Chapter 2

If there was anything that Bethany Woods was certain about, it would be two things: her brother is the most adorable person in the world and her best friends were weird as fuck. As she ate her homemade sandwich, Adam and Ed were whispering between themselves rather furiously and while one would think that she would be upset about being left out… She wasn't. After getting closer to them, she had been a little upset about being left out. Initially, she didn't feel comfortable voicing it out but she should have known that it was instinct telling her that she should stay out of it. Only then would her mind have remained free of the boys' graphic discussion on the differences in their dicks after Ed had expressed his insecurity in his own which he later realized was because he was the only one circumcised.

She would also love to forget hearing how it would be like to fuck a female Xenomorph Queen or a female Yautja. It wasn't the idea that was weird. It was the graphic details and imagery about the internal structure of alien vagina and whether it had teeth and such that made her steer clear of involving herself in hushed conversations between her friends. Like why the hell would fifteen-year-old boys be discussing and even drawing out such things? And what had even led to that? What happened to talking about normal human vaginas? That being said, Ed did seem to be gesticulating pretty widely. Well, more than usual.

She let out a yawn, contemplating if she should take a nap for the rest of their lunch break and checked her watch. A tap on her shoe had her glancing down to find Adam's sneaker touching hers. Lifting her head, she found him nervously fiddling with his fingers as he looked at her.

"What's up?" she asked, pulling out an earbud.

"Y… You all right?"

"I'm fine."

"You look tired. Was work difficult last night?"

"No different than usual. Drunks with cash to spend."

"Oh."

Ed glanced between them and rolled his eyes. A default action over the past two months.

"Maybe you should get another job. Like working at a convenience store or something," Ed suggested only to be elbowed by Adam. "What?"

"Look, I like my job just fine. It pays well and I definitely earn much more than I would in a convenience store. Besides, the hours work for me."

"I'm sure the creeps there like you just fine too," Ed added with Adam elbowing him harder this time. "Stop that!"

"Then stop saying stupid stuff," Adam retorted.

"At least they tip well," she pointed out. "Your Christmas present last year came from those tips."

Ed, who had opened his mouth to say something stupid, immediately shut it. "I liked it very much and I will not comment negatively on your job again."

"Mm-hmm, that's right."

"But you're not going to continue working there after we graduate, right?" Adam inquired, brows furrowed in concern.

"We'll see."

"But you could get in trouble with the cops."

"Maybe."

Adam sighed. "Just… Just be careful, all right?"

She nodded. "Thanks for worrying."

"I'll always worry about you."

She smiled softly at him. It was moments like this that made her recall just why she fell in love with him in the first place. Adam, the soft soul of the group.

"All right, enough of this fluffy bullshit!" Ed scowled before turning his gaze to Adam. "You and me. Same time tonight."

Adam looked nervous while Ed had a manic gleam of excitement and that was enough for her to grow curious despite her rule of not getting involved in their shenanigans. However, she could only come to one normal conclusion on what would happen at night.

"You two gonna bang?"

"What?! No!" Adam cried.

"I mean, I won't judge."

"Beth!"

"What?"

"I would never have sex with Ed! That's just… No!" Adam grimaced as they gathered their stuff and began heading to their lockers to get ready for their next class.

Ed looked offended immediately. "Hey! For the record, I would never have sex with you either, all right? And what's wrong with me?"

"You're a dude!"

"So? Some dudes dig that."

"Not me! I like vaginas."

"Well, so do I, but some guys think I'm cute," Ed pointed out.

"What? They thought I was cute," Adam retorted.

"Excuse me!"

"You're excused! And you have a weird dick."

Ed gasped and pulled Adam closer by his shirt, hissing, "It's not weird. It's circumcised."

"Yeah, but it's curved!"

"Dude! I told you that in strict confidence!"

"Told? You showed it to me!"

She sniggered, watching the whole thing play out in front of her. "This is so much better than normal Sex Ed."

Pushing herself between the both of them and throwing her arms over their shoulders, she commented, "For the record, they thought you were both cute and those short shorts you were wearing didn't help your situation at all."

"Beth!"

She sniggered. It was so easy sometimes to fall into old banter and maybe, it wouldn't be too long before the awkwardness between Adam and her fully dissipated.

Adam let out a loud yawn, rubbing at his eyes now that his food had settled and was looking for an afternoon snooze. The boys had really been struggling to stay awake in their morning classes, only regaining their energy during lunch.

