WHO KILLED THE DINOSAURS

Veronica wanted a snack. So did J.D.

Veronica’s time nowadays was spent at school, journaling or studying, or in her room, sewing her fiftieth blanket, or at her new boyfriend’s house (which alternates from a 7-11 and, well, his actual house). Of course, she was grieving the loss of her best friend and former classmate, but she has to take care of herself too, right?

It was 11pm, crack of midnight, and Veronica slid out of his comfortable bed to get a late night snack, moving the pants she quilted up her waist as she pranced downstairs. Last time she spent a little longer downstairs at J.D.’s house was the school day after the discovery of Heather Chandler, and he has made it his mission to keep her away from there, from his dad. Veronica didn’t mind; he was creepy as shit. However, that left Veronica blindsided to other aspects to his life.

Like, well, that he had a sister.

Veronica pushes her glasses up her nose, squinting as she opens the refrigerator. Nothing in the fridge except for beer and some barely healthy food. When does that bottle of milk expire? Whatever. Out of an impulse, she grabs a bottle of beer, plus the pack of Swedish Fish she grabbed at 7-11 earlier that day. Wow. Veronica felt so bad-ass, stealing a beer from an adult.

She let out a quiet, yet snarky chuckle as she turned around. Veronica was about to leave, thinking about drinking beer in her boyfriend’s bed which was practically a scene straight from some movie, when she heard something, making her spin right around.

Instead of seeing a guy holding a gun, it was a little girl. Well, not little little, but definitely younger. The girl was holding something that closely resembled a snake. Oh, never mind. It was a snake. Oh, this was definitely Veronica’s karma for killing Heather. She was going to die a death by a short girl with a snake.

“..hello,” she muttered, her eyes widened and looking off to the side, going to touch her hair but remembering it was in a ponytail, her arm going straight back down to her sides.

-@allthekarma

Even though Sue knew her father wasn't going to be home at all tonight, she didn't plan to come home this late. It was a rare misadventure that led her to sneaking in through their kitchen backdoor at what she was prettyyyy sure was witching hour.

Sue had already wandered off pretty far after school, heading to the outskirts of their current town where she was certain she'd find something interesting. And she did. Lots of interesting things. Every animal or strange sight she wanted to investigate kept leading her further and further into the brush. Further into hidden paths and all sorts of winding passages hidden away from the main road. And as she strayed, the sun eventually set, her backpack emptied, and so did her stomach.

She took a moment to sit, and thought to herself.

I'm lost.

She gave herself approximately ten seconds to freak out given the fact that she was in the middle of nowhere in some nothing-burger town as the sun was setting, her stomach was growling, and her hands were pretty stinky considering the fact that she had two garter snakes "gart" on her hand.

...

Where's the nearest 7-Eleven-

Thankfully she managed to get out of the woods just as the sun disappeared behind the trees. Not that she was afraid of being in the woods at night. Pssh. She was old enough to know that they only tried to make being in the woods at night scary so kids would stay in line. It's not scary at all.

At one point walking back on the road she heard a group of stray dogs (coyotes? wolves) barking and yelping from the far off distance. She shrugged her shoulders pretty nonchalantly for the fact that she was casually still holding a (different) wild snake (that didn't gart on her) and continued.

Finding her house was probably the most confusing task, considering that all the streets looked similar at night, but miraculously Sue remembered her house address considering how many times she's moved in the past two years.

Sue did consider letting the snake go (but she didn't wanna, it was so smooth and warm. She already named it Nelly. She was getting attached.), especially when she reached her house. But as she peered in through the back door of her kitchen and caught sight of a stranger inside, she reconsidered.

──

"Hi." She said in response to watching the girl awkwardly mutter and fidget. She paused. What type of home intruder was dressed like that anyways? Sue figured it was either some sort of intruder, considering the fact that:

Her father wasn't home so he couldn't bring any "lady friends"

Her brother was too gay for bringing over "lady friends"

"So. . wutcha doin?" She asked, casually holding a snake her new friend Nelly.

sue pov from 5 hours earlier. veronicas lucky that she only brought one home 💀

Veronica’s eyes fixated on the snake in the girl's hand. She found it terribly outlandish if a little girl at the dead of night would break into a random house. It wouldn’t have been out of the picture, she assumed; middle schoolers were always rebellious. If she acted out on her middle school thoughts, Veronica would probably be in a mental institution by now.

Her eyes followed the girl’s as she stared at her quilted pants, suddenly feeling self-conscious about her work. Gripping the neck of the beer bottle tightly, her blue nails clicking against the glass, her thumb holding the box of Swedish Fish, she forced a smile. Her free hand found her neck, rubbing it out of a nervous habit, her fingers tracing a small forming bruise from earlier behind her ear before her hand fell. “Just, um, getting snacks. For me and my.. boyfriend. Who is upstairs in his room.. and stuff.”

