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

A/N: Sadly because of how bad Covid is I don't think I am going to be able to go to theaters to watch the Scream movie. At least not in the first couple of weeks. A lot of my family members ended up getting Covid. They're okay now, and are recovering. My test came back negative so there's that as well. Still I don't want to take any risks right now.

So that's why I decided to spoil the movie for myself...and wow. Now I can figure out how exactly I am going to do things for the rest of the Scream movies until we finally get into the Scream 2022 story-line. Obviously once we head into the new movie I am going to add/change a few things. If you guys want I can go more into detail about this on my Tumblr account.

Also as you can tell I am a huge Spider-Man fan in this chapter. I will forever be heartbroken over Gwen Stacy's death. I really do love her character. Nothing wrong with Mary Jane. I actually do like her character as well, but Gwen Stacy has a special place in my heart. She was after all Peter's first love. And first loves stay with you in a way.

Chapter 6: The thoughtful wallflower

One of the things Scarlett loved about Tatum was that her blonde friend was never one for silence. Tatum liked to talk, and Scarlett never minded. She enjoyed listening to whatever Tatum had to say. Whether it was about boys, music, or even trivial school gossip. Scarlett just liked being included in the conversation, even if all she did was listen to her.

As kids Scarlett was considered the thoughtful wallflower, and as a teenager that hadn't really changed. But that was the other thing Scarlett loved about Tatum. She always made Scarlett feel like she belonged in their little friend group.

Scarlett remembered the first time she met Tatum. Like Randy, Scarlett also met Tatum during her elementary school years. It was during recess. A bunch of the kids were playing tag but Scarlett, too shy to ask to join their group, remained to the side. She tried acting like jumping rope was a more fun way to pass the time until class started again.

Clearly she failed.

It wasn't long until a small blonde came up to her, bluntly asked why she was alone. She hadn't asked in a rude way but she also wasn't holding back her curiosity. When Scarlett just shrugged her shoulders the blonde introduced herself as Tatum. She then went on to say if she wanted to play tag with her and the others.

Scarlett was shy at first, but then saw the way Tatum was bouncing on her feet, and she could tell that she wanted to go back to playing tag. So Scarlett said yes but then surprised Tatum when she tied her shoes.

Tatum hadn't known they were untied, but Scarlett noticed when Tatum had been running around. Since at a young age Scarlett looked out for others before even knowing how kind that truly was.

Tatum thanked her before leading her to where the others were playing tag, and Scarlett easily joined in with the running and laughing.

Later on during lunch Tatum sat with Scarlett and she gave Scarlett the cupcake she got for dessert.

They'd been friends since then.

A part of Scarlett thought that maybe Tatum would pull away from her, thinking her shyness was a set back for the spirited blonde. But no, Tatum never did that.

Their friendship only seemed to get stronger once Sidney friended Scarlett. Sweet Sidney, who like Scarlett, was shy only not as much. As the years passed by, the trio's friendship flourished. It seemed their friendship was simply meant to be.

But doubt lived in Scarlett. Doubt that maybe Tatum would stop being her friend if she knew about her secret. That Scarlett liked both guys and girls. Despite telling herself that Tatum wouldn't, she still couldn't find the courage to just tell her.

She felt guilt, and that guilt was worse now because Scarlett had opened up to Sidney. Sidney accepted her, so why wouldn't Tatum, right? Scarlett wanted to tell her. Even now as they were on their way to pick up Sidney as Waterfalls by TLC played in the car.

However she thought better about it and figured now wouldn't be the best time. Maybe when it would be the two of them…..it was that way with Sidney.

She'd tell Tatum…..just not right now.

Scarlett looked at Tatum who was driving, The blonde was tapping the steering wheel, her head nodding along to song.

Don't go chasing waterfalls
Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to
I know that you're gonna have it your way or nothing at all
But I think you're moving too fast

Scarlett looked away, quietly singing more to herself. Not singing to TLC was a difficult thing to do.

"So does Randy always give you freebies when you visit the video store?" Tatum asked, lowering the volume a bit in the car so that Scarlett would be able to hear you.

Scarlett looked at Tatum again. "Huh?" She replied back with a frown because she wasn't expecting to be asked that by her.

"You know, like free candy and shit." Tatum went on to say. "Does he do that a lot?"

"Um, no, not really." Scarlet answered quietly.

Tatum smiled widely. "Not really? But he's done it before."

Scarlette was starting to feel flustered and she had no idea why. It wasn't that big of a deal, so why was she making it one by getting all bashful? "Why even ask?" She finally replied back. She sounded awkward and it made her want to cover her face with her jacket.

"Just that, he's never given me free stuff." Tatum answered casually. She wasn't upset about it, she was more amused.

The blonde knew exactly why Randy gifted Scarlett with stuff and not her or even Sidney. His crush on the redhead was so obvious. Everyone knew about it, everyone but Scarlett. Tatum liked teasing Randy about it in a subtle way, especially whenever Scarlett was around. She liked doing the same thing to Scarlett even though her friend had no idea where the teasing was coming from.

Tatum decided to lay off the teasing just a bit. "Maybe it just has to do with the fact that you two have a lot in common."

"What? Like movies?" Scarlett said, feeling a bit better now that Tatum wasn't curious about why Randy supposedly favored her over Tatum.

Tatum's eyes twinkled with amusement. "You two definitely share the same taste in movies." It was almost impossible to not know this fact about Randy and Scarlett. If you knew either of them then you automatically knew about their love for horror movies. "And also with comic books."

Scarlett picked at the end of her jacket sleeves. "I'm not as into them as I used to be but I do have a few in my room."

"Of course." Tatum shook her head. "You used to read that one about the spider guy."

