It’s the categories from the unofficial leavers’ poll.

‘Hottest boy.’ He nudges me. ‘Want to see how you scored?’

‘I already know how I scored. Zachary Evans – zero votes. Honestly, who thought this was a good idea anyway? As if we’re not already dripping in insecurity …’

‘Speak for yourself,’ he says. ‘It’s just a bit of fun, Zach.’

‘Fine,’ I say. ‘Hand it over then.’

Chase passes me his phone, and I scan the results. It’s essentially a long list of everything that’s wrong with this school. A hierarchy based on money and popularity and little else.

‘Hottest boy – Rhys Kingsland.’ My eyes roll so far back they almost come full circle. ‘Why am I not surprised?’

‘He is hot, Zach! You can keep saying you don’t see it, but the boy is practically a supermodel. Those biceps … those dimples.’

‘You mean the ones his parents paid for?’

‘Unsubstantiated gossip,’ Chase snaps. ‘I thought you were better than that. Besides, who cares? You know I’ll be paying for a lot more than cheekbones, right? If a person has the means to make themselves happier in their body, why shouldn’t they?’

‘I guess so,’ I say, continuing to scroll. ‘Well, this is clearly rigged. Tiffany has won everything. Most popular. Hottest girl. Most likely to become prime minister …’

Chase snorts at that, taking the phone back with a look of pure disbelief. ‘These votes don’t even add up. Bec got forty-nine votes for hottest girl. Tiffany got fifty-one. That’s a hundred votes, Zach. There’s not even that many students in our year! She probably made a bunch of fake accounts just to vote for herself.’

‘Well, I can’t say I’m surprised. Cheating is sort of her MO. I’m just shocked she went to all this effort for an unofficial student poll! It’s not like any of this actually matters.’

‘I’m half tempted to hack in and fix it.’

‘Could you actually do that?’ My ears prick up.

‘Course,’ Chase says. ‘The coding behind this thing is basic.’

‘Then why don’t you?’ I say, devil horns practically sprouting from my head.

‘You know I don’t like cheating, Zach.’

‘It’s not cheating if the whole thing is already rigged. You’re just … putting the universe back how it should be. Besides, it’s the last day. What are they gonna do?’

Chase looks at me for a moment as he thinks about it. ‘Fine,’ he finally says with a grin, opening his laptop. He clicks around for a minute or two, his face deep in concentration. He says it’s ‘basic’, but watching him do stuff like this will never cease to amaze me. He says writing code is no different to writing a story, but all I see is numbers and gibberish.

‘OK,’ he says after no time at all. ‘We’re in.’

‘Just like that? You’re a criminal mastermind!’