"Sodidyoufindanythingout?" Aurora asked Esmeralda rapidly over the phone. She was wired because she never went to sleep and was keeping herself going with a lot of coffee.

Esmeralda, who'd just called her after getting out of the police station, said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Aurora, you need to speak slower. I can't understand a word you're saying."

Aurora sighed in exasperation. "Did you find anything out?" She repeated, separating and over-annunciating every word.

"I'm sorry, Aurora." Esmeralda said regretfully. "They wouldn't tell me anything."

Aurora couldn't hide her disappointment as she said, "Oh... That's okay..."

"I'm really sorry..."

"No, it's fine..." Aurora should have figured that they wouldn't tell Esme anything. "But...how did everything go?"

Esme sighed. "I'd rather not talk about it, if that's okay."

"Sure, sure..."

There was an awkward pause. Neither of them knew what to say now.

Finally, Aurora cleared her throat. "Well... I should probably go."

"Yeah, me too."

"See you..."

"Oh, wait! I've been meaning to ask... How's Eric doing?"

Shit. Aurora thought, feeling her eyes widen. Eric hadn't been to school the whole last week, but after the second day of him being gone, getting caught up in the situation with Snow had distracted her and made her forget about him. And no one else seemed to be paying him much attention either, since he was completely ignoring everyone's calls and texts...

"Um..." Aurora bit her lip. "He's not doing too good. I think it's gonna be a while..."

"That's understandable." Esmeralda said sympathetically.

It really was. Of course Eric was taking Ariel's death worse than anyone else; He'd been in love with her. She was his whole world. Watching her kill herself had undoubtedly sent him into a depression that would keep him buried for a long time. As all these realizations hit her, Aurora felt even worse about forgetting about him. Wasn't he her friend, too? He had been dating her best friend; He'd loved her more than any other person in the whole world, a love that was the most pure and true. He'd made Ariel's life so good, but it couldn't keep her from ending her life. He was probably blaming himself for the whole thing... Not only could he not keep her from wanting to kill herself, he also couldn't prevent it from happening. He had to sit there and watch as Ariel threw her life away...

And possibly, his.

An idea dawned on Aurora and she smiled to herself. "I should really go, Esme. I have a lot of homework."

"Sure thing. I have to get to a job interview any way."

"Job interview?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna start waitressing at Duke's with Tiana. She's got me all set up."

"So...you'll be working with Tiana and Naveen?"

"Yeah."

"Won't that be awkward?"

"Nah... We're all too mature for that."

Aurora raised an eyebrow. "Even Naveen?"

Esmeralda paused, then laughed. "Okay... It won't be awkward as long as he doesn't make it awkward."

Aurora laughed too. "Okay, then..."

"Besides, it'll pay better than the gigs I've been scrapping together for the last few months."

"Well, that's good... Hey, while you're there, maybe you could convince Tiana to try out for the musical?"

"Well, yeah. We need more strong voices like hers. Any particular part you want me to throw out there?"

"I actually thought she might make a great Elpheba."

Esmeralda chuckled. "Sure thing... See you at school."

"See you."

They both hung up. Aurora didn't hesitate to call Phillip. He picked up after two rings.

"Yeah?"

"Hey, babe. I need you to do something for me. It's really important." She said.

"What's up?" Phillip asked, immediately sounding serious.

"It's about Eric."

Hearing a knock on his bedroom door made Eric groan. He didn't bother to get out of bed; He'd been living buried under a tangled mass of sheets and blankets for the last week. It was the only sign of regularity in his life right now, and he wasn't about to interrupt it.

"Eric?" A familiar voice called from outside the door.

Eric frowned. Was that Phillip?

"Eric, dude, it's me. Can I come in?"

Eric groaned again and barely turned his head toward the door. His voice sounded creaky as he called, "What are you doing here?"

"Grimsby let me in." Phillip replied. He got tired of waiting for Eric's permission and simply let himself into the bedroom. "Are your parents seriously not home with you right now?"

"They had an important business trip." Eric grumbled as he turned over and buried his face in his pillow.

Phillip was quiet for a moment, then shook his head and tapped Eric's shoulder."You have to get up, dude."

