Chapter 23

It's a new day at school and Tiffany looks at the guitar pick necklace that Howard gave her for her birthday reminiscing that time with a smile on her face only to have Bernice come in and ruin her moment. Bernice there for answers and isn't happy when she hears that Howard and Jeff celebrated Tiffany's birthday with her. She's jealous because they forgot to spend hers with her.
In her anger, she pushes Tiffany's things off of her desk and that's the moment Howard enters. Bernice asks him instead but cuts him off when it looks like he's going to take Tiffany's side over hers. She goes to slap Tiffany, calling her annoying, but Howard stops her and tells her she's gone too far. With disappointment in her eyes as she looks at him, she tells him he'll regret that, taking one last look at Tiffany before she leaves.
Kengsington is out on the basketball court when Bernice finds him. The two sit down on the sidelines and have a chat. She brings up the past and mentions that someone might have forgotten about the times they shared together already. Kensington wonders if someone bullied Bernice but she just brings up the possibility of Howard not liking her anymore noticing how indifferent he acts towards her. She lists some of her achievements and Howard's lack of acknowledgement in them and care for Tiffany. She cries as she thinks she's a failure and kengsington tries to cheer her up.
Laurence and Tiffany are walking when they're confronted by kengsington on the stairs. Tiffany doesn't back down as kengsington tells her to stay away from Howard. Still, Tiffany is headstrong and fights back with him as he admits that he's not going to let Bernice get hurt. Finally understanding the picture, Tiffany tries to separate herself from the situation but kengsington pulls her back and even snaps at Laurence, more like a strongly warning, when she tries to step in.
Once Tiffany is back in front of him, kengsington notices the guitar pick necklace. He pulls it off of her neck and wants to know why she has it. Using her boxing arts knowledge, Tiffany tries to kick kengsington but he easily dodges and she ends up falling down the stairs.
The two are in the infirmary where Tiffany has a neck brace. She doesn't feel like she needs it but Laurence just tells her to rest. Tiffany isn't that concerned about the entire situation, she just doesn't want Howard to know what happened, especially that it happened with kengsington. That doesn't stop him from barging into the room. He doesn't take her excuses that the cause was kengsington and with a vengeance in his eyes, he leaves the room.
Kengsington is practicing his boxing and his two lackeys talk and play with the helium tank that they acquired. Their singing of the Minion Banana Song doesn't go to well with kengsington but he has no time with that as Howard arrives and demands to see him. Things escalate in no time and the two fight each other with the lackeys looking on. After seeing that kengsington is struggling, one of the lackeys, steps in but Howard takes him down in no time going back to kengsington.
Tiffany and Laurence arrive at that moment and rush to try to stop things before it gets worse. As they continue to verbally fight, their voices begin to change due to the helium in the room. Even Tiffany and Laurence aren't immune but are quick to discover the cause. Laurence points out that inhaling too much will cause hypoxia, which is when there isn't enough oxygen in the body for the cells to do their thing, and they think quickly for a solution.
The fighting continues and kengsington throws the tank at Howard, who catches it, but begins inhaling a lot of helium causing him to begin experiencing some flashbacks of him being in water. But the fight must go on and in a swift move, Howard goes to knock kengsington down and in the process of kengsington falling, he takes down Laurence with him. So she's going over to move the glass bottle because she wasn't actually in the way.
she gets cut by the glass and Tiffany, all out of sorts, yells for Howard to help. he begins to experience a shortness of breath and a continuing visions of him being in water that cause him to freak out and run out of the building.
Kengsington and Laurence are sharing a hospital room and kengsington wonders why she stepped in to help. Tiffany arrives with food and offers some to him but he rejects it. Laurence wakes and wonders what happened. Tiffany tells her she'll be fine and all she has to do is rest. Tiffany wonders if kengsington should show his appreciation for Laurence saving him but he only coughs.
Bernice came to the hospital to see kengsington. She wants to know why Tiffany and Laurence are there and Tiffany simply tells her that they saved kengsington and to get the entire story from him. He tells her it's hard to explain but she begins to frame Laurence as doing it on purpose because she's into kengsington, as in to extort money from him. Even kengsington tells her it's not true and tries to diffuse the situation by telling her that he wants to go for a walk.
Outside of the hospital room Jeff is trying to call Howard but to no avail. Tiffany catches him up on what happened in the boxing place, Jeff making sure to get every detail possible. When he hears that there was helium in the room, too, he begins to piece it together. Jeff tells Tiffany that they need to find Howard as quickly as possible and admits that this isn't the first time he's disappeared. The last time was for three days and they have no idea what happened to him during those days but he did pass out as soon as he came back.
Tiffany wonders how that could happen and Jeff begin to explain the story. He says that he, Howard, and kengsington were childhood friends with another friend Victoria, Bernice older sister. He further explains that Victoria and Howard had gotten into an accident where they both fell into the water and Howard was saved while Victoria wasn't. The first account of him disappearing was from Victoria's funeral. Jeff mentions that one side effect of having hypoxia could be a situation similar to drowning that could have caused something to trigger in Howard.
Howard is out on the street and thoughts of Victoria flash through his mind as well as when Tiffany called out to him. He's in a continuous daze as he walks down the street.
Back at school Jef waits for Tiffany to arrive. It turns out she called for Andrew to help but he also brought on Bernice. He claims it wasn't his fault because Bernice was also in the office when he was called but she promises that she won't do anything and that they'll definitely find him. Jeff starts distributing tasks, breaking into two teams, ensuring communication between both teams to make sure that they cover various places.
Bernice and Andrew took a break in a coffee shop where he asks if Howard liked to go there a lot. Bernice explains that it's the only 24-hour coffee shop in the city and her sister liked to go there, introducing the place to Howard and her. Bernice admits that she knows that Howard didn't take her there later on a date but because of the guilt he felt associated to the accident and the sense of responsibility that he must felt of needing to take care of Bernice in her sister's place. She also admits that she's grown used to it so she can't let him go and wants to be together with him forever, even if he doesn't like her.
Jeff and Tiffany, on the other hand, are driving when Jeff points out that Tiffany doesn't look too good. She suggests to take her back to the school and she doesn't object. He tells her not to be too worried about Howard and promises to find him. That doesn't stop her thoughts of wondering if he's safe.
Still in a daze, Howard dreams about Victoria, this time she dressed as the female lead for his Breathe music video and playing the piano. He wakes with a start to her name and finds himself in his safe place, the garden area, the place that no one else but Tiffany knows about.
It's late when Tiffany gets back to her dorm and she dejectedly sits and wonders where Howard went. She tries to think about potential places and looks over at her desk to see the kitten sitting by the plant Howard gave her. In a hurry she runs out of her dorm and finally finds him.