"All jokes aside, you both really do look like crap," she commented. "And I'm the one who was working last night."

The boys exchanged a glance and it wasn't their usual, sheepish glance but an actual serious one. It concerned her that they might actually be doing something illegal this time.

"Something's going on in the neighbourhood," Ed said.

"And we can't wrap our heads around the possibility of what is actually happening," Adam added.

"But we will let you in on it soon. Just wait a little more until we get some proof."

She stiffened. "Are you guys doing something illegal?"

Adam scratched the back of his neck, avoiding her gaze. "Technically… Yes?"

"Adam!"

"But technically, no!"

"Which is it? I swear, if the two of you get arrested-!"

They covered her mouth, earning a glare from her and they chuckled nervously, removing their hands from her mouth.

"Look, it's complicated at the moment, all right? But we're doing something good. Promise!"

"We'll tell you everything soon. Trust us."

She sighed, wondering if she should force them to tell her. It wouldn't exactly take that much effort but they had gym class later and she didn't want them to use bruises as an excuse to ditch.

"Fine. I'll wait." Trust was a big thing but she could trust them for now. "I trust you both. However, I will beat your asses if you guys get arrested."

They gulped.

"Uh…"

"You know what? Just be prepared."

"…Yes, Ma'am."

They split to grab their things from their lockers and she rolled her eyes as Charley stared at her.

"Hey, Beth."

She pulled open her locker door to act as a partition between them and pulled out the books she needed. Why the hell did he think she would respond to him when he outright ignored Ed and Adam when they spoke to him?

"So, uh, how was work last night?"

Just ignore him. Treat him like white noise.

"So Eric looks like he's doing good."

She slammed her locker door shut and opened her mouth to say something when Adam and Eric showed up.

"Wow, is Charley talking to you, Beth?" Ed questioned.

"Apparently."

"Wow! The popular Charley Brewster talking to you!"

"Don't do this, Ed," Charley said.

"Oh, Charley Brewster is talking to me? Wow!"

"Just stop, man," Charley urged.

"Just like you stopped talking to us? Hanging out with us?"

Charley was clearly irritated but Beth had no fucks to give. "I was just checking on Beth, all right? I know that she works late still and takes care of Eric by herself."

"I don't need your concern, Charley," she pointed out.

"Beth…"

"You ditched us, man. You ignored us and you didn't give a shit about us so don't turn around and start now," Ed spat.

Adam intervened, holding Ed back before things could get heated as Charley was still a sore spot for them.

"Beth is fine. Ed and I have her back. You should just go back to pretending like you're better than us. Just go back to pretending like we don't exist, Charley," Adam said and the hurt on Charley's face was plain to see.

It irritated Beth. How dare he look like the victim when he was the one who just stopped talking and hanging out with them. He had turned his back on them and their years of friendship all for a girl! He'd told them flat out that he was done with them.

A tap on her ass had her rounding around to face Mark and his minions who decided that they were welcome in their conversation. Her eyes were seriously going to roll out of their sockets with the number of times she had rolled them and it wasn't even evening yet.

"Hey, Beth and losers."

"Hi, Mark and minions," she retorted.

"What are you guys talking about?"

"How much I'd like to shove my foot up your ass. That's about it," she replied.

"Feisty." Mark smirked. "How about you ditch your losers and hang out with us?"

"Nah, I'm good with my losers. You can keep Charley though." She grabbed Adam and Ed by the hand, tugging them towards the direction of the next class. "Let's go."

"You'll join us one day, Beth!"

"I seriously doubt that!"

Having one rich, entitled asshole in her life was more than enough.

Ed snorted. "You'd think he'd be tired of being rejected."

"I'm tired of rejecting him," she muttered.

"I don't like him touching you," Adam spoke, a deep frown on his face.

"Charley's such a pushover," Ed commented. "They don't even really like him. Everyone can see that."

She shrugged. "Don't bother with him. He made his choice."

"Should we tell the Principal?" Adam asked.

"It was a terrible choice, really." Ed scoffed. "Dumbass."

"And yet, you can't help but feel bad for him. Maybe you're the softy, Ed," she teased.

"You're both not even listening to me," Adam muttered.

She chuckled, flicking his nose. "Come on, we were. Mark's just going to continue doing it so why bother?"

"Why aren't you bothered?"

"Who says I'm not? He didn't even tip me," she joked.

"Beth!"

