‘You did what?’ Kellen exclaims. ‘You know he can’t swim, right?’

‘No, I didn’t know that! Why does everyone know who can and can’t swim?’

‘He’s scared of water, Zach! He fell off the side of a yacht when he was a kid!’

Truly, only a Hawthorn could have a story of childhood trauma that involves a yacht.

‘That’s why it’s such a big deal that he’s captain of the rowing team,’ Kellen continues. ‘How do you not know this? They ran a story in the Herald and everything!’

‘Must have been a slow news day,’ I scoff. ‘Does the Herald not have more important things to report? Are they really that obsessed with the lives of teenagers?’

I hear Harrington’s car alarm in the distance.

‘There’s a story now! Students Vandalize Headmaster’s Car!’

‘I would read that story …’ Kellen says. ‘But OK, focus, Zach. Why would you push Ethan in the lake? Why does your day keep ending in disaster?’

‘You mean yours doesn’t?’

Kellen seems unwilling to answer that.

‘It doesn’t matter what happened,’ I say, thinking back to that awful conversation with Ethan. Him forcing my hand over his body. I don’t want to have to explain that. ‘He was just being a dick, OK? Fear of water or not, I promise you he deserved it.’

‘But he was OK, right?’

‘I don’t know,’ I say. ‘I jumped in after him. The last thing I remember was choking on the water. And then I woke up here all over again.’

‘You mean you … died?’

‘I didn’t say that.’

Kellen chews on his lip for a moment. ‘And no sign of the mystery boy?’

‘He never showed,’ I say. ‘Still as much a mystery as ever.’

‘Hmm,’ Kellen says, thinking. ‘You know, we’ve gone through prom twice now, and neither of us have seen anyone wearing anything like that gold suit you described –’

‘I’m not crazy, Kellen. I know what I saw!’

‘I know,’ he says in that infuriatingly calm voice. ‘But what if someone switched outfits? Halfway through the evening?’

‘Exactly what I was thinking,’ I say. ‘But who? And why?’

‘An accident?’ Kellen looks thoughtful. ‘Maybe someone spilled something?’

The realization hits me like a bucket of pig’s blood. ‘Josh and Owen! I ruined their outfits that first night!’

Kellen seems confused. ‘You did?’

‘With the pig’s blood!’ I must have forgotten to tell him that part. ‘It’s a long story … but yeah.’

Suddenly he looks more hopeful. ‘So it has to be one of them, right?’

‘I mean, it makes sense. Bec was convinced it was Josh who voted for me anyway.’

‘And you guys have so much history.’

‘We don’t have so much history.’ I sigh. ‘We hooked up one time.’

‘But you like him, right?’