"Zoe, you will not believe this." I rush up to her in the locker room, out of breath from racing across the building to get to P.E.

Zoe turns around, already changed into leggings and a gray hoodie. "What?"

I glance around while zipping up my black sports jacket. It's a size too small and feels tight around my torso, but it's better to wear old clothes during physical education class.

My voice drops to a whisper. "I found Mom's connection to HappyMood."

"Really? What?" She bolts up from the bench, standing at attention. She slips her phone out from the pockets of her leggings.

"So long story short, there's this case I was curious about in Mom's files. I read about it after you left, and apparently, the victim worked for HappyMood."

The door opens, and I clamp my mouth shut. Girls hustle beside me to get changed but no one seems to be watching us.

"Alright girls, let's get jogging to warm up." A chorus of groans rises from the gray lockers.

I actually like jogging as a light hobby. Exercise in general is great for stabilizing mood and decreasing anxiety. Zoe and I follow the others onto the track. As we lightly jog, I tell her about the case between my puffing breaths. I get winded even faster than normal due to talking, and I feel like my heart rate is beating like I'm about to have an anxiety attack. But the good kind of adrenaline is pumping through my veins, the kind that makes me feel like I can take on the world. Or at a minimum, I can work through this case.

"She had kids," I tell Zoe at the end.

"Hmm. Could they be responsible for the murders?" Zoe wrinkles her nose. "That's rather dark. I mean, we're talking about kids."

"They could be adults now," I say. "We don't know their ages."

Zoe nods thoughtfully. "Perhaps they are trying to follow in their Mom's footsteps."

"Or they could be wanting revenge on the whole system for taking their Mom." A thought hits me, and I stumble to a halt as my feet stop working. The girl behind bumps into me.

"Sorry," she murmurs before she, Brooklyn, and Kayla flow around Zoe and me. Kayla gives me a little wave as she passes.

Zoe looks at me with concern. "Are you okay?"

I look into her glittering eyes. "They could want revenge on me. On my Mom."

"Yes, they could."

"This is not okay! How can you be so calm about this?"

"I mean, either they'd want revenge on you, Evan, or both of you."

Or none of us. I don't say it out loud.

"Girls, are you hurt?" the gym teacher calls.

"No," we chorus.

"Then let's keep jogging. We want to keep those heart rates up."

"So what now?" Zoe asks as we resume jogging. My legs feel more unstable, and it's a struggle to keep them pumping against the ground.

"Well," I pant, trying to get my train of thought to keep up with my feet. "I need another look at Mom's file on the case. I only read about it online, so maybe I can get more information from the actual report. We also need to speak to Evans' former girlfriend, Isabella. We've been putting that off long enough."

"Great, when do we do it?"

My pace slows. "I doubt we can do it together to be honest. She might be suspicious. I think it would be better if I take her off guard." Zoe nods after a moment, the excitement in her eyes dimming. "But why don't you check out her social media? We haven't looked to see if she has an alibi yet."

"Good thinking." A little more pep returns to her feet.

A vibration courses through my pocket. I reach for the side-pocket's zipper only to remember that I'm not supposed to have my phone with me. It's supposed to be in my gym locker. I'll have to check it later.

After class, I remove my phone from my pocket once in the locker room. Gray rectangular messages fill my lock screen, but it's the top one that catches my eyes.

There's another red heart icon, another message congratulating me on a match. My hands tremble, and I shove the phone back inside my pocket. I get changed in a daze while Zoe casually moves about, not a tense muscle in her body.

Will I ever be that carefree?

"Zoe," I begin as we walk to the cafeteria. "Uh, do you remember when we were looking at the app?"

"Do you remember me toggling out of the automatic match generator?"

"Yes."

"So, I shouldn't be getting any more matches, right?"

"Right." I stop, showing her my phone screen. Her eyes go wide. "Wait, what? Another one?"

"I don't understand it. I swear I turned it off."

"You did, I was there."

Thank goodness I'm at least not imagining things.

"What do you think could be happening?" I ask.

"This is some serious revenge plot. Maybe they're trying to frame you," Zoe says. "You know, Drake has a sibling. That's two kids, just like the woman in the story."

"And they both have brown hair. I saw a picture of the woman in the news stories," I add.

"And Drake has the technical skills to mess with the dating app!" Zoe practically bounces on her heels.

"We're definitely onto something." We walk through the doors to the cafeteria. The line is filling up, but it moves quickly. We fill our lunch trays then walk to our table, where Autumn sits with a textbook open.

"You're actually on time?" Zoe says.

"Yup. It was a test day. I finished early," she says, glancing up only briefly.

Zoe shakes her head. "Brilliant. Seriously, you could be an astrophysicist."

"Or a hacker," I say without thinking. Two pairs of eyes land on me, surprised.

"I wouldn't say that," Autumn laughs nervously. "I mean, I just offered to help since we're friends."

"Right." I slide into the seat beside her. We eye each other in our peripheral visions.

"So, I have a test today for my enhanced sense." Autumn places her earbuds in her ears. "I'm just going to cram study real quick."

"Sure thing," Zoe says. Autumn's eyes land on the paper. Zoe slightly leans forward, her voice barely audible over the lunch room's din. "I think we should play into the killer's hand."

I nearly choke on a sweet potato fry. "What?"

"Think about it, we could beat the killer at their own game. All we have to do is pick the location for the date, then stake it out well in advance. We pick the time and place, we control the whole situation."

Anxiety ripples through me. "Someone could get hurt," I say.

"No way. I'll be watching the whole time. We can even enlist Priya and Autumn to help out. Then we can catch the killer in the act."

Unease roils in my stomach. The burger, which smelled so juicy and delicious moments before, makes me feel nauseous just looking at it.

I'm dead meat. Whoever this match is could end up as dead meat.

"I don't know..." I say.

"Please?"

My eye snags on the doorway. Isabella walks in, wearing jeans and a cropped sweater and laughing as she talks with a guy. Their hands aren't exactly touching, but they're pretty close.

"Quick rebound," Zoe murmurs.

"I'll say." Making a snap decision, I say, "I'm going to talk to Isabella." I take a deep breath. Bracing myself for the worst, whatever it is, I cross the cafeteria to speak to her. The guy leaves and Isabella starts toward the cafeteria line, nearly running into me.

"I'm so sorry," she says. Her hands reach out, almost touching the arms of my sweater. "Are you okay?"

I didn't expect her to be so... nice.

"Y-yeah," I stammer. "I'm good. I actually just was wanting to talk to, well, someone. About something..." I seriously need to plan these conversations better.

"Of course, let me just get my lunch, and you can sit with me. My friends are right over there." She waves to a group of preppy girls across the room.

"It might be better to speak in private. It's about..."

Isabella's eyes narrow. "Wait, you're the girl who found Evan, right? This doesn't have anything to do with him, does it?" The sharpness in her voice slashes the air like a knife, making me hesitate, but I nod anyway. Isabella rolls her eyes. "Oh my gosh, I'm so over him. What is this about?"

"W-well, it's just that everyone keeps telling me he was so cool and happy, but he wasn't that way around me. I guess I just... wonder if I feel like a bad person for wondering ill of the dead."

Isabella's face softens. "You had bad experiences with him too?" I slowly nod. Might be digging a hole for myself, but hopefully I'll be able to climb out if I have to. "I can't talk now. Maybe Saturday morning? Can you meet me at the cafe?"

"Will do."