"Well, that's the only reason I can think that you'd be spending all your time here," Lucy responded. "Don't you have somewhere else to go?"

"I'm not lonely. How can I be lonely with all these thoughts in my head? I'm never alone. We're never alone."

Looking at Tate with a look of confusion, Lucy was soon interrupted by her phone ringing.

"Hello," Lucy smiled as she placed the phone to her ear.

"We walking to yours now but we were thinking, why don't we have a party instead?" Sophie's voice suggested on the other end of the phone line, leaving Lucy to look at Tate with an unsatisfied look on her face. "It's not every day you get to have a party in the 'Murder House' and I'm sure that Jesse guy you like would come if you asked him."

Lucy

"Um," Lucy paused, studying Tate's distrustful facial expression as he stared back at her - his eyes refusing to leave Lucy's alone. "I don't know. Can we discuss this when you get here?"

"Yeah," Sophie replied. "We'll be five minutes - ten tops."

"See you then," Lucy smiled before hanging up the call and putting her phone back in the docking station beside her bed.

"People always leave you in this world. You can't trust anything in life."

"What about your thoughts?" Lucy asked.

"You can't trust anything in life," Tate repeated, fixing his eyes on Lucy's lips. "Especially your thoughts."

You could tell by the look on Lucy's face that she was a little freaked out by Tate's revelation. Sitting edgy on the bed, Lucy looked across the room at the clock and then back at Tate. "My friends will be here soon. You'd better go," Lucy hinted.

Watching Tate as he left Lucy in her room to get ready for her friends' arrivals, Lucy thought about what he had just said. She couldn't work out whether he was just a plain psycho that had some serious mental health issues or whether he had a valid point. What if we shouldn't trust our own thoughts? What if our thoughts made us think things we shouldn't think about? What if our thoughts were more dangerous than any weapon in the entire world? As Lucy sat on her bed thinking it through, she shivered slightly, trying to shake out all the thoughts from her mind. Luckily, the deep trail of thought was soon broken by the sound of knocking on the front door downstairs. Getting up from her bed, Lucy walked out of her bedroom and into the corridor, making her way down the stairs to let her friends in before they started to moan and groan through the door. Stepping onto the ground floor from the final step on the stairs, Lucy realised Tate was sat in the corner of the room - both his legs crossed and looking straight up at her with an emotionless look across his face.

"I told you to go," Lucy remarked as she looked through the eyehole in the front door to see Sophie, Summer and Crystal all dressed up in short, figure-hugging dresses - completely the opposite to the 'comfortable pyjamas' they had previously arranged just hours ago during their texting conversation through lessons.

"Go where?" Tate asked. "Deep down, you know I belong here too."

"What are you on about?" Lucy questioned, looking confused. "Look, just go out the back door."

Tate looked at the back door that was beside the door to the basement and then back at the adamant Lucy. Without saying a word, Tate stood up from where he was sat and walked towards the back door. Whilst Lucy was opening the front door and welcoming her friends, jokingly introducing them to the 'Murder House' sleepover, Tate opened the basement door and walked down the stairs, closing the door behind him.

"Come on, Lucy," Summer pleaded. "A party will be a great way to meet new people."

"Not to mention annoy the neighbours," Lucy laughed. "I can't afford to do anything to piss them off. We've only just moved here and haven't met any of them yet."

"Neighbours are there to piss off," Sophie smiled, raising her eyebrow slightly. "What you scared of? Having fun?"

"No," Lucy shook her head. "I just.." Lucy paused as she looked at Sophie, Summer and Crystal in turn - all showing their best attempts at puppy eyes as they tried to convince Lucy to say 'yes' to their proposition.

"We didn't dress up like this for nothing," Sophie groaned, running her hands down her skin tight dress.

"As long as you all promise to stay behind tomorrow and tidy up before my parents get back," Lucy compromised. "I don't want my mum to have anymore hassle. She's already cut up so much about my nan's death and the stress from her starting her own business up - I don't wanna add to it with getting back to find a trashed house from a party that got out of hand."

"You're too sensible," Summer joked as they walked into the lounge and sat down on the sofa.

"I love your house though," Crystal added, looking around in amazement. "It's so classy."

