Disclaimer: I don't own Scream or any of the characters. I only own my OC.

A/N: This was a cute chapter to write. Next chapter gets more serious. Just wanted to write something cute between Randy and Scarlett, along with some angst.

Chapter 5: Wanting to be the hero

The ticking from the grandfather clock filled the living room as Scarlett meticulously worked on her homework. The antique clock belonged to her grandmother and it was probably one of the few things she owned that was worth a lot of money.

Nora knew how much her mother loved the clock so she kept it. Scarlett thought it was very beautiful and hoped to one day own one that grand, or if her mother allowed it, the very same one.

As Scarlett admired the clock she saw the time. It was a bit past seven now. The sun was down and it was as dark as it could get in Woodsboro.

Dance practice for Tatum usually ended at six thirty. So either practice ran late or she just completely forgot about picking her along the way before heading to Sidney's like they planned.

It hurt to think that Tatum forgot her but if that was the case then Sidney would have reminded Tatum about Scarlett and they both would have come back for her. And really, the more Scarlett thought about it, the less it made sense that Tatum actually forgot about her. It hadn't happened before whenever they made plans and the times she couldn't pick her up, Tatum always called. So practice running late had to be the reason.

Scarlett was expecting a phone call from Tatum any minute now saying how she was running late. Instead of being annoyed, Scarlett used this time to do her homework.

Scarlett would never tell her friends this (because she knew she'd get mercilessly teased, mainly by Stu) but doing homework sometimes helped relax her. Even Pre-Calculus, which was her least favorite subject, at the moment was keeping her level headed.

The only assignment she hadn't started on yet was her English essay. It was difficult to work on an assignment that she was going to partner with Casey. If she asked Mrs. Tate for an extension she probably would give it to her but Scarlett didn't feel right asking for that.

Scarlett would start and finish the essay before it was due next week, and she was going to make sure it was an A worthy essay….for Casey.

As she was double checking her Pre-Calculus homework when she heard the phone ring. Scarlett reached over to answer it, thinking it was Tatum finally reaching out.

"Hello."

"Scarlett?"

The redhead immediately dropped her pencil. She blinked slowly. "Dad?"

There was a sigh at the other end of the line that belonged to Ivan Dane. "I'm glad you picked up. I've been worried about you. Honey, I heard about what happened to Casey. I saw it on the news."

If this was like the other phone calls that Scarlett answered with her father she would have already tried getting herself out of the conversation. But it wasn't because Casey had been mentioned right from the beginning.

Based on how many reporters and police officers were at her school she knew it was major news in Woodsboro. However Scarlett was just realizing how huge Casey and Steve's murder was since it spread further than just Woodsboro. Her dad lived in San Francisco and he even heard about it.

It felt like forever before she was finally able to answer her father. "Yeah….it's….it's awful." She managed to say while keeping her voice from shaking.

"I am so sorry, Scarlett." Ivan sent his condolences in the only way he could at the moment. "I remember that Casey and you were close."

"Yeah, we were." Scarlett answered quietly. Her eyes felt watery so she shut them and counted to ten in her head before opening them.

Her father didn't know about Casey and her drifting apart. He left home when Casey and her were still close friends.

That composed Scarlett because it reminded her of her father leaving because of his drinking problem. She still had her issues with him for doing that but she also deeply missed him. She thought back to the conversation she had with Lindsey and then with Billy, and remembered how unconvinced her male friend had been when she told him about giving her father another chance.

Billy hadn't been happy about it…..but it wasn't about what Billy wanted. It was about what she wanted.

Except now was not the time for Scarlett to reach a decision about whether or not she was ready to accept her father back into her life.

"I've been thinking that maybe I should come down there and see you and Lindsey. I worry...especially now."

Him come back to Woodsboro? After years of absence? Scarlett was left in shock and her stuttered reply let her father know that. "Oh, uh, Woodsboro? You…?"

"You probably don't want to see me." Ivan said in a sad tone. "And I get that, I do. I wasn't the best father because of my drinking to you and Lindsey, and I ignored your mother." There was silence, the ticking of the grandfather clock, the only thing making noise before he spoke again. "But I want to make things right with you three. I don't know if I'll ever fix things between your mother and I….but fixing things between you and Lindsey? I feel like I still can."

That certainly was a lot but it wasn't anything new Scarlett hadn't heard before. Scarlett's mother was a very head-strong, stubborn woman, so Scarlett knew that she would never accept her father back into her life as he used to be. Maybe one day she would forgive him but she wouldn't want to be with him. Her rejecting the child support he wanted to pay after the divorce showed that. Nora Mitchell was also very prideful and wanted him to know that she was capable of taking care of her children without him.

