The next day we returned to the library. While Sam and Dean dug through Alexandria Whittaker's social life I began to go through her school records, and Cas began investigating any associates of hers that we pointed in his direction. The first part of the morning he spent looking up her parents, both of whom still lived locally. Then he began looking up our next person of interest; Rebekkah Hurst.

From what the boys found on Alex's multitude of social media pages, she and Rebekkah had been in a serious relationship. Seemingly half of Alex's posts in the two years before she had died contained photos of her and Rebekkah, or updates on their relationship status.

Cas started uploading Rebekkah's social media pages, and I paused in my own perusing to glance over his shoulder at the results. Rebekkah was an olive skinned girl with black hair and striking green eyes. In the picture I was viewing, her arm was wrapped around Alex's slightly larger form, and her girlfriend's pale skin and blonde hair contrasted with Rebekkah's own appearance. Their eyes, however, were the same vivid shade of green.

"I've got nothing here," I commented. I sighed at my files on Alex, both digital and physical. "She got good grades, was involved in school activities, and didn't have any problems with behavior. At least none that are recorded."

"What does that mean?" asked Cas.

I shrugged. "She might have done something and they let her slide on it if it was minor enough. Or she just might not have been caught."

"Either is possible," sighed Sam.

"Why don't you look into Rebekkah's school records," suggested Dean. "Cas, keep searching her social life."

I nodded and began typing. A moment later I sat back with a frown.

"That's going to be a problem," I commented.

Sam, Dean, and Cas frowned and turned to me.

"Why?" asked Sam.

"Her record isn't in the system. She must have transferred to a different college after what happened with Alex. I've got no idea where she is now."

I grimaced. This was a really inconvenient time for the college to update their records. Couldn't they have waited until after we'd finished snooping around illegally?

"And her social media pages are vastly neglected," added Cas. "She's barely been online since Alexandria's death."

"Check out her family," Dean ordered. "Maybe one of them put something about her online."

I did that while Cas continued to root through Rebekkah's abandoned social media accounts. It ended up taking me several minutes, but on her younger sister's page I found a post about Rebekkah's acceptance into a college on the other side of the state.

"She's up north," I noted. "I take it we're going to see her?"

"Yeah." Dean stood and stretched. "Sam and I will drive there. You two keep digging up things around here. Talk to people Alex knew, who knew her and Rebekkah. See if anything was off with them before Alex died. Keep going through social media too. See if you can find any friends that weren't so nice."

I nodded. "I know the drill," I assured him. "We'll stay busy."

Dean nodded, and a moment later he and Sam had disappeared up one of the long rows of books.

I turned to Cas. "You keep looking here; I'll go back to the school, see if I can get anyone to talk."

Cas frowned. "How? You won't pass as FBI."

I shrugged, a smile toying at the corner of my mouth. "I'll find a way."


I found my targets clustered on the lawn outside one of the dorm buildings. A group of girls, all looking like they had been at the college for at least a year. They were sipping iced coffees from the Starbucks down the street and ogling the boys walking by, giggling and whispering to each other.

I paused not far off, gauging how I wanted to go about things. I had never been that popular in school; I'd been more concerned with getting good grades than I had been with being homecoming queen. These girls were clearly the opposite. They were the type who had made my childhood and the childhoods of countless other nerds hell.

Ignoring the disdain that rose in me, I put my mind to how I could approach them. With as little social skills as I had, I knew they would pick up on something being off straight away.

Hey Mia.I chuckled to myself as I sent the text, imagining my friend's confusion upon reading it. I need some advice. How do I pretend to be one of the popular snooty girls that everyone secretly wants to punch so that I can get information out of them?

I hit send and peered out from behind the tree I was standing behind, hoping Mia would respond quickly. Luck seemed to be with me, because it wasn't long before I got a response.

U no I'm one of those girls right?

I bit my lip to keep from laughing. Somehow I doubted Mia was bad enough that people wanted to punch her. But hey, at least she was honest.

Plz? I sent back.

