We’re sitting outside on the grass, the yearbook open in front of us. Mr Harrington would lose his mind if he saw us, but Madzikanda was right – there really are so many clues in here when you know what you’re looking for. You have to read between the lines, but it’s undeniable that some of these kids must have gone through the same thing as me and Kellen. Despite whatever hardships they may have faced, they seemed to come out the other side better for it. They all seem grateful for what happened. Just like Madzikanda said.

My favourite is an entry from someone called Jacob in 1984. Orwell’s year. I try to imagine what he might have looked like. Unsurprisingly, I imagine him being really cute.

Glad for every iteration

For showing me the way

Through this never-ending story

On this never-ending day.

Barely even cryptic. He might as well have just written BY THE WAY, FOLKS, THIS IS A MAGIC SCHOOL.

‘I think he’s just referencing a movie,’ Chase says, holding up his phone. ‘Look, The Neverending Story came out that same year.’

‘Give me that,’ I say, taking his phone and looking at the Wikipedia entry. ‘It was released in the United States in 1984. Didn’t come out in the UK until 1985. He couldn’t have seen it!’

‘Because aeroplanes didn’t exist in the eighties?’ drawls Chase. Why is he determined to poke holes in this? ‘He probably saw it in America, Zach.’

‘That’s a bit of a stretch, don’t you think?’

‘You’re asking me to believe you’re trapped in a real-life Groundhog Day, but a kid getting on a plane is absolutely unfathomable …’

I sigh. ‘I knew you wouldn’t believe me.’

‘I didn’t say that. I’m still processing.’

‘This evidence is all a bit circumstantial, but it’s still really convincing,’ Bec agrees. ‘But what else? You’ve been looping round in circles for what? Nearly a week now? There must be something else you’ve uncovered, something else we didn’t know about before.’

‘Well,’ I say, racking my brain, ‘something bad is gonna happen.’

‘Something bad?’ Chase says. ‘Worse than Kellen suddenly dropping dead?’

‘Just before prom,’ I say. ‘When we’re all gathered by the fountain, everyone finds out Ethan’s private pictures have been leaked all over the internet.’

‘Really?’ Bec sits upright, a look of concern spreading across her face.

‘I wouldn’t joke about this,’ I say. ‘They’re gonna go majorly viral. Tiffany will make a scene. She’ll call her dad and scream at him, begging him to “make it go away!” But it’s all an act. The person that leaked the photos? It was her.’

‘What?’ Bec says. ‘You’re not serious?’

‘Deadly,’ I say. ‘It’s going to happen. And there’s nothing we can do to stop it.’

‘But why would she do that?’ Chase says. ‘It doesn’t make any sense.’