Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Living in the boys’ dorms is a psychological experience.

It can be harrowing. Warren attests to that certainly.

A ton has happened in the last few weeks. Name it and it happened. Death matches, loud screaming at midnight, someone getting their shit absolutely rocked. Again quite the worst things that could happen already happened.

The source of most of these things occurring was the Vortex Club ,or rather the members of the club are involved in these events.

Speaking of the devil, there was a Vortex Club Party tonight.

Warren wasn’t a fan of parties, never mind the fact nobody would want him there. At least that’s what he thinks.

He was already busy studying for an algebra test tomorrow. The brunette was practicing equations in his notebook. His advanced algebra course was more important than that party anyway.

Warren’s GPA is constantly on the line and he can’t risk it dropping or losing any points. He thinks a B or a C here and there wouldn’t be too bad, but his parents disagree big time.

In the midst of his practicing session his phone lights up again and again. He huffs to himself. Whoever is texting him can wait, Warren can’t afford any distractions right now. Notifications continue to brighten up his phone. Like a flame calling to a moth, Warren was entranced by his glowing phone.

The brunette gives in and picks it up. His expression morphs from irritation to concern when he notices Kate’s name on the text bar. She had left a plethora of messages. This is unlike her.

Katie: Hey 8:00PM

Katie: Heyy 8:02PM

Katie: Hello??? 8:05PM

Katie : Warren you’re on your phone all the time, just pick up goddammit 8:08PM

Katie : you text really fast too 8:10PM

Katie : you suck major ass. I am so serious 8:15PM

He replies to the messages fast. His eyebrows furrowed at the ‘curses’ used in the texts, Kate wouldn’t say any of that, he thought to himself.

Kate, are you okay? 8:16PM

Katie: you absolute doofus, it’s me Stella. I have Kate’s phone. I swiped it off her to text you. 8:17PM

Why didn’t you text me on your phone? More importantly is she alright? 8:19PM

Katie: With Courtney right now. She’s showing me the works. Can’t explain everything just please come and take Kate back to her room 8:21PM

omw 8:21PM

Warren hastily stands from his chair and scrambles to put on sneakers. He shoves his phone in his pocket and throws on his lanyard over his head - then he’s out the door running toward Kate’s direction.

Thoughts swirl around his head as he ran. Why was Kate at a party heeded by the Vortex Club? Who invited her? And why did he have this feeling that something….truly awful would happen if he didn’t make it in time? Warren didn’t want to think about it as he came to halt at his destination. Lo and behold he stood before two tall grand entry doors and behind it all was the party. He takes slow breaths and creaks it open slowly enough to inch inside the room.

Bright vivid colors assault his eyes and loud techno booms through the speakers. Warren thinks his heart might be beating really fast considering the room was overwhelming him. Every part of it was purely attacking his senses.

As he idles by the doors quietly, the teen boy notices some of the other students around him staring. Maybe he doesn’t look well dressed but that’s not why he came here. He’s here to take Kate and get out, simple as that. He takes another deep breath and maneuvers his way around the large room. Warren tries to avoid the dancing bodies around that hit him like ocean waves. A random boy aggressively shoves his shoulders back and Warren is nearly knocked to the ground. He shovels through the crowd with his spirit in tact.

Finally he makes it out into a area that more sparse. To his left is a line of people and to the right there is Stella and a grumpy Courtney holding a clipboard by a table. He waves a hand and jogs to her.

“Hey I’m here!” The brunette inspects up and down the dark purple curtains behind the girls. “What’s that?”

“It’s the VIP area….duh!” Courtney snaps. “Stella tell your friend he can’t be here.”

“Court be nice, he’s here for Kate.” Stella calmly states. “I’ll go get her.” The pink cladded girl disappeared into the curtains.

“On second thought, that’s a good thing.” Courtney quietly comments looking downward. Warren could swear he was hearing Plastic 1 muttering about Kate. Before he could question her further, Stella appears with an exhausted looking Kate Marsh holding a cup of presumably alcohol.

“Thank you so much for coming fast. You have no idea how grateful I am that someone picked up.” Stella admitted, biting her lip anxiously. “I texted Alyssa, Dana, Max and you. And you’re the only one who replied to any of the messages.”

