So I didn't edit this completely, I'm sorry! But I think it's going to be okay once you get to the bottom :)

I was running out of black dresses to wear to funerals, something I never thought I'd have to worry about. Imagine the shock that went through the town when Will Belmont was literally sawed in half because of a trip wire set by the same psycho that stabbed me. Even more shocking, it was Emma that set off the trip wire and watched as Will got killed.

After the funeral, Audrey and I went home with Noah. We all sat on his couch in silence, none of us sure what to say about what was happening in Lakewood anymore. Will survived the bowling alley, he should've been safe from the game. By all horror movie logic, if you weren't the main heroine and you survived your murder attempt, you weren't messed with again.

"I have run out of words to say about what's happening," I finally spoke, breaking the silence enveloping the room.

"I feel so sorry for Emma," Audrey added.

Noah just sat there, his pinky rubbing against mine soothingly. The two of us weren't boyfriend and girlfriend just yet, but we did a lot of kissing when I got home from the hospital. My door always had to be open now, dad's stupid rule not mine.

Speaking of dad, my family decided it was time to actually be a real one now. We had dinner together every night since I came home from the hospital and my dad actually demanded to know where I was when I left. I know I should've been happier about it, but the entire situation left a bad taste in my mouth.

"Have you talked to her at all? She didn't look too good earlier," Noah finally spoke.

"No, she's not in much of a talking mood lately. Her mom says she's sleeping when I go over to check on her, but I know she's not," Audrey replied, running a hand over her face. "How can she sleep after what she saw?"

I shivered and curled into Noah's side, tucking my feet underneath me. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and gestured for Audrey to come closer. She grumbled under her breath about being the third wheel, but I felt her cuddle up against my back with her arm around my middle.

I slipped my fingers between hers and pressed a chaste kiss on Noah's jaw. None of us were really friends with Will, but he and I were basically in the same boat last night. The only difference was he was dead now and I wasn't. There was a really good chance I could've died in the nasty bowling alley if he hadn't thrown himself onto the killer so we could run away.

"Even if he messed up, Will was a really good guy."

"Yeah, everyone makes mistakes," Audrey agreed, her voice muffled against my shoulder.

The next day I struggled to get out of bed. My side was hurting more than usual and I was out of contact solution. I just wanted to pull the covers up over my head and invite Noah over to cuddle me close. Unfortunately, that wasn't an option for me today or any day really.

I got up and showered, trying to gauge if I could make it without taking my medication today. The last thing I wanted was to develop an addiction to pain killers, it would just be the cherry on top of everything.

Like I mentioned earlier, I'm out of contact solution and the only member of the family that wears them. Great, awesome, wonderful. This was exactly how I wanted today to go, me in glasses with stitches in my side.

I looked in the full body mirror at the stitches on my back. The stab wound was almost under where my arm lay against my side. I couldn't see it unless I was looking at it in the mirror, making it very difficult to wash. I figured it out eventually, but it still ached sometimes.

My bathroom was attached to my room so I didn't get dressed, I just went into my room naked. The last thing I expected was for Sophia to be sitting on my bed. She shrieked and covered her eyes while I spastically reached for my robe, tying it tight around my middle.

"Okay, I'm clothed."

"Wow, I didn't expect you to walk in naked," she remarked once we'd calmed down a bit. "Uhm, do you want to talk about what happened? You know? Getting stabbed and everything was probably pretty crazy."

Her conversation was forced and awkward, kind of like she wasn't doing it of her own free will. "I know dad and Elizabeth told you to come talk to me. Just tell them I'm doing as well as to be expected considering everything that happened. I'm not going to jump off the roof or anything, if that's what they're worried about."

"I want to have a relationship with you, but you're so hard to talk to," she said in one breath. "You don't care what people think of you at all. You turn down Jake Fitzgerald, the hottest guy in Lakewood. You're unattainable and choose to have loser friends, but you're still one of the most sought after girls at school and you don't even realize it. Do you know how frustrating it is to be your sister?"

I was in the middle of putting on my panties when I froze, one leg in and one leg out. I moved enough to pull them on before turning to face her. There was no sign of sarcasm on her face, she just looked frustrated and hurt.

"Jackson and I are supposed to share the car, right?" I asked after I pulled them and my bra on with a t-shirt. When she nodded, I grinned, "How do you feel about skipping first period? I need to pick up contact solution."

She smiled and stood up, "Yes! Yes! And get some breakfast! That sounds awesome!"

I held my finger up to my lips in a shushing gesture before I turned around to finish getting ready. I also texted Noah that I would be late so he wouldn't worry, and trust me, that boy could worry with the best of them. A school full of mourning children was not something I wanted to experience, I wanted as much space from there as possible.