It was then what Ivan Dane said next that surprised Scarlett.

"I'm almost two years sober now." Ivan told his oldest daughter. "I don't want you to think I'm that same old drunk that I used to be. I've been going to AA, and really working on myself as a person."

Two years? Going to AA? Lindsey did say he was getting better but all this was news to Scarlett. She wondered if this was something he had mentioned to her mother. "That's…" She cleared her throat. "That's good, dad."

"I wanted you to know. Don't worry I'm not going to randomly drop by." He quickly added. "I would still need to talk to your mother."

Ivan said that last part nervously and Scarlett could imagine why. There were times when Nora could be a mama bear when she wanted to be. Scarlett often found it amusing but her mother told her multiple times that when she had children of her own she'd know the feeling personally.

"But I just wanted to let you know ahead of time." Her father finished saying and Scarlett was left a little speechless with trying to find the right response. She was nervous about the possibility of seeing her father again but there was a part of her that desperately wanted to see him too.

"Yeah...that's―"

Her doorbell ringing cut her off. She looked towards the front door.

"Listen dad, I have to go." Scarlett informed her father as she started getting up. She was both happy and sad about the interruption. "There's someone at the door."

She could instantly hear her dad's worry in his voice. "Someone?"

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to look through the peephole before I open." Scarlett sassed without thinking. She instantly felt bad for saying that.

Her dad sighed heavily. "Scarlett."

The doorbell rang again.

"Sorry." Scarlett quickly apologized. "But I really should answer that." She said the next part as a way to assure him and herself. "It's probably Tatum."

That seemed to do the trick. "Alright then. I guess I'll call later." There was a pause but then spoke before she was able to say goodbye. "Scarlett?"

"Yeah?" Scarlett replied.

"Thank you for not hanging up so soon this time." Ivan said to his oldest daughter with a sincere tone.

Scarlett for some reason felt like crying but she thankfully kept it together. "Bye, dad." She said and then ended the call. She was staring off into space when the doorbell rang again, this time it didn't stop ringing.

The seventeen year old walked towards the direction of the front door. She reached for the door knob to open it but then stopped. She told her dad it was probably Tatum but she wasn't one hundred percent it was her. She thought there would be a phone call from her but she hadn't called.

So instead of just opening the door right away she did exactly what she told her father. She looked through the peephole. She felt much better when she saw that it was indeed Tatum. The blonde had stopped ringing the doorbell as she stood there with an impatient expression.

Scarlett opened the door and before she could even say anything Tatum beat her to it.

"What took you so long?"

Says the girl who showed up late. Scarlett kept her sarcasm to herself. "Sorry I was on the phone, and maybe I was a bit worried about who was on the other side of the door."

"It's not even eight o'clock yet." Tatum told her red haired friend. "It's too early for anything to happen anyways."

"Several horror movies I've seen would say otherwise." Scarlett countered as she turned around to walk back into the living room. Tatum followed her, closing the front door behind her. She saw the state of the living room table. She raised an eyebrow in question.

"What's with all the textbooks?"

"Uh, there's this thing called homework." Scarlett answered in a playful tone. She was tidying up the table she had been working on.

Tatum saw this and couldn't help but poke harmless fun. "Let me guess, you've finished all of it by now."

Scarlett didn't answer. She just gave the blonde a pointed look. Tatum continued.

"It's probably not even due tomorrow."

"It doesn't hurt to be ahead of things." Scarlett earnestly told her as she finished her tidying. By now she was standing next to her.

"Such a do-gooder." Tatum patted her head as she smiled. Scarlett huffed but betrayed her annoyance by allowing a small smile to escape her.

"Anyways." Tatum went on to say. "I called Sid before coming here and told her we were going to stop by the video store. I want to rent All The Right Moves. The one with Tom Cruise."

Scarlett furrowed her eyebrows. "Why?"

"Because it's Tom Cruise." Tatum answered in an obvious way. A puckish grin then appeared on her pretty face. "And I heard if you pause it just right you can see his penis."

Scarlett didn't care much for that. "Whatever. Let's just go." She looked at the grandfather clock. "It's already gonna be seven thirty and at this point I'll barely have time to hang out with you and Sid before I have to pick up Lindsey."

Tatum waved her hand. "Don't worry they'll be time. And if you want I can give you and your sister a ride back home."

"That would actually be great, thanks." Scarlett answered, she felt less rushed now. She turned off the light in the living room and then started walking towards her front door again with Tatum.

