After Stu convinced you he would check out the garage, Sidney caught up to you. She hadn't told you where exactly she went but urged you to help her look for Tatum.

It's not like Stu has anything to hide, so he encouraged you both. However, the upstairs was completely off-limits because he didn't want other guests thinking that area was permitted. The last thing he needed was for couples to initiate something intimate in any of the bedrooms.

You and Sid roam downstairs, checking every room except for closets and such. The only room you hadn't checked was the living room since you had just been there.

With no sign of Tatum, Sid decided to call it quits.

You and Sid make your way to the front entrance as nearly all the party-goers were leaving based on the city-wide curfew or their parents' curfew.

Stu stood in the open doorway of the house, sending people off. "Happy curfew," He says to a young couple.

"Nice party, Stu," A girl complimented as she joined her other peers.

He didn't respond and instead clutched onto the chic red robe he had been wearing all night and watched people get into their cars and speed off.

You and Sid stood at the bottom of the staircase, a few feet away from Stu.

"Tatum, come on!" Sid calls out while looking at the top of the stairs.

You walk over to Stu, and Sid follows, "Do you know where she is?"

He shrugs, "Nah, I haven't seen her."

Suddenly, Billy pops out in the doorway, yelling "Ah!" to scare the three of you.

Stu makes an alarmed noise, and Sid let out a startled gasp, whipping around to see him. You hadn't flinched but were off-put by his presence.

If Tatum was here, she would've dragged both of you out of the house.

Billy raises his eyebrows twice to Stu as if to signal something.

"Oh, Billy. Hey," Sid stiffly greets him, clearly not expecting him.

Stu taps his chin, "Billy, hmm. What are you doing here?" He asks, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as if they hadn't planned this in advance.

"I was hoping I could talk to Sid alone," He spares a glance at you, unable to meet your eyes.

"Y'know if Tatum sees you here, she'll draw blood," Sid warns him.

Oh, Sidney, if only you knew.

"I'll tell you what, why don't you guys go up to my parent's room? Y'know, you guys can talk, whatever," He not-so-subtly hinted at them being intimate.

"Subtlety, Stu. You should look it up," Billy cooly told him.

Sidney was slightly taken back by his all-too-calm demeanor. "No, it-it's okay. We do need to talk." She extends her hand to him, and he gladly takes it with a sly grin.

He punches Stu where the sun doesn't shine, as he formally enters the house.

Stu grabs at the front of his pants, letting out a pained breath, "Ow."

You watch with disdain as they head upstairs together. Billy already starts to take off his jacket.

You hardly noticed Randy walk over until he opened his mouth.

"What's Leatherface doing here?" He asks directly into Stu's ear.

"Cute, he came to make up."

Randy watches as the couple enters a room, "There goes my chance with Sid. Damn it."

"As if," You and Stu say simultaneously.

You both ogle each other as Randy walks off.

You hit Stu's shoulder, "You sick bastard. Why would you set them up?"

He rubs his shoulder, "Ow! What's with Billy and you hitting on me?"

You give him a pointed look.

His lips spread into a wolfish grin, "You know I didn't mean it like that...unless you want it to." He wiggles his eyebrows at you suggestively.

You scoff, storming off to the bathroom. The door clicks to a close behind you. You lean your head back, and it thumps against the wood. You sigh, pushing yourself off the door and moving to sit on the lip of the tub.

Your fingertips graze your scalp as you rub your eyes with the palms of your hand. You knew why Stu invited Billy despite asking him. You couldn't exactly blame him for having his best friend's back and being his wingman.

You trusted your sister to make her own judgments and act accordingly, but you knew she felt bad for accusing Billy and because of how the cops treated him. It was her choice whether or not she forgave Billy for being an asshole. But at least he wasn't a murderer, right?

Besides all that, her sex life isn't any of your business. Virginity is just a construct anyway, so it doesn't matter if she and Billy end up sleeping together.

