"𝙴𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚊 𝙱𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚜, 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚋𝚢 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚜 𝙻𝚊𝚗𝚊, 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚞𝚗𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚍𝚕𝚢 𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚗 𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝟸𝟺𝚝𝚑, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚘𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚕 𝚒𝚗 𝙲𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠, 𝙾𝚛𝚎𝚐𝚘𝚗.

𝙸𝚗 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚝 𝚜𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚊𝚐𝚎, 𝙻𝚊𝚗𝚊 𝚋𝚛𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚋𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚍𝚒𝚏𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚞𝚕𝚝 𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚟𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚐𝚐𝚕𝚎𝚜. 𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚜 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚗'𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚢, 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚐𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚒𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚋𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚜 𝚊 𝚐𝚊𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚎𝚏𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚍. 𝙻𝚊𝚗𝚊'𝚜 𝚞𝚗𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚙𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚜 𝚊 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚌𝚔 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚢, 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚜, 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚎𝚟𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚜. 𝚂𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚊 𝚟𝚒𝚋𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚜𝚘 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚊𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚎𝚛. 𝚂𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚗 𝚏𝚊𝚛 𝚝𝚘𝚘 𝚜𝚘𝚘𝚗. 𝙸𝚗 𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚞𝚍𝚍𝚎𝚗 𝚗𝚎𝚠𝚜, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚢 𝚊𝚜𝚔𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚟𝚊𝚌𝚢 𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚕 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚌 𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗.

𝙳𝚎𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚍𝚢, 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚢 𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚍𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛. 𝙻𝚊𝚗𝚊 𝚕𝚒𝚝 𝚞𝚙 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚖 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚏𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚝, 𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚐𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚏𝚞𝚗-𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚛𝚎𝚎 𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚒𝚝. 𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚊𝚝 𝚜𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚕 𝚜𝚘𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚣𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚌𝚒𝚛𝚌𝚕𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜, 𝙻𝚊𝚗𝚊 𝚎𝚗𝚓𝚘𝚢𝚎𝚍 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚝𝚛𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚞𝚙 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚜, 𝚍𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚕𝚢 𝚙𝚘𝚙𝚞𝚕𝚊𝚛 𝚝𝚒𝚔𝚝𝚘𝚔 𝚊𝚌𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝. 𝚂𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚘𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚗 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚘𝚛 𝚑𝚒𝚍𝚍𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚜𝚞𝚒𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚜.

𝙻𝚊𝚗𝚊 𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚟𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜, 𝙼𝚊𝚡𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙴𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚜, 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚍𝚘𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚘𝚢𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍, 𝙳𝚞𝚗𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚁𝚎𝚎𝚍, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚏𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠 𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚝 𝙲𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠 𝙱𝚘𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐."

The room went silent as Sam finished reading, folding the newspaper in her lap. Fifteen teenagers sat in the circular rotunda, lounging on the sofas and beanbags in various states of deterioration, but all gravitated away from an empty leather chaise that sat just below the central window.

"Jeez, what is this?" One of the girls said, breaking the silence with a scoff as she adjusted the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Have they even met Lana?"

A boy with brown cornrows in his hair hummed sarcastically from his spot on one of the arm chairs, slumped sideways in his seat with his legs hanging over the armrest. "I liked the part about her many suitors. At least they got some of it right."

"Why'd you even stay with her, Reed? She was obviously cheating on you." One of the girls, deathly thin and far paler than a person of her ethnicity ought to be, cast a pointed look at a blond boy as she said this, even though he wasn't the one she referred to.

"Leave me out of this. My romantic endeavors are not on trial here." His voice carried a hint of a deep, back-of-the-throat German accent.

The boy in question, Duncan Reed, shifted his defined jaw and dismissed the attention with a shake of his head. The other students waited for him to elaborate, but he offered no explanation.

"Alright then," the youngest girl said, stretching out each syllable for much longer than it should be as she bounced in her seat. "At least we know I'm not the worst liar there is. Whoever wrote that is much worse than me."

"And there you go lying again, Chris," the stick of a girl said.

Chris opened her mouth to argue, but was cut off by a knock on the door. Rowena Graves, one of the school's owners stepped inside. Her face was drawn down in a frown that fit her last name perfectly. Two police officers, the same two that had been in the school only two weeks prior when Lana's body had been discovered, stood behind her. "Sorry to interrupt, I just need to borrow Duncan for a moment. You've got visitors."

All eyes went back to the mysterious dark haired boy. Duncan stood up stoically and walked to the officers, nodding to them both in turn. "Officer Hernandez. Dawson."

The former, a middle aged latina with smile lines aside her eyes, returned the nod. "We just have a few questions for you, Mr. Reed. It'll only take a moment."

And with that, all three of the newcomers, plus Duncan, vanished into the hall.

After a few moments of silence, the youngest of the whole group looked up from his lego project and solemnly stated aloud what everyone had been thinking. "I don't think she killed herself."