“Seriously?” Warren frowned. Did all of them disappear at the same time? He didn’t want to be too miffed about this, there must be an explanation. They’re his friends after all. Warren shoves at Kate’s shoulder with his. “Hey Kate, are you okay?” He asks.

“Hi Warren…I don’t think I want to be here anymore.” She quietly sniffs and rubs a finger over her nose. “Thank you for being here.”

“No problem.” He smiles. “It sucks in here, let’s get out.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me.” The blonde hums. She turns to Stella. “Thank you so much, I’ll try to talk to you later.”

“Yeah.” Stella grins, she hands Kate's phone back. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow! Be careful out there!” She waves to the duo as they walk away even with a frowning Courtney still close by.

The two start their trek back to the girls’ dorm ,but first they must escape the dingy party. Warren stops in his tracks and notices Kate is still strangely holding onto her drink.

“Hey.” He pauses. “Do you wanna throw that out?” Luckily there’s a trashcan close to them and they idle by it. “What’s the matter?”

“Sorry…I’m just thinking a lot tonight.” Kate says in a quiet voice. “I think I’ll feel bad if I throw this out without trying it first.”

Warren audibly laughs, it’s a bit funny trying to imagine Kate drinking beer. He doesn’t really see it.

“Really?”

“Mhm..” She slows her speaking. “After all Nathan was weirdly nice to me. It was strange definitely, but I think it’s still an act of kindness that he thought about giving me this.”

Warren’s eyes widen. Nathan Prescott of all people was nice? And nice to Kate Marsh?

Stop the music…something is massively wrong here. Without thinking, the brunette karate chops the cup out of the girl’s hand and the two watch it fall into the garbage. Kate looks absolutely bewildered.

“Kate we’ll talk when we’re outside. Hold my hand and start running.” The blonde silently listens and clasps onto his hand, then they both run to the exit. They ignore the weird looks they’re getting, before they know it they are greeted with fresh air.

Momentarily the duo stop to take gasps of air.

Warren bends over with hands on his knees, then straightens his back to stand up.

“You okay?”

“M fine.” Kate gulps. She runs a hand through her thick blonde hair. “I’m good to walk now, I think.”

Warren silently nods as they finally march to the girls’ dorms.

“Let me escort you princess!” He quips. “Tonight I’m your shining knight in armor!”

“You are so corny.” Kate giggles. Warren smiles, it’s not the first time someone told him that. She pauses and resumes speaking back in her regular voice. “I know I said thank you a lot tonight, but thank you for coming. It means a lot.”

“Of course, we’re friends.” Warren says earnestly. “But why did you want someone to come? Like why me?”

“To be honest..I was a little anxious to walk alone on the way back.” Kate admits. “It’s something I can do. I can handle myself fine, but if I can get the option to go back with a friend then I would choose a friend. I’m a bit surprised you actually came.”

“Come on...I’m not a total ass.” He pouts. “I was worried about you. Stella was too!”

“Yeah…Stella is amazing like that…isn’t she?”

“She is.” The brunette snorts. “You know if she hears us now, she would probably be the happiest girl in the world.”

“I guess..”

The duo stop at the foot of the girls’ dorm. The halls are empty so Warren tiptoes inside the building with Kate. They make their way to a door Kate finds familiar.

“Home sweet home.” Kate whispers. “Thanks for escorting me.”

“No problem.” He whispers as well. “Good night, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“You too.” She silently opens her door and closes it after she enters.

Warren lets out a sigh of relief. For some reason he feels like he….stopped something evil from happening. He protected Kate and succeeded in doing it. The brunette turns and spots Max’s door. He contemplates on knocking on the door, but he changed his mind daring to disturb her slumber.

Now it’s time to return to studying he decides. The teen jogs back to his room and removes his accessories- throwing them onto his bed. As he attempted to resume to his practice problems nothing but the events during tonight plagues his mind.

Warren has so many questions that he wanted the answers to so badly. He wants to discuss this further with Kate as soon as he possibly can.

Most importantly what did Nathan ,the rich asshole across his room, want to do to Kate?

He was going to get to the bottom of it.

Chapter Text

Most people didn’t like waking up at 5:30 in the morning. Warren on the other hand does. He’s a morning person as he always was.

