I’d also been contemplating ripping Tessa a new one—but I always decided against that, too. She’d ditched our second brownie night early—and her stomachache saved me from blurting out a lecture. Somehow, I’d find a way to talk to her, but it would have to be after the anger settled.

Mrs. Francesca waved me off as I gently shut the door behind me, dragging my feet like I wore lead shoes. I contemplated not showing up at all, but then who knows who he’d target next in order to control me. Probably Amber, since she was the other most important girl in my life who happened to be a Wilmont student. That couldn’t happen. We were too close to putting this place in our rearview.

Mere weeks until acceptance letters were mailed.

Ms. Howard flashed me an encouraging look as I walked toward Tanner’s closed door. A few knocks and he’d ushered me inside. Another shut door. Another secret session.

Can’t wait till graduation.

A few weeks and I could stop worrying about his role in my acceptance to MIT. Hopefully I’d have cleared Tessa by then, too. But I had to tread lightly. And succeed here.

One step at a time.

“Have you discovered the source?” Tanner asked, unbuttoning his suit jacket as he took a seat behind his desk.

I had tried and failed miserably.

I furrowed my brow, clutching the bag on my shoulder. “No. It’s complicated. Whoever is behind this knows what they’re doing.”

His eyebrows rose at my tone. “Sit down.”

I sighed, sinking into the chair he indicated.

“I thought you were the most talented, promising computer science-bound student in the district, let alone Wilmont Academy.”

I cocked a brow at him. “I am,” I said.

“Then who is behind this blog?”

“I don’t know.” I smacked my hand on the armrest of the chair.

He shifted in his seat. “I don’t have to remind you of what is at stake here, do I?”

I sat, frozen, trying like hell not to lose it on him.

“Perhaps I do,” he said, reaching for the mouse on his desk. A few clicks and he turned his desktop screen toward me.

A small vid-box popped up, the black-and-white images grainy but unmistakable.

Tessa.

Slipping Tanner’s laptop under her sweater and leaving with it in a hurry.

I cut my eyes up to the top right-hand corner of Tanner’s custom-built bookshelves that lined the wall behind him. The same angle in which Tessa’s prank-gone-horribly-wrong had been captured. A small, barely noticeable red light blinked from behind a mess of green leaves—a potted plant he had on the highest shelf.

“Are you allowed to have that thing recording while you have students in your office?” I asked, my eyes returning to him.