Being the bearer of bad news is always hard. It's especially hard when everyone wants twinkies, but you know the last twinkies box is empty.

I walk down the hallway carrying a box of vanilla zingers. They're not as good but hopefully, they'll appease the group. I notice Jasmine first, and she notices me.

"Daniel!" She runs down the hall to meet me halfway. "You're back..!"

"Yup! But..." I pause and lower my tone. "We're out of Twinkies..."

"What...?"

"No more Twinkies... Maddie is going to kill me... she already hates me... this is a death sentence!"

Jasmine looks confused. "Nobody hates you, Daniel. Besides, Maddie seems to be... off... anyway. Asher won't let her hurt you." She smiles reassuringly, and my smile grows. How is she so pretty?

"Thanks, Princess Jasmine." It makes me happy that she cares enough to cheer me up. She doesn't really have to try very hard, but the fact that she does just makes it so much better.

"Come on, let's go back to the group. I'll back you up." She takes my free hand, and we walk back to the group together.

The first thing that comes out of Maddie's mouth is, "you suck, Daniel. Everyone knows that Zingers suck."

"I'll take one!" Caspian smiles from across the room and waves at Jasmine and I.

"Caspian!" Jasmine waves back and leaves me to go see him. "When did you get here?" She asks with a big smile.

"A few seconds ago!" Caspian says, "I was actually looking for you. I hope I wasn't interrupting anything."

"You weren't! Don't worry. Daniel understands that you and I are friends, right?" She looks back at me, and I nod quickly.

"Oh yeah! It's totally cool! I should go see Lyra anyway. Everyone take Zingers!" I set the box down and leave the room quickly.

Lyra opens the door for me. "Daniel...! What a nice surprise. Kelvin has been talking about finding you all day," She says with a smile. "He's out right now, but he should be back soon."

"Thanks, Lyra...!" Obviously, my tone doesn't live up to my expression because Lyra gives me a weird look.

"What's wrong?" She asks, sitting down on the floor beside her bulletin board.

"Nothing!"

"You can talk to me, Daniel. If you haven't noticed, I'm a fairly good listener."

"Well..." I pause, sitting beside her. "You know Jasmine, right?"

"We've never spoken, but I've been keeping an eye on her, why?"

"Do you think she likes Caspian?"

"Yes? It looks like they are good friends."

"No, I mean do you think she likes him like for real like... like, do you think she loves him?"

"Platonically she might love him. He doesn't seem to be the one she 'likes for real' though."

"Who do you think she likes...?"

"Who do you think?"

"Asher...?"

Lyra laughs. I've never heard her laugh before. Her laugh is quiet and actually pretty cute. Not cute in a weird way but cute in an innocent way. "Daniel, you're so dense sometimes."

"What do you mean?"

"Call me crazy, but I've seen the way you look at each other. Out of anyone here, I'd say she likes you the best."

"You really think so?" My smile grows a little, and Lyra nods.

"You're kidding right now! You're finally here and all you do is ask for relationship advice??" Kelvin had entered the room at some point during the conversation. "There are people dying here, Daniel!"

"Don't be too rude, Kelvin. Whatever the situation is, we're still teenagers. It's nice to deal with trivial problems every once in a while."

"It's not trivial...!" I protest, earning weird looks from the siblings.

"Yeah, It is. Which is why we're not talking about it anymore. Relationships are pointless, especially right now! I have a breakthrough!" Kelvin puts his hands on his hips as if he's the smartest person ever.

Lyra and I wait for an explanation, but Kelvin seems to want our prompting. "Go on...?"

"Mia didn't do it, but I know who did. It was the one with the weird hair!"

"Weird hair?"

"She has dark hair that's weird and always up and she's always alone and she never looks very happy and she-"

"Ashlynn?"

"I think so!"

"She's not the killer. She's trying to catch the killer. Ashlynn wouldn't do this." I say with a shrug.

"I wouldn't be so quick to trust her!" Kelvin protests. He points at the board behind Lyra's head. "She's very careful. She also seems to examine the crowd at every murder."

"Because she's trying to catch the killer."

"I'm not convinced! It's definitely her. I see through her facade!"

Lyra shakes her head. "Why don't we look into it before we're sure."

"I agree!"

"Well... you're right! But I'm sure this time! Positive!" Kelvin starts pointing rapidly at every picture of Ashlynn on his board.

"Why don't you go find Jasmine. I'll entertain the detective." Lyra smiles at me, and it feels like she's finally completely comfortable around me.

"Okay." I agree, leaving the room.

"Aww! Don't go already! Daniel!" Kelvin calls after me, but Lyra shuts the door.

I sigh, still smiling as I make my way back to the group. I start walking down the hall when someone greets me.

"Jasmi-James...?"

"Hey Daniel... you said that we could talk, right?"

"Uh yeah! What's up?"

James looks at me cautiously for a moment. He almost looks scared before saying, "Why did you offer to help me...? I'm not exactly the nicest person..."

"Nobody is the nicest person, James," I reply with a small laugh. "But, nobody is the meanest either. Everyone has aspects of both."

"I'm not sure I do..."

"Of course you do! You know something, I have a brother that adores you. He goes to all your football games, and he never shuts up about how amazing you are. I think you're pretty cool, too. You're harsh, scary, and ridiculously intimidating, but you're also inspiring, confident, and overall a cool dude."

"He shouldn't admire me..."

"You should come meet Will when we get out. He would love to meet you. He might inspire you, too."

"How are you so sure that we'll get out...?"

"I'm not. I just like to stay positive. I'm generally lucky, so I just have faith. I'm upset about what happened here, but we can't dwell on it. I know it sounds harsh, but it's just the way it is..." I try to sound as nice as possible, but James doesn't look satisfied.

"What do you mean?" He asks.

"Just don't give up, James. You can't give up. Someone will find the killer before it's too late. Just keep going until that happens. We'll get through it. Then, you can meet Will."

"Okay..." He doesn't smile, but his expression shifts for the better. "I'll stop bothering you..."

"It's not a bother! I would like to go... but not because I don't want to talk to you! I need to talk to Jasmine." I smile a little more.

"Good luck..." James waves and then walks away. I wave back, but he doesn't seem to notice.

I practically run the rest of the way back. Jasmine doesn't meet me this time, but it's okay. I wave at her as soon as I see her.

"You're back!" She exclaims, smiling happily when she sees me. "Has Kelvin made a breakthrough?"

"Yeah, he thinks that our personal lives aren't important. He's also obviously never had a girlfriend." I answer as I sit down beside her.

"Have you?" Caspian asks.

"Yes...! Totally..."

Jasmine laughs, "Okay, Daniel."

"I've had girl space friends, but never an actual girlfriend," I admit with a soft shrug. "I guess I've never been interested until now." I look over at Jasmine, and she looks back at me.

"Until now?" She says.

I nod, my smile growing a little as I repeat, "until now."