NOBODY KNEW THAT THEY HAD BROKEN UP. How could they?

All of King's High School watched Naoki Mae and Illias Cross the way America watched the British royal family, but who could know the inner workings of the crown? Certainly not the common people. Especially not when they were a continent away. And the student body of King's was at the very least a continent away from Naoki and Illias, who seemed to live on an entirely separate realm.

Yes, everything was fine, and Illias was very good at pretending so. He had searched up ways to remove the puffiness from his eyes, digging spoons out of the utensil drawer and letting them sit in the freezer before rubbing them over his eyelids. He'd downed two bottles of 5 Hour Energy (now he'd have ten hours, right?), and now nobody would be able to tell he'd spent the whole night awake. He couldn't bare to see her in his dreams.

He put on black baggy pants and a black hoodie, sliding on silver rings along his knuckles. He was mourning, in a sense, so black felt right. He dragged a brush through his hair while he brushed his teeth, staring at himself in the mirror, wondering how to get rid of the dark circles under his brown eyes.

His phone buzzed.

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

Atticus Mae

concealer, in fenty shade banana.
your front desk.

thanks. how'd you know?

naoki told me you'd need some.
she had it delivered.

tell her i said thanks

tell her yourself.

i'll try. thanks, atticus

sure.

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

Scrubbing a hand over his eyes, Illias sighed. It seemed so loud in his huge apartment, echoing off white marble countertops and soaring penthouse windows.

Something mewed at his feet, and he felt warm fur across the tops of his toes. He crouched down to rub the head of his tabby cat, Duck.

"Hey, buddy," Illias murmured. "Hungry?"

Duck mewed again, and spat something out at his feet. A strawberry-shaped hair clip, the one Naoki used to put in Duck's fur every morning before leaving for school. She'd spent so many nights here, he couldn't remember the first time she'd done it.

Illias smiled weakly. "That's right. Your hair clip. Here, sit still."

He pinned the clip in place, over Duck's ear, but it hung wrong, pulling on his fur. Duck mewed, distressed, but let it hang.

Illias bumped his nose. "Right. Time for school. Your food's in it's bowl. I'll see you later, Ducky."

Duck meowed and slunk away, strawberry dangling from his ear.

Maybe everything wasn't fine.

NAOKI WOKE UP ALONE, and it scared her. Everything she had imagined came true. It crashed over her like a wave, knocking her off her feet, tossing her about and flooding down her lungs.

She'd managed to sleep last night, the first night alone. Her head still ached from the party, a mixture of poor sleep, alcohol and crying into her pillow. She hoped she would see him in her dreams, maybe explain herself, and hope that he would ask for her back. Instead, he was nowhere to be found, and that was more lonely than any empty bed could've been.

Someone knocked on her door.

"Come in," she croaked, smoothing back her strawberry-pink hair, rubbing her sleep-swollen eyes.

Atticus, Jem and Laurie all poked their heads in.

"We got you chicken noodle soup," Jem held up a bowl-sized mug, steam curling from its top. He tiptoed in, still scared to enter her room even with permission, and laid it in her hands. Atticus passed her a spoon.

"Dumbass forgot it," he explained.

Laurie sat on her bed. "You okay?"

She shrugged, slurping up the soup. Canned, her second favorite kind, after her mum's. "Probably."

"Am I allowed to beat him up, or should I give it a few weeks?"

She snorted. "It's fine. It was amicable, mostly."

"I don't really understand what happened," Jem admitted, rubbing the back of his head, "But if that jerkwad hurt you, I'm going to put instant mashed potato powder on his lawn."

"He lives in a penthouse."

"Fine, I'll pour rubber bands in his car."

"We live in New York City: who owns a car?"

"Then I'll... I'll... damnit I don't know."

Naoki laughed, rubbing her eyes. "Don't worry, guys. If anything, I'll wage emotional warfare on him at school. But for now, it's fine."

Atticus squeezed her shoulder with his rough hand, gentle.

"Thanks for the soup," she raised her spoon in toast. "Finally, my training on you twerps is paying off."

"Are breakups worse or better than periods?" Jem asked, pulling out a notepad he'd titled "HOW TO DEAL WITH THE WOMEN", decorated with pink stickers and glitter glue. He'd taken notes in it for three years straight, after Laurie got unceremoniously dumped by a girl, and Naoki took it upon herself to teach them some basic manners.

"Varies from case to case, but usually worse," Laurie sounded like he was reading off a paper, or reciting the Declaration of Independence.

Naoki smiled. "Good."

"It's seven-sixteen," Atticus' low voice rumbled, his hand still heavy against her shoulder.

"Right. School," she sighed, draining the last of the soup. "Are Mima and Mum still here?"

