“I know you weren’t drinking,” he said. “Not after—” He broke off awkwardly before clearing his throat. “So, food poisoning?”

“No,” I said again, “It’s just that they’re about to announce Homecoming Queen, and I’m nervous. Stage fright.”

I thought it was pretty good as far as excuses go, but David just laughed. “Yeah, right. Pres, you’d make out with a spotlight if you could figure out how. It’s gotta be something else.”

That hungry look was back in his eyes, and it suddenly occurred to me that the reason I’d thrown up was literally across the hall. My stomach and knees turned to jelly. It was a miracle that David hadn’t noticed the broken door to the girls’ room when he’d come in here. There was no way he was going to miss it when he left. And David was the smartest person I knew; he was the only thing currently standing between me and valedictorian. David had seen me going toward the girls’ room, and when he saw the two dead bodies in there, he’d put two and two together.

And he would love it. He’d write a bazillion articles for the paper chronicling my downfall, and the eventual trial, and he’d win awards for it. Do they have a Pulitzer for high school papers?

“Well, whatever is up with you, I suggest you get over it so you can collect your crown,” he said, turning to leave.

“Wait!” I cried, grabbing his arm. How could I keep him from going out there?

“What?” he snapped, clearly pretty irritated.

“Um . . . I just, uh, I just wanted to say thank you. Again.”

David stared at me like I’d just started speaking in tongues, but after a moment, kind of patted my hand and said, “Yeah, you’re, uh . . . no problem.”

Then he pulled open the bathroom door. I stayed, frozen, waiting for him to shout or something when he saw the destruction across the hall.

But all I heard were the soft squeaks of his tennis shoes as he walked away.

Oh my God, had he missed it again? Looked like valedictorian was in my grasp after all!

But then, when I walked out of the bathroom, I saw why David hadn’t seen anything: There was nothing to see.

The bathroom door was in place and in one piece.

Chapter 4

EVERYTHING after that is kind of a blur, mostly because I was pretty sure I was going insane. I know I walked into the bathroom and didn’t even feel all that surprised to see that it was empty, with no sign of the two dead bodies that had been in there just—I checked my watch—six minutes ago. The walls were fine, no cracks or big craters roughly the size of Dr. DuPont’s head. I even checked the trash can for the bloody paper towel I’d used to clean my shoe.