It’s at this precise hour where the boys’ dorm is the most serene. Warren has a strict routine on how he does things. He takes a shower, brushes his teeth, and gets dressed for the day. Inside his room he runs his hands through his hair - making it messier than it usually is. He has a brush and a hair straightener, he just didn’t want to use it.

The first class he has doesn’t start until 9 ,so he has time to kill. Warren paces around his room and his thoughts return to last night. The same night he went to save Kate from the Vortex Club Party. He certainly didn’t forget Kate admitting Nathan Prescott giving her a drink. He has questions to ask and wants to do it as soon as possible. Warren doesn’t want to do anything rash, but he’s sure he wants to tell Max about this. Max is clever and rational. She should know what to do about this, Warren confidently thinks.

His optimistic view of Max totally has nothing to do with his miniscule crush on her. Not at all.

He decides to crack open his window for some fresh air.  Warren would like to escape his room as he inspects the empty campus from his window. Deciding it’s a good time to run away for a bit. He slings his lanyard over his head and awkwardly shuffles shoes on before exiting his room.

The hallway is still quiet except for the sound of clashing keys bumping against his chest. Luckily for him, the hallway is mostly empty. On his way out he passes by a half-asleep Hayden roaming.

When he stops outside he’s greeted with a cool breeze kissing his face. The brunette knows his weather and watches morning, afternoon, and evening weather broadcasts daily. He’s usually please with the outcome.

Warren hums to himself as he treks down a path close to the parking lot. He comes to a standstill next to a pole where a missing poster of a girl was stapled onto.

Rachel Amber. Her posters were everywhere, it’s impossible to miss them. Her face was burned into his mind. Her long blonde hair, her piercing hazel eyes, and her feather earring had somewhere marked a spot in his brain. Her image had permanently resided not only inside his mind but also for the rest of the people in Arcadia Bay.

Whoever keeps putting her posters up must miss her more than anything.

He forces himself to look away and move on. The brunette quickens his pace toward his car. He just wants to get away from the hell that is Blackwell. It’s a good thing he knows the perfect spot too.

It takes less than a half hour to reach his destination. Warren turns his wheel around the bend. When he hears the sound of the ocean waves he swiftly parked his car on the sand.

He steps out of the vehicle and softly closes the door before walking along the sandspit. He deeply inhales the smell of the ocean and exhales after. It’s a strange high. To him nothing quite compares to the calm of the ocean waves crashing and the scent of sea salt.

Warren began his walk by the sandspit. He remembers when he first found this isolated part of the beach not too many people visit. It was on a random sunny day his mom wanted to cruise around and she dragged him along.

She was just like him or rather he was a lot like her. His mom was always curious and liked looking high and low everywhere. She loved learning and studying new things. She always talked about how new opportunities can be great (which is part of the reason of how he got into Blackwell.)

Needless to say, Warren had too many things in common with his mom. He looks like her too. People always comment on his appearance, how could they not? They shared the same eyes, same messy hair, and the same awkward smile. He tries not to get too down about it. He’s not exactly embarrassed of her, if anything he would feel a deep shame considering how hard his mom worked. He has to excel at Blackwell knowing the sacrifices she made.

The brunette looks to his side and gazes at the sun crawling upwards into the horizon. It created a soft palette that was gentle on his eyes. He wishes Max was here to take a picture, she would probably love the view.

Warren sighs and feels the phone in his pocket vibrate. The teen picks it out and reads a message that makes him feel cold all over.

Mom : I know you don’t want to, but please try to call your father. 7:35AM

With that Warren clicks his phone off and slips it back in his pocket. He’s really not in the mood to speak to his dad. Even if it had been a while since they last spoke, he really didn’t want to his dad mislabel him over and over.

The boy turns around to the direction his car was in. He would do anything right now to avoid his mom’s incessant messages. He knows she hates when he avoids her calls and texts. What’s even worse is that he knows that she knows he is actively keeping away from the both of them.

To Two Whales it is then, he silently huffs to himself. It seems like a good time to go anyway - even though his appetite was totally dead now.

Whatever he knows a shortcut.

By the time he reaches the diner the place is full. It’s littered with townsfolks, fishermen, and policemen. He spotted Trevor and Justin at a table to his right as well.