Eric groaned and made no move to leave the bed. Phillip sighed and looked around the cold, darkened room.

"Eric, there's no way this room is going to help your mood. First step to rehabilitation: light." Phillip reached over to flip up the light switch. As the room filled with overwhelming light, Eric groaned again in protest and pulled his blanket over his head. Phillip reached down and wrenched all of the bedding off of his friend. Eric glanced up to shoot him a dirty look, and Phillip used the opportunity to swipe the pillow out from under Eric's head. Eric let out a cry of frustration and shot up so he sat upright, seething as he glared at Phillip.

"Why are you doing this?! Why are you even here?!" Eric demanded, running his hands angrily through his wildly messy hair.

"Well, I wouldn't have to drop in uninvited if you would answer your phone." Phillip nodded toward where Eric's cell sat on his desk, shut off.

Eric sighed and pushed one hand over his face, slumping over on the edge of his bed. Phillip sat next to him and gently patted his back.

"Eric... I know you're upset. Believe me, we all are, and we understand that this is hitting you harder than anyone else. But you've gotten to hide out for the last week. You've had plenty of alone time. What you need now is friends to pity you instead of doing it yourself. Time to rejoin the real world, buddy."

Phillip couldn't tell if Eric had actually listened to his little speech. He just watched as Eric continued to sit hunched over with his face covered, his shock of black hair sticking out every which way and hanging down from his forehead. Finally, Eric sighed and sat up, looking around blearily, as if he was just now awakening. He slowly shook his head as he stated off into the open air, seeming completely hopeless. Phillip sat by and waited patiently for Eric to come back to himself. Things would be like this for awhile; There was no fighting that. Eric would always be somewhere else, and everyone was just going to have to wait for him to come back. He wasn't just going to snap back into a routine like everyone else managed to; The situation with Snow White wasn't going to keep him distracted from his despair. It might only heighten it. Phillip could sense that Eric was blaming himself for Ariel's death for some reason that didn't exist, and there would be no stopping that. No matter how it might have happened, Eric would be in the same position that he was in now. No one was going to be able to help him. He had to overcome all this fear and self-loathing on his own. Everyone else would just have to wait patiently while he did.

Finally, Eric sighed again and turned to Phillip with a blank stare. Then he frowned, just now noticing Phillip's attire. The taller boy was dressed in some cozy work-out gear. Eric gave him a suspicious look.

"What are you doing, Phillip?"

Phillip smiled. "Bringing you back to life. Remember back in freshman year when we used to meet up and work out together? Just jog and lift weights and do all kinds of silly exercises for hours and hours?"

"Yes..."

"That's what we're gonna do today." Phillip said proudly.

"No..." Eric whined, dragging out the "o". He fell over on his side and pushed his face into his mattress.

Phillip rolled his eyes and hoisted Eric back up. "Oh, yes."

"I'm really not in the mood for that, man..." Eric pouted.

"I don't care. You've already gotten out of weeks of swim practices, Eric. You can't afford to be lazy any more! You don't want to grow up to look like Coach Phil, do you?" Phillip smirked. That last sentence was the secret motivation that all the male athletes at their school used on each other behind the coach's back.

Eric pulled a face. "No way. Coach Phil looks like Danny DeVito..."

Phillip grinned, knowing that the motivation had worked. He playfully slapped Eric's shoulder. "That's the spirit! Now go take a shower." He gestured toward the door.

Eric frowned at him. "Shouldn't I be taking a shower after the work-out?"

"Dude. You already fucking reek, okay? I mean, did you shower at all this week?"

"No, not really..." Eric said, ashamed.

"Well, I'm not gonna go getting you all sweaty and gross when you already stink. I don't have a death wish. Now go get out of those ripe PJ's and shower up before I take you anywhere."

Eric sighed in defeat and slowly stood up, trudging out of the room and down the hall. Phillip waited until he heard the water start to run before also standing up, deciding to fix up Eric's bed while he was out. A nice bed would be nice to return to after a vigorous exercise routine. Then Phillip thrust open the curtains, letting the crisp white Sunday morning sunlight fill the room through the grand bay window. Finally, he turmed on the heater, hoping it would get the room to a more comfortable temperature. Honestly, had Eric really been living like this?

