Lola couldn't understand why her heart was beating so treacherously fast, like the drum and bass in some hip hop song. It was so loud, she could hear it pounding in her ears. 

The room was so silent, she snuck a glance at Julian who was sitting right next to her, their shoulders almost touching and for a brief moment she wondered if he could hear her crazy heart as well. 

His eyes widened when he caught her staring at him in panic and his expression mirrored hers. 

"Do I smell or something?" He asked worriedly before lifting his arms and checking. He then put his hand to his mouth and exhaled. "Is it the smoke? Because I smoked just now?"

He then jumped out of his seat before Lola could utter a word and rushed to the bathroom. She heard the sound of water running and took a deep breath of relief. 

At least he didn't catch her being all nervous in front of him. Why was she nervous anyway? They've literally spent the night together before.

Scoffing to herself, she flipped open her laptop and began looking through Facebook for their list of suspects. 

She found Jeanine, one of the students who worked closely with Tyler and began sifting through her profile. Nothing out of the ordinary caught her attention, so she turned to her pictures. 

Again, nothing really screamed prime suspect to a murder, there were mostly photos of the brunette posing with her football teammates, volunteering in charity drives and carnivals, etc. The girl was a model student, just like Tyler. 

"Anything interesting?" 

Lola whipped around to find a very fresh looking Julian who's black hair was glistening wet and pushed back messily. He smelled so good and he was smiling so widely, it made her heart pound again. 

"Umm, no nothing. I'm looking at Jeanine. Nothing much so far." Lola turned back to her screen, eager to find something to distract her from the way too good looking boy who just took a seat next to her. 

He set up Damien's lap top and his arm brushed against hers slightly. "What are we looking for exactly?" 

"I have no idea," She admitted and the two of them stared at each other helplessly. 

Julian squeezed her shoulder in reassurance, trying his best to look hopeful. "Let's just look around and get to know them through their profiles. I'll look at Red." 

Lola nodded and continued her search through Jeanine's socials, she went through her instagram photos, tik tok videos promoting her drive to clean up the park at west point and then her twitter. Thankfully, there wasn't much to read there. 

There wasn't anything Lola could find on her so she moved on to Max after. Unlike Jeanine, Max had a more active social life. She saw pictures of him at many parties usually hanging around  his field hockey friends. 

There were a few with Tyler and some of their teachers but like Jeanine, nothing really drew her attention.

Lola tried not to feel disheartened but she couldn't help the sinking feeling in her stomach that grew with each passing picture and page. She paused on a picture of Tyler, Max and some older looking guy whom she briefly remembered as a teacher who transferred not too long ago.

He was handsome and she remembered him because he had been a hot topic among st the students when he joined in the beginning of the semester. His time at Oakwood High had been so brief, he barely lasted the year. 

"You remember him?" She pointed out. 

Julian squinted at her screen, his eyebrows bunched together in curiosity. "Nope. I don't know if you remember but I used to skip class. A lot." 

"Yeah, I remember you being a moody loner even the teachers avoided," Lola stated as she clicked on the next photo. "How were you so popular yet so unfriendly." 

"It's a skill you have to be born with," He said winking at her and she rolled her eyes. 

"Please. It's just because you're good looking. The world's unfair like that."

"You think I'm good looking?" He asked and Lola froze. 

Did those words just come out of her mouth? What the hell was wrong with her? She wanted to smack herself and hide under the bed or jump into the pool. Or just die of embarrassment because Julian was smiling at her with a smug expression that she wanted to slap off. 

She ran a hand through her hair nervously and shifted in her seat. "I mean, you know. Good looking in a generic way. Like common." 

She was rambling and it wasn't looking pretty because he looked like he was going to laugh. 

"Whatever you say, Lola," He chimed in a sing song voice. 

"Come on, concentrate," She scolded him, even though the scolding was intended mainly for herself. 

They fell into a bout of silence, both busy looking through their list of suspects profiles and pictures. 

"Nothing," Julian sighed, looking as exasperated as she felt. 

Lola rubbed her tired eyes, unsure where to look now. She turned to her side to see Julian get up and fetch them two bottles of water. 

She took one from him and gulped down most of it, suddenly feeling thirsty and hungry. 

"Let's take a short break," He suggested and then he grabbed some snacks for them to munch. They tore open a bag of chips and dug into it, both evidently hungry. 

Lola leaned against the wall, watching Julian who was eating like someone who had been starved for days. She immediately felt guilty, realising he was in fact starving and living on scraps  before he ended up in her house. 

"What is it?" 

His deep voice snapped her out of her thoughts and she shook her head dismissively. 

"Nothing." 

