Barry and Ray

Jaxon got up in the morning and the first thing he noticed was Julie was sleeping on the floor, resting her head on her couch beside him.

Jaxon rubbed his eyes, blinking away the last of his sleep as he surveyed the scene before him. Julie, her normally composed demeanor softened in sleep, looked vulnerable in the early morning light.

"So you can look cute when you want to and not scared all the time," Jaxon chuckled to himself as he gently nudged her shoulder, trying to rouse her from her slumber.

"Hey, sleepyhead," he said, his voice soft but teasing. "Time to wake up."

Julie stirred, blinking blearily as she slowly came to consciousness. Her eyes fluttered open, meeting Jaxon's gaze as she blushed a little.

"What time is it?" she murmured, her voice hoarse from sleep.

"Early enough," Jaxon replied with a smirk, "But not too early for breakfast."

"So couldn't sleep alone last night?"

"I tried to." Julie said, "I called Helen and the rest of my friends, letting them know what was going on, after that, I just couldn't sleep,"

"That's understandable," Jaxon nodded, "Get freshened up, I'll prepare something for us to eat and I'll drop you home."

"About that..." Julie hesitated, sitting up and running a hand through her disheveled hair, "Me and my friends, we're meeting up today for breakfast and I want you to come with me."

"Oh! sure!" Jaxon nodded, "But don't you want to change your clothes first?"

He pointed at Julie, who was still wearing her nightgown.

"Let's go to my house first," Julie said as she blushed and hurriedly excused herself, darting off towards the bathroom.

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As they drove towards the café, Jaxon couldn't help but steal glances at Julie, now dressed in jeans and a crop top. The morning sunlight filtered through the window, casting a soft glow on her features, and he found himself captivated by her presence.

Shaking his head, Jaxon focused on his driving and after a 15-minute drive, they finally reached their destination.

Entering the cafe, Helen who was with two other boys waved her hand calling her over.

Jaxon who now knew the whole picture could deduce who these boys were, the one with the bandage around his arm and fresh wounds on his face was Barry Cox, the rich kid who looked extremely displeased at his presence.

From what Julie told him, he was Helen's boyfriend and the guy who got run over by the perpetrator, as for Helen, she was hiding her blonde hair with a cap but it wasn't fooling anyone as you could easily notice the weird way her hair was cut by the perpetrator last night.

The boy next to them was Ray Bronson, Jaxon didn't know much about him other than the fact that he was the one driving when they ran over the killer, and currently, he was working as a fisherman.

Jaxon didn't say much at all, not even a hello, as he watched the group argue with each other.

Barry seemed to be the one completely against telling anybody their secret and was wasting a lot of his words, yelling at Helen and Julie for bringing him into this. Ray on the other hand stayed quiet as he met his gaze a few times but he didn't say anything.

Julie and Helen were busy explaining the two of them the situation in detail and how they couldn't handle everything by themselves.

Jaxon leaned back in his chair, his demeanor relaxed despite the gravity of the situation. He flashed a confident smile at Julie and her friends, his charm oozing effortlessly as he began laughing.

"What are you laughing at bozo!" Barry snapped, his irritation evident.

Jaxon raised an eyebrow, his amusement not faltering. "Just admiring your enthusiasm, buddy. But let's cut to the chase, shall we? After all, I don't have all day listening to you guys bicker."

Barry scowled, but Jaxon continued, his tone casual yet commanding, "Now since you're all up to date, I want to ask one last time is anyone still hiding something? If so, it's better to tell me now so I can speed up in catching the killer before they off you guys."

"Heh! Seriously? You will catch the killer?" Barry snorted, but before he could continue his insults Ray spoke up, "I got a letter today."

"It's the same letter that everyone has gotten till now." 

"That's convenient." Barry said, "I get run over, Helen gets her hair chopped off, Julie was chased by the guy and you just get a letter? That's balanced."

"I told you to cut it off." Ray slammed his fist on the table, 

"Hey, bozo! Look into this guy, he's a fisherman, the man who chased me and the man who cut off Helen's hair was dressed in a fisherman's gear and had the hook," Barry continued, his tone dripping with sarcasm and irritation.

Jaxon leaned forward, his eyes narrowing slightly as he studied Barry. "And what exactly do you think his motives are?"

Barry crossed his arms, glaring at Ray. "He was always jealous of us, throughout school, he tried every day to be one of us but when he finally realized he couldn't, he is now using the accident as an excuse to try and kill us all."

"Oh! Fuck you!" Ray yelled,

"That'd be very unlikely." Jaxon shrugged it off, "Unless Ray here was also jealous of David Egan as well, but that's another improbability on its own."

"Guys! We need to stick together and help one another." Julie interjected before things could get any worse, "We already know the killer isn't one of us, he killed David and by some coincidence, we ran over him that night. The killer is now after us, and Jaxon and I think there's more than one of them, so we need to stay close."

Everyone took deep breaths calming themselves, as no matter how many times they blamed one another, deep inside they were just acting out of fear.

"What's the plan then?" Ray spoke up first,

"Me and Jaxon, will go over and check over some clues that might lead us to the killer as for you three, stick together."

"I'll take a leave from my job." Ray nodded as Barry reluctantly agreed to it as well.

"But I have a parade today." Helen said, "I can't miss out on it, the outgoing queen has to ride in the parade."

"Helen?" Julie tried to interject but Helen continued,

"I also have to present the award at the Pageant to the new queen..."

Jaxon who was listening to this couldn't bear to hear any of her moping, someone needed to tell her to move on from high school. As he was thinking of leaving, a thought popped into his head,

"Wait!" Jaxon said interrupting them, "Attend your show and the parade..."

"Jaxon, what are you saying?" Julie asked a bit taken back but Jaxon continued,