"Really?" Lucy asked, following Crystal's eye movement as she continued to study the room. "I don't like it that much. It's full of character but it's so big and empty now that nan's passed away. Plus, I'd love a swimming pool in the garden or even a hot tub but my parents said no as it wouldn't go with the house."

"Crystal's got two swimming pools, a hot tub and a sauna," Sophie beamed. "I use it all the time. It's amazing, especially at night."

"But what we really wanna know is.." Summer began.

"Are you inviting Jesse?" Sophie winked.

Lucy sat looking at the girls as she debating silently to herself whether or not she should invite him.

"Look, you've got nothing to lose if you invite him," Crystal smiled.

"And maybe a lot to gain," Sophie giggled, wiggling her eyebrows as if to insinuate something to Lucy as she continued to decide what to do with the whole Jesse situation.

"Okay, I'll invite him," Lucy announced. "Just please don't be saying anything to him that will make it awkward. I have to sit with him in chemistry for the rest of the semester remember."

"Good!" Sophie beamed, satisfied by what she has managed to achieve.

"We promise to leave you two alone," Crystal added, smiling at Lucy as she got her phone out her back pocket and began to dial Jesse's number that he gave to her the chemistry lesson before in case she got stuck with anything on the chemistry homework over the weekend.

"Um, hey, Jesse? It's Lucy," Lucy smiled, holding the phone to her ear. "Oh, I'm fine with the chemistry homework. Actually, I was just wondering if you fancied coming to a party tonight." Lucy paused for a moment. "It's at my house. It's not a huge thing. Just a couple of friends coming over since my parents are out of town for the night and I was wondering if you wanted to bring some friends. I'd love to get to know you."

Lucy clenched her teeth at her friends as she waited anxiously for a response, dreading the possibility of receiving a turn down.

"Really?" Lucy beamed. "That's great. Yeah, I'll text you my address in a second then. Come at about eight."

Sophie, Summer and Crystal all began to giggle and high-fived each other as they watched Lucy end the phone call.

"Told you!" Sophie laughed.

"You'd better help me get ready then," Lucy smiled.

"We're already on it," Summer replied.

"I was thinking curling your hair into cute loose waves and then how do you feel about smokey eyes?" Sophie asked as she ran her fingers through Lucy's brown hair.

"Sounds great," Lucy agreed, appearing to be in some sort of daze as she daydreamed - presumably about Jesse.

Once Eve and Jason had checked into their luxury hotel for the night, Jason began to carry up their shared suitcase up the stairs towards their hotel room.

"Five-hundred dollars a night. Five star hotel. Onsite spa and gym. Catered for many A-List celebrity guests, such as Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise. Yet can't afford to install an elevator," Jason joked quietly to make sure that none of the staff working around them could hear what he was saying in fear that they might get chucked out of the hotel and not get a refund.

"Hush you," Eve laughed, gently hitting her husband's forearm with the reservation documents that she was carrying in her hand. "I said I could carry it."

"Yes, but you're my wife and this is my treat. What kind of husband would I be to let my own wife carry up our suitcase on her own anniversary present?" Jason asked.

"Well, let's see," Eve paused as they reached the upper floor of the hotel and began to make their way down the corridor in search of their nominated hotel room - the Honeymoon Suite. "For our first anniversary, you completely forgot. For our second anniversary, you were working and then delayed our anniversary celebrations for four months then ended up getting me pregnant. For our third anniversary, you spent the entire day in the pub celebrating winning a couple of hundred quid on the horses and then came up blinding drunk at 6pm and ended up collapsing before throwing up all over the bedroom carpet, leaving eight months pregnant me to clean up your mess and nurse your hangover."

"Yes, I get it," Jason sighed. "I was a lousy husband."

"Hey, I hadn't finished," Eve smiled as they reached the door to their hotel room. "For our fourth anniversary, you spent the entire night with baby Lucy so that I didn't have to wake up once for her night feed or when she was unsettled during the night. I genuinely think that was the best night sleep in my entire life."

Jason turned around and grinned at his wife as he opened the hotel room door, revealing the suite to her. As they walked in, they looked around in amazement. A king-size bed dominated the room that was scattered with red rose petals beneath a white canopy. A balcony led out through white French doors opposite to the bed, overlooking the valley with Los Angeles' city skyline visible in the distance.

"Actually, this could probably be the best nights sleep in my entire life," Eve laughed, taken aback by the room.

