I was about to leave and head up to my room when Noelle passed by me and curiosity won over the anxiety in my stomach.

“Hey, Noelle,” I said, making her stop in her tracks, and gestured at the closet. “What happened in there?”

“Nothing.”

Encouraged by the fact that she hadn’t ripped my head off yet, I pointed out, “Seven minutes is an awfully long time to do nothing.”

“We talked.”

“That all?”

Noelle’s eyes narrowed, but before she could respond another student council member climbed onto one of the tables and yelled, “Come on, guys, the party isn’t over yet. Let’s play a few more rounds.”

Noelle and I groaned almost simultaneously.

“The next pair is Laura Smith and . . .” the boy began. My stomach coiled with nerves, my brain supplying nothing but a never-ending loop of Please don’t be me please don’t be me please don’t be me. It wasn’t, but the name he called out still made my heart stutter for a second. “None other than Jasper Des Lauriers!”

Loud cheers filled the room even before the sentence was finished. My eyes immediately found Jasper; easy, when I hadn’t really looked away from him ever since I stumbled through the cellar door with Evelyn in tow. He looked anything but happy as he detangled from Sammy, who, to my surprise, seemed to be encouraging him.

Noelle stopped him with a hand on his arm when he passed us. “Hey, are you okay?”

Jasper nodded, even though his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed thickly and his face was the same color as the skeleton that was propped against the wall next to us, probably dumped there by some science teacher years ago. “Yeah. It’s just seven minutes, right?”

“Jasper, you don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Noelle insistently said. “Just say no.”

Somehow I knew even before he shook his head that he wasn’t going to listen. “No. I can do this.”

With that, he turned around, making Noelle’s hand fall away, and strode towards the closet. He hesitated for only a second before he entered, the door falling shut behind him. Like before, the room went silent as soon as the pair was inside.

“What was that about?” I whispered to Noelle.

“You ask a lot of questions.”

“Sorry.” I directed my eyes away from her and stared at the skeleton again. Slouched against the brick wall, with cobwebs filling the space between its ribs and glittering behind its hollow eyes, it looked decidedly unhappy.

After a few seconds of silence, she said, “He always says he hates this game. I’m not sure why—it’s not like making out with strangers has ever bothered him.”

I frowned but didn’t say anything. Instead, I counted in my head as the seconds ticked by.

One minute.

Two minutes.

Three minutes.

Four min—

“He’s freaking out!” Laura exclaimed, throwing the doors open. “We were just talking and then he suddenly freaked out—”

Noelle and I were the first ones to move.