I finished getting ready and we rode to school with Jackson like normal. Except when we got there, Sophia and I stayed in the car. He looked at us with raised brows.

"What the hell? Get out, I've got to lock the doors," he said, leaning in while he held the door. "Soph, the middle school is right across the street. You can walk there, you do it all the time."

"No, Sophia and I are going to go get some breakfast," I replied, getting out and holding my hand out for the keys. "We share this car, remember? It's my turn to have my time with it."

"There's no way in hell, they just said we had to share so you didn't feel like the leper of the family," he sneered, his top lip raising and everything.

"No worries, Gwen, when mom and dad find out Lyssa Raider might be pregnant, Jackson's going to be the leper of the house," Sophia said before sliding into the passenger seat.

My jaw dropped in shock, Lyssa Raider was a freshmen. "You got a freshmen pregnant? Dad and Elizabeth are never going to let you leave the house again if you get caught!"

He glared at us and I expected steam to come out of his ears at any second. The keys hit my hand and I tore out of the parking lot before he could change his mind. Sophia was something else, I kind of like her. I also knew I needed to stay on her good side, I didn't want her blackmailing me into doing her bidding.

"How'd you know about that girl?" I asked as we got into the parkway to go to town.

"I recognized her sneaking out of the house the other night and into a car waiting on the street. The rest was just a guess," she grinned. "Look, I watch a lot of Pretty Little Liars, okay? I know how to manipulate situations if I have to."

We stopped at Walgreens and I grabbed some contact solution along with a box of tampons. I didn't know if I was running low, but you could never have too many of them. That was something my mom always told me after I went through puberty.

"What's the story with that necklace? You always wear it," Sophia asked while we were getting rung up.

My hands stuttered as I tried to give the cashier the money. "Uh, my mom had the sun one that went with it. They were our thing, she was a morning person and I would be nocturnal if it was possible. I don't know, they were just our thing. She was buried wearing hers."

"Oh, I didn't mean to make things weird," she said immediately, reaching out and touching my arm comfortingly. "Do you still want to go get breakfast? I have mom's card."

"Yes! Most definitely," I grinned, taking my bag and headed back out to the car.

We got back to school right as first period let out. The lady at the front desk didn't even look up as I signed in, she just handed me a late slip and sent me on my way. I shouldered my bag and headed to my locker, a smile finding its way onto my lips when I saw Noah and Audrey talking beside it.

"Anyone ever told you it's rude to block someone's locker?" I asked, making the both of them jump in surprise. "Oh wow, I just interrupted something secretive."

"Hi," Noah grinned, wrapping me up in a hug and kissing the side of my head. "I missed you this morning. It's not as fun to sing to Disney songs without you, and I totally said that out loud and can't take it back. Oh my god."

I grinned and bit his shoulder playfully before I stepped back and hugged Audrey, too. "Okay, what did I miss this morning?"

"We were talking about the likelihood of Branson being the murderer," Noah supplied, reaching out and brushing some of my hair out of my face.

"So, if he's the killer, why would he take a job at a school instead of somewhere below radar?" I asked, leaning into Noah's side without thinking.

"He's hiding in plain sight," Noah told me like it was obvious. "Think about it, his classroom is a one-stop victim shopping. Pick one, slay one, console one, then repeat.

"Okay, what's his criteria?" Audrey asked, heading to a bench a little way down the hall for us all to sit on while we spoke.

I thought back to all the people who were murdered and took a shot in the dark. "Archetypes; Nina –the queen Bee, Tyler –the rebel, Riley –the brain, and now Will –the jock."

"If he's killing off the members of The Breakfast Club, the only one left is the raccoon-eyed weird girl who wears only black," Audrey gulped. "And Gwen wears too much green for it to be her."

I sneered and bumped our shoulders, rolling my eyes. Do you know how much I get made fun of for wearing olive green? I can't help that it's my favorite color, okay?

"Or the weird girl's girlfriend, which might make sense with Rachel," Noah supplied, making Audrey glare at him. "Okay, maybe not."

"If Branson's thrill is hiding in plain sight or whatever and the classroom/teacher thing is his cover, then wouldn't any evidence condemning him be in there?" I asked, trying to sooth the tension between Audrey and Noah.

"He did seem pretty anxious when he caught us in there alone," Noah agreed, his cheeks dusting pink as he remembered that day.

"So maybe it's time we dig a little deeper…" Audrey suggested.

The bell for second period rang and Noah took my hand in his, leading the way to my class. We'd all agreed to meet up seventh period, our free period, and do a little bit of snooping. We stopped outside my chemistry class and he turned me around to face him.

