I guess saying that I wasn't surprised when me and Eve found ourselves kissing in the janitors closet after school would have been weird. But, I wasn't surprised one bit. In fact, I totally expected it to happen. The only problem was, I would have to explain this whole thing to Luke.

As soon as I thought about him, my eyes popped open and I pulled away from Eve.

"What's wrong?" She said, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Luke." I mumbled. "I'm awful."

She sighed. "Annie, he'll be fine."

"How do you know?" I shook my head. "I should have broken things off first..."

"Annie." She took her palms and cupped my cheeks. "I told him I was going to kiss you today. He knew we had feelings for each other, Annie. He was trying to live out a dream that he knew was what he called it. A dream."

I was silent for a few moments, thinking about how great Eve was for telling him. But also thinking about the fact that I could have very well broken his heart today.

"He's okay, Annie." She smiled, pecking my lips again. "Are you?"

I nodded. "I'm okay."

Standing, she grabbed my hands and pulled me up close to her. "We need to start walking back home. I'll come to your house, and we'll tell Amanda and Nick. Together."

"Okay." I whispered.

This was so surreal. I wasn't actually expecting Eve to like me back in the way I was hoping. But then again, my life has been going so good. My self harming thoughts have almost diminished completely. I haven't been so depressed lately with all my friends and family around, and I've been learning how to live again. Something I wasn't expecting to happen again. But it did. And I was happy, for once in my life. Happy.

We walked out of the closet, hand in hand, walking down the hallway.

"Annie!" A voice screamed.

I turned around, panicked. Just like the voice was.

"Annie." Olivia heaved, hands on her knees. She had obviously been running for awhile, probably even the whole way here.

"Hey, Liv." I said, unsure of how to react. "What's wrong?"

"Annie, listen..." She walked over to me, wiping what I thought was sweat from her face. But was actually tears.

"Olivia what's going on?" I asked, gripping Eve's hand harder then I had before.

"Nick...He's." She bit her bottom lip. "He's gone."

"Like...He left to L.A.?" I asked, hope coating my voice.

"No." Her voice slowly tranfered to a whisper. "He's dead, Annie. He's gone."

At first, shock was the first thing I expirienced. Then anger. Then sadness. But it was all so sudden it all happened at once. I stood, not breathing, not moving, just silent tears dripping from both of my eyes.

Eve gathered me into her arms, I collapsed onto the floor, and she still held on. Holding me close. "Oh G-d. It's okay, Anne. You're okay."

Then, I screamed.


*The Next Day*

I hadn't left my bedroom since I actually got home. Which was an hour after Olivia had told me about Nicks. His...passing. It was sudden. In his sleep. An undetected heart condition that had been brewing for years. Until suddenly, it hit him like a bag of rocks. In the face with no warning. He died napping next to Amanda. She found him dead.

Eve hadn't left me. Her parents gave her permission to stay with me as long as needed. She stayed by me wherever I went. Amanda had been in her room, and I haven't seen her since yesterday. She herself looked dead. Her eyes vacant, and red. Her face puffy from the constant rubbing of her tears. She had tremors in both hands. Olivia had tugged her off to bed in the guest bedroom, away from the place where she stumbled upon her boyfriend, dead, gone.

"Do you want to eat, Anne?" Eve whispered into my ear, pulling hair from my face.

I nodded slowly. I was starving. Too starving to tell her for the one hundreth time that I wasn't hungry at all.

"What do you want for food?" She asked.

"Can I come get it with you?" I mumbled.

She smiled, and nodded.

We both sat up, I grabbed her hand for dear life as if I was a five year old, having her first day at school. Hanging onto her mother to save her from what she thought was.

She opened my door, and when we got out I saw Olivia on the couch reading a book.

"Hi, sweet girl." She smiled at me. "Hungry?"

I nodded slowly.

"Come, I just made a pot of chicken noodle soup." She stood, walking back into the kitchen.

I gulped, and stood outside the kitchen. Looking around, all of our picture frames were empty. Aside from the few that were just me and Amanda.

"Why are we pretending?" I mumbled.

"What?" Eve looked at me, confused.

"He's dead. Not fictional." My eyes filled with tears. "He's still a human. Was. Why are we pretending like he's just never existed?"

"We thought it would hurt you, to see the pictures so soon." Olivia mumbled, coming to me and wrapped her arms around my shaking body.

"I just want 'im back." I sobbed. "Just give me back my daddy."

"Oh baby." She rubbed my back soothingly. "I know. I know how hard it is. But we'll get through this together."

"Don't leave me." I continued to sob. "I don't want anyone to leave me again."

"I'm not leaving. And neither is Amanda, or Eve, or Aria, or the rest of the squad or even your other friends. We're all staying, right next to you, for the whole ride." Olivia mumbled into my ear. "We'll get through this together."

I wiped my tears, just for another gallon of them to spill down my cheeks. "I want, Mandy."

Instead of waiting for Olivia to say something, I ran from the kitchen and into her bedroom. She sat on her bed, her hand clutching a photo of what I assumed was Nick.

"Amanda." I cried.

She looked at me, also crying. She opened both arms, an invitation for me to jump into them. And I did.

We held each other, sobbing. Screaming. Practically dying. Because somehow, in all of this, I think I've forgotten how to live again.

I know. I'm evil. You can say it. You probably weren't even expecting this at all, although I had this planned since like, the fifth chapter. But whatever. All will be okay again, soon! You can hate me as much as you want in the reviews. I probably deserve it lmao.

Thank's,

Sam