"Mima is," Laurie took the bowl from her, setting it on her nightstand. "Mum left for work, but she said to call her if you need."

"I'll be fine," she waved him off, getting out of bed with a groan. "I think I aged twenty years last night."

"Get revenge," Jem suggested. "I heard it has lots of rejuvenating properties."

The three of them laughed, and Jem and Laurie went back and forth, discussing which types of revenge might gain back the most years. Atticus watched them with a small smile, which was practically a grin for him.

Naoki opened her closet door and pulled out some clothes, just light washed jeans and a black crop top. Nothing too complicated.

She pulled on the pants in the bathroom as she brushed her teeth, listening to her brothers mess around outside, now talking about the football game played yesterday. Michigan VS Ohio State. She would've watched with them, prepared with buffalo wings and celery sticks, if she hadn't been at that party.

Finally she was ready, a light layer of makeup to cover up the redness under her eyes and a few acne scars she couldn't shake.

"She lives!" Jem cheered triumphantly, hoisting his fists in the air.

She pushed him with her hip, grabbing the empty bowl and spoon off her desk.

They followed her out of her room, still chattering about football. It was a relief, to be so surrounded by noise, and not be the centre of it all for once. Even if her brothers were idiotic clowns, it was good to hear them talk.

"Good morning, mijos y mija," Rosa Mae looked up from a thick book she was reading, glasses perched on the tip of her nose. She smiled, and for a moment everything felt like sunshine. Not a woman to smile often, their Mima had a reputation for being cold and harsh, just like her daughter. With her children, though, she was a firm and doting mother, with smiles abound.

"Good morning, Mima," Naoki crossed to the table and kissed her mother's cheek.

"How did you sleep?"

"I've slept better," she said honestly, crossing the kitchen and putting her bowl in the sink. The kitchen table was laden with triangle-shaped dough, fried and crisped, wafting the slight smell of cardamom. Next to the several platters overflowing were bowls of brown curry and honey. Jem had already dove into them with gusto, mouth filled with the fluffy pastry.

"What's this?" Naoki asked, picking a stray one up from the countertop. Several were scattered around their kitchen, some misshapen, some burnt. She picked around the charred parts.

"Mandazi," Mima said, biting into a dough bit of her own. "Your mum made it. It's Kenyan, I believe."

"Mum's been trying out all these recipes," Laurie noted, dipping his mandazi into curry. "They're good."

"She makes them in excess," Mima laughed, folding her glasses and tucking them into the neck of her shirt. "I don't think your mother has quite grasped the fact that we're only a family of six, not an army of fifteen thousand."

"But this means leftovers," Jem cheered around a mouthful of dough. "So I ain't complaining."

Atticus chewed on a piece. "It's good."

Naoki sat down next to him, already full from her soup, but nibbling at a mandazi all the same. It was too good to turn down. "I'm a sucker for pastries."

"So, what is everybody doing today?" Mima asked, sweeping her crumbs off the table and piling them into a napkin.

"Jem 'n I are gonna play football with the guys," Laurie chased his mandazi down with some milk. "It's been ages."

Mima smiled. "That sounds like fun. You haven't seen Carlyx and Harper in years."

Jem nodded excitedly. "They got the coolest new football. It's got all these stripes and when it spirals it looks like it's glitching. It's fire."

"Fire," Laurie chimed in.

"What about you, Atticus?" Mima turned to her eldest, squeezing his hand. "Any plans?"

"Poppy and I are going Christmas shopping," Atticus said. "She wants to get a present for her mom."

"Ugh, it's not fair," Naoki groaned. "You all get to do such fun things. Mim, can't I skip school just this once?"

Mima gave her a look.

"Okay, fine, I won't. Send me lots of photos, though!" she glared, pointing her mandazi like a knife at each of her brothers. "Especially of Poppy. She's my favorite niece."

"Your only niece, but I digress, because she's mine too," Laurie winked.

"It's seven-thirty," Atticus rumbled.

Naoki jolted up. "Late. Gotta go! Bye everyone!"

She sprinted out the door, shoes in one hand, backpack in the other.

The four jumped in their seats as the front door slammed behind her.

"She seems... chipper," Mima commented.

"Maybe everything's fine?" Laurie sounded like he didn't believe himself.

"If I learned anything," Jem gravely held up his notebook on How To Deal With the Women, "It's that she's very much not fine."

Atticus looked up from his phone. "Neither is Illias."

"Tell him we said hi, but also that we'll beat him up!" Jem beamed.

Mima laughed. "Enough, boys. Go get ready. And thank you for being there for our Naoki."