She felt it was about time to call J.D. her boyfriend. He called her his girlfriend a few days ago, in front of his creepy father, no less. And, oh, it felt so freeing being able to say she had a boyfriend. After years of watching all the other girls get a boyfriend, it was finally her turn! Especially with such a cool guy like him. Veronica felt if it were some other guy, they would kick her out the moment she came through the window.

“What are, uh, you doing?” she asks back, gesturing with her empty hand toward the snake in her hand before gripping the sides of the quilted pants, fidgeting with the fabric. Her eyes flickered to her side, her side near the stairs. Veronica hoped she wasn’t keeping J.D. waiting, hungry and to be fed with some stale Swedish Fish and a stolen beer.

Sue watched the girl gaze upon Nelly. The girl seemed visibly uncomfortable, (or maybe it was just her humongous doe eyes giving her that look.) She held her arms up so the girl could get a better look at Nelly, who was twining around her left hand.

The patchwork girl spouted out some excuse about her boyfriend or something. Sue knew she was lying ‘cause her brother’s gay. She intently watched Nelly as the girl rambled while helplessly glancing at the stairs.

“What are, uh, you doing?” The patchwork girl asked, saying “you” like Sue was the one who was out of place instead of her. Sue dodged the question completely, looked up at her and grinned.

"Did you know that this species in particular can quite literally smell fear? It helps them track down prey. It also gives them an advantage while hunting because it puts them in a crazy frenzy where they won't stop attacking the nearest thing until they taste blood." She paused, licking her lips, examining the patchwork girls expression for any sort of fear. Sue hoped she was scared. "This is also when they reach their top speeds, which is the fastest among snakes their size. Cool, right?"

Oh, god, I’m going to die.

Veronica Lyrica Sawyer is going to die from a snake piercing and stabbing through her skin until all the blood is sucked out of her in her boyfriend’s kitchen by a girl who still hasn’t revealed her identity. Maybe, this little girl lives here and is trying to protect her house. Hasn’t Veronica already explained that her boyfriend, Jason Dean, who also lives here, was upstairs? Ah, it might be his sister. The girl’s blonde hair threw her off. So, why was the girl not letting Veronica get off this twisted hook easily?

If Veronica was under any other circumstance, she would have found a fear-inducing snake cool. Snakes are cool. But, maybe it was because she might fall victim to this fear-inducing snake, but Veronica had to focus on keeping her feet on the ground and not run back upstairs into J.D. 's room. Would throwing the beer bottle at the snake do anything? Nah, Veronica didn’t have the need for an assault charge on top of a murder charge.

“Cool.” Nodding her face slowly, her voice sounded breathy, worried that at any second, this snarky little girl was going to release the snake and watch as Veronica Sawyer died of blood loss, among other things. Her glasses-covered eyes flickered from the snake, to the girl’s face, and back to the stairs a couple of times. Veronica felt like if she even moved, she’s going to die. Of course, the adrenaline was blinding her thoughts; she could easily outrun this girl, allegedly her future sister-in-law, and her snake. Maybe. Probably?

In a move of desperation, she stepped back, keeping her eyes focused on the snake-girl, widened and worried. How embarrassing, being so obviously scared in front of a middle schooler. Where was her dignity nowadays? Jeez.

"Yeah, it is pretty cool." Sue beamed, after a good ten seconds of watching the quilt-girl contemplate her mortality. That's what separated Sue and JD from their peers. Not once did other kids wonder if they would be lying six feet below the earth instead of in their bed at the end of the day. All of them were blissfully unaware of how fragile life was. How suddenly it can go and never come back. That's why her brother carried a gun, she figured. To give the average unassuming suburban citizen the taste of impending doom.

A little bit of self-reflection never hurt, anyways.

It was also pretty cool how much this girl was visibly breaking down over a garter snake. Everyone gets into power by bluffing and lying to those who are dumb and uneducated. (Her father was a prime example for that.) Maybe that's how her brother managed to somehow get a girl. She was too busy being beauty and not brains enough to date him. Why would he date a stupid girl anyways? They were moving in three months. And he's always alone all the time. Her story wasn't adding up.

Oh right, power. Sue had the upper hand against someone older than her for once. "Can I have some?" She asked, pointing to the items in the quilt-girls hands. Not the beer obviously, it tasted too bitter. Not that she let the girl know. You can never let your enemies know anything.

J.D. stumbled down the stairs, rubbing his eyes sleepily. He’d dragged himself out of bed because he’d heard talking.. but he really didn’t expect to see his sister holding a snake while his girlfriend looked like she was gonna pass out.

He paused in his tracks before quietly going up behind Sue and putting his hand down on her shoulder a bit heavier than necessary. Trying to scare her, as usual.