"After all this is over, can I take you on a date?" he asked, his entire demeanor wracked with nerves. "Unless that's not where this is going and I'm making an ass out of myself right now."

"Nah, I just like to make out with random twitchy geniuses and get caught by my dad more than a couple times," I replied, looking up at him from under my lashes.

Instead of answering him, I slipped into class and found my regular seat. He was still standing outside the door when I looked over so I winked at him and made him almost fall.

Did I seriously make his knees weak?

"So you actually bonded with your sister this morning?" Audrey asked as we looked through the library together.

We'd all agreed to meet in the library and then sneak to Branson's classroom. Noah was late as always so Audrey and I were trying our best to pass time.

"Yeah, it was weird. She thinks I'm too cool to be her big sister or something like that. I don't know, it's all just a blur honestly."

"Wow! I said to meet outside Branson's classroom! This is not Branson's classroom!" Noah hissed, rushing over to us.

The librarian came out of nowhere and told him to be quiet. Audrey and I laughed into our hands, trying to keep from getting reprimanded like him. He just rolled his eyes and turned on his heel, expecting us to follow him and we did.

The hallways were empty because people were all in class, but Mr. Branson had a free last period. I kind of hoped Noah did his research to make sure he wasn't going to be in his classroom. Knowing Noah he was set on finding his information so much that he didn't do any backup research at all.

Thankfully the classroom was empty and Branson's briefcase was sitting on top of his desk just waiting for someone to look inside it. I raised my eyebrows in surprise, but he rushed over and pulled it up. Branson didn't change his password so he wasn't too suspicious of us snooping on him.

"What are we trying to find?" Audrey asked as the two of us gathered around Noah at the desk.

"I don't know, but with the malware gone, we need something more before we can call the sheriff," Noah replied absentmindedly, searching every folder on the desktop.

I heard a weird thump noise along with the clack of Noah's fingers on the keyboard. Audrey's raised brows told me she heard the noise, too. She hit Noah's chest with the back of her hand and gestured over to me.

"I didn't make the noise, but I heard it," I said, moving toward the filing cabinet beside the desks. "I think it was in the vents or something."

We all went over to the vents and Noah pulled the vent off, which was way too loose and an instant red flag. Another instant red flag was the BIGGEST freakin' knife I've ever seen in my entire life.

"Holy Dexter's air container…" he breathed.

"You think that's…" Audrey started.

"…the murder knife?" I finished.

Noah reached in to grab it and I slapped his arm away immediately. "The last time we tampered with evidence, Emma's virgin video went viral! Let's not do that again."

A beeping sounded through the room and made me jump, losing my balance and falling to the ground. The action tore at my stitches and I just laid there for a second, praying to whoever was out there that I didn't rip them.

"God, Gwen, are you okay?" Noah crouched down beside me and helped ease me into a sitting position. "How's your side? Did you pop any stitches or anything?"

"Will you look for me?" I asked quietly, leaning forward and wincing as it kind of ached. "It kind of hurts, but it's hurt all day so it's okay."

I was leaning against Noah's bent knee as he raised my t-shirt. Not that I'd imagined it or anything, but this wasn't how I saw him taking my shirt off the first time. He gingerly touched the bandage around the wound and I tried to not wince too much.

"There's no blood on the gauze or anything. That's good, right?" he asked quietly, like we were the only ones in the room. "Are you okay? Does it hurt? We can go get your meds that you're supposed to take."

"I'm okay as long as I didn't rip my stitches," I told him, finally breathing normally. Then I looked at Audrey and saw the grin on her face. "Sorry, I was dramatic. I just seriously don't want to have to get more stitches."

"It's okay, you're fine. Please don't bleed on this floor and leave evidence we were here inappropriately," Audrey said, rushing over to us and offering me a hand to pull me up and then Noah.

"I want to see what Branson's real name is," I announced, moving over to the desk where Noah was running the search. "I mean I almost died getting down from that desk, I want to know dammit."

"We got a hit on Mr. Branson's real identity," Noah confirmed. "Now we have enough evidence to call the sheriff."

Noah went out into the hallway to make the call, leaving me and Audrey alone in the classroom. I sat down in my regular desk and Audrey sat in the one beside it, looking at me with that same grin from earlier.

"What's that look about?" I finally asked, giving her a pointed look.

"You and Noah are disgustingly adorable together," she told me, tapping her fingers on the desk. "I've never seen him this happy before, I just don't want him to be disappointed. I also don't want you to get hurt because you're my other best friend. I don't know, I'm in a weird position."