Phillip sat back on the bed and waited after he was done. Eric came back five minutes later with a towel wrapped precariously around his waist. Phillip quickly covered his eyes, fearing that the towel might fall. Eric laughed at his friend with very little humor in his tone before quickly changing into some work-out clothes made from thicker fabrics. If the temperature in the room was any indication, it was freaking freezing outside. After pulling on his best pair of running shoes, he turned to Phillip and cleared his throat. Phillip uncovered his eyes, looked Eric over, and nodded in approval.

"You're ready, grasshopper."

Eric scoffed. "Stop being weird. Let's just go."

Phillip gave him a smug smirk before leading the way downstairs and out the front door. He caught a grin from Grimsby as they were leaving the house. They did some lazy mobile stretches as they walked down by the beach. Once on the sand, Phillip turned toward the right with a sigh, purposefully directing them the way that was opposite the pier where Ariel had jumped.

"Okay, we're gonna take it easy today. We'll start with a relaxing 3 - mile jog along the beach. Sound good?"

Eric shrugged, but nodded. "Sure."

"Okay. Ready, set, go." Phillip said under his breath and neither of them hesitated to take off.

About three hours later, after the steady, mind-clearing jog and a few hours of various other exercises that required calm and focus, Phillip decided to reward Eric by taking him to a new place that had recently opened in town: Hatter's Mad Drink Emporium. The place apparently had every drink known to man, as well as a lot of unique and twisted beverages that had come straight out of the mind of the crazy guy who ran the place, Matthew Hatter. The boys quickly went back to Eric's to shower and change into normal clothes before Phillip drove them into town. As they pulled up to the establishment, they were kind of shocked to see that it wasn't busy. It looked deserted, actually. At first they thought it might not be open and they would have to come back later, but as they walked up to the door they saw that the place was indeed open. They shared a look and shrugged before entering.

They were both happy that it was nice and warm in the place. Eric sighed contentedly and Phillip smirked at him. Then they walked a little further in and found themselves gaping around in awe.

The place was huge, but taller than it was wide around, with a ceiling that stretched up way above their heads. Support beams that didn't seem that stable stood up unevenly to keep the place from crumbling. Everything looked slanted and crooked, like they were standing in a reflection in a fun house mirror. The paint on the walls was a vibrant purple with neon green and electric orange accents. The ceiling was an obnoxious yellow and the floor beneath them was a deep blue shaggy carpet. All the colors in the place were accentuated by the overwhelmingly bright white lights hanging overhead. There were tons of tables set up at all kinds of odd angles, creating a kind of maze. The paths were so treacherous that Phillip wondered how the servers got around easily. The tables and chairs were made of dark, elegant wood, but carved into all kinds of twisted, eccentric shapes. Not one piece of furniture matched. In all corners of the room were fireplaces, crackling with bursts of hot orange flame, surrounded by 3 or 4 plush, comfy - looking arm chairs of all different shapes, sizes, and colors, keeping with the crazy theme this place had going. And all along the walls were insane, brightly-colored paintings of all kinds of weird things; Clocks, hearts, card decks, cats, mushrooms, caterpillars, and a lot of rabbits.

In the middle of it all was a counter, stretched out and shaped like a giant square. On the side of the counter that faced that door was the register, and all along the rest of the counter were various tools, ingredients and dishes for making any kind of drink imaginable. They did everything right in the middle of the place, where everyone could see them. There was also a tiny fridge with all kinds of dainty, adorable treats inside; Mostly cakes with funny writing on them.

"Wow..." Eric whispered.

"Yeah... This place is nuts." Phillip muttered, still gaping around.

"I like it." Eric said simply, nodding.

Phillip looked at him in amusement.

"Welcome to Hatter's! Be with you in a moment!" A chipper and strangely familiar British accent called from...somewhere they couldn't tell. The boys slowly approached the register and looked around. They couldn't see anyone. Then Phillip glanced down and spotted a familiar blonde freshman kneeling under the counter, seeming to be looking for something.

"Alice?" He asked with an amused tone.

She looked up in surprise to see them both smirking at her. "Oh!" She gasped and quickly jumped up to face them. Her cheeks were flushed and she seemed to be trying to smile to cover up some frustration. "Hello, there."

