I joined after the start of the school year, so everyone already had a room-mate, and I ended up in a double room by myself. I found it hard to make friends at first, but then Chase came out and moved over to the boys’ dorm, and we’ve been best friends ever since. Me, Bec, Chase and Kellen. That’s how it used to be anyway, but four became three when Rhys entered the picture. Things haven’t really been the same since.

‘Think fast!’ Ethan yells, snapping me out of my thoughts. He stands up from the table and hurls a rugby ball across the hall at Owen. It lands directly in the plate of food in front of him, spattering his T-shirt to the sound of sniggering laughter.

‘So much for last-day camaraderie,’ Bec says. ‘They’re supposed to be a team.’

‘Are we really that surprised at Ethan being an asshole?’ I watch as he laughs along with his friends. I glance across at Cameron, who’s now glaring at his brother.

‘I feel bad for Owen,’ Chase says. ‘You just know he’s going to be the target later.’

‘Shit, I forgot about that,’ I say. ‘I hate to say it, but I think you’re probably right.’

He’s talking about the leaver’s prank – a severely messed-up Hawthorn tradition. Every year at prom, they carry out some toxic prank on an unsuspecting victim. Generally cruel and intended to humiliate. Usually a scholarship kid. Always someone who can’t fight back.

‘We should probably warn him,’ Chase says. ‘I don’t wanna be the bearer of bad news or anything – nobody wants to hear that they’re a walking target – but …’

‘I heard they’re going to strip someone naked and throw them in the lake,’ Bec says.

‘Wow, so imaginative.’ Chase rolls his eyes. ‘Nothing says last day of school like sexual assault! Must have taken them hours of brainstorming to come up with that one. At least they’ve moved on from the stupid pig’s blood thing they usually do.’

‘Vegan pig’s blood,’ Bec corrects him. ‘Beetroot and I don’t wanna know what else … Apparently it stinks.’

‘Literally the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,’ I say. ‘So now bullying is fine so long as it’s vegan? And did they not actually watch Carrie? A film about a kid who’s bullied so badly she decides to murder her classmates. They thought that’s an idea they should copy?’

‘Apparently it originated here,’ Bec says. ‘That’s where Stephen King got the idea.’

‘He did not,’ I say. ‘The master of horror absolutely did not steal one of his most iconic ideas from a random British private school.’

‘Well, when you put it like that …’

‘Besides,’ I say. ‘In Carrie, it’s a reference to menstruation! That’s why it’s so hateful. Here they’re just dunking gloop over someone for no reason.’ I look across at Kellen reapplying lip gloss while Tiffany insists that everyone admire her nails. ‘Kellen must know what they’re plotting. Why doesn’t he say something?’