You'll Be the Death of Me

Mateo Wojcik thinks about how little he used to do to support his family. Now, because of his mother’s osteoarthritis, he feels greater pressure to help. Mateo lives with his mother and his cousin Autumn, whose parents were killed in a car accident. Mateo and Autumn both worked at the bowling alley his mother owned until a boy named Patrick DeWitt was injured on an over-waxed lane, resulting in an expensive lawsuit. Desperate, Mateo’s mother sold the bowling alley to Ivy’s father, a successful real estate developer. Since he and Ivy were previously close, Mateo resented hearing the news from Ivy’s father, rather than Ivy herself.

Autumn gives Mateo’s mother her medicine and nearly $500, explaining that the medicine is generic and now less expensive. Mateo knows she’s lying, but he is grateful that his mother believes the lie. Autumn receives a call from someone called Charlie. When Mateo asks about it, Autumn says it’s better for him to know nothing. Mateo asks if her job on a knife-sharpening truck is making extra stops today, and Autumn says yes.

Cal O’Shea-Wallace sits in a donut shop waiting for his new crush, Lara. He remembers how his ex-girlfriend, Noemi, hated processed food and broke up with him in a vegetarian restaurant. Cal is a serial dater who has had a girlfriend since the ninth grade. He feels as if he doesn’t have any true friends, but rather a small circle of people who come together when they have no one else. Cal receives a text from Lara, explaining that she can’t make it. Disappointed, Cal sits in his car and reads the first webcomic he ever wrote, about the day he skipped a field trip and cut school with Ivy and Mateo. He wonders if they were the best friends he’ll ever have and feels guilty about the end of their friendship.

At school, Cal bumps into Ivy. While they are catching up, Mateo walks by, and Cal calls him over. Ivy seems nervous around Mateo, but all three are happy to be together. Cal suggests that they skip school again and drive into Boston.

Ivy soon regrets skipping school, worrying that her parents will find out or that skipping the class president’s speech is more embarrassing than sitting through it. As she grows more nervous, Mateo, who had been pretending to sleep, says that her panic attack is right on schedule. Ivy is surprised that he still knows her so well. Cal suggests that they go to the aquarium to see penguins, which used to be his favorite animal. He asks about Mateo’s family, leading Ivy to feel awkward when the bowling alley is brought up. Mateo had been Ivy’s first crush and first kiss. When Mateo never brought up the kiss, she assumed that he regretted it. Ivy attributes the end of the friendship to Mateo’s awkwardness about the kiss. She ignores several texts from her best friend Emily and her brother Daniel. Ivy is shocked to see Brian “Boney” Mahoney, the newly elected class president, across the street.

In a transcript from the Carlton High School television show, hosts Zack Abrams and Ishaan Mittal speculate about why Boney missed his first speech.

Ivy insists on following Boney. When he walks into a locked building, Cal reluctantly admits that he knows the code: Lara, the person he has been seeing, has a studio in this building. When Mateo questions him, Cal admits that Lara is older than him and that she and other artists are squatting in the building. He seems nervous about seeing her. Ivy follows Boney into the building, leaving Cal and Mateo. Nervous that Boney might hurt Ivy if she confronts him, Mateo convinces Cal that they need to follow her. They find Ivy standing unharmed in the doorway of a studio on the fourth floor. Inside, Mateo sees a body wearing purple shoes lying partially obscured behind a rolling shelf. Sirens begin to sound in the distance. Ivy asks if the body is Boney, then faints at the sight of used needles on the floor. As the sirens get louder, Cal flees after telling Mateo that they should not be caught by police in this building. Knowing his family cannot afford for him to get arrested, Mateo reluctantly flees, carrying Ivy.

Cal is flooded with relief as he escapes into a back alley with Mateo and a still-unconscious Ivy. He wonders if the body was truly Boney, whom he has known since kindergarten. Mateo snaps into action, embarrassing Cal, who feels useless in this moment of crisis. Cal follows Mateo—who is still carrying Ivy—through the alleyways of Boston. As they run, he wonders why Boney was in Lara’s studio, and why she wasn’t there as her strict routine usually demands. Mateo leads Cal to the small dive bar where he works. Mateo questions Cal about Lara, but Cal dismisses him. Cal texts Lara, who says that she went to a ceramics class rather than visiting the studio. Cal turns on the bar’s television to find a breaking news report. The reporter explains that an unidentified body was found after the police and news organizations received a tip about a young, blond woman injecting a man with a syringe. Before Cal and Mateo can take in this news, Ivy wakes up, demanding information.

Ivy wakes, confused about where she is. As Mateo tries to comfort her, she demands to know what happened to Boney. She is furious to learn that Cal and Mateo abandoned Boney at the scene and fled from the police. When Mateo explains that they had no choice, she feels guilty, acknowledging his discomfort with the police as a person of color. Ivy watches the news footage with Cal and Mateo, who ask if she heard or saw anyone else in the building. Ivy remembers hearing voices upstairs when she entered the building. She asks Cal whether the mysterious older woman he’s seeing is blonde. Cal changes the subject, revealing that he found a phone in the studio. The trio decides it must belong to Boney or his murderer. Cal goes to the bathroom, leaving Ivy alone with Mateo, who pours her a tiny amount of whiskey. When Cal returns, he announces that he needs to see Lara and will be back soon. To Ivy’s surprise, Mateo encourages him to go. When they’re alone, Mateo tells Ivy that they need to follow Cal.