“Sue, would you take that damn thing outside..?” He paused, seeming to catch a whiff of something rotten.

“What the fuck did you roll in-?”He asked, pulling his shirt over his nose and mouth. “And where have you been all day? Dad almost made me go out to find you again.. before he got drunk off his ass.”

Sue flinched as she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder, the same type of nonverbal greeting her father would use on days when he didn't feel like yelling his arrival, and instead felt more like sneaking up on his own children. Like they were prey to be cornered with nowhere to go. (That's how Sue felt in those moments anyways.)

Half an ounce of relief entered her when she realized it was her brother instead. (Only half, because she took a half point off for still having to deal with family. Even after having stuck through moving between ten different states with JD, being around him felt uneasy and unfamiliar. ) She was surprised when she didn't hear JD's footsteps beforehand. She usually always did. Something that came in handy, especially when she needed to differentiate his with their fathers.

Another half an ounce of relief entered her when he reprimanded her instead of. . . instead of . . .

. . . Sue didn't know what or why she was often wary and meek around him. What did he do that scared her? Yelling? Getting physical? That was always from their father, not him. JD had never done anything worse besides when arguing with her, but she always feared that he'd turn sour one day. Just like their father.

He wouldn't do it here if he wanted to, anyway. They had company. They had to play half-normal. Sue awkwardly met Veronica's eyes before looking down at the snake. Nelly? The snake? Nelly? Nelly.

“Awww. . can’t I keep him?” Sue replied, shifting her feet, turning to JD, and shrugging his hand off of her. She knew the answer already, and dropped her expression before JD could even respond. She sniffed, looking down at Nelly. “Uhm.. it’s the snakes. Not Nelly. The other ones.”

J.D. pulled back when Sue flinched, half-hoping Veronica hadn’t noticed. He wasn’t quite sure why Sue was afraid of him, or at least seemed to be jumpy.. maybe it was his resemblance to their dad.

He tilted his head slightly, studying her reactions. His sister wasn’t skittish at all, so it always confused him that she was more cautious of him than she was of a potentially venomous snake or bug.

“You’re not keeping a snake. I have rats, and if your little pet kills them I’ll strangle you with a hose.” He joked, stepping back.

“..Go release it and wash your hands. You reek.. ..Actually that might just be you in general.”

J.D. teased before walking over to Veronica. He tensed slightly when he noticed the beer bottle in her hand, unsure if he should say something or risk his fathers anger about his booze being stolen.

“Wow.. need to be tipsy to deal with me?” He asked sarcastically as he rested his chin on Veronicas shoulder.

“That’s cold, Ronnie.”

Veronica shifted her weight between her feet uncomfortably, her eyes flickering between the, from what she can assume, siblings. The kitchen was too dark for her to register the flinches and tense glances, the only light being from the moonlight; all Veronica could tell was they were siblings who told death threats to each other.

Well, she would be mildly concerned if J.D. just told a young girl he would strangle her with a water hose. If it were Kurt or Ram, she would have shrugged it off. Sibling banter, she assumed; the closest thing Veronica knew from a sibling is her older cousins, who were a bunch of posh university kids.

A smile hinted at her face when he got closer, her eyes following him before narrowing as he placed his head on her shoulder. “Sorry,” she pouted mockingly, her hand tightening on the bottle. You know, if I wasn’t drunk, this whole relationship could have ended up differently.

Her eyes lingered on him for a second longer, cracking her smile, before flickering back to his sister, who was on her way to the backdoor with the snake in hand. God, this was such a humiliating fever dream. Still taking glances, she takes the bag of Swedish Fish and places it on the counter for his sister. Peace offering? Whatever.

#He’s a bit iffy about alcohol if you couldn’t tell #even though he drinks himself #he’s allowed to but nobody else is ok

J.D. wrapped his arms around Veronicas waist and tried to calm himself down, not letting the tension in his shoulders show. It was fine, he’d just deal with the consequences later. He didn’t want to seem uptight about drinking, though he absolutely was.

J.D. leaned further over Veronicas shoulder, pouting dramatically and tightening his arms around her. “It’s fine..” He muttered, the sound muffled as he buried his face into her neck. “You just clearly hate me.” J.D. added sarcastically.

He finally pulled away and took the beer out of Veronicas hand, putting it back into the fridge. “Come on, you don’t need that.” He said casually, trying not to show how against the idea of her drinking right now he was. “I’m plenty of fun even when you’re not tipsy.”

Veronica wanted a snack. So did J.D.

Veronica’s time nowadays was spent at school, journaling or studying, or in her room, sewing her fiftieth blanket, or at her new boyfriend’s house (which alternates from a 7-11 and, well, his actual house). Of course, she was grieving the loss of her best friend and former classmate, but she has to take care of herself too, right?

