MONICA GRACE CLUTCHED the December thirteenth paper in her hands, a grim look capturing her features as she called Angelica down from her room. She had just gotten off the phone with Melissa Walters and sat down, preparing herself to drop the bomb on her daughter that Melissa has just dropped on her. Melissa called her to tell her the news and in the middle of the two mothers talking and grieving, that days edition of the paper hit the Grace house door. Monica took the paper inside, unraveling it as the call between her and Melissa had come to an end. Now she was here, and things were about to go south.

As Angelica made her way downstairs, the song she was humming became louder with each step she took. She was in a good mood today, but that was all about to change. A small smile was placed on her lips as she entered the kitchen, but the smile vanished when she saw her mother's expression.

"Is everything alright?" Angelica questioned, a worried look overtaking her features.

"Yes, everything is fine," Monica responded, dismissing her daughter's question.

Before she could continue on, though, Angelica spoke again, "Did something happen to Danny-"

"Your brother is fine. I just talked to him yesterday," Monica cut in, trying to stop Keira from asking questions.

She really needed to get to the point here.

Angelica put her hands on the table and leaned her weight on them, opening her mouth to ask another question. Before she could say anything, Monica put a hand up to silence her. Angelica let out a frustrated sigh, her next question - which was about Keira - threatening to come up like word vomit.

Monica took a deep breath and looked her daughter in the eye, her next words ringing in the air.

"It's Keira."

At that moment, Angelica practically fell into the chair across from her mother. Even though a voice inside her head was screaming, protesting to the fact that this was actually happening, it was happening. It was reality, and Angelica wasn't sure she could take whatever her mother was going on to say next. There was already a sensation moving throughout her body, numbing her feelings. She almost knew what was coming next, but she didn't want to face it.

Monica looked as though she was about to cry as she continued, grabbing her daughter's hand, "Keira's dead, honey. She committed suicide around a week ago."

It felt as though a rock had just hit Angelica in the chest. The news was hard to hear - even harder to comprehend - her best friend for as long as she could remember was dead. Gone. Just like that. Before she knew it, there were tears welling in her dark brown eyes, spilling over onto her cheeks and landing on the table. Her mother was soon at her side, though she had no idea how, wrapping her arms around her.

"It'll be alright, Angel, it'll be okay," Monica told her daughter, providing words of sympathy that landed on listening ears.

Angelica could only nod as her tears soaked her mother's shirt. Her mother stroked her hair, feeling sorry for Angelica. Monica hated to see her daughter hurting in this way, but it was understandable in Angelica's situation. She had just lost a friend, after all, and that news was not easy to take.

After a while - or what felt like a while; only fifteen minutes had passed by - Angelica and Monica broke their embrace. Angelica wiped her eyes on the sleeves of her sweatshirt and sniffled, looking down at the table with a calm yet distraught expression. Her eyes were red and puffy, face shiny from the tears shed.

As Angelica tucked a strand of purple hair behind her ears, she cleared her throat. After that, she spoke, her voice sounding almost strained.

"I'm going to go call Evan," She told her mother, looking up and past Monica as she stood.

With that, she walked back upstairs, the smile faded from her face and the house eerily silent.

>>>>>>>

Evan sat on his bed, checking over his English essay when a single knock sounded from the door. Before he could respond, the person behind the knock invited themselves in, partially shutting the door behind them.

Keeping his eyes glued to the screen, Evan spoke to the person in his room, "What do you want, Stephanie?"

Stephanie stepped closer to Evan's bed, her footsteps audible as she walked, "I'm going out."

"So?" Evan challenged, throwing his gaze on her in a quick movement, practically throwing daggers with his eyes, "Get to the point, or get out."

"Why so rude?" Stephanie drawled, "I'm your older sister, Evan. Show some respect."

"No wonder our parents decided to have another child after you," Evan whispered under his breath, earning a death glare from his sister to which he smirked, "Well, what do you want?"

"If mom asks where I am, I'm at Brian's," Stephanie explained, then paused, meeting her brothers gaze, "Got it?"

Evan nodded slowly, "Where will you actually be?"

Stephanie melodramatically huffed and rolled her blue eyes, "Lucas's. There's a party at his house."

"On a Tuesday?" Evan raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah, on a Tuesday," Stephanie snapped in a mocking manner, walking towards the door, apparently ready to leave, "Well, bye-bye."

"Bye," Evan grumbled, focusing back on his essay as Stephanie walked out of his bedroom.

As soon as he focused his attention back on his homework, though, his phone rang. He let out a frustrated sigh at all of the things distracting him from his work, but when he saw who the call was from, his frustration subsided a little as he answered it. It was Angelica.

"Hello?" Evan greeted in more of a question than a statement.

"Hey," Angelica answered, sighing in a monotone voice. It sounded strained. "Do you want to go grab an early dinner at Dorothea's Place with me?"

"Yeah, of course, I'm sure my mom wouldn't mind," Evan instantly responded, nodding his head as he shut his laptop, "Is there any reason why?"

There was a short but noticeable pause before Angelica spoke again, "No, not any reason in particular."

"Okay," Evan commented, feeling slightly worried at Angelica's tone and awkward at how the conversation was going. He didn't want to pester her by asking if she was okay, so he left it alone. "Well, I'll see you then."

"Yeah, see you then," Angelica concluded, ending the call a second later.

Evan heard the end of call tone play before he brought his phone down from his ear. Angelica was acting a little strange and he tried not to worry, but he couldn't help but think something was up. He thought about this as he put his phone in his pocket and descended the stairs.