"Come on. I can practically read the curiosity on your face," His dark blue eyes were almost black under the dim lighting. A lock of jet black hair fell across his forehead and he brushed it away brusquely, never breaking eye contact with Lola. 

"It's not a question. I was just wondering," She trailed off, not knowing how to continue. 

"About?" He pressed persistently. 

"About what it must have been like. After you were arrested." She bit her lip, half expecting him to shut down and grab a cigarette or snap at her. 

Instead he sighed softly. "It was hard, Lola. Feeling like the world was against me for no damn reason. Living day to day not knowing if I was going to survive or get caught again. It honestly sucked but nothing compared to the look in my mothers eyes when I was found guilty." 

He looked down and Lola's heart ached, she wanted to reach out to the boy in front of her and hug him but she was too afraid he might push her away.

"Is she, okay? I mean have you seen her around?" He looked up through glassy eyes and Lola instinctively reached for his hand. 

His hands were bunched together in fists and she gripped them tightly. She looked into his eyes, trying to appear strong even though his pained expression was breaking her from within. 

She couldn't imagine the pain he'd been going through. The pain his parents must be going through. Just thinking about her own made her want to hug them and never let go.

She's seen his mother once or twice in Walmart, a bottle in hand, with persistent dark circles and red rimmed eyes. 

"She's hanging in there," Lola reassured him and she felt his hands loosen in her hold. "I've seen her once or twice around the mart."

"She's all alone, isn't she? That asshole can't even help just this once," He muttered, the anger in his voice palpable. 

"Mr. Mahoney?" Lola asked curiously. For the millionth time, she wondered what the story was with Julian's father, the owner of the small pizza joint who didn't look like he could hurt a fly. 

She noticed Julian's eyes harden at her question, his face turning stony, gaze withdrawn. It was the same look she'd seen on him when he moved back into town as a stranger. 

His hands slipped from under hers and Lola tried not to look hurt at the rejection. 

"Yeah," He muttered dismissively and then he turned back to his computer. "You know who we should be looking at?" 

"Who?" Lola asked, knowing he'd just changed the topic again. Every time she brought up the divorce he became a statue, making it more and more obvious that he was hiding something about his family. 

Knowing it was a sensitive topic Lola decided to brush of the hurt she felt and concentrate on the task at hand. Her mouth turned sour when she saw him click on Tyler's profile. 

"What is your problem?" She frowned.

"What?" Julian shrugged innocently. "He's obviously a suspect. The guy practically lives in the school offices and in the teacher's pants. And he's suspicious." 

"You're just being mean. There's nothing wrong with him," She argued, although a part of her leaned forward to look through his profile. 

It's not like she'd never stalked him through social media before but this time they were looking for something different and as much as Lola didn't want to admit it, Tyler's sudden interest in her made her slightly paranoid. 

And Julian's obvious dislike for the guy didn't help. 

Thankfully, they didn't find anything suspicious and Lola was now feeling happy that they'd done this because now she could go on their ice cream date without any worries. 

"See I told you he was innocent," She exclaimed triumphantly. 

"Just because we haven't found anything, doesn't mean he is." 

"You just hate him for no reason," Lola pointed out angrily. 

"What's there to like? The guy's a kiss ass, a wannabe and have you seen his moppy looking hair?" Julian answered back. He flipped through his pictures religiously, never breaking eye contact with the computer screen. 

Either he didn't know Lola was staring daggers at him or he was pretending not to notice. 

"But I guess you're right. There's nothing here," He slumped back in his seat in defeat. 

"See I told you," Lola leaned forward, wanting to clear the browser of Tyler and his pictures but then something caught her eye. 

She saw a picture of him sitting on the floor, eyes glazed over, like he was high on something. He had his head held back, like he was about to laugh but Lola's eyes zeroed in on his hand which was clasped around someone else's. 

And Lola recognised the signature bracelet around that slender wrist that belonged to none other than Eva the bulldozer. 

Lola knew this by heart because she flaunted the damn piece of jewellery in Nalini's face for a whole week, saying it had been gifted personally by Stella McCartney. 

"That. That hand. Belongs to Eva," She stuttered, not knowing what to make of this. She'd never seen Tyler speak to the most popular girl in school ever, let alone hold her hand. 

"Shit," Julian gasped and Lola thought it was because of her discovery but when he pointed at the reflection in the mirror behind Tyler's smiling face, her jaw dropped. 

Because there was someone standing there, the person who had taken the picture and although their reflection was mostly obscured by the flash of the camera, there was no mistaking that fiery red hair and modelesque figure. 

It was Fiona, the girl who had been murdered in her room in cold blood. 

And even though this could all just be a big fat coincidence and the unlikely trio could just be friends, Lola couldn't help the growing seed of doubt in her stomach telling her that maybe Julian might be right about Tyler.