Laurie helped the others clean up the table, wrapping the leftover mandazi in tupperwares and splashing each other with dish soap, but he didn't miss the heavy look his mother wore as she stared out the front door, thinking of her daughter.

HE HAD BEEN MAKING EXCUSES TO SEE HER, he knew it, but this was something actually concerning.

All morning, in all of their classes, Illias had been sneaking glances at her. He was trying to see how she was doing, trying to gauge if the smudge of mascara under her eyes was from crying or from her normal, characteristic clumsiness.

In Algebra II he'd scoured the floor for a discarded wooden pencil, found one, and got up to sharpen it. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Naoki sat next to the pencil sharpener. And it totally was't suspicious that he had a wooden pencil, even despite loathing them more than he hated tuna fish.

Then in English he'd watched as she discussed her college essays with Ms. Heintz, and came over to ask the teacher about it too, standing behind Naoki's chair as he waited for her to finish. He stood there, listening to her talk about tone and mood and word choice, and shut his eyes and remembered a time when he had been her first consultant.

"Do you need something, Illias?" Ms. Heintz turned to him. Naoki looked up at him, expression blank, the smell of sweet cinnamon and strawberries wafting from her hair.

He jumped. "N-no, sorry, I figured it out."

Then he returned to his seat, feeling a little bit beaten.

But now, he had a real reason to talk to her. And, now that he finally did, she was nowhere to be seen.

"Have you seen Naoki?" Illias caught the arm of Esmeralda North, who was passing by with a makeup compact in her hands. Startlingly pretty, Esmeralda was always the centre of attention, and knew practically everything about everyone. She was whip-smart, too, and vaguely good friends with Naoki. He knew they shared a lunch period together.

Esmeralda looked startled, but answered him. "Yeah, I think she's in the library."

"Thanks," he sped off.

Esmeralda eyed him, wondering why Illias Cross looked so harried, with dark circles under his eyes. And why he didn't know the location of his girlfriend, the only person he was ever seen consistently with.

Illias burst through the library, and was instantly shushed by several people sitting in cushy leather chairs, glaring at him over the tops of their books. Illias flinched. He had no mettle for the library kids, the nook of people at King's who were intense, quiet, and slightly creepy. They were always reading strange books with weirdly morbid yet sexual covers, and had an unsettling obsession with cats. He loved cats, but not enough to wear shirts with cats saying motivational quotes.

But he'd brave the library kids for this.

Naoki was in a quiet corner, her back to the wall, a prime spot for seeing everything, yet going unseen. She'd explained it to him once, that she hated having anybody behind her, that it made her feel vulnerable. She even slept with her back to the wall, except for the nights she spent at his house, where she dreamed with her back to his chest. She was writing something, typing away on her computer, looking up occasionally with an unfocused gaze.

Her eyes landed on Illias as he made his way to her, and she paused. He could see the gears in her head whirring, wondering what he was going to do now.

"Hi," she greeted.

"Hey," he fidgeted with his sleeve. "Can I sit?"

She nodded.

He sat down, took a breath, then began to whisper. "Did you hear what happened?"

"Did people find out?" Worry crossed her expression, her eye twitching. The signs of a potential anxiety attack.

"No, no. Nothing like that," he assured her, reaching to squeeze her hand, then stopping himself and putting it back on his lap. "No. I meant about the disappearances."

"Disappearances?" she furrowed her eyebrows. "Someone's missing?"

"More than someone. Four people, all last seen at the party last night. I'm not exactly sure, but I think it's Paris Monet--"

She raised an eyebrow.

"--Xandra Cho--"

The other eyebrow went up, too.

"--Theodore Sun-Laurent--"

Now her eyebrows were climbing up her forehead.

"--and Dexter Thorness," Illias finished. "They're missing."

"Strange group. Are we sure they're missing?" Naoki said skeptically, rolling a pencil around the table with her finger. "Theo, Xandra and Paris are probably just skipping."

"Jordan said Paris never left the party, or got home," Illias said gravely.

Naoki's brow furrowed. "You don't think..."

"I think so," he said.

She sighed, closing her eyes. "Kids have never gone missing before. What could she be planning?"

"Whatever it is, it can't be good," Illias stood up, offering her a hand. "We've got to go. Now. The General needs us."

Naoki ignored it, standing up on her own. "You get the pills. I'll meet you at your apartment."

Illias watched her stride away, books clasped to her chest, a gnawing pain building in his stomach. Was it bad that he was grateful for this? A mission, a chance to be near her again, for real this time.

"Bad," he concluded, shaking his head. Kids were missing, lives were in danger. This was no time for him to get caught up in a stupid breakup. He needed to save those kids.

Illias pushed away from the table. He needed to get those pills. Those kids' lives depended on it.