Students flood the halls, hurriedly walking past their lockers and classrooms to the school exits as they rush to leave the building. The majority of them laugh and cheer, neglecting that one of their classmates was found dead just mere hours ago.

Outside reporters still surround the school but now from a more distant perimeter. Sheriff Raul Martinez signals for one of the reporters and her cameraman to move further back, ensuring that they all stay a minimum of a hundred feet away. It's rare that this town gets any real news, so this is like a slab of meat being tossed into a tank full of bloodthirsty piranhas.

Between two empty school buses in the crowded parking lot, Morgan sits on the bumper of one of the buses. He watches Taylor, who bites her nail as she worriedly paces back and forth between the buses while watching the horde of crazed students cut through the lot. With each one that passes by, she feels like they're staring at her. All of them. As if they knew what she did.

Cesar emerges from the crowd, walking over to join them.

"Where's Riley and Paige?" She asks.

Shrugging, Cesar leans against the back of the bus. He glances at the exit door heedlessly, clearly not very reminiscent of the accident. Or at least that's what he's trying hard to portray.

"He's at Casey's." Morgan answers, looking up from his phone as he reads a text he just received. "Her and Paige are the ones who found her this morning."

"Oh my god. Case..."

"Why are we even here?" Cesar bluntly cuts in. "This is a waste of time."

"Are you serious?" Taylor's tone quickly grows agitated. "I think that, if I didn't prove my point last week with the note, the fact that somebody murdered one of our friends should be enough to convince you that something really bad is going on."

"She wasn't my friend."

"Really?"

Morgan attempts to interject. "Cesar, just—"

Scoffing, Cesar glares at Taylor is disdain. "Just what? Now you're on her side?"

"Dude, chill out. Nobody is picking sides here." Morgan attempts to talk calmly, his fist clenching with each word. He really just wants to punch him in the face already. "Like coach says, we're all on the same team."

"Oh yeah right, Morgan. Since when do you believe in team effort?" He rolls his eyes, his target now set on Morgan. "You know what's funny, I think Garrett used to say the same thing. Before you burned his face off and everything."

Morgan jumps up from the bumper, flexing his shoulders as he approaches Cesar. "Yeah, and I'm about to bash yours in if you don't shut the fuck up."

Their faces are only inches apart now. Morgan's nose flares as he takes deep breaths, trying hard to restrain himself.

"Come on, killer. Show me what you got." Cesar grins, obviously provoking him.

"Are y'all serious right now?"

The two turn to Taylor, who shoves between them and pushes them apart with each hand. They back up.

"Now is not the time for this. Julia is dead because of us!" Catching herself, Taylor looks around to make sure none of the other students heard her and continues in a lower tone. "We should have gone to the cops but we didn't. And now somebody wants revenge. Maybe we should just do what we should have done in the first place."

Morgan takes a deep sigh as he attempts to calm his nerves. "What are you saying, that we turn ourselves in?"

"Yes."

"Even if there is some maniac out there, watching us right now." Cesar's grin widens. "Waiting for his next opportunity to slash one of our throats. Who's to say we can stop him?"

Shaking his head, Morgan's eyes narrow as he glares at him. "I am so tempted to wipe you across this pavement right now."

"He's right. Whoever this is, he knows what we did. He knows the truth, and he's not going to forget." Taylor gulps, staring at her own reflection from the window on the bus emergency exit. "And I'm afraid that, if we don't spill our guts, he might do it for us."

Cesar steps forward and, as she watches through the reflection, he approaches her from behind. He leans over her shoulder to whisper, but loud enough for Morgan to still hear. "Maybe we deserve it. Have you thought of that?"

A hand tightly clasps onto his shoulder and he cocks his head to see Morgan standing right behind him. "Back off, man."

Cesar backs up and thrusts his shoulder backwards to get out of Morgan's grip. He laughs as he stares at both of them, slowly backing away from the buses. "Y'all kids be safe now."

"Piss off." Morgan snarls, and he watches as Cesar laughs hysterically before slipping off back into the crowd of students.

"He's just upset about Julia. He really liked her." Taylor turns away from the window, disgusted by her own reflection, and leans against the back of the bus.

"Yeah well, he has a funny way of showing it." Morgan reclaims his seat on the bumper next to her. He peers down at the gravel beneath his feet. "So I tried to visit Garrett yesterday. At the hospital."

"You went to visit Garrett?" Taylor repeats it, as if to confirm what she heard was correct. In reality, that was guilt kicking in since she hasn't bothered to make even one visit over the past few weeks. She has wanted to, and even drove all the way up to the hospital one time, but she couldn't go through with it. She didn't know what to say to Garrett when she walked into that room.

Morgan flashes a disappointed smirk. "Don't act so surprised. Yeah, I wanted to check up on him. I mean—it's the least I could do." He looks up at her. "But anyway, when I got up there, they said he had already been discharged. They got him set up in some recovery program at home. They said he is doing better. He can talk."

"That's great." She flashes a genuine smile.

"Is it? He can talk."

She pauses as her mind adjusts to his wavelength. "You don't think—"

"I don't know. But do you see any cops looking for me? He hasn't told the police. But what if he told someone else?"

"The same person that..."

They both stare at each other.

Morgan jumps back up from the bumper, his face flushed as his eyes glance around the parking lot anxiously. "I think we should pay him a visit."

"Are you sure you're up for that?" Taylor looks at him, concerned.

He's not. But, at this point, does he have a choice?

Distressed, Morgan glances over at her. "I have to face my demons sooner or later, right?"

Lying on her side, Casey pulls the sheets up as she stares at the wall across from her. Her eyes glisten from the hallway light and she tries her best to avoid crying. Her room has never felt so dark. So frightening. So sad.

Riley has his arm wrapped around her waist as he stares at the back of her head, countless thoughts racing through his mind. The main one... Will she be okay?

He hears her sniffle and pulls her in closer, his head lightly brushing against her hair. He slowly leans over to kiss her cheek, an unspoken way of telling her that he's not going anywhere.

"I can't get it out of my head." Her voice is shaken. With each word, she feels her eyes watering. "Julia—she... I just saw her last week."

With his free hand he uses his fingers to brush at her hair. "I know. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, Riley."

But isn't it? If only he had just taken Taylor's keys and waited as the sirens grew louder for the police to arrive. Things could have been different. He holds back tears of his own. The sight of Casey hurt—more like devastated—is killing him. And, in his eyes, he is to blame.

"If you need anything, you know I'll always be here." He tightens his hug on her and then those three words accidentally slip out in a soft whisper. "I love you."

His eyes widen and he prays that she didn't hear him. Or maybe that's exactly what she needed to hear right now. Either way, what he said is true.

Casey's head turns as her body slowly flips over to face him. Her eyes tear up even more, but this time in a good way. She leans in to kiss him and the two embrace each other and, just like that, everything suddenly feels right again. Safe. At least for now.

♫ ʀᴇᴄᴏᴠᴇʀʏ / ᴊᴀᴍᴇs ᴀʀᴛʜᴜʀ ♫