A knock on the door brings you out of your thoughts. Your head snaps up to look at the door. "Yeah? Occupied," You try to deter whoever was at the door.

In comes Stu, who entirely ignored your statement. You don't do anything to stop him as he comes to sit next to you.

"I could've been peeing, you know," You say.

He rolls his eyes, "Yeah, right. You would've locked the door if you were." You couldn't deny his claim. "Billy and Sid might take a while. You don't wanna head home early? Dewey could take you," He proposes.

You shake your head, "If Tatum left, I'm sure he took her. Besides, I'm not leaving without Sid."

He bumps shoulders with you, "Cheer up, man. She probably got tired and decided to sleep in one of the rooms."

"Yeah, maybe," Your voice comes out soft.

Stu pouts at your fastidiousness, "Okay, well, you can stay here and get bored out of your mind, or you can join us for the movie. I know how hard you fought with Randy over it."

You realize there's no point in brooding, especially at a Macher house party. You turn your head at him and offer a smile, "That's your best suggestion yet."

His face mirrors yours, and he gets up to head for the door. He waves you over and opens the door for you, "After you, my good sir." He bows and extends his hand out to you, just as Sidney had for Billy earlier.

You eagerly take his hand in anticipation of the movie. Definitely just because of the movie and not because he's stupidly attractive and being nice to you and giving you attention. Maybe Tatum being out of the picture wasn't such a bad thing.

Inside the Top Story news van, Kenny sat in the back and waited for Gale to come back. The signal on the camcorder wasn't received well on the portable T.V he was trying to watch the footage on. Thick bars of different colors painted the screen, and Kenny became frustrated.

"Come on," He hit the side of the T.V, the ultimate move to get any electronic device to work. Footage of the Macher living room appeared on the screen, and Kenny rejoiced.

The van door slid open, and Gale entered the van, taking a seat next to Kenny.

"Oh, shit," He said, looking at the footage of Gale still on the screen.

"What?" She asked.

"I got a delay."

"How long is it?"

Kenny gestured with his hands, "I don't know. What'd it take you to walk to the house, thirty seconds?"

Gale had her eyes glued to the screen, "It'll be fine. Just record it. Oh, the placement is perfect. Tell me, Kenneth, has a cheesy tabloid journalist ever won the Pulitzer?"

He shrugged, "Well, first time for everything."

Cut to Sidney and Billy, alone in Stu's parent's room. Sidney sat on the edge of the bed, still reeling in Billy's arrival. Billy joined her on the bed, thinking about his next move.

"So, um..." Sidney trails off.

"So...I'm sorry," They gaze into each other's eyes, " I've been selfish, and I wanna apologize," Billy spoke softly, carefully crafting his words.

"No, Billy, I-I'm the one who's been selfish and self-absorbed with all this post-traumatic stress."

"You lost your mom," Billy gently reminded her.

"Yeah, I-I know, but you're right," her voice became brittle, "Enough is enough. I-I can't wallow in the grief process forever, and..." her eyes began to water, "and I can't keep lying to myself about who my mom was." She sniffles, bringing her hand up to her face. "Yeah, I think I'm really...scared that I'm gonna turn out just like her, you know? Like The Bad Seed or something. And I know–I know it doesn't make any sense."

Billy nods, listening intently, "Yeah, it does." He glances down at his lap and looks at her again, "Hmm. It's like Jodie Foster in The Silence of the Lambs when she keeps getting flashbacks of her dead father," He grins fondly at the analogy and reference.

Sid shakes her head, her voice coming out barely above a whisper. "But this is life. This isn't a movie."

"Sure it is, Sid. It's all–It's all a movie. It's all...one great, big movie." He caresses her face, wiping away a stray tear, "Only, you can't pick your genre."

His thumb falls to Sidney's lip, and she tilts her head, giving the tip of his finger a small kiss. Sidney goes to caress Billy's face and leans in to kiss him. Her kisses became rougher and more desperate. Their lips parted from one another. Billy held her close, brushing her hair through his fingers.

