"Tyler? Tyler!"

Tyler jolted upwards. "Huh?"

"Are you okay?" Ashley asked. "You've been acting weird all day, man. Also, you just crushed that poor chip."

Tyler looked down, where he could see the remains of a crushed potato chip in his hand. He shook it off, the crumbs landing on his empty lunch tray.

"Are you okay?" Ashley repeated. "Seriously, Ty. You show up out of the blue after skipping for half the week, and then you start acting all weird. You're worrying me."

Tyler have her a split-second smile. "I'm fine. Just a little stressed."

"Bullshit," Ashley scoffed. "You've been staring off into space all day, you haven't eaten a thing, and you constantly look like you're about to cry. Tell me what's wrong. Now."

Tyler sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I promise I'm okay. Just some drama at home."

Ashley's eyes widened. Tyler had told her about a couple of 'incidents' before- she didn't know the Josephs were involved with the mafia (neither did Tyler until a few days ago), but she knew that they had gotten into some dangerous situations. Once, a couple of years ago, Tyler ran to her house, crying and bleeding. He had run six miles at 2:00am on a winter night in Columbus. Ashley was surprised that he wasn't dead. They didn't talk about it anymore, of course, but she always worried about his home life. His parents were nice, but their friends definitely weren't.

Ashley grabbed his hand from across the table. "You can tell me anything, you know."

"Of course," Tyler replied. "And I will tell you, just... not now. It's hard to explain."

Ashley suddenly perked up. "Is it your cousin?"

Tyler furrowed his eyebrows. "My-" he paused as soon as he understood. "Oh, of course. Yeah, my cousin, Josh. No, it- it doesn't have anything to do with him."

"Really?" Ashley asked, her voice laced with doubt."

"Alright, it does have something to do with him," Tyler admitted, "but I can't change anything, so who cares?"

"Well, I care," Ashley said. "And if this is hurting you, or if you're in trouble, I will beat his ass. I don't care if he's an orphan."

"Orphan?" Tyler repeated. "Oh, yeah! Yeah, he lost his parents. Oh. But, uh, the problem's not his fault. Like, it has to do with him, but he's also a victim of the problem, y'know?"

Ashley narrowed her eyes. "I'm so confused."

"Me too," Tyler mumbled.

They sat in silence for a while, Ashley eating her food while Tyler stared at the stained plastic of the cafeteria table. His mind wandered- to Josh, to Brendon. To the other night, when he was literally kidnapped, which was absolutely insane. Josh said he wasn't part of that, but Tyler had his doubts. Josh seemed nice enough, but it could have all been an act. Brendon, too. He was more suspicious of Brendon, though, since he'd had an opportunity to get to know Josh.

Tyler's thoughts were interrupted when Josh sat down beside him, his full tray of food rattling as it slammed down onto the table.

"Speak of the devil," Ashley grinned, earning her a glare from Tyler.

"Tyler," Josh said. "You've been avoiding me all day."

Tyler looked down. "Sorry, Josh."

They at in an awkward silence for a while before Ashley spoke up. "I'm Ashley Frangipane. Josh Joseph, right?"

Josh seemed to flinch at the name. "Right. Nice to meet you, Ashley."

They both reached across the table to shake hands, Tyler awkwardly leaning away from the interaction.

"Tell me about yourself," Ashley said as she rolled a fruit roll between her fingers, undoubtedly attempting to appear intimidating.

"Well, I used to live in Cali with my parents. Then... y'know," Josh lied.

Ashley smiles sympathetically. "I'm sure you're sick of hearing this, but I'm sorry about your parents."

"Yeah," Josh muttered.

He looked down and began to pick at his food. Ashley looked at Tyler with a raised eyebrow and he shrugged in reply. Ashley waved him closer and Tyler got up to sit next to her.

"You're shaking," she muttered, grabbing Tyler's hands.

Tyler clenched his fists. "Damn it. I haven't stopped shaking for, like, five days."

Ashley's eyes widened. "Something is definitely wrong."

"Don't worry about it," Tyler mumbled. "I'm fine."