Most tables are packed with customers scarfing down on meals. He’s not planning on staying, he’ll just order and go. Maybe…he should get Kate something to eat while he’s here. It wouldn’t hurt to stop by her dorm and check on her. Warren just wants to be nice especially after how concerning last night was.

He wants to make sure she’s alive really.

“Mornin honey.” Joyce greets behind the counter. “Not sitting down today?”

“Oh..morning…Joyce…yeah I’m ordering takeout today.” Warren pauses. He hopes Kate likes french toast. “Can I get french toast to go please?”

“Sure thing.” She replies. “You want your regular coffee with that?”

“Oh..no thank you.” The brunette shook his head. “It’s for a friend.”

“Well aren’t you the sweetest thing?” Joyce grins. “I’ll take care of this for you. Want anything else?”

“No thank you. That’s it for sure.” He repeats.

“You’re not getting anything?” Joyce quirked an eyebrow. “You’re a growing boy honey. You need something to eat.”

“I don’t really have an appetite right now to be honest.” Warren admits, looking down at his slightly dirty shoes.

“How about I at least make you coffee?” She proposed. It’s such a Joyce thing to do. “I know the way you like it.”

Warren closes his eyes momentarily. “I would really like that actually.” He awkwardly smiles. He can’t help but need his daily caffeine.

“Alrighty. Sit tight then.” The older woman grins as she turns and disappears into the kitchen.

Warren stands quietly and sways back and forth. Joyce was such a nice person, he thought to himself. She always went above and beyond to talk to every customer. The waitress was definitely the heart of Two Whales.

He’s stuck in his head until a burst of noise comes through the door. He turns and his eyes meet with a tall girl with electric blue hair. She struts in like she owns the place.

“What’s up motherfuckers!” She shouts, running and giving high-fives customer to customer. The girl plops down on an available seat at a nearby table close to Warren. He didn’t want to be weird but he continued inspecting her appearance. For some reason she looked familiar. Did they meet before?

Suddenly her eyes shift in his direction. “Hey you!” Wait was she talking to him?

“Yeah! I’m talking to you! What’s your problem, don’t you know it’s not polite to stare?” The girl furrows her eyebrows in annoyance.

“I’m sorry!” Warren squeaks out an apology. Damn she was pretty intimidating. He inches closer to her spot. “I just umm…thought..uhh do I know you?”

“What?”

Well this conversation is going absolutely fantastic. Warren just wants to disappear. Here he was making himself look like a fool in front of a chick who looked cool as hell, yet he shook like a leaf as he still felt nervous in her presence. The teens are saved by the bell when Joyce returns to the counter with a plastic container with Kate’s breakfast inside and a hot coffee.

The older woman briefly notices the other teen girl and audibly sighs. She saunters over to them quickly.

“Chloe! I told you when you come in to not make a ruckus!” Joyce chastises with hands on her hips. Warren blinks as he looks at the pair. The idea that Joyce being a mom never came to his mind at all, and he certainly did not expect that Chloe Price of all people was her daughter. Also holy crap…Chloe looked far more different than the last time he saw her which was years ago.

“I’m not being too loud.” Chloe exasperated. Her hands were clamming down on the table. “I'll be on my best behavior, okay? This kid is just being a total weirdo.”

Now it was Joyce’s turn to question him, because the woman is looking quite inquisitively at him.

“Warren...I hope this is a misunderstanding..” Joyce says. Chloe’s eyes widen and gawks at him. “I really don’t need any fights in here. I would appreciate if you two can get along, but if you wanna argue then go outside.”

“Wait….Graham?” Chloe questions.

“Oh so now you recognize me?” Warren asks.

Joyce sighs again once more. “So I take you know each other?”

“Yeah…we used to be in the same science class when she was in Blackwell. This was years ago I’m sure.” He explains.

“That’s real nice to hear.” Joyce states. “Come on now, you two can catch up later. I have to do my job.” She motions to Warren to go back to the counter with her. He has to pay and get going back to the campus before the first class starts. Within a few minutes, he’s out the door with a container and a coffee.

Chloe chases after him outside to his car.

“Hey wait!”

“Oh hey! Listen, sorry I was awkward in there. You look like a different person that’s all.” Warren awkwardly explains.

