"Elizabeth, could you give me a hand, please?" Nina requested. She pointed to the desks and placed her hands underneath the closest one. "These need to go back into that U-formation."
Elizabeth finished shoving her spiral notebook into her backpack and tossed her pencil case on top. She'd been working on her assessment for Popular Fiction for almost two hours, and her eyes were beginning to blur. The other members of their study group had left ten or fifteen minutes ago to grab pizza for dinner, but Elizabeth had decided to stay a little while longer. Nina hadn't even bothered to give an excuse; she'd simply raised an eyebrow and looked back down at the four-thousand word thesis on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.
"Are you almost finished?" Elizabeth asked as she hauled a table across the room.
"I've finished my preliminary research," Nina replied. "It won't take me long to write."
Elizabeth yawned. "Well, I'm beat. I'm planning on vegging out the second I get back to the duplex. Sam better have cleaned up his beer can pyramid. Jess told me she could barely see The Young and the Beautiful over the top of the tabs last night."
Nina scoffed. "What a surprise. Sam makes me the mess, and Jess will complain about it, yet she won't do anything."
Elizabeth felt the uncomfortable prickle in her stomach that she usually got whenever Nina insulted her sister, which was often. "It's Sam's mess in the first place," she protested.
Nina shrugged and dropped the last chair into place. "Whatever. You're too nice, Liz. I would have murdered Sam in his sleep by now, if I had any proof other than your word and Jess's whinging. I never catch him; you've always cleaned it up by the time I get home."
"You can do it in real life, if you like," Elizabeth joked as she swung her backpack over her shoulder. Nina did the same and they strolled out the door. "The Murder Game could extend to OCC as well."
"I wouldn't have a clue how to publically humiliate someone," Nina admitted ruefully. "The most embarrassing thing I can think of is failing as class and having everyone know about it. Even getting a C would make me cry."
"Sam would probably be embarrassed to get above a C," Elizabeth laughed.
The girls continued to laugh and joke as they made their way out of the student centre. As they rounded a corner, Elizabeth turned fully to Nina so she could see her 'Sam-cleaning-dishes' impersonation and collided with a burly figure hurrying in the opposite direction. Elizabeth let out an 'oof!' and fell backwards, landing squarely on her back.
"Watch where you're - oh, jeez, Liz, are you okay?"
Elizabeth looked up into the concerned face of Tom Watts. He bent down and offered his hand, and Elizabeth grudgingly took it. He pulled her to her feet, and spun her round to check she wasn't hurt. "Is anything broken? Do you feel okay?"
"Tom, you knocked into her," Nina said dryly. "You didn't run her over with your car."
Tom let go of the hem of Elizabeth's SVU sweatshirt and stepped back, his hands up defensively. "I was just checking to make sure she wasn't hurt," he answered. "Is there something wrong with caring?" He looked Elizabeth up and down appreciatively.
"No, but there's something wrong with staring," Nina shot back. "Come on, Liz."
Elizabeth averted her gaze as they skirted around Tom, who stood with his arms folded across his chest. "See you later, Elizabeth," he called.
"Yeah," Elizabeth responded half-heartedly.
As soon as they were out of earshot, Nina smacked Elizabeth on the arm. "Liz! What happened to the feminist I know and love?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean," Nina exploded, "Why did you let him help you up! You should have been chewing him out for even knocking you down."
"It's not worth it," Elizabeth sighed. "Besides, all he did was help me up. It's not liked he rescued me from drowning in a river, Nina. I wasn't a complete damsel in distress."
Nina groaned. "I know. I just can't stand him. He walks around like he's a God on campus."
"Instead of just a minor deity," Elizabeth joked.
Nina glanced over her shoulder. "What do you think he's going into the Student Centre at this time for?"
"Who knows," Elizabeth responded. They crossed the Quad, threading their way through the sparse students dotting the grass and passed the old dorms that they used to live in. Elizabeth looked up at the old brick buildings wistfully. "Do you miss living in the dorms, Nina?"
Nina shook her head emphatically and hugged her Indian-inspired fringe satchel closer to her body. "Are you kidding me? Community bathrooms, nightmare roommates... even living with Sam beats living in dorms like Dickenson."
Elizabeth smiled. As they stepped off the grass and back onto the pavement, they heard a thud, and a scream. Her survival instincts kicked in, and Elizabeth leapt up and tackled Nina to the ground, keeping her friend's body protected by her own. Several students around her shouted in panic. Elizabeth recognized Magda Helperin, the president of Jessica's sorority, tossing her books on the ground and dropping to the grass. Tina Choi and Kimberly Schuyler, two of Alison's cronies, screamed.
Elizabeth peeked up through her tousled blonde hair. She surveyed the scene quickly, her heart thudding uncontrollably in her chest. Below her, Nina squirmed. "Liz, what happened?" she said urgently. "Was someone shot?"
Elizabeth finally saw the cause of the commotion, and groaned. Rolling off Nina, she climbed to her feet and pointed towards the centre of the Quad, illuminated by the lamppost lights. "Yeah," she said angrily. "Someone was shot. With a freaking paintball gun."
Nina crawled towards her satchel and hoisted herself up. "What?"
"Over there," Elizabeth gestured. "Angela whats-her-name. One of the girls who works at WSVU. Someone got her."
Angela's two friends were frantically examining her, exclaiming angrily and spinning around in circles, trying to find the culprit. Angela sniffled to herself, trying very obviously to keep her composure as she looked down at her ruined coat. The red paint was splattered all over the front of her camel-coloured trench, staining her outerwear and her striped tunic underneath. "Jeez," Nina said softly. "It looks like blood."
