The next morning, my phone rings before my alarm has even gone off. The numbers on my clock are blurry and there is only a hint of sunlight peeking in through my curtains. I don't want to leave the warmth of my bed to answer the phone, but the ringing isn't stopping. I swear if my phone reads "Spam Risk" I am going to reem the telemarketer on the other end.

I finally grab my phone and am stunned to see "Liam Greysor" on the screen. He never answered one of my fifteen phone calls from last night so I figured I would talk to him when I saw him at school today.

"Do you know what time it is?" I mumble as I lay back down with my eyes closed.

"Ellie...I know when the gun is brought to school. I just saw it," he states with his voice low and grumbly like he just woke up too. I'm awake now and bolt upright to listen to the details.

"Oh god, okay. When will it happen?" I dreadfully ask.

"The day of the homecoming game. I saw the posters around school and you are in your cheer outfit," he replies quickly. I'm not awake enough to process this, but I now have even more questions.

"Who brings it into school? Does anyone get hurt? Are they stopped?" I ask, spilling out my thoughts as soon as they are registered.

"There's more than one person with a gun, but they are wearing ski masks," he answers. "I do however know, that one of them is the kid from our bio class." We sit in silence for a moment before he adds, "Ellie, I don't want to completely scare you, but I need to talk to someone about this, and you know the student body better than I do."

"No, I understand Liam. I'm glad you called," I tell him before asking the heavy question. "Did you see me?" I ask, dreading the answer. He's doesn't respond right away and the silence makes me nervous.

"All I've seen is that you walk into the classroom before that kid from bio. I haven't seen you walk out though," he says nervously and the silence that follows worries me.  This is bad. This is really bad. Liam has only kind of seen what happens to me but not everyone else. Not Harper or Lily or even Derek.

"Okay. We need to go to the police," I whisper.

"And say what? I think some kids are going to bring a gun to school because I dreamt it? No Ellie, I don't think we'll be taken seriously," he says flatly. He's right- how do we expose them without exposing ourselves?

"We have two weeks until the homecoming game. We have to figure out who is planning this, and how to prevent it," I say sharply. I'm now eager to get to school, but I still have two hours before I even have to start getting ready.

"What did you call me about last night?" Liam asks, suddenly changing the subject. I had almost completely forgotten.

"Oh. Yeah, about that. I umm...I need you to ask Harper to homecoming- in a big elaborate way," I confess.

He's quick to respond, "Um, no. I'm not going to homecoming. And if I do, it won't be with her." I knew I was going to have to beg.

"Liam please, I already told her you were going to ask her."

"You already told her? Why would you do that?"

"It's a long, guilt-ridden story. But it will be a big group thing, so you won't be stuck with her. Derek and I will be there-"

"You're still going with Derek?" He snaps, interrupting me.

"Of course I'm going with Derek. Why wouldn't I be?" I snap back.

"Oh I dunno, maybe because we kissed? You kissed me. That's a pretty good reason to reevaluate your relationship status. Or at least take a break from him," he says like it's completely obvious. I think back to my conversation with Harper and know I have to convince Liam that I'm not into him like that.

"I'm not breaking up with Derek," I try and say convincingly. "Yes, we kissed but it was an act of stupidity on my part. I should have never done that and Derek will never know. I'm not going to break up with someone I've made future plans with over a kiss. I got caught up in the moment. I'm sorry, Liam."

"No Ellie. I think that's all bullshit. I think you just want to have your cake and eat it too." I must have upset him because the line goes dead. I look at my phone and see call ended.  Great. This is so not what I need right now. I knew better than to play with both of our emotions. I lie back down but have no intention of falling back asleep. My mind races and goes over all the new information Liam shed light on. This now has to be my focus. Not homecoming. Not Liam, Harper, or even Derek. I have to figure this out and only have two weeks to do it. I wish I could run to the police or to the principal, but I have no proof. I can't tell them what I know or how I know it. I shake my head in frustration wondering how I can help.  Maybe I should write an anonymous letter and send it in? Tell the administration I heard some rumors.

I still can't wrap my head around the idea that someone from our bougie, elite high school is going to do something this horrifying. Our student body is either extremely academic or athletically focused. We kill ourselves trying to get into an Ivy league or a sports scholarship, so I can't imagine anyone with an A.P schedule having the time or energy to plan something like this. Maybe this kid is just snapping from the pressure? He was on the honor roll wall, he's clearly an academic. I'm annoyed that I don't even remember his name, but after tomorrow, I'll remember it for the rest of my life. I throw my head against my plush pillow, but my eyes stay glued to my ceiling as the sunrise floods into my room.