"Hey..." Phillip chuckled while Eric waved at his side. "You work here?"

She nodded enthusiastically. "Uh-huh. Isn't it great? I just love it, it's so fantastically adorably eccentric!" She giggled.

Both boys laughed and glanced around again. Phillip said, "We can see that..."

"Oh! Let me get you a table... And some menus..." She mumbled distractedly, ducking under the counter again. After a moment of hasty shuffling, they heard her softly exclaim, "A-ha!", and she bounced back up with two menus in hand. She smiled cheerily and hopped over the counter. Bouncing slightly on her feet, she said, "Follow me", and skipped ahead to one of the many empty tables. They laughed lightly as they followed her. She pulled their chairs out for them and they sat and scooted themselves in toward the table, which was adorned with a plain white table cloth and a few sets of goofy - looking China. Alice placed their menus in front of them and hurried back to the counter to retrieve her notepad. She quickly skipped back over to them with the pad in one hand and a pen in the other.

"So. What looks good?" She asked.

"Um... Something warm, I think." Eric replied quietly, looking over the strange pictures on the menu.

"Well, shall I recommend the 'White Queen'? It's like a hot cocoa, but it's made with white chocolate and heavy cream, and topped off with a mound of our freshly made whipped cream and white chocolate slivers."

"That sounds pretty sweet..." Eric said, doubtful.

"It really is." Alice nodded. "That's why we serve it with a square of our finest dark chocolate to balance it out."

"Ah, spoil yourself, dude. You deserve it after that work-out." Phillip encouraged him.

Eric thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. "You know what? Sure. I'll go with that one."

"Okay! One 'White Queen'..." Alice said under her breath, scribbling on her notepad. She looked around distractedly as she addressed Phillip, her eyes seeming to be searching for something pesky. "And for you...?"

"Uh... I think I'll go with the 'Absolem'..." Phillip said slowly.

"Our special blue tea, okay..." Alice muttered as she quickly wrote it down.

"And, uh, one of these weird little cakes..." Phillip added, pointing at a picture on the menu.

Alice squinted at it, then nodded and kept scribbling. "An 'Absolem' and an 'Eat Me!'. Coming right up!" Alice said excitedly, smiling at them before skipping away and climbing back over the counter. She immediately started working some quirky machine to make the cocoa, then let that run and simultaneously started another machine to make the tea. She stood between the two machines with her arms crossed, anxiously tapping her foot until both machines dinged obnoxiously at the same time. She hurried to pour both drinks into sizeable mugs, then placed the mugs on sturdy saucers and dressed the cocoa with all its fixings. Finally, she grabbed Phillip's cake from the fridge, put it on a plate, and placed the orders on a tray. She carefully balanced the tray on her head. The boys watched in suspense as she climbed neatly over the counter again, managing to not spill anything. She pulled the tray off her head and proudly carried it to their table. She placed their orders in front of them with a cheery smile. "There you go! Enjoy!" She giggled and skipped away with the tray, hopping back over the counter and ringing up their bill at the register.

The entire exchange couldn't have taken more than two minutes.

"Wow... You have a lot of energy for what seems like such a slow day." Eric commented.

Alice giggled. "Oh, you guys are the only customers we've had so far."

The boys stared at her in awe for a moment, then just laughed and got to their drinks. Eric's drink was even sweeter than he imagined; The liquid was incredibly rich and decadent, it's warm silkiness slipping down his throat and settling heavily in his stomach. The thick whipped cream made a funny white mustache on his upper lip and he licked it away. He took a nibble at his dark chocolate square to outweigh the sweetness, and was pleased by the acute bitterness that warmed his tongue. He'd never had much of a sweet tooth; Ariel had, though...

Phillip was pleased to find that his blue tea, which really was a rich, bright shade of blue, wasn't some nasty fruity flavor but had more of an earthy, smoky taste. The light, pungent liquid warmed every inch of him as he sipped at it, feeling the steam rising from the cup make his cheeks flush. His curiosity about the cake finally won out and he put down his mug to take a bite of it. He was surprised by the flavor; It was a simple chocolate cake, with rich dark chocolate frosting, and the words "Eat Me!" written delicately in white icing. The cake was moist and dense, and laced with the subtle taste of a berry he couldn't quite identify.