"Sleep?" Jason asked, grabbing hold of his wife's hand as he dumped the suitcase down on the floor beside the shut door. "Who said anything about sleeping?"

Looking in the mirror, Sophie blew herself a kiss and winked at her reflection after applying another layer of make-up to her already existing three layers of make-up. "Sophie babes, you are looking f-i-i-ine tonight," she joked as she pulled up her dress slightly, making it shorter than it already was. "Gonna be getting some action tonight."

"You're so weird," Lucy laughed as she stood in the doorway of her bedroom, watching Sophie and Summer as they fought for dominance over the mirror whilst Crystal painted her nails on Lucy's bed. "If you act like that, you really won't be getting any action. Oh, and not in my parents' room. They'll flip."

"I'll always get action," Sophie said, spinning around and looking at Lucy with piercing daggers.

"With the back of your hand, yeah, maybe," Summer added slyly.

"Anyway, do I look okay?" Lucy asked.

Sophie and Summer both took a step back - Sophie completely ignoring Summer's insult directed at her. They both looked at Lucy as Crystal looked over in Lucy's direction from the bed, slowly wafting her hands in front of her as the nail varnish began to dry. Summer was naturally tall as it was but the black stilettos that Sophie and Summer had given to her to wear made her look even taller. The black dress that she was also wearing hugged her figure perfectly, showing off her long tanned legs as she stood in the middle of the doorway, nervously waiting for a reply off her friends as they continued to look at her.

"So how do I look?" she repeated, still waiting for a response.

"Amazing," Crystal beamed, getting up from the bed.

Lucy smiled to them as she ran her fingers through her long, brown hair. "I suppose it'll do," she sighted to herself, secretly pleased as she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror through the corner of her eye.

Eight o'clock soon came and passed. A few people that Sophie, Summer and Crystal invited danced along to the sound of the heavy bass line thud from the music that was blasting through the stereo as Lucy looked around the room from the doorway, guzzling her drink from a red plastic cup. After a few more moments of scanning the room deep in thought, Sophie crept up behind Lucy and shouted "boo" in his ear, startling her as a result.

"God, you shouldn't do that!" Lucy said before walking off in a mood towards the kitchen, which was also crammed full of people - people Lucy had no idea who they were.

Sophie looked at Lucy in confusion before following him, snaking past all the people in the kitchen and out of the back door to the much quieter garden. By the time Sophie had managed to catch up with Lucy, Lucy was already sat on the slight slope in the middle of the garden, facing away from the house with her back to a concerned Sophie. Looking at her new friend, Sophie put her empty cup down on the wall outside the house and made her way across the grass to where Lucy was sat. Without saying a word, Sophie sat down on the slope beside a quiet Lucy and looked at the trees, waiting for Lucy to say something to break the silence.

"I knew he wouldn't turn up," Lucy laughed without happiness.

"There's still time," Sophie reassured, looking at her phone that was glued to her hand as moments previously she was collecting all the guys' numbers that she didn't already own. "It's only half eight."

"I didn't expect him to come anyway," Lucy smiled to Sophie.

"If he doesn't turn up, then it's his loss, isn't it?" Sophie said, wrapping her arm around Lucy, trying to make her feel better about the whole situation. "Lucy, I've only known you two weeks now but you've grown to become a really good friend of mine. You're such a lovely, warm person. If he turns this opportunity down, well, he's obviously stupid. Don't let yourself get down about this. Now, I want you to get in that house, mingle with new people, get so drunk you can't remember your own name and then I want you to have an amazing time."

Lucy looked at Sophie. Up until now, Lucy wasn't too keen on Sophie. They were friends but to Lucy, Sophie seemed a bit like the 'Queen Bee' of the group that was only really concerned with her own feelings and was only out to help herself - the sort of person that Tate had warned her about. But now Sophie seemed to be showing her true colours. Maybe she wasn't that bitch that Lucy perceived her to be after all.

"Have you had too much to drink?" Lucy joked.

"I might have had a few drinks," Sophie smirked.

"You're all slushy when you're drunk," Lucy giggled, sipping on her own drink that was some concoction of whatever alcohol they could find in the cupboards earlier. "I don't like it when you're nice. Go back to being a hard faced cow."

"Hard faced cow?" Sophie asked, looking amused. "Is that what you think of me?"