Scarlett laughed in disbelief. "Spider guy? It's Spider-Man, Tatum. And yeah I did because he was one of my favorite superheroes. Still is."

Tatum glanced at her, throwing her a smirk."I bet you fantasize about being his red haired love interest. What's her name? Mary Jane."

Scarlett rolled her eyes. "No I don't. Besides, I prefer Gwen Stacy."

Tatum, keeping her eyes on the road, raised an eyebrow. "Prefer?"

Scarlett did her best to not get flustered. "Prefer, as in I like her character better. In the comics she's a lot sharper than Mary Jane. She helps Peter a lot when he's fighting villains." Her voice lowered and she appeared solemn. "Her fate is really sad. Peter isn't able to save her in time and she dies. And even when Peter is with Mary Jane later on, he still mourns Gwen. But that's to be expected, she was his first love." Scarlett looked out the car window with a small dismal frown. "I don't think anyone forgets their first love. Not entirely anyway."

Music was still playing but with how low it was it might as well been silent in the car. Finally Tatum whistled. "Wow."

Scarlett narrowed her eyes as she looked Tatum's way. "What?"

"It's just that the way you talk about love it's obvious you like romance." Tatum easily answered her.

Scarlett pursed her lips. "I never said I didn't."

"I know but it's still surprising." Tatum replied after making a turn. They were getting closer to Sidney's house. "You always talk about horror movies with Randy. I'm still confused about that." She admitted to her.

"Why are you confused?" Scarlett asked, frowning.

Tatum let out a sigh. "Randy I get. He's always been super into horror movies because he's more on the morbid side, but you? I don't understand why you love horror movies so much."

In Tatum's opinion Scarlett didn't look the type to love horror movies. She sure was on the nerdy, bookish side, and one look at her and one would assume romance movies were her thing, not horror. Except no, the redhead loved horror movies.

"My dad got me into them." Scarlett told her earnestly. There was a far away look on her face as she stared out the car window, as if replaying a pleasant memory. "He would always have one playing in the background."

"And they never gave you nightmares at such a young age?" Tatum questioned, genuinely interested in hearing what she had to say.

Scarlett shook her head. "Nope, never." She smiled. "I was always happy just to spend time with him." She recalled coloring while her dad watched Psycho and also her playing with her dolls as her dad had on Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The movies never scared her, just calmed her and piqued her interest.

Tatum's gaze saddened. She was able to pick up on the forlorn in Scarlett's voice as she brought up her father.

Scarlett didn't even realize she was crying until she felt a tear near the corner of her mouth. "God, I don't know why I'm crying now. I haven't before." Scarlett sniffled. "I think it's because our conversation ended on a good note. And I actually let it continue longer than usual."

"You miss him." Tatum simply told her.

Scarlett didn't deny it, just quickly cleaned her face.

In a way Tatum could understand Scarlett. Her own parents were divorced. They separated when she was ten. Dewey had already turned eighteen. He was already enrolling in college courses, and was out of the house more than Tatum.

She was sad at first because who wouldn't be sad about their parents divorcing? It didn't take long for Tatum to realize that divorce was for the best in her parents' case.

And maybe in a way what Scarlett said was true about people not forgetting their first love, not entirely. Her parents might have cared for one another but they didn't love each other like they used to. So why stay married?

At seventeen years old Tatum already knew that love sometimes didn't last….and strangely she was fine with that. It didn't worry Tatum because she was still young, and she wasn't looking to fall in love. If she ever did she'd be smart about it.

Like how she was being smart with Stu. Despite Stu's cheekiness she trusted him that he wouldn't be stupid enough to fall head over heels for her. This was their senior year after all, and she planned to go college. Preferably one far from Woodsboro.

But the difference between her parents and Scarlett's was that her parents were on good terms with each other even after separating. They were civil with one another. Unlike Scarlett's parents, and Tatum knew the reason. She knew all about the drinking problem Scarlett's father had.

In fact, most of Woodsboro knew that Ivan Dane liked to hit the bottle.

Except as much as Scarlett liked being indifferent about her father, Tatum knew by the way her eyes would lower that it was a sore subject for her friend. Now she was crying, and Tatum never liked it whenever one of her friends cried.

As she was trying to figure out what to say to Scarlett, Tatum's eyes widened at the sight of Sidney's house.

"What the hell?"

Scarlett followed her gaze and her own brown eyes widened. Her crying from better was forgotten about, and she focused on what was happening. There were several police cars and an ambulance parked outside Sidney's house. "What's going on?" She began to feel dread. Did something happen to Sidney?

As Tatum pulled up closer Scarlett saw the last person she'd expect handcuffed and shoved into the backseat of a police car.

"Is that Billy?" Scarlett questioned in shock. The dread she felt made her feel cold even with the oversize jacket she was wearing. It only worsened, causing the hair behind her neck to stand up when she saw Sidney sitting inside the ambulance. She was wearing a police jacket and a paramedic appeared to be talking to her. She could see Sidney nodding as if she were responding to whatever questions were being asked. "Oh my God." She said, causing Tatum to look at Sidney.

"Oh, shit! Sidney!"

The blonde immediately parked the car and got out with Scarlett running with her. It was obvious that they were both confused. Scarlett was just as terrified as well.

Scarlett's stomach suddenly felt as if she had gotten off a bad rollercoaster ride as she approached a distressed looking Sidney. She desperately wanted to hug her friend, and reassure her that everything was alright now.

Sidney clearly had been through something terrible, and Billy had been taken away by the police.

Scarlett could still hear the sirens from the departing police car Billy was in. It made her feel all sorts of confusion and disquietude. One of her friends was in an ambulance, being checked by a paramedic. While the other was handcuffed and driven away in the backseat of a police car. What a night...and it wasn't even over yet.