Elizabeth scanned high up, and spotted a familiar face ducking behind Dickenson Hall. "Another kill for the fraternity," she said.
"Who did it?" Nina asked.
"I can't remember his name," Elizabeth responded. "I'm pretty sure he took Jess out one night, though."
"Fantastic," Nina answered. "So almost anyone with a pulse."
Elizabeth waggled her finger in Nina's face. Now that she'd gotten over her initial shock at the hit, she felt a little more at ease. "Be nice."
Angela's friends slung their arms around her shoulders to shield her from any other possible attacks, and they started to make their way across the quad towards Dickenson Hall.
"Who even owns a paintball gun," Elizabeth muttered. "What a stupid, stupid game."
"You should know," Nina teased as they started on their way towards the duplex. "You're playing it, right?"
Elizabeth threw up her hands in exasperation. "For the hundredth time, I did not put my name in for the Murder Game! I have no idea who would do such an immature thing."
"I thought hyperbole was a more Jessica trait," Nina commented. "And that's not true, little Lizzie. We both know plenty of immature people who would find that funny. Hell, Jess could have even put your name in."
"She wouldn't do that," Elizabeth said automatically. "She knew how stupid I thought the whole thing was." A little niggling feeling settled in her stomach; Jessica had done things like that before.
"If you say so," Nina answered.
They spoke about their shared literature class for the rest of the walk, and it was pleasantly uneventful. As they walked through their front door, Nina swore under her breath. "Of course, every light in the house is on. Every room! I pay electricity as well - where is Sam? Sam! Turn some of the damn lights off!"
Elizabeth cringed. As much as she loved Nina, and knew how much of a slacker Sam was, even she thought she took the dramatics a little too far. Funny that Nina claimed to find Jessica's theatrics so irritating when they had some similar traits and mannerisms.
Sam was lying in front of the television, and Elizabeth was relieved to see the beer can pyramid was gone. He responded to Nina's question by belching loudly and flopping onto his back to stare up at them as they peered over the couch. He locked eyes with Elizabeth and held her gaze. She was annoyed that her first thought was about how sweet he looked in his collared shirt, with his blondish hair cut long and in his eyes.
"Nina, always a pleasure to see you," he rumbled. "Have you ever thought that maybe, just maybe, I'm not always the bad guy?" He waved his arm lazily in the direction of the kitchen. "Jess is making dinner or something. She's been running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Apparently she's misplaced the funnel."
Nina rolled her eyes and exhaled loudly. She turned on her heel and headed for the kitchen. "I'll go get the fast food menus."
Elizabeth looked back down at Sam. He met her gaze, and she racked her brains for something to say. "Has Neil been telling you about the Murder Game?"
Sam rolled over onto his side and propped himself up on one elbow. "Is that the reason why Jess was funnelling bleach into a conditioner bottle earlier?"
"To be honest, that could be something else entirely," Elizabeth answered. Sam tittered and turned his attention back to the TV. Elizabeth stood their awkwardly for a couple of seconds before taking a few steps back. As she turned to walk away, he called out, "Where are you going, Liz? Come watch TV with me. It'll be at least another fifteen minutes before Jess burns down the kitchen and Nina manages to blame it on me."
"Fifteen minutes is a little generous," Elizabeth shot back. She crossed the room and lowered herself into one of the little lounges Neil had picked up at a garage sale in Palisades. She expected Sam to completely ignore her and continue watching the television, but he picked up the remote and lowered the volume a couple of notches. "So. The Murder Game. Are you and Neil competing?"
"Techically, no," Elizabeth shrugged. "Well, I don't think Neil is. He's giving Jess a hand with some of her kills, but when she suggested he put his name in too, he laughed for about ten minutes straight."
"What does not technically competing entail?" Sam inquired, running his hand through his messy hair.
"I didn't put my name in," Elizabeth explained. "But when the list came out, I was on it."
"Whoa," Sam said, sitting up straight. "Someone put your name in? Do you know who?"
"Nina seems to think it's Jess, but I honestly don't think it would even cross her mind to enter me," Elizabeth answered. "She wants to eliminate the competition, not create it."
"That's not right, Liz," Sam said, furrowing his brow. "I really don't like the sound of that."
"Well, on the upside, I'm not going to be completing any kills," Elizabeth said. "And in the end, I could win a heap of money."
"Yeah, but that makes you a target," Sam pointed out. "Look, cancel your personal study for tonight, Liz."
"I wasn't going to study," Elizabeth replied, stung. "Why do you presume that? I might have been about to go out to a frat party!"
Sam scoffed. "You weren't going to study, Liz? Yeah, right. Just like how I wasn't planning on lying in front of the television shovelling nachos into my face until Bugsy finishes work and then playing Call of Duty till three A.M."
Elizabeth stayed silent, glaring at him.
"Don't feel bad. It's just who you are. I'd put money on the fact that Jess planned on screwing up dinner then taking off to Starlights with Lila and the rest of the Bitch Brigade. Neil will go to the gym, finish writing an Econ paper, get drunk dialled by Jess and go and pick her up around two in the morning. And Nina will lock herself in her cave and brainstorm ways to make my life more miserable while sleeping on her own beard."
Elizabeth couldn't stop herself from laughing. "Okay. But I seriously wasn't planning on studying."
Sam rolled his eyes and stood. "Good. You can cancel your plans of nothing then."
"Where are we going?"
He grabbed her hand without warning and pulled her up. "Back to campus. We're going to take another look at the Murder Game competitor list."