It was 11pm, crack of midnight, and Veronica slid out of his comfortable bed to get a late night snack, moving the pants she quilted up her waist as she pranced downstairs. Last time she spent a little longer downstairs at J.D.’s house was the school day after the discovery of Heather Chandler, and he has made it his mission to keep her away from there, from his dad. Veronica didn’t mind; he was creepy as shit. However, that left Veronica blindsided to other aspects to his life.

Like, well, that he had a sister.

Veronica pushes her glasses up her nose, squinting as she opens the refrigerator. Nothing in the fridge except for beer and some barely healthy food. When does that bottle of milk expire? Whatever. Out of an impulse, she grabs a bottle of beer, plus the pack of Swedish Fish she grabbed at 7-11 earlier that day. Wow. Veronica felt so bad-ass, stealing a beer from an adult.

She let out a quiet, yet snarky chuckle as she turned around. Veronica was about to leave, thinking about drinking beer in her boyfriend’s bed which was practically a scene straight from some movie, when she heard something, making her spin right around.

Instead of seeing a guy holding a gun, it was a little girl. Well, not little little, but definitely younger. The girl was holding something that closely resembled a snake. Oh, never mind. It was a snake. Oh, this was definitely Veronica’s karma for killing Heather. She was going to die a death by a short girl with a snake.

“..hello,” she muttered, her eyes widened and looking off to the side, going to touch her hair but remembering it was in a ponytail, her arm going straight back down to her sides.

-@allthekarma

Even though Sue knew her father wasn't going to be home at all tonight, she didn't plan to come home this late. It was a rare misadventure that led her to sneaking in through their kitchen backdoor at what she was prettyyyy sure was witching hour.

Sue had already wandered off pretty far after school, heading to the outskirts of their current town where she was certain she'd find something interesting. And she did. Lots of interesting things. Every animal or strange sight she wanted to investigate kept leading her further and further into the brush. Further into hidden paths and all sorts of winding passages hidden away from the main road. And as she strayed, the sun eventually set, her backpack emptied, and so did her stomach.

She took a moment to sit, and thought to herself.

I'm lost.

She gave herself approximately ten seconds to freak out given the fact that she was in the middle of nowhere in some nothing-burger town as the sun was setting, her stomach was growling, and her hands were pretty stinky considering the fact that she had two garter snakes "gart" on her hand.

...

Where's the nearest 7-Eleven-

Thankfully she managed to get out of the woods just as the sun disappeared behind the trees. Not that she was afraid of being in the woods at night. Pssh. She was old enough to know that they only tried to make being in the woods at night scary so kids would stay in line. It's not scary at all.

At one point walking back on the road she heard a group of stray dogs (coyotes? wolves) barking and yelping from the far off distance. She shrugged her shoulders pretty nonchalantly for the fact that she was casually still holding a (different) wild snake (that didn't gart on her) and continued.

Finding her house was probably the most confusing task, considering that all the streets looked similar at night, but miraculously Sue remembered her house address considering how many times she's moved in the past two years.

Sue did consider letting the snake go (but she didn't wanna, it was so smooth and warm. She already named it Nelly. She was getting attached.), especially when she reached her house. But as she peered in through the back door of her kitchen and caught sight of a stranger inside, she reconsidered.

──

"Hi." She said in response to watching the girl awkwardly mutter and fidget. She paused. What type of home intruder was dressed like that anyways? Sue figured it was either some sort of intruder, considering the fact that:

Her father wasn't home so he couldn't bring any "lady friends"

Her brother was too gay for bringing over "lady friends"

"So. . wutcha doin?" She asked, casually holding a snake her new friend Nelly.

sue pov from 5 hours earlier. veronicas lucky that she only brought one home 💀

Veronica’s eyes fixated on the snake in the girl's hand. She found it terribly outlandish if a little girl at the dead of night would break into a random house. It wouldn’t have been out of the picture, she assumed; middle schoolers were always rebellious. If she acted out on her middle school thoughts, Veronica would probably be in a mental institution by now.

Her eyes followed the girl’s as she stared at her quilted pants, suddenly feeling self-conscious about her work. Gripping the neck of the beer bottle tightly, her blue nails clicking against the glass, her thumb holding the box of Swedish Fish, she forced a smile. Her free hand found her neck, rubbing it out of a nervous habit, her fingers tracing a small forming bruise from earlier behind her ear before her hand fell. “Just, um, getting snacks. For me and my.. boyfriend. Who is upstairs in his room.. and stuff.”

She felt it was about time to call J.D. her boyfriend. He called her his girlfriend a few days ago, in front of his creepy father, no less. And, oh, it felt so freeing being able to say she had a boyfriend. After years of watching all the other girls get a boyfriend, it was finally her turn! Especially with such a cool guy like him. Veronica felt if it were some other guy, they would kick her out the moment she came through the window.

