Scream-The Alternate Version

Chapter Three: News Gets Around

Its morning time and another school day. A school campus with the name "WOODSBORO HIGH SCHOOL. HOME OF THE FIGHTING BULLDOGS" comes into view. A picture perfect small town, everyone in town knows each other and their families. The adults in town are a bunch of busy bodies while the teens could be rowdy. Students are coming and going, moving about nothing unusual, except for the fact that there are six police cars, four news vans, flashing cameras, and crowds and crowds of lookie-loo's gathered just off campus.

Sidney approaches the school seeing the commotion. Four different REPORTERS stand in front of four different cameras giving four different news reports.

She moves passed a policeman standing guard. Her interest peaked, she stops at the first reporter who is...Gale Weathers

In her early thirties, Gale is a beautiful yet smart woman. Her face is overshadowed by a flashy smile and a massive mane of chemically enhanced hair. She's one of the media cronies who is hated by those that know her. Gale stands in front of the camera reporting of the murders of Casey Becker and Steve Orth.

"The small town of Woodsboro was devastated last night when two young teenagers were found brutally butchered. Authorities have yet to issue a statement but our sources tell us that no arrest has been made and the murderer could strike again..."

Sidney watches Gale's news report and is moved yet disturbed by what she hears. She knows all too well what how Gale reports the news. She's tapped on the shoulder from behind. She spins around to see...

Tatum Riley, same age, feisty, carefree.

"Do you believe this shit?" Tatum said to her.

"What happened?" Sidney asked unaware of the brutal murders of two of her classmates.

They break away from the crowd and head for school.

"Oh God! You don't know?" Tatum asks Sid who shakes her head no. "Casey Becker and Steve Orth were killed last night."

"What? No way." Sidney said as the two made their way towards the school building.

"And not just killed, Sid. We're talking splatter movie killed-split open end to end." Tatum said disgusted by the whole thing.

"Oh my god." Sidney said feeling bad for the dead teens.

"This is the type of shit you see in movies not in real life." Tatum complained. "You have to be fucking crazy to do some shit like this."

"Casey Becker? She sits next to me in English." Sidney said remembering that she actually had a class with Casey.

"Not anymore. Poor thing. Her parents found her hanging from a tree. Her insides on the outside."

"Fuck. Do they know who did it?" Sidney asked.

"Fucking clueless-they're interrogating the entire school. Teachers, students, staff, janitors..." Tatum said.

"They think it's school-related?" Sidney asked.

"They don't know. Dewey said this is the worst crime they've ever seen. Even worse than..." stopping her self. "Well it's bad." Tatum finished continuing on into the school building. Sidney stares at her and back at Gale, her face deeply pained.

As the news about Casey Becker and Steven Orth's deaths get around, Sidney sits in her English class staring at the seat that Casey use to occupy. She wondered who would stoop so low as to kill another human being. Who ever killed Casey and Steve would soon be found by the police and would pay for their crimes. Sidney hadn't been paying attention to Mrs. Tate who approaches her class trying to gather her thoughts.

Mrs. Tate a frumpy old woman with a soft voice. She faces her class preparing to discuss the deaths of her two students no less. Her hands clasped together. A tragic look written upon her face, he begins to speak.

"..a terrible tragedy. An unbearable loss. It's days like today we need prayer in school..." Mrs. Tate says.

The door opens and a student opens with a slip of paper. He hands it to Mrs. Tate.

"Sidney. It appears to be your turn." Said Mrs. Tate as Sidney got out of her seat taking her books with her and heading out of her English class.

The principal's office is where the interviews are taking place. The police are there along with principal Himbry. Sheriff Burke along with his top deputy Dwight Riley better known as Deputy Dewey. Sheriff Burke, a round man in his fifties, wipes the stress from

his face. These murders have rocked this small town who about a year ago was shocked at another murder that took place. He sighed heavily a sign of fatigue on his part.

"Who's up next?" Sheriff Burke asked.

Deputy Dewey Riley looked at the clipboard. Dewey is a young officer. He's a big guy in his early twenties, handsome in a scrubbed-clean boyish way. He's a sweet guy with a Barney Fifish style to him.

"Sidney Prescott." Deputy Dewey Riley said to his boss.

Sheriff Burke gestures to bring her in. Principal Himbry a man in his early fifties stands by the door. An old codger of a man wearing a sour face speaks up.

"Sidney Prescott. She was daughter of..." Principal Himbry says.

"We all know Sidney, Mr. Himbry." Deputy Riley said.

"How she doin'?" Sheriff Burke asked. He knew the Prescotts and after what happened to Maureen last year became watcher of her daughter Sidney.

"She's adjusted well. Maintains an "A" average. You never know she..."

Principal Himbry stops short, seeing Sidney in the doorway. He rises and seats her.

"Hi Sidney." Sheriff Burke said to her smiling.

"Sheriff Burke. Dewey." Sidney said keeping it casual.

Dewey shakes his head seriously.