"On the way to the video store I can tell you what happened during practice today. Total catastrophe." Tatum began saying in that high-spirited way Scarlett liked so much.

Scarlett was amazed at how full the video store was today. It was a weekday, so she wasn't expecting it to be as busy as it was. There were people browsing around in almost each aisle the video store had.

As soon as they entered Tatum made her way to where the drama movies were. She seriously wanted to watch that movie because of Tom Cruise.

Scarlett didn't understand Tatum's attraction for Tom Cruise. Tom Cruise just didn't do it for Scarlett. Johnny Depp on the other hand...wow. Or Jennifer Tilly. Scarlett bit her bottom lip as she thought about the actress.

It was a shame the movie Bound was still in theaters, otherwise she would have casually mentioned to Tatum that they should rent it. She knew Tatum wouldn't have thought it was weird. Scarlett did go see the movie with her friend group when it premiered two weeks ago.

Obviously they had to sneak in to see the movie since the majority of them were seventeen still, and it was rated R because of sex and violence.

Normally Scarlett wasn't one for sneaking into movies, or sneaking out of her home. However she made an exception that one time for the beautifully talented Jennifer Tilly.

Someone shouting, "Watch it!" Caught Scarlett's attention. She released a giggle when she saw the person's annoyance was aimed at Randy who had passed them.

He was riding the video store trolley. Which he wasn't supposed to do but this wouldn't be the first time Scarlett has caught Randy doing that. He stopped and got off to put some videotapes on the shelf. She made her way over to him.

Scarlett exaggeratedly cleared her throat, informing him of her presence. "Excuse me, good sir. Can you point me in the direction of where the Red Vines are at?"

Randy jumped a bit and flushed when he saw that it was her. "Hey!" He fixed his voice, trying to sound more put together. "What are you doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm here for the food." Scarlett answered seriously before cracking a smile. "Tatum and I are here to rent a movie. We're gonna pick up Sidney after. She's spending the night at Tatum's."

"And you're not?" Randy asked the redhead. He was struggling with the videos he had in his hands, and Scarlett was about to offer her help, when Randy managed to properly place them on the shelf.

"Nice save." Scarlett appeared impressed and then shook her head. "Can't stay over. I gotta pick up Lindsey from her after school program thing. They're having a game night."

"Oh, yeah. Martha went to that too." Randy said as he started pushing the video trolley down the aisle. Scarlett followed him. "My mom's picking her up though."

"So are you working late tonight?" Scarlett asked him.

Randy shrugged his shoulders. "No later than usual." He stopped the trolley and then picked a few videos. He looked at the titles and started placing them in the right place. "So listen….do you think you can help me with what we learned today in Pre-Cal? I seriously was lost today in class." He made a face and Scarlett wanted to giggle again because of how funny and adorable it was. "I mean, what was with those polynomial equations and...what was it?"

"Polynomial equations by factoring and using synthetic division." Scarlett told him with a smile. "And yeah I can help you."

"Thank God." Randy let out a huge sigh of relief. "I'm seriously dreading the test next week. If it's anything like the homework I'm screwed."

"If you want, we can study together." Scarlett offered kindly. "That way we'll both be prepared."

Randy made sure to face the shelf, he was acting as if he was double checking he had put the correct videos on the shelf. He knew they were the correct ones, he just didn't want Scarlett to see his flushed cheeks.

"Yeah that sounds great. It'll help me for sure." Randy tried sounding casual as he told her this. He then began pushing the trolley again.

"You think we should ask Billy if he wants to join our study group?" Scarlett asked as she walked alongside Randy.

"No!" Randy immediately protested coming to a stop. He got a couple of weird stares from customers but he ignored them. All he cared about was how Scarlett was staring at him. She had a confused expression as she stood still. He quickly tried saving himself from further embarrassment. "He's probably doing fine in that class." He started moving again. "Besides, if he really needs help he'll ask, until then just leave him be."

"Okay." Scarlett muttered. She might have agreed with Randy but she still felt guilty. The next time she saw Billy she would bring up Pre-Calculus in conversation and find out if he was doing fine as Randy said, or if needed help studying too.

"I wish I was like you when it comes to school." Randy suddenly said, causing Scarlett to stop thinking about the possible math problems she could use for studying. "You're so smart."

Scarlett could never take a compliment, not even when it came from those closest to her. She couldn't look Randy in the eyes after he said something nice about her. "Come on Randy, you make it sound like I'm sort of a genius. I'm no Tony Stark or Bruce Banner."

"They're science geniuses, but that would still apply to you because I know you're taking AP Chemistry." Randy said with a grin. "Which you're passing, no doubt."