“What are, uh, you doing?” she asks back, gesturing with her empty hand toward the snake in her hand before gripping the sides of the quilted pants, fidgeting with the fabric. Her eyes flickered to her side, her side near the stairs. Veronica hoped she wasn’t keeping J.D. waiting, hungry and to be fed with some stale Swedish Fish and a stolen beer.

Sue watched the girl gaze upon Nelly. The girl seemed visibly uncomfortable, (or maybe it was just her humongous doe eyes giving her that look.) She held her arms up so the girl could get a better look at Nelly, who was twining around her left hand.

The patchwork girl spouted out some excuse about her boyfriend or something. Sue knew she was lying ‘cause her brother’s gay. She intently watched Nelly as the girl rambled while helplessly glancing at the stairs.

“What are, uh, you doing?” The patchwork girl asked, saying “you” like Sue was the one who was out of place instead of her. Sue dodged the question completely, looked up at her and grinned.

"Did you know that this species in particular can quite literally smell fear? It helps them track down prey. It also gives them an advantage while hunting because it puts them in a crazy frenzy where they won't stop attacking the nearest thing until they taste blood." She paused, licking her lips, examining the patchwork girls expression for any sort of fear. Sue hoped she was scared. "This is also when they reach their top speeds, which is the fastest among snakes their size. Cool, right?"

Oh, god, I’m going to die.

Veronica Lyrica Sawyer is going to die from a snake piercing and stabbing through her skin until all the blood is sucked out of her in her boyfriend’s kitchen by a girl who still hasn’t revealed her identity. Maybe, this little girl lives here and is trying to protect her house. Hasn’t Veronica already explained that her boyfriend, Jason Dean, who also lives here, was upstairs? Ah, it might be his sister. The girl’s blonde hair threw her off. So, why was the girl not letting Veronica get off this twisted hook easily?

If Veronica was under any other circumstance, she would have found a fear-inducing snake cool. Snakes are cool. But, maybe it was because she might fall victim to this fear-inducing snake, but Veronica had to focus on keeping her feet on the ground and not run back upstairs into J.D. 's room. Would throwing the beer bottle at the snake do anything? Nah, Veronica didn’t have the need for an assault charge on top of a murder charge.

“Cool.” Nodding her face slowly, her voice sounded breathy, worried that at any second, this snarky little girl was going to release the snake and watch as Veronica Sawyer died of blood loss, among other things. Her glasses-covered eyes flickered from the snake, to the girl’s face, and back to the stairs a couple of times. Veronica felt like if she even moved, she’s going to die. Of course, the adrenaline was blinding her thoughts; she could easily outrun this girl, allegedly her future sister-in-law, and her snake. Maybe. Probably?

In a move of desperation, she stepped back, keeping her eyes focused on the snake-girl, widened and worried. How embarrassing, being so obviously scared in front of a middle schooler. Where was her dignity nowadays? Jeez.

"Yeah, it is pretty cool." Sue beamed, after a good ten seconds of watching the quilt-girl contemplate her mortality. That's what separated Sue and JD from their peers. Not once did other kids wonder if they would be lying six feet below the earth instead of in their bed at the end of the day. All of them were blissfully unaware of how fragile life was. How suddenly it can go and never come back. That's why her brother carried a gun, she figured. To give the average unassuming suburban citizen the taste of impending doom.

A little bit of self-reflection never hurt, anyways.

It was also pretty cool how much this girl was visibly breaking down over a garter snake. Everyone gets into power by bluffing and lying to those who are dumb and uneducated. (Her father was a prime example for that.) Maybe that's how her brother managed to somehow get a girl. She was too busy being beauty and not brains enough to date him. Why would he date a stupid girl anyways? They were moving in three months. And he's always alone all the time. Her story wasn't adding up.

Oh right, power. Sue had the upper hand against someone older than her for once. "Can I have some?" She asked, pointing to the items in the quilt-girls hands. Not the beer obviously, it tasted too bitter. Not that she let the girl know. You can never let your enemies know anything.

J.D. stumbled down the stairs, rubbing his eyes sleepily. He’d dragged himself out of bed because he’d heard talking.. but he really didn’t expect to see his sister holding a snake while his girlfriend looked like she was gonna pass out.

He paused in his tracks before quietly going up behind Sue and putting his hand down on her shoulder a bit heavier than necessary. Trying to scare her, as usual.

“Sue, would you take that damn thing outside..?” He paused, seeming to catch a whiff of something rotten.

“What the fuck did you roll in-?”He asked, pulling his shirt over his nose and mouth. “And where have you been all day? Dad almost made me go out to find you again.. before he got drunk off his ass.”