"Wow... Alice, this is all really good!" Phillip called toward the counter.

"Thanks!" They heard her voice call back, but it seemed to be coming from above them. They looked over to see her standing up on her tiptoes on the counter, surveying the restaurant from her vantage point. The boys shared an amused look and went back to sipping at their drinks in comfortable silence. Phillip looked around for a moment, then called to her again, "Alice... Are you the only one working today?"

"Matty had to step out for a bit..." Alice replied, carefully pacing around the counter top to look around every corner of the place.

"Matty...?"

"My boss."

Phillip raised an eyebrow. "You call your boss 'Matty'?"

"It's either that or 'The Mad Hatter', but that's just too wordy..." She responded airily as she hopped down from the counter and started traversing all the twists and turns made up by the tables.

"You could just call him 'Hatter'." Eric suggested casually.

"I'll be sure to run that by him when he gets back..." She mumbled before disappearing from view. The boys frowned as they realized that she'd just ducked down to the ground. When they heard some soft shuffling, they figured out that she was crawling around under the tables.

"Uh... Alice? What are you looking for?" Eric called, sharing a look with Phillip.

"Oh, don't mind me, I'm just trying to find the cat." She replied coolly.

"The cat?! " Both boys cried in disbelief.

"Matty's cat, Cheshire. He's a mischievous little thing... He likes to disappear a lot, and then he just pops up to create all kinds of mayhem." She explained calmly, still crawling around. "Don't worry, I'll find him."

"Does the cat, uh...go to the bathroom...in here?" Phillip asked in fear.

Alice giggled. "No, silly. That would just be insane. He goes outside to do that. But I was supposed to watch him and make sure he stayed in until Matty came back. I just turned my back for one second and, poof! Just don't mind me while I look. I'm sure he'll turn up any moment..."

"Okay..." Phillip muttered, taking a long sip of his tea. The boys sat in silence for a while, gulping down their drinks bit by bit. When Phillip finished his drink, which was a bit smaller than Eric's, he set down his mug with a pleased sigh and looked up at Eric, who was still drinking absent-mindedly. Phillip looked at his friend sympathetically.

This place probably reminds him of Ariel... It's the exact kind of place she would have loved. Phillip realized, looking around. His attention was momentarily caught by a painting of a sleepy - looking mouse poking it's head out of a tea pot.

"Her birthday's next week." Eric muttered, his voice sounded weary and far away. Phillip's gaze flickered over to him warily, but Eric wasn't looking at him. His gaze was fixed on Phillip's half - eaten cake, though he didn't really seem to be seeing it. He quietly continued, "She would have been 17..." He bit his lip and nodded slightly, his eyes glimmering with threatening tears.

Phillip couldn't tell if Eric was actually talking to him, or just saying it. But he nodded and said, "I know..."

Eric ducked his head, losing his sight in the pool of white foam in his mug.

After a thoughtful moment, Phillip leaned forward and murmured, "You know, Ariel wouldn't have wanted you to be sad on her birthday."

Eric's jaw locked, and his voice sounded thick and warbly. "I know..."

Phillip paused. "But you know what she would have wanted?"

Eric looked up at him in unenthusiastic anticipation.

Phillip smirked. "She would have wanted us to throw a party."

Eric made a face.

Phillip shrugged. "Well, she was quirky that way."

There was a pause as Eric's gaze traveled toward the cash register and got lost again. Then he laughed hollowly, almost inaudibly, and muttered, "Yeah, she was..."

"Let's do it." Phillip said.

Eric frowned at him. "What?"

"Yeah, it'll be just what everyone needs. We can invite the whole school, just let loose and try to have fun, after all the shit we've been through. Then we'll just chill out, relax around a big bonfire, sing songs and shit, smoke some good weed, like Ariel always loved to do. And everyone will say how they feel about her death and bring up good stories about her. It'll be great. Everyone will finally get to have some closure, you know? No one's really gotten to do that yet..."

"You don't think it'll make everyone sadder?" Eric grumbled.

