After Matthew got away, Jonas walked back to his apartment, weighed down by the events of the afternoon. The police had questioned him, but they wouldn't believe him when he said that Matthew Clark was the one had set fire to the school. "Matthew Clark?" the policeman said. "You must be joking. My daughter is in his grade, and from what I've heard, he'd never hurt a fly."

Jonas put his headphones back in as he climbed up the stairs to Apartment #406. "Death of a Bachelor" by Panic! At The Disco filled his ears, and although he normally loved the song, he couldn't bear to hear it now. Brendon Urie clearly never knew what it was like to be in love with a psychopath.

It was hard for Jonas to admit his feelings for Matthew, even to himself. He had meant to tell Matthew how he felt about him when they had met earlier that day, but Matthew's near-destruction of Van Buren High School had put an end to that.

Jonas skipped the song, and "Crazy=Genius" began to play, but when he heard the talented, but painfully ignorant of his current situation, Brendon Urie sing "You can set yourself on fire, but you're never gonna burn, burn, burn," he had to turn it off.

Jonas opened the door to his apartment, and when he entered the kitchen, Gabi and his parents greeted him. "You're just in time for dinner," his mom said in Spanish.

He quietly sat down for dinner, knowing that he could never tell his family what had happened. Like the police officers, they probably wouldn't believe him. Besides, telling them about his afternoon with Matthew would likely have to involve telling them the real reason why he was so eager to hang out with him in the first place. Gabi might not care, but his parents almost certainly would.

"Jonas, wipe off that eyeliner," Dad said. "You know that you can't wear that at the dinner table."

Jonas sighed and walked towards the sink. He washed off his face, and within a few minutes, it was completely makeup-free. "Dad, that's such a silly rule," Gabi said. "You let me wear makeup at the table.

"That's different," Dad said. "Jonas is a boy, and boys cannot wear makeup."

"Sure they can," Gabi said. "Contrary to popular belief, eyeliner is gender neutral."

"Gabi, haven't you argued with your father enough for one day?" Mom said.

Gabi suddenly fell silent and returned to her dinner. Jonas meanwhile returned to the table. If this was his dad's reaction to his eyeliner, then there was no way that he could tell him that not only did he love wearing eyeliner, but he was also hopelessly in love with Matthew Clark, along with a long list of emo icons.

The awkward silence continued for several minutes until Mom asked, "Jonas, how was your hangout with Matthew?"

"It was okay," Jonas mumbled, and thankfully, his parents believed him. If they wanted honesty, he would have them that it was horrible - he was furious at Matthew for not being the innocent schoolboy that Jonas and nearly everyone else in his community had thought that he was, but for some reason, despite everything that he had done, Jonas couldn't get the image of Matthew in that red sweater out of his head. To his relief, his parents didn't ask for honesty.

"Hey Jonas, I heard something about References Upon References playing at a party on the other side of town," Gabi said. "Do you want to go?"

Jonas wasn't exactly eager to go anywhere after what had happened with Matthew, but he could make an exception for References Upon References. "Sure, why not?" he said.

"Cool," Gabi said. "Let's go after dinner."

Jonas looked towards his parents, and he wished that he could be a better son to them. At the very least, he wished that he could tell the truth, and someone would listen.

After dinner, Jonas climbed into the passenger seat of Gabi's car and turned on his music. He had barely spoken to Gabi since she had returned home, proving that not only was he a terrible son, but he was also a terrible brother.

Jonas only felt more insecure as Gabi drove him to the show. What if Matthew was there, and he tried to burn down the venue too? After watching him set fire to the school, it didn't seem unreasonable.

Jonas just wanted everything to return to normal. Was that too much to ask?