Sue flinched as she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder, the same type of nonverbal greeting her father would use on days when he didn't feel like yelling his arrival, and instead felt more like sneaking up on his own children. Like they were prey to be cornered with nowhere to go. (That's how Sue felt in those moments anyways.)

Half an ounce of relief entered her when she realized it was her brother instead. (Only half, because she took a half point off for still having to deal with family. Even after having stuck through moving between ten different states with JD, being around him felt uneasy and unfamiliar. ) She was surprised when she didn't hear JD's footsteps beforehand. She usually always did. Something that came in handy, especially when she needed to differentiate his with their fathers.

Another half an ounce of relief entered her when he reprimanded her instead of. . . instead of . . .

. . . Sue didn't know what or why she was often wary and meek around him. What did he do that scared her? Yelling? Getting physical? That was always from their father, not him. JD had never done anything worse besides when arguing with her, but she always feared that he'd turn sour one day. Just like their father.

He wouldn't do it here if he wanted to, anyway. They had company. They had to play half-normal. Sue awkwardly met Veronica's eyes before looking down at the snake. Nelly? The snake? Nelly? Nelly.

“Awww. . can’t I keep him?” Sue replied, shifting her feet, turning to JD, and shrugging his hand off of her. She knew the answer already, and dropped her expression before JD could even respond. She sniffed, looking down at Nelly. “Uhm.. it’s the snakes. Not Nelly. The other ones.”

#i’m so locked in now wow

J.D. pulled back when Sue flinched, half-hoping Veronica hadn’t noticed. He wasn’t quite sure why Sue was afraid of him, or at least seemed to be jumpy.. maybe it was his resemblance to their dad.

He tilted his head slightly, studying her reactions. His sister wasn’t skittish at all, so it always confused him that she was more cautious of him than she was of a potentially venomous snake or bug.

“You’re not keeping a snake. I have rats, and if your little pet kills them I’ll strangle you with a hose.” He joked, stepping back.

“..Go release it and wash your hands. You reek.. ..Actually that might just be you in general.”

J.D. teased before walking over to Veronica. He tensed slightly when he noticed the beer bottle in her hand, unsure if he should say something or risk his fathers anger about his booze being stolen.

“Wow.. need to be tipsy to deal with me?” He asked sarcastically as he rested his chin on Veronicas shoulder.

“That’s cold, Ronnie.”

Veronica wanted a snack. So did J.D.

Veronica’s time nowadays was spent at school, journaling or studying, or in her room, sewing her fiftieth blanket, or at her new boyfriend’s house (which alternates from a 7-11 and, well, his actual house). Of course, she was grieving the loss of her best friend and former classmate, but she has to take care of herself too, right?

It was 11pm, crack of midnight, and Veronica slid out of his comfortable bed to get a late night snack, moving the pants she quilted up her waist as she pranced downstairs. Last time she spent a little longer downstairs at J.D.’s house was the school day after the discovery of Heather Chandler, and he has made it his mission to keep her away from there, from his dad. Veronica didn’t mind; he was creepy as shit. However, that left Veronica blindsided to other aspects to his life.

Like, well, that he had a sister.

Veronica pushes her glasses up her nose, squinting as she opens the refrigerator. Nothing in the fridge except for beer and some barely healthy food. When does that bottle of milk expire? Whatever. Out of an impulse, she grabs a bottle of beer, plus the pack of Swedish Fish she grabbed at 7-11 earlier that day. Wow. Veronica felt so bad-ass, stealing a beer from an adult.

She let out a quiet, yet snarky chuckle as she turned around. Veronica was about to leave, thinking about drinking beer in her boyfriend’s bed which was practically a scene straight from some movie, when she heard something, making her spin right around.

Instead of seeing a guy holding a gun, it was a little girl. Well, not little little, but definitely younger. The girl was holding something that closely resembled a snake. Oh, never mind. It was a snake. Oh, this was definitely Veronica’s karma for killing Heather. She was going to die a death by a short girl with a snake.

“..hello,” she muttered, her eyes widened and looking off to the side, going to touch her hair but remembering it was in a ponytail, her arm going straight back down to her sides.

-@allthekarma

Even though Sue knew her father wasn't going to be home at all tonight, she didn't plan to come home this late. It was a rare misadventure that led her to sneaking in through their kitchen backdoor at what she was prettyyyy sure was witching hour.

Sue had already wandered off pretty far after school, heading to the outskirts of their current town where she was certain she'd find something interesting. And she did. Lots of interesting things. Every animal or strange sight she wanted to investigate kept leading her further and further into the brush. Further into hidden paths and all sorts of winding passages hidden away from the main road. And as she strayed, the sun eventually set, her backpack emptied, and so did her stomach.