U owe me an explanation,was Mia's response. First u need to be doing the same thing as them maybe dress a bit more like them that sort of stuff.

It took me a moment to decipher the text talk we had slipped into using as we'd grown closer. Then I frowned and glanced down at my worn out clothes. So no plaid? I guessed.

Lol not how u wear it.

I sniffed but obliged, unbuttoning the bottom half of my shirt. Then I bunched it into two tails on either side of my body and tied them together over my stomach. I considered rolling up my tank top to expose my stomach as I knew most girls would do, but decided I didn't need to go that far. At least I hoped not.

Then I started down the street toward the Starbucks, typing my next text as I did.

Now wat?

Talk to them. Mia was probably shaking her head on her end, laughing.

I scowled. I'm not good at that.

Talk about whatever they're talking about then change the subject to whatever ur trying to get info on. What is that btw?

Wat just start talking? I can't just step into their conversation like tht.

Yes u can now wats the case about?

Spoilers. Thanx gtg. I smiled as I stuffed my phone back into my pocket, mulling over Mia's advice.

By the time I'd gotten my iced vanilla coffee and walked back up the street, I still wasn't entirely confident in my ability to bullshit social skills. I needed the information for the case though, so with a grimace and a deep breath I sidled up behind the group.

They were busy staring at some kid fastening his bike to the rack outside the building. The girls were trying to stare without making it obvious that they were staring, and the guy was doing his best to show off his muscles as he snaked the bike chain around the tire and locked it in place. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"He's hot," I cooed. I slipped into place beside one of the girls at the edge, swirling my coffee around in my cup. Then I batted my eyes at the guy with the bike, and I could literally see his ego inflate ten sizes.

The girl next to me, a small red head with blue eyes, nodded vigorously. "All the guys we've seen coming out of the building today are." A grin split her face as she thought of the show she'd been getting all morning. "College is gonna be good."

I laughed. "Just don't get knocked up," I warned.

The girl shot me a weirded out look and turned away. I resisted the urge to curse, racking my brain for a way to undo my damage.

"My brother goes to here too," I said. "He's an upperclassman; on the football team. They're having a party in a few days and he thinks he can get me invited."

That did the trick. Suddenly every girl was staring at me with bright eyes, thinking they'd found their ticket into a house full of hot, drunk guys.

"Who's your brother?" asked one of them. She was clearly the queen of the group, which was why I had avoided her when I'd first joined. Now she was fixing me with big brown eyes that poked out from under wavy black hair.

I shrugged and waved dismissively. "One of the few guys on the team who hasn't gotten over the awkward teenage pimple stage. But he's in with the right crowd, so that's nice for me."

The girls nodded in almost perfect unison.

"What's your name?" asked the queen of the group.

I smiled. "Piper. What about you guys?"

Queenie gestured to herself. "I'm Syd; this is Paige, Theresa, and Maja." She pointed to each of her friends in turn. Paige was the redhead I'd been talking to. Theresa was a tall blonde who looked athletic enough to give me a run for my money, and Maja was a tiny little thing with pin straight hair cut in a pretty bob.

I gave a small wave. "Hey." I took a deep breath, then jumped to why I was really there. "I just got here, so I'm still a bit unfamiliar with campus, but I heard someone killed herself last year. Do you guys know anything about that?"

My heart pounded as I asked the question. This was where the importance of who I had picked to get the information was important. I was sure some people wouldn't want to talk about it, though disturbingly few, most likely. These girls lived and breathed gossip. I was counting on it to get me what I needed.

They didn't disappoint. Syd glanced around, as if to check that no one was listening, then began to talk.

"You mean Alex Whittaker?" she asked.

When I nodded Syd continued.

"They found her in the back of her car. Apparently she OD'd."

I frowned. "Apparently? You don't think that's true? Was she involved in that sort of stuff a lot?"

Syd shook her head. "No. She was one of those annoyingly perfect people. At least everyone thought. I heard she was having trouble with someone."

"Who?" I did my best not to seem overly excited about the information. "Do you know?"

If the girls thought my interest odd they didn't comment.

