Lucas and I focused on looking down at our synchronized footsteps instead of talking to each other. Casual conversation with other people has always been a difficult task for me. Except for when I met Riley. Conversation between the two of us flowed seamlessly. We could talk for hours on end and would only ever stop because apparently sleep is something you needed to survive.

Kicking a small pebble with the toe of my sneaker, I looked up at Lucas. In complete darkness with only the light from the street lamps above us shinning down, his face looked flawless. It was constructed to perfection, I could see how girls would trip and fall over themselves just to win him over. "Lucas?"

"Yeah?" He answered casually, keeping his gaze on the walk ahead of us in the quiet neighbourhood we were entering.

"Were you and Riley ever more than friends?" I bit my lip, praying that he would say no. However, the way they greeted and touched each other after being separated for so long worried me.

The boy chuckled, his deep laugh ringing in echoes into the night. "Are you really jealous of me?" He paused. "It doesn't matter anyways, I saw the way she looks at you Maya. I don't know what's going on between you two but her face lights up, like she falls in love with you all over again every time you look at each other."

I blushed, feeling only slightly more sure about myself after hearing somebody else's perspective. "Don't avoid my question." I warned. "Just tell me if you two ever had a thing for each other."

He swallowed, turning down a street corner and gesturing for me to follow. After 20 unbearable seconds of silence, he answered me. "Yes."

It's odd when you think about how insecurities can go from a thought in the back of your mind to a giant flashing sign in front of you. Lucas was strong, levelheaded and socially accepted. He was everything I could never be or give to Riley.

Swiftly, I wiped a stray tear from my cheek with the back of my palm, trying to make it as inconspicuous as possible.

Despite my efforts, Lucas noticed my sudden loss of confidence. "I'll have you know she broke up with me by the way. Riley told me that she could never love a boy the way she was supposed to."

He sighed, reminiscing to a time when all of their minor teenage drama seemed so significant. "After we broke up, someone outed her, so Mason became her beard. Her biggest fear had come true and everyone could tell that she was barely staying afloat. Her smile was the dead giveaway." Lucas said sadly. "It stopped being genuine."

We walked up to the front steps of Farkle's house. It was a large, 3 story house built with some of the finest materials I had ever seen.

"You should stop talking about her breakdown like that. You're making her sound more and more capable of murder." I teased, my finger hovering above the doorbell, before pressing it.

Lucas gave me a serious look. "I don't know that the truth is anymore Maya. I'm helping you because I want to believe it isn't true but..."

Before he could finish his train of thought, Farkle swung the door open. The bags under his eyes had faded slightly and his messy hair wasn't nearly as messy as it used to be.

"Hey, whats up?" He greeted, with a faint smile, pretending to be pleased to see us.

"Can we come in?" I asked politely even though I was already pushing him out of the way because it was really freaking cold at night.

He moved out of the way awkwardly, allowing the two of us to enter. "Uh, sure?"

Lucas wondered the halls aimlessly, picking up random ornaments and glancing at them before setting them back down. According to his experiences, Farkle's parents were rarely home since they were working all the time. In fact, they've barely been there to support him through his best friend's death.

"Found any incriminating evidence about Riley yet?" The taller boy asked.

Farkle shook his head. "No, not yet. I've decided that we should have Mason's funeral first before I do any detective work."

I nodded in acknowledgment and threw myself onto his dark brown leather couch. "So basically, robot boy hasn't found anything yet?" I wondered aloud, crossing my arms behind my head and kicking my feet up onto the coffee table.

"I'm not a robot!" He replied defensively, although, the joke did induce a smile on his face. Even if it was for a split second. "Besides, I already have a theory but it's not finished yet."

Lucas' head whipped around as he diverted his attention from a family photo of the Minkus' (Minki?) to Farkle. Sitting beside me on the couch, we both looked up at Farkle who was standing in front of us. "Well, let's hear it then." He asked.