"Look, it's High School. When we graduate, we won't even see Mark again. His rich ass will be off wherever rich asses go. Besides, he's all bark and no bite. I believe in remaining a wallflower so it would go against my belief to create a huge problem out of something that happens every time I work and seriously, what is the school going to do? It was a tap. Not assault."

Adam was still frowning but he knew that her words were cold, hard truth. It wasn't like they hadn't tried something before but it just got swept under the rug and frankly, Beth didn't need the shit that came with Mark's lawyer daddy because she had many things she would like to keep under wraps especially while she was still a student.

"I still don't like it."

"I know. Thanks for worrying about me."

He squeezed her hand. "I will always worry about you."

"Me too!" Ed interjected and she smiled.

"Yeah, you're both my besties."

And she hoped that their friendship would last because she was happy with them. When she first met them, they were a bunch of weirdos dressed in homemade superhero outfits. They didn't even introduce themselves by name but by superhero name. It was, frankly, embarrassing. And she couldn't, for the life of her, recall how they even became friends but it just sort of happened as they invited her to hang out with them.

Adam with his gentle demeanour who went along with whatever schemes Ed came up with. Ed, with his smart mouth that spewed shit without really thinking about what was coming out but cared for them and even included Eric. Charley had been the realist of the group, often considering the negative aspects of things first before getting dragged along but complaining all the way. Eric had adored them because as much as they were her first friends, they were also Eric's and he looked up to them like older brothers.

"Beth," Ed called out, grabbing her hand before she could get in her car.

"Yeah? What's with that constipated look on your face?"

He rolled his eyes before looking at her with complete seriousness. "Look. You need to promise us something."

"What?"

"Don't go running at night anymore. Not until we tell you it's okay."

"What? Why?"

"Just because."

Seeing that Ed was deflecting poorly, Adam sighed. "It's not safe at night. Not anymore. There have been people disappearing and everything. People our age. So please, promise us that you won't go running at night."

She considered his words and their serious, if not, constipated expressions and conceded. "Okay, I promise." They relaxed immediately. "But you guys had better make it up to me if I go mad with stress. Running is my outlet."

"We'll get you a gym membership," Ed offered and she laughed, hugging him.

"I'm holding you to that. Better not be some shabby gym."

"I make no promises."

She flicked his forehead before moving to hug Adam who wrapped his arms tightly around her.

"Let's have movie night at yours soon," Ed suggested and she nodded, pulling away from Adam.

"Eric would love that! I'll let him know."

They nodded with Adam opening the door for her to get in.

"Be careful, Beth."

"You too. Don't get too caught up in Ed's schemes and look after him before he gets arrested or something."

He grinned. "No promises."

She got in with Adam shutting the door, waving at them before she drove off. Eric was waiting for her when she got there and they headed off to get smoothies and to hang out at the mall. They caught each other up on their day with Eric having been caught once again for eating crackers and still not having cracked the mystery as to how he was caught. When they finally pulled up in front of their house, the sky was already pretty dark.

Eric hopped out of the car, grabbing his bag and hurrying to the door which made Beth laugh since she had the housekey. She slowly made her way to their house, freezing in place when she felt like someone was watching her again. The hair on the back of her neck rose and she turned to look at their neighbour's house, nearly jumping when she caught sight of a figure. The porch light wasn't on but with the minimal light, she could make out long legs in denim jeans and… an apple in their hand? It was too dark to make out their features though but for some reason, she found it hard to look away.

"B, come on! I need to pee!"

Eric's desperate shout had her snapping her gaze over to him, thankful for the interruption.

"You peed like fifteen minutes ago!"

"But I had a whole smoothie!"

"A child-sized one!"

"B!"

She laughed, deciding that it was enough teasing and hurried over, unlocking the door. Eric took off once she opened the door and she couldn't help but glance over at her new neighbour whose shadowed figure had seemingly turned to face her direction. She couldn't see their eyes but she sure as hell felt them. Beth shivered and quickly stepped into her house, shutting and locking the door behind her.

"B? What's wrong?" Eric asked.

"I think I just saw our new neighbour."

"Really? What did they look like?"

"It was dark but it's a dude… I think."

"Cool. Think he or she's weird?"

She shrugged. "We'll see. Now, go wash up and then we'll get started on dinner."

Author's Note: Chapter 2 is here. So far, so good. Thank you for the comments and messages! I'm glad that there are people still paying attention to this story. I've essentially kept the main points from the old chapters and fleshed it out to add more details. For Chapters 1 and 2, things are pretty mundane but it'll start moving very soon! Review to let me know what you think!