She grinned back, giving me a little wave, and then leaned over to say something to Ryan. His gaze flicked toward me, but I couldn’t read his expression. Apparently the Mary Beth incident was still an issue. Which was fine, since the whole defacing-the-wards-and-not-telling-me thing was very much an issue as far as I was concerned. So I let my gaze move away from him, searching out David.

Who was... not there.

I spotted Chie and Michael talking to each other on the very top bleacher, clearly not listening to Headmaster Dunn. So where was David? He always sat with them, and if he wasn’t there, then I’d expect him to be next to Bee and Ryan. I’d told him I was going to speak this morning, and, hey, even if I hadn’t, assemblies were mandatory.

There was no tightness in my chest, no sense that anything was wrong with him, but still, it was weird.

I racked my brain, trying to remember if I’d seen him this morning, all while studying the note card in my hand like I was going over my remarks. Okay, yes, he’d been in the parking lot, wearing some atrocious shade of green. So where—

Lucy’s elbow nudged my ribs, and I realized the gym was quiet, Headmaster Dunn waiting expectantly by the podium.

Shoot.

Rattled, I stood up, smoothing my skirt down over my thighs with one hand while the other clutched my note card. I usually breezed right through things like this, but right now I was unsettled. When I stepped up to the podium, the microphone released a shriek of feedback as I adjusted it, and I winced, tucking my hair behind my ear.

“Sorry about that,” I said with a pained smile. “Anyway, um, good morning, Grove Academy. As you know, I’m Harper Price, your SGA president, and I wanted to mention a few upcoming—”

It hit me like a brick.

One moment, I was fine, albeit nervous; the next, I was gasping and clutching both sides of the podium, my entire upper body in a vise. I could feel sweat break out all over me, prickling at my hairline and my spine, and when I managed to open my eyes, I saw that Bee had risen to her feet and was already moving toward me.

“Harper—” Headmaster Dunn said, laying a beefy hand on my shoulder.

I gritted my teeth, my knees feeling weak and watery, adrenaline racing through me, alarm bells going off in my head.

No, wait. Those weren’t in my head.

It was the fire alarm.

Easing me out of the way, Headmaster Dunn faced the six hundred or so students in the bleachers. “All right, kids,” he said easily enough, but I saw the furrows around his mouth deepen. “You know the drill. Orderly line, out the main doors and into the courtyard.”