"Do you want me to lie or do you want me to tell you the truth?" Lucy joked.

"I don't mean to come across like that," Sophie explained. "I know I can be really bitchy at times, but that's just my guards to protect myself from getting hurt."

"Friends don't hurt each other so you're safe with me," Lucy smiled.

"Lucy, I appreciate this heart-to-heart talk - really I do," Sophie paused. "But I really need another drink. Another drink and maybe a guy too."

"Come on then," Lucy sighed, standing up and holding out her hand for Lucy to take. "Let's go back in and get absolutely mortal."

"Mortal?" Sophie questioned.

"English word for drunk," Lucy laughed, correcting her phrasing as she forgot about the transatlantic language barrier.

Linking arms, Lucy and Sophie strutted back into the house that was crammed full of strangers, trying ever so hard to not get their heels stuck in the grass. Rustling in the trees at the back of the garden was a darkened silhouette that was hiding in the shadows of the house, creeping closer and closer as Lucy and Sophie walked closer and closer to the doors that led into the house. Making their way through the crowded kitchen, Sophie grabbed hold of Lucy's hand and led her into the lounge. Jumping up and down to the beat of the track that was blasting through the stereo speakers that one of Summer's friends had brought along, Lucy and Sophie grinned from ear-to-ear as they found themselves getting lost in the music. In the corner of the room, Tate was stood beside the stereo, looking at Lucy as she sang along to the lyrics of the song.

"Want a drink?" a voice asked Lucy as she continued to dance away to the song.

Turning around, Lucy was surprised to see Jesse stood behind her. His hair wasn't hidden with his usual beanie attire; instead, it was spiked up in a quiff style. "Yeah," Lucy beamed, trying to be as casual as she could but found it ever so hard to hide her happiness as she realised he kept to his promise. "I'll come with you."

Following Lucy into the kitchen, Jesse couldn't help but look her up and down, smiling at her talent. The kitchen has surprisingly emptied out with people and only a few misfits remained as they hugged onto their bottles of vodka like anti-social koala bears. Opening up the fridge, Lucy groaned as she realised the entire contents had been removed and scavenged by the party.

"I know," Lucy smiled as she turned back around, closing the fridge and walking into the dining room.

Opening the top drawer of the cabinet, she felt around the roof of it and, after a few moments, pulled out a key.

"My parents don't think I know about that," Lucy slyly grinned at Jesse, who was stood in the doorway to the dining room, studying her every move.

As Jesse continued to look at Lucy, she confidently opened up the doors at the bottom of the cabinet and searched through it for the new bottle of vodka that Jason had purchased the weekend previously. Moving the handgun that Lizzy had requested we keep on the property out of the way, Lucy found the bottle and pulled it out, placing it on the dining table before she locked the cabinet back up like nobody had got into it and, more importantly, taken the vodka.

"You're a naughty one, aren't you?" Jesse teased as Lucy walked passed him and into the kitchen to get drinks sorted for them both.

"There's a difference between breaking the rules completely and bending the rules to have fun," Lucy grinned.

Jesse nodded as Lucy handed a cup to him. "To having fun," he smiled, raising the cup to her.

"To having fun," she laughed, bring her cup next to hers.

"Mr. Miller," Eve smiled as she laid on top of the messy bed covers in the hotel, admiring the view out the window of Los Angeles in the moonlight with the city lights illuminating the sky. "Could I have a cup of tea?"

"Certainly, Mrs. Miller," Jason laughed as he walked out of the bathroom, sporting a towel skirt, and grabbed the room service phone from the dressing table in the corner of the room.

By midnight, the entire party had emptied out, apart from the odd few but the music hadn't decreased in volume at all. As Lucy continued to dance along to the music with her friends, along with the ones she had made that night thanks to Sophie, Summer and Crystal's encouragement, the front door opened and in walked a woman and a man - obviously a couple by the way they were holding hands. The woman with long, strawberry-blonde hair walked into the lounge, searching the room, as if looking for somebody in particular. As soon as Lucy realised there was adults in the premises, she walked over to them.

"Are you Lucy?" the man with dark hair asked.

"Yeah," Lucy smiled, ushering Sophie to turn down the stereo in the corner of the room.

"I'm Ben. This is my wife, Vivien," the man said, introducing himself and then the woman.

"You're neighbours?" Lucy presumed.