As he reached for his coat on the rack by the door, his mother looked up from her spot on the couch. Evan looked over, meeting Amanda's blue eyes that perfectly matched his own.

"Where are you going?" Amanda questioned at the sight of Evan holding his coat in his hands.

"Dorothea's Place for an early dinner. Angelica invited me," Evan explained.

Amanda nodded, "Where'd your sister go?"

Evan looked down as he slipped his coat on, eyeing the pair of shoes he was going to wear, "She went to L- Brian's. Brian's house."

"Alright," Amanda nodded slowly as her face softened into a smile, "Well, have fun."

"Thanks," Evan smiled back, slipping his shoes on.

Without another word, he walked out of the house and into the cold evening.

<<<<<<<

When Angelica arrived at the diner, Evan was already there, sitting with Tyler McKinnon. Something was off, and she quickly noticed that Willow wasn't there. Angelica saw that there were drinks in front of them when she approached their table, internally sighing. She was hoping to catch Evan alone, but she wasn't going to force Tyler to leave. She guessed that he was there alone and Evan asked to sit with him, trying to fulfill his plan of getting to know Tyler to see if there was a chance that he had involvement with Keira before she went missing. The thought made her tear up a little, knowing that Evan would soon be trying to see if Tyler had murdered Keira or something of the sorts, even if the press said that Keira had committed suicide. He was that kind of person, and Angelica wasn't going to judge him for it. It was hard, though, losing a best friend. That was a pain that she learned very quickly on December thirteenth, and it was a pain that she didn't wish upon anyone else. It wasn't fun, and her opinion had been formed over only a short period of time. She knew it could get better or worse from there, but only time would determine that.

Angelica didn't really know if Evan knew about what happened yet, but seeing how he was chatting with Tyler and seemed to be in a good mood, she suspected he hadn't. Making her way over to the table, she sat down across from Evan and Tyler, suddenly rendered speechless. Now was the time - she was about to tell Evan the news about their best friend, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She couldn't bring herself to say anything, choking back tears that were rising. It was one thing to hear the news, but a completely different feat to speak it. It seemed simple, a just-say-it kind of matter, but it wasn't simple. Angelica couldn't bring herself to actually say that her friend committed suicide, to accept that she was gone like that - needless to say, she just stared as Evan stopped talking and turned his attention to Angelica. Tyler looked over too, and Angelica felt as though she had a spotlight on her.

When Evan noticed Angelica sit down across from him and Tyler, his attention was directed at her. He stopped talking, trailing off as he noticed her appearance. She looked rough. Her eyes were red and puffy as though she had been crying, the tip of her nose the same color, presumably from the cold. She was wearing a particular outfit - she called it "the lazy outfit - one that she wore when she didn't feel like trying. It consisted of a crew neck that had the words 'Moorwood, Pennsylvania' in a circle around three trees, the middle one th largest; a pair of 'comfortable' jeans, as she called them; and the oldest pair of black and white Vans high tops she owned. Her blue and purple hair, which she usually took time doing one way or another, in some new and exciting pattern, was pulled back in a simple ponytail. Evan knew something was up and wanted to get to the bottom of it, but he had no clue where to start as he and Tyler stared at her blankly while she did the same back.

Finally, Evan spoke, "Hey."

"Hi," Angelica responded, somehow finding some courage to speak without choking up. Still, her voice sounded strained, and Evan quickly picked up on this.

"Are you alright?" Evan questioned, watching as Angelica's lip slightly quivered.

Angelica let out a long, shaky breath at the question, starting to cry as she answered. She took her sleeves and put them over her hands, putting her hands by her eyes to catch the tears that were falling.

"She's dead, Evan," Angelica bluntly explained, her voice breaking as she spoke, "Keira's dead."

As Angelica hung her head, quietly crying into her hands, Evan tried to register what she had just said. The words left her lips, hung in the air, but he couldn't comprehend them right. She was his best friend, Angelica's best friend, and she was gone. He couldn't force himself to believe that, but that was the case. Keira was gone.

Angelica looked up, her eyes watery, meeting Evan's gaze. He didn't look hurt, in pain, happy, or anything. He looked neutral, and that was more concerning than any emotion he could have displayed. His blue eyes were dark, as though a storm covered the sky, the brightness gone as tears welled in them. The tears threatened to spill over as he finally brought himself to speak, only able to utter one word that turned into yet another question.

"How?"

Swallowing another wave of tears, Angelica answered his question, "She committed suicide."

That was all she could bring herself to say on the matter, even if Evan wanted to know more. Based on the question, that seemed to be all of the information he was seeking, which played out in Angelica's favor.

Evan choked out another word after a moment, "Why?"

Angelica shook her head, feeling irritated with all of the questions. In a way, it was only making her feel worse, yet she very well knew where Evan was coming from. She had the same exact questions that had very apparent answers when her mother told her the news, but she was feeling overwhelmed at the moment. It was a wave of emotions she couldn't control, and it seemed that life was feeding that fire instead of putting it out.

Looking up, Angelica went to tell Evan the reason why, but she stopped herself. She had forgotten that Tyler was sitting beside Evan in the exchange surrounding Keira, and it was in that moment that Angelica realized that he hadn't said a word. She could see where he was coming from - she was an emotional wreck and Evan had become one. He was new here, after all, just walking in on a girl going missing and landing in the crowd with that girl. Angelica decided not to tell Evan in that moment in an act of courtesy and respect - the reason Keira would take her own life was very personal.

"I'll tell you later," Angelica finally told Evan, stealing a quick glance at Tyler.

With that, Evan nodded, and a tension so thick one could cut it with a knife filled the air. Thus, dinner practically passed in silence.