CURSED; a fear street trilogy

Chapter two: Nurse Lane

I KNOCKED ON THE OPEN DOOR OF THE OUTHOUSE, KNOWING THAT'S WHERE TOMMY WOULD BE. I had expected to see him and Cindy Berman, his perfect little girlfriend and Ziggy's older sister, but it was just him. He was on his knees, scrubbing up in one of the cubicles.

"This is gross." I complained as I walked in, leaning my back against one of the walls between cubicles.

Tommy looked over his shoulder at me with a smile and light laugh. "What's up?" He asked, looking back at the filth he was cleaning.

"No Cindy?" I asked him, looking out the open door at the other kids running around.

He shook his head. "She only just left, went to find Alice and Arnie." He explained. "You okay?" Tommy stopped cleaning, standing up and leaning on the small wall opposite me.

Tommy had always been taller. He was taller than me, our eldest sister, and mum. He was a muscular guy and a right ladies man, proper charmer.

I sighed. "Yeahhh. Just Sheila, Kurt and Nick and Will Goode."

"What have they done?" He crossed his arms over his chest, looking down at me the entire time, showing he was really listening to me.

Tommy and I were close. We had a good relationship and I could talk to him about near anything. He was a good listener.

"Other than existed?" I queried, half jokingly which made my older brother shake his head with a laugh.
"Sheila and Will strung Ziggy to a tree and Sheila, the crazy bitch, took a lighter to Ziggy's bare skin." I explained, my mood dropping.

Tommy's face dropped. "Oh shit." He muttered. "What about Kurt and Nick?"

"Kurt is simply just because he was ever born. Nick, because he's some jackass Sunnyvaler who thinks he's there to 'save' Shadysiders." I rolled my eyes. I didn't like nor trust Nick Goode-bound to be future sheriff. It was a family thing for the Goode's.

Tommy gently whacked his hand across my head, making it tilt slightly. "Go get one of those blue shirts and get ready for colour wars." He told me with a smile before turning back to his cleaning.

I headed to the door, stopping in the doorway with my hands on either side of it. "Enjoy cleaning that shit..." I pointed to the reddish moss growing, "and literal shit." I smiled before leaving with a skip, hearing my brother's quiet laughs behind me.

|||

"Michelle!" Joan's happy voice sung out. She was handing out blue t-shirts for Shadysiders. "Come get a shirt!" She beckoned me over whilst pulling a fake rope.

I laughed with an eye roll, taking one of the shirts from her hands. "I can't promise I'll actually take part."

"You better." She pointed a finger at me with a playfully sassy voice. "Or I will set Kurt on you." She jokingly threatened with a toothy grin.

Everything about Joan was playful and joking. To be fair, most of the time I'm pretty sure she was high. But she was sweet and I liked her.

Ziggy paced quickly past, diverting my attention to her and I left Joan with a brief goodbye. "Ziggy! Ziggy!" I called after her, catching up with a quick jog. "You alright?"

"No."

"What happened?"

Ziggy stopped walking, now looking at me. At the sudden halt, I nearly walked right into the girl. "Did someone say or do something to Nurse Lane?" She asked, looking concerned.