"Why can't I be a Meg Ryan movie?" Sid sniffles and brings Billy into a hug. "Or even a good porno?" She mumbles next to his ear.

Billy stops stroking her hair, "What?"

"You heard me."

They pull away, looking into each other's eyes. "Are you sure?" Billy asks.

Sid nods, "Yeah, I think so."

They go back to kissing, and Sidney's back hits the bed.

Downstairs, the remaining party guests crowded in the living room to watch Halloween. The couch you, Tatum, Sid, and Stu were sitting on earlier was now occupied by Randy, two other boys, and a girl. Behind them, more teens sat in individual chairs they dragged in from the dining room. Stu called dibs on the loveseat next to the couch and convinced you to sit with him. You did so hesitantly, feeling bad for the two girls who sat on the floor in front of you and Stu. They didn't seem to mind and enjoyed the movie, snacking on food from the kitchen.

"Look, look, look. Here it comes," One of the boys says feverishly.

On the T.V screen, Michael appears from behind the door and kills Bob Simms. The teens jumped in their seats, and one threw popcorn at the screen.

"The blood is all wrong! Why do they do that? It's too red," Another boy complained.

"Wait, here comes another," Randy warns them.

Michael held Bob Simms by the throat and brought his knife down to his chest. The squelching sound of Michael working the knife into his chest rang in your ears as the other boys cheered at the display of violence.

"Predictable. I knew he was gonna bite it."

"How can you watch this shit, over and over?"

Randy shushes the boys, focusing on the movie.

Stu drapes himself on the armrest, leaning toward the other couch. "I wanna see Jamie Lee's breasts. When do we see Jamie Lee's breasts?"

You sink into the couch. What was with his word choice?

"Breasts? Not until Trading Places in '83. Jamie Lee was always the virgin in horror movies. She never showed her tits 'til she went legits," Randy responds.

"Could afford a decent pair," One of the girls at your feet says with a laugh.

"What'd you say? That's why she always outsmarted the killer in the big chase scene at the end," Randy continues.

"Spoiler alert," You heckle.

He ignores you, "Only virgins can do that. Don't you know the rules?"

"What rules?" Stu asks, further riling up Randy.

"You don't..." he sets down his beer on the coffee table and pauses the movie. He throws the remote back onto the table and gets up from the couch, standing next to the T.V. "Jesus Christ, you don't know the rules?"

Stu hums, "Have an aneurysm, why don't ya?"

Randy spoke loudly like a teacher coming back to their classroom with a bad report from a substitute. "There are certain rules that one must abide by in order to successfully survive a horror movie. For instance, number one: You can never have sex."

Most of the boys boo Randy and throw popcorn at him. He waves his arm, trying to ward off the buttery treat. "Big no-no! Big no-no!"

"I'd be a dead man," Stu claims, letting his long, pointed tongue fall out of his mouth.

You cover your mouth to stifle a laugh.

"Sex equals death, okay? Number two: You can never drink or do drugs."

Everyone with a beer in their hand raised their bottle and cheered before taking a swig. People clinked their bottles with each other in solidarity.

Stu notices you don't have a drink on hand and offers his. You become flustered and shake your head. You were never that interested in drinking and weren't about to start now. And besides, if you had taken a sip, it would've been an indirect kiss, and you weren't sure if you could handle that.

He shrugs, "Have it your way."

"No, the sin factor," Randy clinks his beer with someone. "It's a sin. It's an extension of number one. And number three: Never, ever, ever..."

You watch Stu stumble as he stands up.

"...under any circumstances say, 'I'll be right back,' cause you won't be back."

"I'm getting another beer, you want one?" Stu asks Randy.

"Yeah, sure."

"I'll be right back!" He exclaims, walking backward into the kitchen with a forged horrified expression.

The room booms with oh's at Stu's improvised cleverness.

"You see, you push the laws, and you end up dead, okay? I'll see you in the kitchen with a knife," Randy says with a more serious tone.