"It would be more sad to go on acting like it didn't happen, dude. Trying to forget, making ourselves miserable... Keeping good memories of her alive is less sad than what we've all been doing for the last month..." Phillip replied softly, plucking up a bit of his cake and popping it into his mouth.

Eric absent-mindedly nibbled at his chocolate for a moment, then finally nodded. "You're right, man."

"So let's do it?"

"Let's do it." Eric sighed.

Phillip nodded with a smirk. "Cool..."

"Gotcha! " They suddenly heard Alice cry from under a table nearby. Then there was a clattering sound as a massive, fluffy tabby cat with wicked, electric blue eyes jumped up on the table next to theirs. The boys and the cat stared at each other for a moment. The boys were shocked while the cat seemed calm and somehow arrogant, perching regally on the table and staring them down with a strange, amused twinkle in its devious eyes. It actually seemed to be smiling at them. The guy's couldn't help feeling creeped out by this cat; They could both sense something about it that was really...off.

Alice sighed as she stood up, smoothing out her apron. When she saw the cat on the table, her eyes widened in indignation. "Cheshire, no! Get off! We don't need your hair on the nice blue table cloth! Go on, now, shoo! " She ordered, ushering him away. The cat lazily strolled toward the edge of the table and dropped down to the carpet with a heavy thud. She shook her head as she watched him strut away and disappear behind the counter.

"Well, at least I know he's inside. Don't know what we're going to do with him..." She muttered. Then she turned to the two boys with a cheery grin. "I'll get you your bill."

After paying a surprisingly cheap bill and leaving Alice a generous tip, they parted ways with cheerful good byes and the boys left the restaurant in good spirits, not bothered by the crisp wind that bit at their faces as they walked to Phillip's car. Once they were inside, Phillip quickly started the car and blasted the heater before driving back to Eric's house.

"Interesting place!" Phillip remarked.

Eric laughed and nodded in agreement. "Yeah."

"Kinda disappointed that he didn't get to meet 'Matty', though..." Phillip chuckled. "I bet that guy's quite a character."

Eric just laughed in response, but it was his first really genuine laugh of the day, so it pleased Phillip. They continued to casually chat until Phillip pulled up to Eric's house. As Eric was getting out, his eyes downcast, Phillip patted his shoulder.

"It's gonna get better, man...real soon. Alright?"

Eric obviously didn't believe him, but he nodded any way. "Alright."

"Okay. See you at school tomorrow." Phillip said as Eric hopped out of the car.

"See you then. Thanks for everything, dude."

"No problem. Bye."

"Bye." Eric shut the cat door and walked up to his house. Phillip waited until Grimsby let Eric inside before driving away. Eric went up to his room, shut the door after him, leaned against it and sighed.

It's gonna get better...real soon...

Eric really hoped so. More than anything, he just wanted things to get better.

Well, more specifically, he wanted Ariel to come back more than anything. He wanted her to come back so he could hold her and kiss her and apologize to her for all the bullshit with Vanessa and assure her that he would never hurt her again. He was supposed to be the one person who would never hurt her; He was supposed to protect her. And he'd failed miserably.

There are no second chances... He scolded himself. You shouldn't have taken her for granted in the first place. You screwed up big-time, and literally wasted a life.

With her gone, it was like the most important piece of him was missing. He was hollow, incomplete, less of a person and more of a carcass with Ariel gone. He didn't know how he was supposed to go on without her, but he did know that everyone was going to force him to try. He sighed again, the thought of that exhausting him. He just wanted to collapse into bed again, but he worried that if he did, he'd never get up again, even if Phillip tried to pry him out. Instead he went and sat at him desk and distracted himself by doodling. When that proved to be trying and completely unhelpful, he sighed and leaned back in his chair, staring blankly at the haphazard contents of the desk.

After a moment, his gaze wondered to his cell phone, which was still off. He stared at it for a moment, then hesitantly turned it on, wondering what kind of depressing messages people had left him over the last month. He waited patiently as it powered back on, and then opened his messages. Of course, the first text immediately caught his attention:

Hey

When he saw the contact name, his heart skipped a beat.

A/N

Here's a quickie because I wasn't very happy with the length of the last chapter... Also because this chapter needed to happen for so many reasons.

Hope you guys are still with me and enjoying the ride!