Initially, Riley was pretty worried looking when she arrived to the party without Mariana. And to make matters worse, Mariana wasn't at the party when she did show up luckily being one of Ash's friends she happened to get to the part pretty early..Yeah, maybe Mariana would arrive when everyone else did.

Well, she didn't, Mariana remained missing even when everyone showed up. And this worried Riley even more, to the point that everyone else had started partying but her worrying is what kept the small friend group from partying.

Amelie was the first to speak up on this "Okay come on! She'll show up eventually! But can we please just partyy? That's what we're here for right?" She asked crossing her arms. Kai, who was leaning against the railing of the stairs rolled her eyes, star groaned under their breath before speaking "As much as I hate saying it, She's right. Even if I'm not a party person, this is boring as fuck." They stated bluntly. Despite this, Riley continued to pace "Its not like her to just miss a party like this and not tell me!" Riley groaned, burying her face in her hands.

Sasha sighed softly and stood on her tip-toes, putting her arm around the taller girl's shoulder "I'm sure Mari is fine!" She chirped, sighing as Riley's distressed expression remained on her face. "Maybe you should try to stop worrying about it." River chimed in, he held his skateboard by his side.

Ash nodded "I mean, this is my party and I feel like I should be somewhere but here." He stated, thinking for a second "but If you wanna keep waiting I guess I can stay for a couple more minutes." He sighed. Omari shook her head a bit "If you wanna have fun go do it! I can update you on what happens." She rolled her eyes, pushing his shoulder lightly.

With a soft chuckle Ash rolled his eyes at his best friend. "Im just gonna go talk to some of the football guys." He commented, the tall male walking off into the kitchen, chattering could be faintly heard in the background, Riley sighed once again.

Maeve sighed, setting her hand on Riley's other shoulder. "I'm sure she'll turn up Rye. Just try calming down maybe? You can stay hear and wait for her, I can wait with you if you'd like?" She offered, nothing but a kind smile on her face. This gesture made Sasha speak up "Well- I can wait with you too!" She spoke, a slight hint of jealousy in her eyes.

Riley looked between the two girls, her head tilting to the side a bit, nonetheless, she nodded "If you guys wouldn't mind..I don't wanna keep the other guys waiting, they came here to have fun, so I think they should.." she sighed, taking a couple steps away from the front door she was pacing around by, she sighed, sitting in the middle of the couch, in which Maeve and Sasha both sat on each side of her, Sasha on her right and Maeve on her left.

Riley's leg bounced up and down, up and down, shaking slightly too, her jaw was clenched, she wasn't particularly terrified, but to any normal eye, it was obvious she was scared, in any other case- no any other town, a friend wouldn't be THIS worried, but this was OCEANROW. The town itself practically had a criminal record, so she had no idea what happened to her friend, and she was just so worried.

Sasha and Maeve both hand their hands on her shoulders, sharing worried glances occasionally, Riley NEVER acted like this, they had never really ever seen her that worried, she just stared at the wall, she looked up at both of them. "You think mars is okay?" She asked in a softer voice than her usual voice. Maeve and Sasha both nodded "I'm sure she's fine, Riley." Maeve said, sounding pretty calm. "Yeah! She's right! I'm sure Mariana is fine!" Sasha's voice was a bit more upbeat than either of the girls, but that's how it usually was.

-

Meanwhile, with the others, Ash, River And Omari we're in the kitchen, each of them had a full shot glass in their hand, they all tapped the glasses on the table before taking a shit of whatever alcohol they had poured in the glasses, they all set down the glasses in sync, Ash and Omari smiled at each other rolling their eyes as well, River just set his hands on the counter "There's a LOT of people here, I wouldn't be surprised if you ALREADY ran out of beer." He commented, looking at Ash.

Ash nodded a bit "Well that's how it usually is. We have a mini fridge in the attic..I have no idea why but it's up there, I keep extra drinks in there for huge parties like these, it's something I've learned to do." He comment "I'm used to getting WAY more people than I expect when I host parties." Ash admitted "But my parents are barely ever home so It's not a big deal." He shrugged, grabbing a can of beer from one of the coolers. When soft footsteps could be heard entering the kitchen "Parker! Hey!" Ash turned his head to the doorway, the boy waved in response, sheepishly.

"Hey. I didn't mean to intrude. I was just looking for a quiet place." He said in a soft tone of voice. Ash nodded in response "I'm not sure where there's a quiet place right now, but there's drinks in those two coolers just to let you know." Ash commented, pointing at the coolers "That one." He pointed at the one on the left "Is waters and sodas and non-alcoholic drinks." He informed, getting a quiet nod from the boy who just grabbed a water and soon walked out of the kitchen.