“Pfft. I look different? You look like a totally different person dude! It looks like I’m still taller than you.” She devilishly smiles. The punk moves closer and waves a hand above her head then his. “See? Still taller than you!”

“Yeah…yeah relish in it all you want.” He huffs. “One day…I’ll get taller than you.”

“In your dreams kid.” Chloe snorts. “Anyways what I meant to say is…sorry if I made you shit your pants earlier. I wasn’t gonna kill you if it makes you feel better..”

“I….it’s fine. You’re a bit intimidating that’s all.”

“Fuck yeah! That’s what I’m going for!”

“Listen Chloe…I’d like to catch up but I seriously have to go back to Blackwell. My first class is starting soon.” Warren continues as he opens his car door and hops in. “We can talk some other time though! You should still have my phone number from years ago! It’s the same thing.”

“Gotcha dude.” Chloe moves backwards as Warren backs out of his parking spot. When he starts driving, the punk fades away from his view.

Once again he exits this time he’s actually returning back to Blackwell. When he finally arrives on campus he immediately heads to the girls’ dorm- more specifically Kate’s room. Within a flash, he knocks at her door ignoring the noise around him.

The doorknob shakily tilts and reveals a mostly dressed Kate behind the door. She wore her typical pencil skirt with a blue blouse. Her hair was half up and half down.

“Oh…Good morning.” Kate greets. She looks rather surprised. The blonde notices the container he’s holding. “What’s that?”

“This is for you!”

“Wow…that’s thoughtful of you.” Kate gestures. “Thank you. Um...you can put it on my dresser.” Warren awkwardly walk in her room and puts the container on top of the empty dresser to his left. He stands next to the door with his hands behind his back and glances around the Christian’s room as she paces elsewhere.

He’s only been in here once when Kate invited him and Max over for tea. She likes to have her tea sessions mostly with Max. Even her dorm smelled like thyme and lavender. The older girl turns around where Warren stands. Her flats padded along the floor and her hair was done in her usual proper bun.

She opens the container then looks back up at him. “Why french toast?” She questioned.

“Umm….I chose something classy for a classy lady?” Warren said the first thing that popped into his head.

“I’ll take it as a compliment.” She smirked. “This is real sweet of you, but please don’t do that again. I feel like I have to make something up to you now. I already promised Stella we can go over our portfolios together and she’s been blowing up my phone all morning.”

“You don’t have to do anything Kate.” Warren purses his lips together. “Uh…I just got it so I can see you. I mean I just wanted to check on you after yesterday.” He corrects himself. Kate looks at him intrigued. “Anyways Stella is bothering you?”

“Well you know how she is.” Kate sighs. “Stella treats photography like it’s serious business.” Yeah that sounds like Stella alright. “She’s been telling to watch this video. She’s being a bit pushy about it.”

“Video?”

“Give me a moment.” Kate goes through her phone and clicks on the link Stella sent her. “This should be it.” Warren scoots closer to her and inspects the small screen on the device.

The video is shaky at best. Whoever filmed it couldn’t keep still as a portion of it was blurry. But he focused on the music playing in the background, suddenly two familiar silhouettes of a boy and a girl run past through a large crowd. Wait a second-

“Kate pause the video.” Warren asserted. The video stops and he points at the screen. “That’s us. Like this is literally us.” A telltale sign was that he wore the same pants in it not too long ago. In fact he had it on earlier this morning. Kate scrolled down and the caption read ‘THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN U LET LOSERS COME TO YOUR PARTY BTW’. Warren swore he saw one of Kate’s eyes twitch in annoyance. “Hey who posted this?”

“Victoria.” The blonde frowns. “Of course it was her.” Kate lays a hand on her cheek in disbelief. To rub salt in the wound even more, the queen bee went out of her way to meanly tag Kate and him under the video.

“What does she gain from doing this?” Warren groans in frustration. The video already has over 2,000 views and it was uploaded last night - likely after they left. “This is nothing, it’s really not that bad if you think about it. It could literally be worse.” The teen turns to the other. “When you see her just ignore her. Do not give her an reaction.”

“So I just do what you usually do..” Kate quietly says. “Try to be invisible?”

“Basically” Warren shrugs his shoulders. “It should be a breeze hopefully.” He puts a hand on Kate’s shoulder. “Just now you’re not alone. You got this, trust me on this!”