Scarlett said nothing, just looked forward. Randy pointed at her with a look of admiration. "See, genius."

"Fine but it's only cause I need to be." Scarlett finally answered Randy, her voice on the serious side.

Randy stopped with his lightheartedness. He knew of her family's economic struggles when it came to college education. Scarlett had told him that getting a scholarship for college could help her immensely.

"So have you started narrowing down colleges?"

"Yeah, you?"

Randy nodded his head. "One in particular has caught my interest."

"Which one?" Scarlett asked. Despite stressing over getting a scholarship, she liked talking about college. It gave her a lot of excitement as it did stress.

"Windsor College." Randy answered. There was a small jump in his walk when he said the name of the college. "It's in―"

"Ohio." Scarlett finished with a smile. "I know it's one of my top choices. It has a really good English department."

Randy stopped again to look at Scarlett. "For real? You're considering Windsor? Shit, that'd be cool! I mean, I want to get my degree in film studies and Windsor offers a lot of courses for that." Randy's face had broken out into a huge smile. "How amazing would it be if we both ended up going there."

"It would be amazing." Scarlett agreed. "Having a friend there would definitely make things better."

Randy's smile deflated a little when she said the word friend. Thankfully they were near the front counter where the video store had its snacks on display. He grabbed one of the Red Vines that were there.

"Here." Randy handed her the packaged candy. "And you don't have to pay for it. It's on me."

Scarlett frowned, trying to hand the candy to him. "You don't―"

Randy wouldn't accept the candy. He carefully insisted by taking her hands and making sure she had a good grip on the Red Vines. As he did that he felt how soft her hands were. He blushed from knowing that, and dropped his hands back to his sides."It's a thank you for, you know, the Cool Ranch Doritos you gave me earlier…..and it's also an apology for me being rude." He sheepishly said. "Which I was….and I'm sorry."

Scarlett's expression softened. "You weren't being rude."

"I was being insensitive." Randy replied, looking apologetic.

Scarlett looked at the Red Vines in her hands and then at Randy again. She really did appreciate the apology, and at least he had apologized. Unlike some other people, or rather one person in particular. "Well, at least you know when to stop."

Randy cringed. "Yeah, that liver joke didn't go well with Sid, huh?"

"She was okay when we left. I just needed to talk to her alone."

"Casey related?" Randy guessed.

"Scarlett nodded her head.

"You can talk to me about her if you want." Randy softly told her. "I promise not to poke fun or do any of my voices." He assured her. "Even though you two weren't close anymore, I know she still meant a lot to you."

It wasn't often that Randy sounded as serious as he did right now. Normally he was very lighthearted. But with her, at this moment, Randy was as kindhearted and serious as ever. And she liked this side of him just as much as his humorous side. She reached over to squeeze his hand. "Thanks, Randy."

Randy this time couldn't hide his face. He just hoped the blush on his face was super red. He still felt Scarlett's touch on his hand even after she had let go. He was starting to smile when Tatum made her way over to them.

"Found the movie." Tatum held up the movie with a gleam in her eyes. She stopped next to Scarlett and then looked towards Randy. She felt her lips quirk. "Looking a little red there Randy. You get sunburn while working at the video store?"

Randy gave Tatum a stare that said he was not amused by her comment. Scarlett looked concerned for him. "You do look a little red, are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just there's a lot of people in here." Randy excused as he walked behind the counter to ring them up. "I'll ring you guys up now." He glanced at Scarlett. "And I'm serious about the Red Vines."

Scarlett smiled at him again. "Thanks."

Randy smiled back, losing himself in those pretty brown eyes of hers. It wasn't until Tatum let out an obvious fake cough that Randy composed himself. When he glanced at Tatum he didn't miss her smirk.

Randy didn't need to worry about Tatum blabbering about his crush to Scarlett. She'd known for a while now and had yet to say anything to the redhead. Actually everyone in their friend group knew about his crush on Scarlett.

He knew that Tatum and Sidney found it amusing, more so Tatum. Stu liked to make fun of his crush on the redhead. And Billy….well, whatever thoughts he had about Randy's crush on Scarlett he kept to himself. But Randy didn't care so much about his opinion anyways. Billy could be a weird one when he wanted to be. He seriously didn't know why Sidney was still with him.

The only person who didn't know about his crush on Scarlett was Scarlett, and she probably wouldn't know of his feelings for her until he finally gathered the courage to tell her.

Randy just didn't know when that would be. As much as he liked to think he was brave like one of those hero protagonists in horror movies, he wasn't.

He was just a geek who would probably never get the girl.