"It's Deputy Riley today, Sid." Dewey said to her.

"How is everything?" Sheriff Burke asked her.

"Good." Sidney said.

"And your Dad? How's he doing?" Sheriff Burke asked.

"We're fine. Thanks." Sidney said to them. She was already nervous about answering questions about a classmate she barely knew.

"We'll be brief, Sidney. The police have a few questions they'd like to ask you..." Principal Himrby said to her gently taking her chin in his hand. "You ok."

"Uh-huh." Sidney said to Principal Himbry eyeing them nervously.

"Sidney, did you know Casey?" Sheriff Burke asked.

"Well yeah. She sat next to me in English." Sidney answered honestly.

"We're you two friends or did you hang out with her?" Sheriff Burke asked.

"No not really. I spend most of my time with Tatum, Billy, Stu, or Randy." Sid said.

"Did you two ever communicate?" Sheriff Burk asked.

"When we had English assignments, she'd often ask for help but that was it." Sidney said to them. The truth was, she really didn't know Casey Becker all that well. Sure she had seen her around school every day but never really talk unless it was about school.

"Had she talked to you about any of her friends or gossiped about a boy she might be dating?"

"Well as far as I knew she was dating Steve Orth but I did know that she was dating Stu Macher before dating Steve."

"Ok. Anything else you can think of that might help?" Sheriff Burke asked.

"I can't think of anything else Sheriff. I'm sorry." Sidney said to him.

"That's ok Sidney. You did a good job." Sheriff Burke said to her.

"You can go back to class Sid." Principal Himbry said as Sidney stood up and exited the Principal's office. Sheriff Burke and Principal Himbry along with Dewey watched her.

"She's a good girl Sheriff. Sidney mainly focuses on her school." Principal Himbry said to her.

"She's never been in trouble either." Sheriff Burke noted.

Its lunch time and students can be seen doing various activities outside. Five students are sitting at the water fountain. The friends are Sidney, Billy, Tatum, Stuart Macher and Randy Meeks. Stuart better known to his friends as Stu has his arm draped across Tatum's back. He's her boyfriend and a Billy wannabe. Almost the jock, almost

handsome, almost cool but more of a goof off then anything else. He tries way too hard to be popular and doesn't realize what people really think of him. At the far end of the fountain is the fifth wheel, Randy. He's a tall and gangly kid with no such Billy-like aspirations, a witty jokester who elevates geek to coolness. He resembles the very essences of nerdiness without the geeky glasses and the nerd like voice. He hates being out with the others sometimes. It bothers him to see the two couples making out. It especially bothers him to see Billy and Sidney together. It's no secret that he's crushin on Sidney who pays him no mind. He's envious of Billy not because he's cool and popular but because has Sidney.

"What kind of questions did they ask you Sid?" Tatum asks her surrogate sister.

"They asked me if I knew Casey." Sidney responded.

"They asked me that to." Tatum said to her.

"Hey did they ask you if you like to hunt?" Stu asked the guys.

"Yeah they did." Randy responded. Billy was too busy nuzzling Sidney's neck. Sidney chuckled while he did it.

"Hunt? Why would they ask if you like to hunt?" Tatum asked.

"I don't know, they just did." Stu said unsure.

"Its because their bodies were gutted." Randy said having no shame in discussing the gruesome deaths of his classmate.

Sidney flinches. Billy sees this and looks annoyingly at Randy.

"Thanks Randy." Billy said sarcastically.

"They didn't ask me or Sid if we like to hunt." Tatum said to them.

"Because there's no way a girl could have killed them." Stu said.

"That is so sexist. The killer could easily be female-BASIC INSTINCT." Tatum retorts.

"That was an ice pick-not exactly the same." Randy corrected her.

"Yeah, Casey and Steve were completely hollowed out. The fact is that it takes a man to do something like that." Stu said to his girlfriend.

"Or a man to tell it." Tatum responds.

Sidney is quiet for a second. Billy notices this and gently kisses her cheek.

"How do you gut someone?" Sidney asked disgusted yet curious.

All eyes turn to Sidney. A serious silence befalls the five teens as they each ponder her question. And then Stu speaks.

"You take a knife and slit from groin to sternum." Stu said explaining how to kill another human being. Sid flinches again. Tatum turns her face up as well. Billy frowns.

Sidney shivers down to her soul. The whole table rolls their eyes at Stu.

"What?" She asked.

"It's called tact, you fuckeregg. Besides, my girl doesn't need to hear this shit. Not now." Billy said to Stu chewing him out.

"Sorry." Was all Stu could say. He hated it when Billy was mad at him.

"Remember in JAWS when they caught the wrong shark at first and Richard Dreyfuss

cut it open to look for body parts and all they found was a licence plate and all this

white milky goo.

Stu leans over and socks Randy in the arm.

"You heard Billy-shut the fuck up." Stu said to Randy who eyed him as if he had hurt his arm.

"Hey, Stu? Didn't you use to date Casey?" Sidney asked.