“I hope you’re right.” Kate speaks. “You should get going. Class is starting soon. I don’t want to hold you up.” The slightly shorter girl steps away from him.

“Right. I’ll see you later then!” Warren motions to the door as Kate opens it for him. “Remember you got this!” He does a finger fun with a hand and then it was deuces for him.

On his way out he hears a nasal voice.

“Oh my gosh he was in her room this entire time?”

What now. Warren silently complains. He turns to his right and there were Victoria’s cronies standing by the bulletin board.

“Court! Use your inner voice oh my god!” Taylor, the blonde with the bangs whined to the other.

The teen rolled his eyes. He can handle this just fine. He’s done this before in the past when he gained unwanted attention. He can do it again with no problem. As long as he continues to avoid Nathan like the plague then everything will be fine.

Everything was not fine - not in the way he wanted it to be.

Today it felt like the world was personally targeting him. It made him wonder if he had a ‘kick me’ sign taped to his back.

The student body of Blackwell was relentless. Everywhere he went students giggled like little kids and whispered about him. The jocks - with the likes of Zachary and Logan were a royal pain in the ass. The dumbass duo spitted slurs at him. This type of treatment he receives is what he already expects of them. It’s nothing he hasn’t experienced. The only bright side of the situation so far is that he hasn’t had any encounters with Nathan. It was as if he wasn’t on campus at all. It was the one pleasantry he had.

At the end of the day he decides to find out how Max is doing. She practically disappeared after school yesterday. He at least wishes to know if she’s doing better than the last time he saw her.

Lately she’s been quiet. Actually Max was always as quiet as a moue, but he knows that she must be stuck in her own thoughts. Warren has an understanding that the photographer was extremely introverted and very much preferred staying in her own bubble. He’s also pretty sure she had some kind of social anxiety judging from her tendency to fade into the background.

He doesn’t want to intrude on her, but he feels something is lurking beneath the surface.

Anyhow he knows where’d she be after classes end. After classes she would probably cozy up either in her room or in Mr. Jefferson's photography lab. Photography is the hipster’s one true love and passion. It’s what she talks about the most and it’s why she’s here at Blackwell.

For a brief moment he pops up by the photography classroom. The class is mostly empty except the she-devil known as Victoria Chase is chatting up Mr. Jefferson who sat behind his desk. The moment he enters the rich girl gives him a sour look. He scrolls his eyes around and his gaze falls on Max’s bag on top of the desk close to the back wall.

“Excuse me..” A deep voice interrupts. “How can I help you?” Mr. Jefferson gently asks. His voice was smooth like cocoa butter.

“Sorry. I’m looking for Max..”

“She’s in the dark room developing photos.” The teacher explains. “It’s a delicate process-.”

Instead of letting the older man finish, Warren rushes to the dark room. The school is ginormous but he knows his way around. It should be around here somewhere, he’s sure it’s close to the journalism room where Juliet is usually at. Warren comes across a door he’s confident is the dark room. He crosses his fingers and knocks on the door, hoping he doesn’t get randomly stabbed by a maniac hiding.

“Mad Max it’s me!” The teen hears small footsteps taking their time. “Max?”

The door opens and there she is - Max Caulfield in all of her glory.

But…she doesn’t look too good. Warren doesn’t think that in a cruel or demeaning way but Max looks ill. Her blue eyes had dulled and her skin was sickly pale.

“Hi.” He pipes up.

“Hey you.” She says cheerily. “It’s a good thing you came around after I finished a photo first.” The taller girl continues as she walks backwards. “It would of been bad if you entered when I was still developing it.”

“Wait the door was open?” Warren squinted as he followed her after. The room itself was bathed in a scarlet red light. It felt nightmarish to stand in. She nods. “Huh…I didn’t try to open it. I thought you would’ve locked it.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore.” She shrugs her shoulders. “Anyways I put it aside so no one would touch it. I think I’m just doing one for now. I love my camera and all, but Mr. Jefferson wants me to get out of my comfort zone.”

“That sounds like a thing he would do.” He takes a peek around the room. On top of a counter there were was an arrangement of tools. There were cups filled with unknown liquids. He kind of wanted to touch it. “Oh wow..”

“Warren don’t touch anything please!” She begs. “I know you like bright colors, but you can’t drink it.”