Ben looked at Vivien, who looked back at him. "Um, yes. We live next door."

"We don't mind you having a party. When I was your age, I was always having parties," Vivien continued. "It's just we've got a newborn son and, while he hardly cries, we're having trouble getting him to sleep."

"Would you mind turning the music down just a bit?" Ben asked.

"Of course," Lucy smiled. "We didn't mean to have it on too loud. I suppose we just got a bit carried away."

"Thanks," Vivien replied with a sincere smile across her face as Ben had already began to leave the room.

As soon as Vivien and Ben had left, Lucy turned to Jesse, who was sat with some of his friends on the sofa drinking as they joked about. Grabbing hold of her hand, Jesse pulled Lucy onto his lap and grinned at her as he pushed her hair out her eyes with his fingers. Sophie, Summer and Crystal, who were all dancing in the corner of the room, stood giggling at them as they looked into each other's eyes, talking. Not after long, Lucy stood up from the sofa and held her hand out for Jesse to take. As they disappeared up the stairs, Tate, who was hiding behind the entrance hall's wall, peeping around to the staircase, looked up as Lucy was leading Jesse up to her bedroom. With the ringleader indisposed, Jesse's posse stood up from the sofa and left the house, seeming disappointed. Collapsing back onto the sofa, Sophie groaned to herself, hiding her eyes with her hands.

"So much for getting some action?" Summer joked, nudging Sophie with her elbow.

"It'll happen," Sophie paused. "One day."

Meanwhile, upstairs, Lucy was laid beneath Jesse as they kissed, each other's hands in each other's hair. As things began to heat up, Lucy pulled away and looked into Jesse's eyes.

"I really like you, Jesse," she confessed, looking nervous as she waited for a response.

"I really like you too," he smiled, leaning back into her as he went to resume his lips' position on her lips.

"No, I mean, I really like you. I don't wanna do this if you don't feel the same way about me and you're just gonna add me to your tally," Lucy sternly said.

Jesse looked at her, a little offended. "My tally? Lucy, I don't have a tally. And even if I did, which I don't, I wouldn't even have two on there."

Lucy looked a little relieved as she began to kiss him again.

"Lucy," Jesse paused as he pulled away. "Are you.. are you a virgin?"

Lucy looked up at the ceiling as he rolled off her. Biting her lip, she decided to tell him the truth. Regardless of the outcome, she knew she needed to be straight with him if she wanted this to get into anything serious. "Yes."

"I won't hurt you," Jesse smiled. "I promise."

Climbing on top of him, Lucy began to kiss his neck. As Jesse and Lucy began to undress each other, Tate, who was hiding beneath the bed, looked out at the shadows of the couple on the wall with rage in his eyes.

Looking across to see Lucy, who was laying on the bed with the duvet covering her naked body, Jesse smiled and kissed her forehead, being careful as to make sure she didn't awake. Grabbing his shirt and jeans that laid on Lucy's bedroom floor, Jesse got out of the bed and climbed into his shoes. He wouldn't usually get completely dressed to go downstairs to get a drink, but hardly knowing anyone who was downstairs and with the slim chance of Lucy's parents turning up unexpectedly, Jesse wasn't risking it. As he walked out of her bedroom, he took a quick glance back at Lucy over his shoulder and began to walk down the stairs with a huge smile across his face. By the time Jesse reached the hallway, he realised Sophie, Summer and Crystal were all still awake, sat in the lounge, watching late night television with a big bowl of popcorn. Creeping across the hallway, making sure he didn't disturb the girls as an intervention hosted by his latest love interest's best friends was the last thing Jesse wanted right now. Getting a bottle of water from the fridge, Jesse sat down at the breakfast bar and placed the cool bottle to his lips. As he took a sip, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"I thought you were sleeping," he laughed, but as he turned around, the laughter disappeared.

"You better not hurt her."

"Hurt Lucy? I wouldn't. That's the last thing I'd ever want to do," Jesse replied to Tate.

"Good, because you see, you're not gonna get the chance to hurt her."

"What do you mean?" Jesse asked.

"You're going to leave her alone, aren't you?" Tate smiled slyly with wide eyes as he stared at Jesse, who was sat on the breakfast stool, looking a little frightened.

"Who are you? Lucy didn't mention anything about a brother."

"Who I am isn't the issue here. You're not going to hurt her. She doesn't deserve to be hurt."