"No one knows. But a few people caught her arguing on the phone with someone."

"Her girlfriend?" I asked. "Rebekkah? Is there a chance Rebekkah did something to her?"

"Oh, no." Theresa began shaking her head back and forth. "I don't know who she was fighting with, but it wasn't Rebekkah. Those two were totally in love. I think half the campus heard Rebekkah scream when she found her."

I blanched. "What're you talking about?"

Maja's eyes widened. "Don't you know? Rebekkah was the one who found her. They were supposed to meet up in the library to study, but Alex never showed. Rebekkah waited, then went to Alex's house, cos Alex lived off campus. She wasn't there, so Rebekkah came back to campus and I guess she decided to check if Alex's car was in the lot and well, she found Alex."

"Oh my god." My hand flew up to cover my mouth, and I nearly dropped my coffee. Poor Rebekkah. No wonder she'd transferred schools. I couldn't imagine finding someone I loved like that.

Memories of nightmares I'd had in the past about my family threatened in my mind, but I pushed them back. This wasn't the time.

Theresa nodded. "Rebekkah went off the grid after that. She barely passed her finals, and then she disappeared. I heard she got sent to a mental hospital."

"No." Paige shook her head. "She just transferred schools. I'm telling you. She wasn't that bad."

The group seemed to have mixed reactions and started debating. I decided it was time to make my exit, and began to detach myself from the conversation. I was just edging away when Syd called me back, her phone in her hand.

"What's your number?" she asked. "Let's keep in touch."

I nodded, pasting a false smile on my face. "Yeah, totally. 382-5968."

"Great." Syd shot me a bright smile. "See yah around."

I waved and all but ran for it. Around the corner of the dorm building I whipped out my phone and called Sam.

"Hey," I said. "You haven't gotten to Rebekkah yet, have you?"

Sam snorted. "No. It's gonna be another hour or so before we get there. Why? You find anything."

"Yeah." I quickly untied my shirt and refastened the buttons. "Apparently Alex was having problems with someone, but no one knows who. See if she told Rebekkah anything."

"Got it." There was a pause at the other end of the line. "How did you find that out?"

I groaned. "Don't ask. Let me know what you find out; I'm gonna see if I can get any more information on my end."


My next stop was Alex's house. Alex had been a single child and both her parents worked, and since it was the middle of the day on a Tuesday, no one was home. I let myself into the house, then made my way to Alex's old room.

The walls were painted a pretty shade of blue, with photos of family and friends hung up. I started rifling through her drawers, under her mattress and bed, searching every typical hiding place. There was nothing. No notes or diaries, no clue that pointed to the identity of the person she'd been having trouble with. With a sigh I left the house and met Cas back at the library.

"I really wish Dean didn't insist on driving everywhere," I commented. "Now we're stuck waiting on them to reach Rebekkah."

Cas frowned as I plopped into a chair next to him. "You didn't find out anything?" he asked.

I shook my head. "Oh, I found out something." I relayed to him what I had discovered, and when Cas heard of how Rebekkah had found Alex he looked horrified.

"That must have been awful," he choked out. "To find someone you love like that…"

I nodded sadly. My eyes drifted over to Cas, and as though we were suddenly thinking the same awful thoughts, we both lurched forward and wrapped each other in a hug.

"I'm not going anywhere," I promised. "You're stuck with me for a while yet, Angel Dust."

Cas only squeezed me tighter against him. "And I will never leave you," he promised. "I love you, Lucy."

I smiled against his shoulder. "I love you too, Cas."


Hey guys! I want to take a moment to say thank you so much for all the wonderful comments I've been getting. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read my work, despite my long lapses between posts.

That being said, I now have a puzzle for you. The number Lucy gave the four girls, there are two meanings behind it. One will be revealed later in the story, but the other I'll leave for you to figure out. (The second message is really more Lucy's message to the girls and not meant toward any of you; I just thought it was funny.)

By the way, please don't try to call the number. I have no idea if it actually is someone's number, and if it is I doubt they'll appreciate getting calls because of a fanfic.

Happy solving!