The Kingsley Prize was half the reason Maria’s parents had sent her to Acheron instead of one of the day schools near their house in McLean. Everyone knew an Acheron senior always got a spot on the list, and it would look good for Maria’s mother if her daughter won the most prestigious scholarship in the state.

Lily hated to picture Maria at some boring, lesser college, like Cornell or UVA. She’d be wasted someplace like that. Someplace where she wouldn’t be challenged.

Someplace where she might meet someone she liked more than Lily.

But it wouldn’t be that way. Lily wasn’t going to let it.

“At least try, that’s all I’m asking,” she begged Maria. “Don’t make me go all the way to California without you just because you didn’t want to try.”

“I tried.” Maria stared down at the floor. “I’ll try again. I’ll keep trying. Maybe if they’d made me soccer captain I’d have had a chance, but—”

“Wait.” Lily frowned, thinking. “The Kingsley Prize. Homecoming. Soccer. Maybe there’s a way to do all of that.”

Maria’s heart pounded. The air in the bathroom was starting to feel way too much like the old dining hall had the night before.

That strange sensation hovered at the edges of her consciousness. The feeling that she and Lily weren’t the only two people here.

“Hang on.” Lily pulled her phone out of her pocket. Maria watched over her shoulder. She was texting Brandon. Asking him when the athletics department had scheduled the fall round of drug testing.

“What are you doing?” Maria said. “What difference does that make?”

“It’s just an idea.”

Lily’s phone buzzed right away. Apparently, Brandon was still awake, hanging out alone in his room while his friends were all down here. It made Maria sad to think about.

According to his text, the testing was scheduled for Wednesday. If they told anyone where they got the info, Brandon would get suspended for sure, and—

Lily shut off the screen.

“Wednesday,” Maria said.

Lily and Maria gazed at each other. Suddenly Lily’s plan became clear.

Maria had always regretted not turning Delilah in. She’d be soccer captain right now if she’d told on Delilah and Coach Tartar. She might even have been in the top spot on the list this morning.

Was this . . . her second chance?

“If Delilah comes up positive on the drug test—”

“Then she’s off the team, and on probation too,” Lily finished. “Maybe even suspended.”

Last year two seniors had tested positive for pot a month before graduation. They’d gotten suspended for three weeks. They both had to take incompletes for the year and make up the credits over the summer.

“It’ll go on her permanent record,” Lily said. “The prize committee will find out. It would go on her college applications too.”

“And that means—”