I decided to speak with whoever was on the other end. I scrambled into the classroom and took the telephone from the teacher. I thanked him and held up the phone to my ear. I swallowed hard as my lips quivered.

Why was I suddenly nervous? I was not nervous when Gabriel called me this morning.

"Hello?" I said. I was trying to not stammer. "This is—"

The person cut me off. "You do not have to tell me who you are. I already know who you are by your voice."

"Wow."

"Wow what?"

I facepalmed. "Stupid."

"Who is stupid? Are you implying that you are stupid?"

"No. I mean, yes. I mean—"

He chuckled. Chuckled darkly. "Let me guess, my dear. You do not know what you mean."

I ignored what he said and pressed on. "I did not mean to say wow in the phone. I wanted to say it in my head, but as you saw - er, heard - it slipped out of my mouth. That happens to me from time to time."

"It is no problem at all, Allison. I am just ecstatic that I get to talk to you..." He paused. "...but I cannot be with you for long because I have other things to do."

"Same here."

What in the world was wrong with me? I was acting as if I had known this boy for years. I assumed that it was one of my ex-friends or one of my old teachers. Maybe they got ahold of a number and realized that it belongs to the Forlot school. They all knew that my family and I were moving to Forlot. Maybe one of them wanted to call me and see how I was holding up. But if it were my ex-friends, they would mock me and tell me how great it is to not have someone like me in their school.

The good news is that it was not my dumb friends. The bad news is that it was not my dumb friends. Not even my old teachers because it sounded like a young man.

Who was he? And how did he know me?

Then it hit me like a brick. I suddenly realized who was on the other end.

"I know who you are," I said with a smirk.

"You know who I am, Allison?" the boy questioned. He did not sound worried - unless that he was hiding it.

"Yes. I know exactly who you are."

Silence.

"Hello? Are you still there?"

"Yes, I am still here, Allison. Sorry about that silence. I was away from the phone."

I twirled a hair strand around my finger. "Fine. That is fine. I was afraid that you hung up on me."

"I would never hang up on you, Allison. Not even if my life depended on it."

"It sounds like that you know me. Do I know you?"

"Yes and no."

I leaned my back against the wall. "What do you mean by that?"

"You know me, but you do not know my whole story."

"Aha! Now I know without a doubt who you are."

"So you know who I am, huh?"

"I most certainly do."

"Then give me a name."

"Gladly. You are Anthony. You are the one who picked on me and my sister this morning. I am over the moon that you did not get away with it."

I had to be right. It had to be Anthony. It makes sense. He and Gus and probably the girls were setting me up. At least, they were trying to set me up. But I am smart. I was not falling for their silly prank - if you even want to call it a prank.

Anthony must be calling to lure me somewhere. Maybe the gym. Gus wanted me to go to the gym earlier.

What were they planning for me?

I heard laughter coming from the other end of the call. I will be honest that it creeped me out. It sounded like a maniac.

"It is not a maniac," I said under my breath. "It is only Anthony. He is disguising his voice so that you will not recognize him. Too bad for him that you have common sense."

"That is funny," he said.

"What is funny?" I demanded.

"That you think that I am Anthony."

"I do not think that you are. I know that you are. There is a big difference. But you would not have known that because you are not bright."

"I agree that he is not bright - but I am not Anthony."

I was getting impatient with him and frowned. "Oh my gosh."

"Oh my gosh what?"

I ran my hand through my hair. "Cut the act, Anthony. Just do not waste more of my time. You know what?" I pulled the telephone away from my ear. "I do not have to wait for you to hang up. I will hang up on you."

"Help!"

I was taken aback by the loud cry for help. And when I say loud, I mean it. It was so loud that I jumped out of my shoes. Almost. The phone slipped out of my grasp. It would have clattered on the floor had it not been for the cord attached to it. I could feel my heart pounding. My hands were shaking.

The teacher was at his desk and looked up at me. "You okay, Allison?"

"Yeah," I said. "Yeah, I am fine. I just scared myself." I picked back up the phone and held it up to my ear. "Oh my gosh." I grasped the fabric of my shirt. "Hello? You still there, Anthony?"

"I told you. I am not Anthony. But I do have him if you want to talk to him. He just will not talk back to you."

"Help! I need help!"

I blinked once. Twice. "Who the heck is yelling for help in the background?"

"Now who do you think, Allison? He deserves it."