She took a moment to sit, and thought to herself.

I'm lost.

She gave herself approximately ten seconds to freak out given the fact that she was in the middle of nowhere in some nothing-burger town as the sun was setting, her stomach was growling, and her hands were pretty stinky considering the fact that she had two garter snakes "gart" on her hand.

...

Where's the nearest 7-Eleven-

Thankfully she managed to get out of the woods just as the sun disappeared behind the trees. Not that she was afraid of being in the woods at night. Pssh. She was old enough to know that they only tried to make being in the woods at night scary so kids would stay in line. It's not scary at all.

At one point walking back on the road she heard a group of stray dogs (coyotes? wolves) barking and yelping from the far off distance. She shrugged her shoulders pretty nonchalantly for the fact that she was casually still holding a (different) wild snake (that didn't gart on her) and continued.

Finding her house was probably the most confusing task, considering that all the streets looked similar at night, but miraculously Sue remembered her house address considering how many times she's moved in the past two years.

Sue did consider letting the snake go (but she didn't wanna, it was so smooth and warm. She already named it Nelly. She was getting attached.), especially when she reached her house. But as she peered in through the back door of her kitchen and caught sight of a stranger inside, she reconsidered.

──

"Hi." She said in response to watching the girl awkwardly mutter and fidget. She paused. What type of home intruder was dressed like that anyways? Sue figured it was either some sort of intruder, considering the fact that:

Her father wasn't home so he couldn't bring any "lady friends"

Her brother was too gay for bringing over "lady friends"

"So. . wutcha doin?" She asked, casually holding a snake her new friend Nelly.

sue pov from 5 hours earlier. veronicas lucky that she only brought one home 💀

Veronica’s eyes fixated on the snake in the girl's hand. She found it terribly outlandish if a little girl at the dead of night would break into a random house. It wouldn’t have been out of the picture, she assumed; middle schoolers were always rebellious. If she acted out on her middle school thoughts, Veronica would probably be in a mental institution by now.

Her eyes followed the girl’s as she stared at her quilted pants, suddenly feeling self-conscious about her work. Gripping the neck of the beer bottle tightly, her blue nails clicking against the glass, her thumb holding the box of Swedish Fish, she forced a smile. Her free hand found her neck, rubbing it out of a nervous habit, her fingers tracing a small forming bruise from earlier behind her ear before her hand fell. “Just, um, getting snacks. For me and my.. boyfriend. Who is upstairs in his room.. and stuff.”

She felt it was about time to call J.D. her boyfriend. He called her his girlfriend a few days ago, in front of his creepy father, no less. And, oh, it felt so freeing being able to say she had a boyfriend. After years of watching all the other girls get a boyfriend, it was finally her turn! Especially with such a cool guy like him. Veronica felt if it were some other guy, they would kick her out the moment she came through the window.

“What are, uh, you doing?” she asks back, gesturing with her empty hand toward the snake in her hand before gripping the sides of the quilted pants, fidgeting with the fabric. Her eyes flickered to her side, her side near the stairs. Veronica hoped she wasn’t keeping J.D. waiting, hungry and to be fed with some stale Swedish Fish and a stolen beer.

Sue watched the girl gaze upon Nelly. The girl seemed visibly uncomfortable, (or maybe it was just her humongous doe eyes giving her that look.) She held her arms up so the girl could get a better look at Nelly, who was twining around her left hand.

The patchwork girl spouted out some excuse about her boyfriend or something. Sue knew she was lying ‘cause her brother’s gay. She intently watched Nelly as the girl rambled while helplessly glancing at the stairs.

“What are, uh, you doing?” The patchwork girl asked, saying “you” like Sue was the one who was out of place instead of her. Sue dodged the question completely, looked up at her and grinned.

"Did you know that this species in particular can quite literally smell fear? It helps them track down prey. It also gives them an advantage while hunting because it puts them in a crazy frenzy where they won't stop attacking the nearest thing until they taste blood." She paused, licking her lips, examining the patchwork girls expression for any sort of fear. Sue hoped she was scared. "This is also when they reach their top speeds, which is the fastest among snakes their size. Cool, right?"

Oh, god, I’m going to die.

Veronica Lyrica Sawyer is going to die from a snake piercing and stabbing through her skin until all the blood is sucked out of her in her boyfriend’s kitchen by a girl who still hasn’t revealed her identity. Maybe, this little girl lives here and is trying to protect her house. Hasn’t Veronica already explained that her boyfriend, Jason Dean, who also lives here, was upstairs? Ah, it might be his sister. The girl’s blonde hair threw her off. So, why was the girl not letting Veronica get off this twisted hook easily?