Stu's taken back, a little off guard. Tatum glared at him wondering if this was true.

"For about two seconds." Stu said to her.

"Before she dumped him for Steve." Randy said leaning to add his comments.

Tatum turns to Stu, surprised.

"I thought you dumped her for me." Tatum said angered.

"I did. He's full of shit." Stu said defending himself.

"And are the police aware you dated the victim?" Randy asked being the smart ass cunt he can be at times.

"What are you saying? That I killed her or something?" Stu asked offended.

"It would certainly improve your high school Q." Randy said biting on a piece of grape.

"Stu was with me last night." Tatum said giving Stu an alibi.

"Yeah I was. I was fucking her senseless." Stu said as Billy chuckled while Sid blushed. Tatum smirked while playfully hitting Stu on his arm.

"Oooooh...was that before or after he sliced and diced." Randy asked.

"Fuck you, nut case. Where were you last night?" Tatum retorted protecting her boyfriend.

"Working, thank you." Randy said giving himself an alibi.

"I thought they fired your sorry ass?" Tatum asked.

"Twice." Randy said smirking.

"I didn't kill anybody." Stu said.

"No one's saying you did." Billy responded holding Sidney from behind.

"Besides-(perfect Stu mimic) "Takes a man to do something like that." Randy said as Tatum laughed.

"I'm gonna gut your ass in a second kid." Stu said playfully.

"Did you really put her liver in mailbox? I hear they found her liver

in the mailbox right next to her spleen and her pancreas." Randy said jokingly to Stu.

"Randy, you goon-fuck, I'm eating here." Tatum said to Randy who snags another grape. She shoves him back. Stu nibbles at Tatum's neck.

"Yeah, Randy, she's getting mad. I think you better liver alone." Stu said cracking up at his own joke. The others just MOAN. Sidney is about to crawl out of her skin, trying hard to ignore it all. She squirms a little in Billy's embrace. Billy sighs before Tatum clocks him on the arm. "Liver, Liver its just a joke. Get it?" Stu asked as the other groaned again.

"Hey, Sid how you doing?" Randy asked her. Billy looked over at him frowning hard.

Sidney shook her head.

"Why do you ask Randy?" Sidney asked him hoping he wasn't about to bring up her mother.

"Well this must feel like de ja vue all over again doesn't it?" Randy asked her. "With your mother's death and all, I'm surprised you're handling this well." Randy finished. He looked up to see Billy staring daggers at him. Sidney wore a hurt expression on her face, Tatum had a look of shock on her face while Stu shook his head angrily. Even he knew not to bring up Sid's mother.

"Fuck you Randy." Sid said before leaving abruptly with her backpack.

"What I'd say?" Randy asked confused.

"I should kick your teeth down your goddamn throat you mother fucker." Billy yelled angrily moving towards him. Stu stood up to stop him. Randy sat back shocked. He hadn't met to hurt Sidney. Her mother's death is a touchy subject for her.

"He didn't mean it." Stu said to him. Billy continued to glare at Randy.

"Billy, check on Sid." Tatum told him. Billy grabs his backpack and heading back into the school building.

"Asshole." Tatum said slapping Randy on his face.

"Damn that hurt Tatum." Randy said holding his face.

"You're lucky it wasn't Billy who hit you." She said to him. "You know talking about Mrs. Prescott is touchy subject for Sid dumb ass."

Billy found Sidney standing at her locker crying. He knew she would have a tough time trying to keep from thinking about her mother's death. It was bad enough that two of her fellow classmates were brutally murdered but for Randy to bring up her mother put it over the top. He felt bad for the woman he loved. He slowly mad his way over to her and wrapped his arms around her waste. Sidney didn't turn around cause she knew who it was holding her. She leaned into him. Billy gently kissed her forehead.

"You ok baby?" He asked her.

"Yeah. I'll be fine." Sidney said softly as Billy nuzzled her neck. She was glad to have him as her boyfriend. He truly did care about her. Billy spent a lot of time comforting Sidney during the time of her mother's death and thereafter making sure she was ok and safe. He'd let her cry when she needed it and would hold her without having to be asked. He truly knew how to be a good boyfriend.

"Don't pay any attention to Randy. He's an asshole don't pay him no mind."

"I know. Its just that this is whole thing has got me on edge." Sidney said rubbing the tears from her face.

"I know it does. This whole thing has got a lot of people on edge but don't worry about it. I won't let anything happen to you." Billy said to her.

"I don't want you getting hurt protecting me." Sidney said to him.

"What, me get hurt? I'm invincible baby." Billy said earning a chuckle from Sidney. Billy smiled making her feel better. "There I knew I could make smile." Billy said as Sid giggled. Billy took her hand in his arms. "Look, I know things are a little crazy right now but I'm here for you. I mean it when I say I won't let anything happen to you. Ok."

"Ok." Sidney said as she and Billy kissed passionately.

"Let me walk you to class." Billy said. Sidney nods as they both head towards her sixth period class holding hands.

To Be Continued!