I shrugged. “I don’t need rumors to know he’s had a stick up his ass for the past ten years. Or more.”

Sean nodded, a smile on his face. “You remember when the fire system malfunctioned and soaked the teachers’ lounge?”

I sat up straighter, thinking back to the epic day in history. I was a sophomore. Half the teachers had been doused, including Tanner. “Yeah?”

“That was funny.” Sean stood up from the bed.

I furrowed my brow. “That wasn’t you, was it?”

The teachers, Tanner, too, had all claimed it was a legit tech malfunction. No one had gotten in trouble for it. In fact, Tanner had brought Sean in to help fix the problem.

“Of course not.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “It was a common hiccup in the system.”

His gaze didn’t match the explanation his lips gave.

Holy hell.

“No trace,” I said, nodding with understanding. He might be telling me not to go after Tanner, but underneath the advice was the even bigger order: don’t get caught. Leave no trace. Be so good they don’t even have the chance to think a human was behind it.

And wasn’t that half of what I killed myself practicing for anyway?

This would take some thought. Careful plotting, planning, and painstakingly double-checking everything.

But it had to be big.

Nothing less would beat Amber.

“Dean?” Sean asked like he’d said my name more than once. He was standing by the door. I hadn’t even realized he’d moved, lost in the swirls of my plans.

“Yeah?”

“Who showed up to your club?”

“Amber Henderson.” I relented, knowing he wouldn’t stop asking.

His mouth dropped. “The girl with the pink in her hair?”

“How do you remember her?” It’d been two years since he went to our school, and he’d been a senior then. We were barely on his radar.

He chuckled, tapping the side of the door with his knuckles. “She cornered me one time.”

A muscle in my jaw ticked out of instinct.

Sean quickly raised his hands. “She just wanted configuration advice. A new piece of equipment was giving her trouble. I helped her, but she’d already been halfway there.”

I released a tight breath, telling myself to get a damn grip. “That sounds like Amber.”

“Look, I promise I’m not trying to lecture you about the sign-off stuff,” Sean said. “I know all about locking up for competitions and jobs and side projects. Fucking kills me to say it, but I’m proud of you. Okay? You’re on track. Further along than I was at your age. Just…” He rolled his eyes. “Don’t waste your last year as a kid. Have some fun. Get reckless, but be smart about it. Safe. Because once you hit the real world? Shit changes. For the better, mostly. But it changes.”

“You regretting something, brother?”