Saira lay on her bed, unnerved. She hadn't seen Fareeda for hours since Erin and North took her in for a statement for Lizzy Connors' death. Or suicide so to speak. Rumours and gossip travel fast around Silverleaf, and as Gossip Girl, Saira discovers some parts of what happened.

Lizzy committed suicide by overdosing on opioids, specifically fentanyl, in one of the stalls. Slumped over the toilet and foaming at the mouth, her hands were locked on a suicide note. What was on that suicide note? Even if Lizzy could be overwhelming and a part of Ivory Kee's little squad, Saira would have never thought she was suicidal.

Suddenly, the door creaked and Fareeda entered the dorm. "Fareeda!" Saira jumped off the bed, wrestling the girl in a bear hug, nearly sending them to the floor. "Thank God, you're fine." Fareeda's arms wrapped around Saira's neck as they fell back onto Saira's bed.

Saira, backed against the wall, looked at Fareeda. She looked exhausted and, quite frankly, terrified. "Are you okay?" she whispered and Fareeda gave a meek nod, sighing. "What happened?"

"Detective Hollison and Officer North held me in some room in Headmaster Roux's office. They asked stuff about what I saw in the washroom stall and I made a statement." Fareeda stared at the ceiling. "What I saw was awful, Saira. Lizzy's eyes were closed and she was foaming at the edge of her lips, dripping onto her turtleneck shirt."

Fareeda shut her eyes, almost as if she was relieving the memory. Maybe she was. "When I first entered the washroom, I was checking for clean stalls when I saw someone's feet sticking out on the floor. I knocked on the stall and realized the door was ajar. I opened it a-and I saw Lizzy, I totally freaked.

"I checked for a pulse, but there was none. I figured that she must have overdosed because of t-the foaming and—" Her breath was shallow. "I read her suicide note, Saira. Before I even ran out to find Hollison or North, I was fucking reading the note even if I never knew Lizzy Connors."

When Fareeda started to sob, Saira rubbed her shoulder affectionately. "Fareeda, cry it all out," Saira said, offering a comforting smile.

When Fareeda's cries ebbed away, she said, "It talked about how she was the one who killed Robert Reuters, she murdered him in his dorm because of Ivory and Bailey." Fareeda shook her head gravely. Saira sat up, horrified. Wait, Lizzy killed Robert? No, it couldn't have been, Lizzy wasn't even connected to the Silverleaf Gothic Literature Club—were the Originals' theories wrong?

"What?" Saira was shocked.

"Yeah, apparently Robert was cheating on Bailey Preston with Ivory Kee. Lizzy and Ruth knew, but Lizzy felt bad for both girls and went to visit Robert to ask him to choose one. But she got so mad that she went all psycho, stabbing him in cold blood." Fareeda gulped. "In the note, she wrote, and I quote, 'After I did it, I felt so horrible—I was a monster, wasn't I? The guilt gnawed at me, so I took some of my mom's old medicine that I stole a few months back to piss her off, and decided to end it all. I couldn't live with myself. I'm sorry, Ruth and Ivory.' I mean, it was so sad and..."

"So Lizzy overdosed because she couldn't live with murdering Robert?" Saira blinked, not sure what to think. It didn't make sense regardless. I need to tell Orchid and Stoll, she thought. Thoughts and theories spiralled around her, but she decided to focus on Fareeda for the night. "You know what? Let's forget about that for now."

Fareeda nodded as they both gazed at each other. "I'm sorry," she confessed, wincing. "I shouldn't have threatened Orchid, I just...I like you a lot." She wrung her hands, offering a nervous smile. "But I guess you're too good for me, I bet you have lists and lists of crushes."

Saira sighed. "I mean, I never really thought of crushes much, too worried about other things." Translation: Boys and girls may bore me, but I try not to get close because of the Shades of Gray project. No connections allowed, better that way.

"Why not?"

"Because boys sort of freak me out romantically. I mean, I can be friends with them but it scares me to think of forming a relationship with them." Memories of Papa's and Mama's abusive marriage played in Saira's mind. "So I didn't think of them. I also didn't think much of my sexuality, girls are... Erm, I don't actually know." But she knew that she liked Fareeda, well, kind of.

"But are you okay with me being...?"

"Bi? Yeah, I could care less about your preferences," Saira snorted, making Fareeda giggle a bit. She tucked Fareeda's curls behind her ear, smiling slightly. Sure, they got off on the wrong foot, but...

Saira didn't know how to understand this feeling.

But she had one last thing to ask. "When you wrote those threats to Orchid..." Saira saw Fareeda's expression change immediately. "You said you knew the secret. You wrote, 'I will tell everyone what you did, I know what happened to your "best friend." What kind of friend are you, Orchid?' What does that mean?"

Fareeda's upper lip twitched. Wait, why am I looking at her lips? Saira became flustered. "I went to Riff Hills CHS, the same high school as Orchid Gray," Fareeda explained. "While we were in different classes and never encountered each other, I heard the gossip around the school before she transferred to Silverleaf Academy. It's rumoured that she pushed her friend, Navaeh Naylor, off the stairs, resulting in Navaeh going into a coma."

Navaeh Naylor, so that was the name of Orchid's best friend. Saira remembered what Orchid had said once confessing her secret for their Shades of Gray treaty. I committed attempted murder against my best friend. It spun out of control and it's my fault, she had said. Attempted murder. Navaeh could have died instead of being put in a coma. While her mind twisted with ideas, Saira couldn't really judge Orchid—she had killed her dad after all.

Saira was eager to switch the subject. "You're really beautiful."

Fareeda blushed. "So, u-uh, what are you doing tomorrow?" Damn, she was good at changing the topic too.

Saira chuckled. "Well, it will be Sunday so I might dye my hair colour again, I'm thinking about matching with Detective Erin Hollison. The navy's a bold colour, I like being bold as well. We'd be twins!" she said mockingly and Fareeda laughed. "What about you?"

"Might go back to the greenhouse, check out on things during dawn."

Saira wrinkled her nose. "You're a morning person? Ick."

"Oh please, you're the one who is icky." Fareeda was in a much better mood. Saira smiled again, pressing her lips onto Fareeda's forehead. She felt Fareeda's ragged breath on her neck and closed her eyes.

At that moment, she didn't think of the consequences of loving Fareeda Patel. For a minute, Saira Levine could forget about the past and being Sarah Le Vil. Her mind flickered to Stanley's hit list, Fareeda's name was on there. But she's okay and Lizzy just died, Lizzy's name wasn't there, Saira's mind convinced her.

Maybe she would even let her heart heal for the night.