Just Because

"What made you stop?" Ashton complains when I finally reach him. He's scowling hard, "You made it way too easy this time."

"I thought I heard something," I say, reaching to undo his scowl with my hand, then I grab his nose between my fingers and pull on it like when he was a baby, making him laugh, "Let's race again, this time I won't let you win. To the tree!"

I take off running before he even knows what's going on and when I reach the nearest tree one minute later he starts complaining even more about me cheating. I laugh and continue racing him back and forth for a while, trying to avoid Cassie's scared energy, but it's too loud. It gets worse every second, "What is it, Cass?"

"We should just go back inside," she says. My scaredy-cat, she's sitting in the fountain with a worried expression, "Everything feels weird. And look... there's some creep watching us."

My head turns immediately at the mention of a threat and I lock eyes with none other than fucking Felicia. The stalk