"Are we almost there yet?"
The whole car groaned when the question was posed by Brooke.
"Well, it's been about three minutes since you last asked. So now we are eight minutes away, Brooke. Eight." Rachel answered for her.
Brooke frowned. "Be nice to me."
Rachel rolled her eyes. "Stop whining." Brooke pouted again and Rachel kissed her quickly. "Happy?"
"Yes."
A few short moments later they found the turnoff to Rachel's secluded cabin. The property extended for over at least eight miles.
"This places is gorgeous, Rach." Peyton watched the thick forest as it went by. Normally she didn't draw nature but she figured this would be a great place to try it out.
Rachel smiled cockily. "Thanks."
They pulled up to the front of the cabin at about six. Mouth, Bevin, and Skillz were already there waiting.
Lucas jumped out and kissed the dirt. "Land!"
Brooke laughed. "Remind me why we are friends with him?"
The group grabbed their suitcases from the car and Rachel lead the way into the spacious living room of the cabin.
"So here's how the rooms are going to go. Brooke and I get the master bedroom, obviously. Grace and Nate get the guestroom. So that leaves Peyton, Mouth, Bevin, and Skillz with the bunk bed room. Go ahead and fight it out for the bottom bunks."
Skillz and Peyton laughed but Rachel remained serious. "Oh, I'm not kidding."
Instantly the four bunk bed roommates ran for the stairs.
"Well what about me?" Lucas asked, picking up his suitcase.
"Sorry, Luke. You're stuck with the couch. Pulls out to a bed though!" Rachel answered with a cheerful voice.
"Great. Just great."
Upstairs Bevin and Skillz were sitting uncomfortably on a twin bunk bed. "Man, it ain't right. All the other couples in the house got their own room."
"I know but it is Grace and Brooke's birthday. I guess it's fair. I know how to make you feel better! Let's go for a nature walk!" Bevin clapped her hands excitedly.
"Baby I know you're tryin' to make me feel better, but why would I wanna go on a nature walk?"
"Squirrels! Duh!"
"What?" Skillz stared at Bevin's blank expression. "You know what? Let's just go. Yo I'll see you later Mouth. Me and Bevin are goin' on a nature walk."
G………………..D
"So are we hot tubbing it?" Grace asked as she took her bathing suit out.
"Yeah, we're all meeting out there in like 10." Nate replied.
Grace began walking to the bathroom and Nathan ran after her and wrapped his arms around her. Grace shrieked in surprise. Nathan whispered in her ear. "Maybe later we could shower…"
Grace spun around and kissed him. "If you're good." She playfully shoved him and ran into the bathroom. She quickly changed into her bathing suit. She looked up into the mirror to fix her hair and gasped when she saw the reflection. John Ryder was outside her window.
She whipped her head around but no one was there.
Nathan ran into the bathroom. "Is something wrong?" Then he noticed Grace's breathing was uneven. He hugged her and tried to comfort her. "Should I go get your sister?"
"No. I'm okay. I just thought I saw…it was nothing. I'm okay." Grace shivered and pressed her face into Nathan's comforting chest.
"If you're ready we can head to the hot tub now."
"Yeah, okay. Let's go." Grace took one last look at the window. Nothing was there. Just my mind playing tricks on me.
She grabbed Nathan's hand and walked to the hot tub.
Everyone was already in it and in the middle of the game Never Have I Ever.
They all had glasses of wine and it was up to Peyton's turn. "Hmmm…I feel like we've done everything already. Ummm..." Peyton traced the circle of her wine glass before finally thinking of one. "Oh I got one. Never have I ever had a dream about the twins."
Brooke and Grace watched shocked as every single person in the hot tub took sip of their drinks. Lucas, Rachel, Nathan, and Mouth all took sips.
"Pervs!" Grace laughed but hit Nathan and Brooke did the same to Rachel.
"Seriously gross." Brooke agreed. "Alright, enough of that. I think me and Rachel are tired. Right, Rach?"
Rachel smirked. "Right. We'll just be going to bed now."
Peyton, Lucas, Grace, and Nathan decided to chill in the living room for a while. It was about eleven at night when they realized that Skillz and Bevin hadn't returned from their nature walk.
"We should probably go look for them. I'll go get Rachel and Brooke." Peyton offered.
"Aren't they sleeping?" Mouth naively asked.
"Yeah, sure, Mouth. They went upstairs early to 'sleep.'" Nathan snickered.
Peyton approached the door and heard giggles. As much as she wanted to leave, she knocked on the door anyway. She was surprised to hear an immediate 'Come in!' response. She opened the door and the two were sitting on the floor, a bowl of popcorn in-between them. The big screen TV was paused on a scene from Bride Wars.
"You're watching a movie?" Peyton asked skeptically.
Rachel's eyebrow rose. "Yeah. Something wrong with that?"
"No, I just…we thought…never mind."
Brooke smiled. "You know, P. Sawyer, Rachel and I aren't just about sex."
"I know. Sorry." Peyton's cheeks blushed. "Anyway, Skillz and Bevin might be lost. Will you come downstairs so we can figure out what to do?"
"Of course. I hope they are alright."
Outside the house Bevin and Skillz were on the porch trying to stifle their laughter. "Baby this is gonna scare them so bad, Mouth is gonna piss himself for real."
Bevin whispered, "I know. Nathan's about to open the door, hurry! I'm going to hide!"
Skillz ran over to the front door and leaned his full body weight on to it. When Nathan opened the door, Skillz fell to the floor with a thump. Oh my gods and what the hells rang out from the friends. Brooke ran to feel Skillz's pulse.
Skillz jumped up. "Man, you guys shoulda seen your faces."
"Not funny, Skillz. I thought you got shot or something." Brooke pushed Skillz.
"Nah, Ma. Hey Bevin! Come out, they totally fell for it. Bev?" When Bevin didn't answer his calls Skillz took a small step outside.
He turned back to face his friends. "That's weird, she was right there a second ago."
Before he could get anything else out, Skillz face turned ghostly pale. His hands went to his stomach and his friends followed his actions. There, sticking through his stomach, was a 20 inch long arrow. Blood flowed down his stomach, onto his pants, and onto his hands.
Everyone sat in horror for a moment. Before anyone could react, a second arrow whizzed through the night air and pushed its way straight through Skillz's forehead. His body hit the floor. The sound caused everyone to panic.
"Close the door! And lock it!" Nathan shouted.
"But what about Bevin?" Brooke cried out.
"Fuck Bevin!"
In the distance, Derek Banks watched the chaos that he caused with his bow and arrow in hand.
John Ryder walked up to the side of him. He threw his cigarette to the ground and stomped it out with his boot. "Good work."
"One down. Many more to go."