-

In another room, specifically the dining room, Ben was leaning on the wall. The boy sighed to himself, his eyes closing, then opening, as he looked at the wall in front of him, he could hear music and lights from all directions, he definitely wasn't a party person, he was only there because his small group of friends was, he was in a trance until he heard a voice. "Hey!" The voice wasn't shouting it was friendly, and calm.

And this voice was Emerson. The initial speaking made Ben flinch, but it pulled him out of his trance. "Sorry, i didn't mean to disturb you." He stated, nodding Ben shrugged. "It's alright. I understand." He shot the other boy a small smile. "I just wanted to check up on you." Emerson commented.

"You know, with the whole 'Mariana not being here' situation, I wanted to make sure you were holding up alright." Emerson stated, Ben nodded in return "Thats nice of you." He stated. "Im doing fine." He stated truthfully "But are you alright?" He asked. Emerson nodded "Im fine. The party is a bit loud for my liking but I should've been expecting that." He chuckled a bit, and just like that, the two started talking.

-

Alice was currently sitting just below the staircase, reading a book. Yes, reading books wasn't something a person would normally do at parties, but it made him happy, and parties were supposed to make you happy, right? So why not, they were supposed to make you happy after all.

In the corner, just across from the staircase, Avari stood, a red cup In her hand as she leaned against the wall. As Alice looked up from his book, the two shared a slight friendly smile, they weren't..Exactly friends, but they did share similar experiences, so they have talked the occasional couple times, and they greeted each other occasionally.

Nathan wrapped his jacket around his shoulders, spotting Alice reading near the staircase he decided to talk to him, a smile on his face, he sat next to Alice, peeking at the book he was reading "Reading at a party?" He chuckled a bit. Alice nodded, almost proudly "Well, parties are supposed to make you happy. And reading is what makes me happy. So why not?" He asked.

Nathan nodded in response "I was kidding, there's nothing wrong with it, No worries!" He chuckled "But I would get distracted with all the lights, music, and drunk screaming teenagers." He shrugged a bit, Alice nodded a bit "I guess I just get into the story so much that I don't notice." Alice shrugged.

-

"RING..RING.." Riley's phone started to ring like crazy, before she saw who it was, she declined the call, rolling her eyes, until they called again. She wracked her brain to see of she recognized the number, and then it hit her! That was Marianas little brother, Anthony, that was his phone number. When he called for a third time she accepted the call with no hesitation whatsoever, confusing the two girl sitting of each side of her.

The movement of her arms shook both of their arms off of her shoulders. Maeve and Sasha glanced at each other, sighing and glancing back at Riley "I hope it's good news..Whoever it was.." Maeve whispered more to herself as she watched Riley listen to what the person on the know was saying, though neither Maeve nor Sasha knew who she was talking to, due to Riley's expression it couldn't have been that good.

The somber voice of Mariana's brothers voice filled her ears, just his tone of voice made her go practically pale. She was gripping her phone so tight that her fists even turned a ghostly shade of white, rings of red throughout her knuckles, that was evident, but it was his words that made her stomach drop.

"I really didn't wanna be the one to tell you this, Riley.. but Mariana was attacked, the police said they assumed the attack was about two hours ago.."Mariana's brother spoke. "Is she okay?" Riley's shaky panicked voice asked. No response "Anthony. This is serious, is she okay, is she ALIVE?" She asked panicked. "I'm sorry they..They— she didn't- I'm sorry." The boy stuttered out "WHAT?" The shout of the girl was loud, enough to get the attention of anyone who knew her personally, but no one really at the part.

"Fuck this! I'll call you back, Anthony!" Riley couldn't calm down, her voice was still loud, filled with anger as she clenched her fists, they were a ghostly white that this point, Maeve and Sasha both looked at her, Sasha tried to put her hand on Riley's shoulder but Riley shook it off "What happened?!" Ash entered the living room, followed by Omari, River, who was holding his skateboard until his fists with literally pink, Ben, Emerson, Amelie was the last from the kitchen/dining area to arrive to the living room.

"Yeah, the fuck is happening?" Kai asked, walking down the stairs. Alice had dropped his book when Riley had first shouted, most likely loosing his place, he closed the book up, standing up along with Nathan, Avari looked towards what was happening, everyone's heads were tilted a bit to the side.

Almost everyone in the group could tell that this was REALLY serious, Not only had Sasha gone dead silent for once, but so did Ash. You could see from getting just one look at Riley that something wasn't right, ESPECIALLY if you knew her well, she looked absolutely horrified, her eyes were filled with fear and this was evident, she was trying to keep everything together, it took everything for her to not break out into sobs.

The confusion and tension was thick in the air everyone was wondering what had happened, Sasha and Maeve were the only people who knew that it had to have something to do with the phone call that Riley got, and they were both more curious and nervous than they ever had been.

And when Riley opened her mouth, it all came out, tears, spilling out of her eyes "It's Mars she-"

"She's gone.."