"I've already said. I'm not going to hurt her. I wouldn't want to hurt her. I really like her."

Instead of replying to a confused Jesse, Tate turned around and walked back into the hallway and towards the basement door that was wide open, letting the darkness from the floor below flood into the already darkened hallway. The moonlight shone in through the stained glass window of the back door and into the hallway, leaving a coloured glow shining on the wooden floor beneath it. Walking down the steps, Tate knew fine well what he was planning. His scheming eyes, blood shot with anger, stared into the darkness as he took another step down into the pitch black basement. Jesse, concerned as to what the creepy stranger was on about, followed Tate down. As soon as Jesse got half way down the stairs, the door at the top of the stairs that led to the deserted basement shut, leaving him in total darkness. Feeling around the cold walls with his shaking hands, Jesse carefully made his way down the stairs until a huge force pushed against his back, causing his to fall down the steps. Landing at the bottom with a heavy thud, Jesse called out for help. A light above his head began to flicker, showering the room with light for a split second - just long enough so Jesse could push himself up from the floor and walk into the middle of the room. Before Jesse knew what was happening, Tate raged towards him, pushing him back to the ground.

"You think you can just come in here like you own the place, don't you?" Tate shouted as Jesse laid motionless in the middle of the floor - his eyes filled with terror.

"I didn't mean to. I'll leave Lucy alone, I promise. Just let me go."

Jesse's pleas were useless. Tate grabbed hold of the light switch and turned it on properly. Slowly making his way towards Jesse, Tate began to laugh. "You think that's enough for me to let you go?"

"I don't know what you want from me," Jesse continued to plead. "I promise I'll leave Lucy alone. I didn't mean to upset you."

"Jesse, that's your name, right?"

Jesse nodded ferociously, trembling with fear as to what Tate was capable of.

"Thought so since that's what Lucy was screaming out as she came - her body spasming as she climaxed," Tate smirked.

"If you're her brother, you're sick," Jesse shouted as he attempted to get up, only to be kicked back to the ground.

"I'm not sick," Tate protested, kicking Jesse over and over again until he laid back down on the floor, curled up in a ball of agony. "I'm not fucking sick."

"Help!" Jesse screamed - his voice quivering in horror..

Tate began to laugh. His laugh resembled an evil cackle as he continued to watch Jesse scream for help. After a few screams, Jesse stopped and looked at Tate, who was still laughing. "There's no point screaming. These walls were made for murder. They don't call it 'Murder House' for no reason."

Jesse looked back at Tate, feeling hopeless. They both knew Jesse wasn't getting out of here alive.

"Go get him," Tate ordered to thin air before walking back up the stairs.

Jesse watched through tears of terror as Tate disappeared from view. As the door at the top of the basement opened and then closed, the lights began to flicker. Taking a sigh of relief, Jesse began to sit up, clutching onto his stomach from where Tate had continuously kicked him. Jesse began stumbling around the basement in an attempt to climb up the steps to safety, but before he had the chance to climb the stairs, someone - something - bit his leg. Dragging him back to the floor, Jesse let out a deafening scream as teeth gnawed at his leg. Looking down at what was attacking him, Jesse screamed even more as he saw the black eyes and the blood stains fangs. Wisps of white hair clung to the white as snow head of his attacker as it continued to munch away on Jesse's leg. Long talons clawed away at Jesse's skin, revealing his flesh as Jesse continued to scream. Slowly the scream turned into whimpering. Slowly the whimpering turned into silence. Tate, who was stood at the top of the stairs of the basement, listening to the scenes that were unfolding below, soon realised the creature that went by the name of 'Infantata' had done the deed.

"You're not going to hurt her," Tate whispered before he reopened the basement door and walked out.

Flipping his hood up on his hoodie, Tate walked towards the front door, unlocking it and opening it up. As he closed it, he made sure the girls in the lounge, who were engrossed in a movie, heard the door closing.

"Was that the door?" Crystal asked Sophie and Summer as she looked up from the bowl of popcorn.

"Yeah," Sophie said as she walked over to look out the window to see a hooded figure walking down the path towards the main road. "Jesse's just left."

"Poor girl," Summer sighed, looking up at the ceiling as she thought about how Lucy would react in the morning to realise Jesse had done a runner without explaining himself to her.