The scrawny boy gulped nervously, pulling up a chair from the kitchen to sit in front of Lucas and I, face to face.

He directed his attention to me first. "Maya, you don't know this, but Riley was outed by someone in the 10th grade. Which is the reason why she started 'dating' Mason. She wanted to fool people." Farkle explained, unaware that I had already been told this story from a first hand account.

I nodded numbly, urging him to continue with my eyes.

"I think she fell in love with him during the time that he was her beard. When Mason didn't return those feelings, Riley couldn't deal with her emotions any other way but by killing him."

Lucas choked on the water that he had helped himself to that was sitting on the table. He was trying his very best not to laugh. "Farkle." He said.

"Yes?"

"My best friend."

"Sure."

"-and world renowned boy genius."

"Yes."

With a hint of arrogance in his voice, Lucas tried to debunk Farkle. "Didn't we just go over the fact that Riley was outed in the tenth grade? As in... she's gay? As in she likes girls?" He proclaimed, gesturing to me when he said the word girls.

I tried to hide the blush that formed when I was reminded that Riley actually likes me.

Farkle rolled his eyes, as if he had already thought about that plot hole and predicted that we would have asked about it. "She's bi, dimwit. Don't you remember when you two dated?"

"People can change, Farkle. She told us that she was gay and only dated me because she felt pressure to conform to heterosexuality."

The darker haired boy shook his head in disagreement. "I don't believe it."

"Farkle why are you being such an asshole?" I asked. "You and Riley were friends. You're supposed to have faith in your friends."

"BECAUSE I LOVED HIM." He yelled, standing up from his chair, as he pushed it back with his body, causing it to fall backward into the marble floor.

Silence filled the room after the sound of the chair clattering came to a stop. Farkle was breathing heavily, looking at us with a pained look in his eye.

"What?" Lucas asked, his eyes wide and full of confusion. His voice cracked, barely above a whisper, contrasting the yell that filled the room mere seconds ago.

With his eyes focused on the ground, Farkle balled his hands into fists, biting his lip to hold back tears. "Mason was my boyfriend. We loved each other."

Lucas stood up, hesitantly walking towards Farkle and rubbing his arm to comfort his friend. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you properly when he died, I didn't know."

"You weren't supposed to know. No one was. We were dating but I couldn't say a word of it to anybody because it was either we came out or he continued to protect Riley." He paused. "Mason chose the latter."

"Did Riley know about this?" I gulped, sitting and watching the two boys from the couch.

"Of course she did, why else would she have killed him."

That was the last straw.

I bolted across the room, grabbing Farkle by the collar and pulling him close. He looked at me fearfully, not putting effort into escaping my grasp. "I know you're hurt. But I need you to stop playing the victim for one minute and think about what your best friend since childhood might be feeling right now." I scolded angrily, remembering back to how the beautiful girl held back her tears by biting her lip just like Farkle did, when she found out that her closest friend didn't believe in her.

"Why do you care so much about her anyways? You don't know anything about Riley." He gritted through his teeth, trying to appear unfazed. But I could see the guilt beginning to rise in his expression after his reality check.

Looking him straight in the eyes, I spoke slowly. "I care because I know what it feels like to be blamed for something you didn't do. I had to deal with thinking that I was the reason my dad had left for years. Nobody was there to care for me and I won't let that happen to Riley." I paused. "Even if I've never met her before." I lied, knowing that I would go to the ends of the Earth to protect Riley.

His adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed nervously, looking for words to reply to me with. "I-"

The sound of a phone ringing interrupts Farkle. Lucas picked up his phone as the two of us watched him curiously.

Who is calling Lucas at 11:40pm at night?

There was a series of quick murmurs coming from the other side of the line. The muscular boy doesn't reply with a single word before he pressed a button to end the call.

Lucas looked at me sadly, a look that I've become too familiar with. I could recognize it no matter whose face it was on. Switching his expression to a serious one when he turned his attention to both Farkle and I, he stepped closer.

"It was Danielle. They found Riley."