“I wasn’t going to drink it!” Warren whined, his voice slightly being nasal. The hipster chortles at his response. “Believe it or not, I’m here for a reason. I need to talk to you about something.” The two settle on the floor against white cupboards.

“Sure.” Max crosses her legs and leans her head behind.

“Where were you yesterday? I know you need your me-time but you completely vanished.”

“I….I was in my room the entire time.” Max quietly speaks. All color on her face completely blanched from the mention of yesterday. "I was beyond exhausted….I guess I passed out for hours in there.”

“Is that all that happened?” Warren questioned further, glancing at her. “You know what happened with Kate yesterday? I’m not trying to put you on the spot, I’m just asking”

“I know…” Max closes her eyes. “I woke up this morning to her texts and calls from her. I did actually end up talking to her. She seems like she’s doing great actually. Kate’s much happier than before.”

“Hmm.” He hums. What did she mean by that? If anything, he’s glad that Kate is certainly doing better than him. The blonde did pass a message along via text that ‘so many people’ were compassionate to her. Good for her.

“I saw that stupid video Victoria uploaded.” The hipster ranted. “She’s so…..”

“Awful?”

“That’s a nicer word than what I was going to say.” She huffs. “If anything it’s an improvement.”

What?

“Max.” He spoke nervously. “What are you talking about? I was worried about Kate of course, but I’m concerned about you too.”

For a moment, the older girl next to him is silent and stays perfectly still. Then she starts shaking violently.

“Max!” He gets on his knees and grabs her shoulders trying to ground her. “Max, what’s going on?”

“Please don’t hate me.” She mumbles. “Let’s just say if you weren’t there at the party, something terrible was going to happen to Kate.”

“So I wasn’t the only one who thought that??” Warren said out loud. “It…it was a gut feeling. It was something my instinct was desperately telling me. I couldn’t leave her there, she’s the one who wanted to leave!”

“It’s a good thing you listened to it.” The brunette besides him sniffs. A single tear tracks down her cheek. “Trust me when I say this…but you saved her life.”

“How do you know all of this if you were unconscious?” He asks absolutely astonished.

“It’s a really long story.” Max explains. She wipes the tears on her face with her sleeves “I told you it before and you believed me. I know this sounds crazy..”

“Maxster.” Warren interjects. “You are not crazy. There’s no one else here but us. You can go on and tell me everything.”

Suddenly Max’s baby blue eyes widened out of nowhere.

“Max?” He repeats. “Earth to Max!’ Weird, it’s like she mentally checked out in the middle of a conversation. She’s done this before even he has, however something about this was drastically different. He couldn’t put his finger on it.

Within moments she’s grounded and back to reality with Warren. She takes deeps breaths and awkwardly licks her lips.

“Sorry.” She blinks. “What was I saying- oh yeah. Listen Warren we don’t have much time right now.” She looks at him and then back at the door. She keeps glancing at it as if she was expecting someone was going to show up. “Things aren’t what they seem around here. Whatever you do be careful around Nathan. He’s dangerous to even be in the same room with.”

“Anything else?” He whispers. Warren is positive Max has more information to share with him ,but he thinks he’s losing her. His grip on her is weakening and she looks like she can’t stay awake either. “Max? Max!” He yells when she closes her eyes for a final time and a rush of blood runs down her nose. He shakes her believing if he continues so she’ll wake back up. So why isn’t she waking up? A cry escapes from his throat. He didn’t want to be in a high stress situation like this. The young boy tries not to sob right there, anybody can walk in and assume the worst had happened.

As if things couldn’t get worse, there’s a loud booming noise at the door.

Warren whips his head forward and see’s a tall shadowy figure distorted by the glass part of the window. He attempts to control his breathing and tries to make himself look smaller by curling inwards next to Max’s body.

The door eerily opens and Warren is ready to release a scream. The first thing he recognizes are maroon men’s shoes.

“It’s you.” The voice seethes at him, those two words full of venom. Icy blue eyes stare viciously at him. An angry Nathan Prescott stands in front of him. “I’m going to fucking kill you.” The rich boy is bathed in a dark red light. It makes Warren nauseous. It makes him feel as if he was actually in a horror movie.

For the first time Warren releases an horrific scream.