"I really, really like him. He's the reason I survived in Lakewood with my family and almost getting stabbed," I told her honestly. "The last thing I ever want to do is make him sad, Audrey."

The door pushed back open and Noah came in with an agitated looking sheriff on his heels. I guess he wasn't too happy about being called here by a bunch of teenagers when there was a murderer on the loose.

"Gwen, how're you doing?" he asked, noticing me in the room.

"You know, I have another hole in my body that'll leave me permanently scarred for life," I said dismissively. "I'll heal, it's cool."

Noah showed the knife in the vent, but the sheriff didn't pick it up. Even if it was in a plastic bag, I guess his training died hard. "Is there anything else?"

Noah nodded jerkily before going over to the computer on the desk. "Seth Branson used to be Seth Palmer. Back in 2013, he was teaching in this small liberal arts college in New Hampshire when he had this affair with an eighteen year old student."

"Which is disturbing but not illegal," Audrey added.

"But then the girl turned up dead with Palmer as a suspect until he disappeared. Then he became our Mr. Branson."

"So why were the three of you looking into him in the first place?" the sheriff questioned like we hadn't just given him an entire case.

"Seriously?" Audrey hissed. "There's a bloody knife in a bag, but you're concerned about how we found… Wait, do you think we planted this?"

"I just asked a simple question." The sheriff was trying to play games and it was beyond frustrating.

"There's a bloody knife in the vent in this guy's classroom. I got stabbed by some crazy person in a hepatitis filled bowling alley. If any of us were part of this, I feel like that wouldn't have happened," I told him, trying my best to keep my cool.

"Also, we found evidence that he was cyber-spying on the whole town, or at least helping Nina and Tyler do it," Noah quickly jumped in to keep me from being arrested for assaulting an officer.

"What evidence is that?"

"Malware, attached to his online homework site. I think Riley found out about it and then he killer her to keep her quiet." He was really good at setting the scene for the evidence we'd found. "And then he went and erased every trace of it, and he was conveniently 'out of town' during the whole bowling alley thing and then Will got killed."

Realization dawned on the sheriff for once and he seemed to be on the same wavelength as Noah for once. He pulled out his phone and dialed a number, "Mike, this is Hud. Put out an APB on Seth Branson."

"Well, that's Seth Palmer," Noah corrected. Then the sheriff looked at him with a raised brow and he said, "Right, I'll shut up now."

"You were quite the super sleuth today, a regular Sherlock if I say so myself," I said, playing with the buttons on his shirt.

We were up in my room together with Sophia in hers and Jackson at football practice. Elizabeth was at a boosters meeting for Jackson's team and dad was still at work. That meant my door didn't have to be open this time and I planned on taking advantage of it.

"This is the first time we've been alone in a while," I hinted, looking up at him from under my lashes.

"So it is," he played along, sliding his hand up and down my side gently. "How do you want to spend it?"

I bit my bottom lip before pushing him onto his back and straddling his hips. His eyebrows disappeared under his fringe of hair because they were raised so high. I kind of liked daze Noah, he was cute.

With my hands on his chest, I leaned forward and reconnected out lips. He sloppily kissed me back, trying to keep up with me even though he was still a bit dazed. One of his hands sat on my hip while the other rested on the bed by my knee.

Eventually, his lips started to move against mine and both of his hands rested on my hips. I was cupping his cheek in one hand with the other still pressed firmly to his chest. He took me by surprise by being the one to deepen the kiss, moving around until I was the one with my back against the bed.

"You're okay, right? That didn't hurt, did it?" he asked breathlessly.

Instead of answering him, I pushed his flannel off and slid my hand up the front of his shirt. He nodded jerkily and bent back into me, thoroughly kissing me and making my head spin a little.

There was a gap between my jeans and my t-shirt and his hand was resting on it. My pulse was racing and I felt too hot, but I never wanted to stop feeling like this. I pulled my mouth away from his to catch my breath, and he trailed kisses down to my neck.

I stretched out and let out a whimper when he kissed the spot directly under my ear. My cheeks started heating up, that was the most embarrassing sound I've ever made in my entire life. I was about to pull out of his embrace and hide under my covers forever when his grip tightened on my hips and he groaned.

"Dad just pulled into the driveway!" Sophia shouted from the other side of my door.

I groaned in annoyance and pushed Noah's chest up. "That was longer than I expected, honestly."

"Yeah, I might need a second before I leave," he breathed with his eyes closed.

My face squinched up with laughter as I covered it with my hands. "Oh my god, you're such a dork."

Wow, I sure knew how to pick 'em.

Thanks for reading!