Elise laughed, looking at it again. “The best part is that everything was written with dry erase markers except that last one, so when he goes to wipe the board, he’ll clear everything and realize the last line’s in Sharpie. Julie came up with that.”

“Wow,” I said, surveying the disaster.

“I can’t believe you weren’t there,” she said. “Our first mission and you were MIA.” She shook her head in mock disappointment until I looked sufficiently chastised, even if I didn’t feel it. “So, what do you think? Pretty awesome, right?”

“Yeah,” I said, mostly still taking it all in—the destruction of the classroom, the security cameras, the clever key theft. This was also classic Elise: brilliant plans, even better execution. But I didn’t feel the thrill I used to, though it was clear she did.

“He’s so gross,” she said. “An obvious first target.” That was true. I hated walking by his classroom, especially if he was standing by the door looking out onto the hallway.

“I wish you were there,” she said, not letting it go. I knew what she wanted me to feel—left out, jealous even. But I had no regrets over spending my night with Jack, and if I had the choice, I’d choose to be with him again.

“When did you guys plan this anyway?” I asked out of curiosity.

“Just last night,” she said. “That’s why you should always come hang out with us.”

“But you said you got the keys—”

“Yeah, earlier that day, but I hadn’t tried them, wasn’t even sure I’d gotten the right ones. Then we got bored and it kind of just snowballed from there.”

Elise remained jubilant all day, thrilled with what they’d accomplished in just one night. She replayed every moment with excruciating detail, how she’d swiped the keys, how they parked at Jae’s house, the closest one to school, and walked the whole way. How they basically strolled in, cut the cameras, and destroyed Dawkins’s room.

“The only thing we haven’t figured out is what to call ourselves,” she said at the end.

“Why not just use Deadly Vipers?” I asked, surprised she hadn’t thought of it already. “It’s catchy and seems dangerous.”

“See, this is why we need you, Rem,” she said. “You have all the good ideas.”

“Ha, ha,” I said, nudging her with an elbow.

“I’m serious,” she said. “You should’ve been there. You should’ve seen us.” She was so proud, and I was impressed. But the message was clear: You should’ve been with me, not Jack. I didn’t tell her that I was happy with the choice I made.

But it wasn’t just Jack or the prank. The truth was I hadn’t wanted to see her. But I couldn’t really explain why. All I knew was that I had begun to experience a sense of guilt around her since the night she told me about her father.

She was my favorite person in the whole world and this was the first time I’d purposely avoided her since we met.