If Veronica was under any other circumstance, she would have found a fear-inducing snake cool. Snakes are cool. But, maybe it was because she might fall victim to this fear-inducing snake, but Veronica had to focus on keeping her feet on the ground and not run back upstairs into J.D. 's room. Would throwing the beer bottle at the snake do anything? Nah, Veronica didn’t have the need for an assault charge on top of a murder charge.

“Cool.” Nodding her face slowly, her voice sounded breathy, worried that at any second, this snarky little girl was going to release the snake and watch as Veronica Sawyer died of blood loss, among other things. Her glasses-covered eyes flickered from the snake, to the girl’s face, and back to the stairs a couple of times. Veronica felt like if she even moved, she’s going to die. Of course, the adrenaline was blinding her thoughts; she could easily outrun this girl, allegedly her future sister-in-law, and her snake. Maybe. Probably?

In a move of desperation, she stepped back, keeping her eyes focused on the snake-girl, widened and worried. How embarrassing, being so obviously scared in front of a middle schooler. Where was her dignity nowadays? Jeez.

"Yeah, it is pretty cool." Sue beamed, after a good ten seconds of watching the quilt-girl contemplate her mortality. That's what separated Sue and JD from their peers. Not once did other kids wonder if they would be lying six feet below the earth instead of in their bed at the end of the day. All of them were blissfully unaware of how fragile life was. How suddenly it can go and never come back. That's why her brother carried a gun, she figured. To give the average unassuming suburban citizen the taste of impending doom.

A little bit of self-reflection never hurt, anyways.

It was also pretty cool how much this girl was visibly breaking down over a garter snake. Everyone gets into power by bluffing and lying to those who are dumb and uneducated. (Her father was a prime example for that.) Maybe that's how her brother managed to somehow get a girl. She was too busy being beauty and not brains enough to date him. Why would he date a stupid girl anyways? They were moving in three months. And he's always alone all the time. Her story wasn't adding up.

Oh right, power. Sue had the upper hand against someone older than her for once. "Can I have some?" She asked, pointing to the items in the quilt-girls hands. Not the beer obviously, it tasted too bitter. Not that she let the girl know. You can never let your enemies know anything.

J.D. stumbled down the stairs, rubbing his eyes sleepily. He’d dragged himself out of bed because he’d heard talking.. but he really didn’t expect to see his sister holding a snake while his girlfriend looked like she was gonna pass out.

He paused in his tracks before quietly going up behind Sue and putting his hand down on her shoulder a bit heavier than necessary. Trying to scare her, as usual.

“Sue, would you take that damn thing outside..?” He paused, seeming to catch a whiff of something rotten.

“What the fuck did you roll in-?”He asked, pulling his shirt over his nose and mouth. “And where have you been all day? Dad almost made me go out to find you again.. before he got drunk off his ass.”

After the chaotic events of the week, all J.D. wanted to do was speak to Veronica without the prying ears and eyes of the adults in their lives.. he waited until around 8:00PM before climbing the terrace on the side of her house.

He tapped on her bedroom window before trying to open it. To his surprise, the window was unlocked. He shrugged and swung his legs over the windowsill, a smug grin on his face as usual.

“..I know, I know.. I should have used the door. How rude of me.” He teased, clearly amused by the fact he’d startled her. “What, it’s fine when you do it, but I can’t?”

J.D. stood up and walked over to Veronica, peering over her shoulder at her desk. “What’s got you so busy?” He asked, leaning down to rest his head on her shoulder and wrap an arm around her waist.

-@forgetinsixweeks

Veronica still wasn’t used to the window thing. She usually kept it unlocked so it was easier to open when she was hot. Which was a good excuse to keep it unlocked for J.D. and to avoid her parents getting suspicious; she’s always done it.

Something was playing on the radio, her pen gliding over her copy of Romeo and Juliet, her glasses on the base of her nose, too concentrated on the words on the page and her own thoughts about recent events than the light tapping. It was only when his feet thudded on the floor, causing her to let out a yelp in fear.

Once she was able to identify to him, she clumsily turned off the radio, shutting her book closed. Veronica couldn’t help but have an odd feeling, but she figured it was the thrill of having a pretty boy in her room for the first time! Definitely the adrenaline.

“Should have given me a warning,” she chuckled nervously, moving random stuff in an attempt to look clean. “Ignore the mess. That’s what you get for coming unannounced.” Despite the faux-annoyance, she leaned into him, removing her glasses to let them hang on the necklace holding them, her eyes flickering to him.

“I’m just annotating.” She lifts the book slightly before letting it thump on the desk, the table shaking the unfinished quilt projects and tiny dolls with pins stuck to them with eerie resemblance to some of their classmates. She took her pen and poked ink dots into his hands. “What brings you here so abruptly, hmm?” Veronica drew a tiny smiley with a laugh before looking up at him with her own smile.