◆◆◆

I roll into class early and am ready to start my hunt for information. I plop into the seat next to the kid who was in Liam's vision and it feels odd to sit on this side of the room. I pull out my biology notes as I slyly glance at him. He is already hunched over his desk scribbling in a notebook, his dark shaggy hair lies over his eyes and he has small black gauges in his ears. My eyes glance to the thick leather band strapped around his wrist and I see what looks like anime characters etched into the covers of his notebooks. I have nothing to relate to, so I go for school work.

"Hey, I missed class a day ago, do you know what the homework was for today?" I ask him and he's startled. Wondering why I am asking him of all people.

"Uh, no sorry," he mumbles before going back to his scribbling. I won't give up so easily.

"Okay, well do you have any notes I can look at?" I ask. He looks annoyed so I give him my best pleading smile. "I have to pass this next quiz or my Standford acceptance could be jeopardized because I don't know if you remember, but a few days ago, Mrs. Hagar thought-" I start rambling and my blabbing gets him annoyed enough to open his notebook. He just wants me to stop talking to him, so he rips a page out of his notebook.

He cuts me off as he says, "Here ya go, princess." He slams the paper down on my desk and rolls his eyes.

"Oh my goodness. Thank you so much...uh..."

"Ian. Figures you don't know my name," he snaps. The insult goes over my head because I am so excited that I finally know his name. And even though he clearly doesn't like me, he still offered up his notes. Maybe he's not this terrible monster? The classroom quickly fills right before the bell rings and Liam sits on the opposite side of the room, far away from me. Derek was confused as to my seat shuffle but once he spots me, he scoots up next to me. I don't see Harper.

Liam, one of the kids' names is Ian! I shout excitedly. He doesn't look over and he doesn't respond. Liam don't be mad at me, please! This is bigger than the petty issues you have with me.

This gets his attention.

Petty issues? Really? I tell you my secrets, you kiss me and then tell me you regret the kiss and beg me to ask some crazyass to homecoming. You're playing with my head and I'm not playing your games. You can't tell me who to date or who to ask to homecoming. You also can't just be my friend when it's convenient for you. I'm not just someone else that you can control.  I stare at him, shocked that he's so blunt. No one ever just comes out and tells me exactly how it is. Liam funnily enough doesn't play mind games.  Derek looks at me and then looks over to Liam. He then glares at me.

"Pay attention!" Derek whispers and I snap my gaze to the front of the classroom.

I can't like you, Liam, not in that way. For once I can't be selfish! From the corner of my eye, I see him put his head in his hands and rest his elbows on the desk. He rubs his face and looks back over to me.

So this is about Harper? You don't want to hurt her, I get that because she's your friend. But I'm not into her. And I don't want to pretend to be either. That's not right. And I am not going to be because that's easier for you. It takes a whole lot of self-control not to look at him as I tell him, Can we just get through homecoming and then figure this out? Please. Then I hear it. Liam hears it too because he looks in my direction, only this time, he's not looking at me.

We'll have to set everything up the night before and hope nothing gets fucked up. We will be in three different classrooms, so the timing has to be perfect. It has to be before the school will go on lockdown. I look over to Ian and he is still writing in his notebook. I look at the page he ripped out for me and flip it over. On the back of the paper, I see some sort of diagram. I spin the paper around, trying to figure out what it's of when I realize I am looking at a loose sketch of the science hallway. He has an "X" where our classroom sits and all the exits in the hall are drawn in and highlighted. There are a few circles inside our classroom but they don't match up with Derek's desk or mine. He must not have realized he had this on the back of his notes or I don't think he would have handed it over. That or I'm guessing he thinks I am too thick-headed to realize what it is anyway. I copy the diagram down in my notebook so I can show Liam later.

Derek glances over at my notebook and raises an eyebrow at me. I scrawl, choreographing the homecoming dance, just trying to think of the X's and O's. He nods like this explanation makes perfect sense. She would be thinking of that instead of Biology. I roll my eyes ignoring his sarcasm and finish the diagram. I hand the paper back to Ian and he doesn't even look up at me. The bell rings and I fly out of my chair and over to Liam. I hand him the diagram, but before I can say anything, Derek has my arm and is pulling me out the door. His strong grip is hurting me and I try to shake him off.

Once we are at the end of the hall in front of a row of lockers, he whips me around and snaps, "Okay Ellie, tell me what is going on between you and Liam. And don't try and lie to me, I'm not an idiot." I rip my arm away from him and rub where his grip was.

"Nothing is going on. And don't you ever grab me like that. You need to calm down," I snap back. He has me backed up against a locker and I've never been scared of Derek until now.

"I went through your phone and I saw that you call him all the time. I saw you've been over to his house and you thanked him for taking you to dinner when you were supposedly sick in bed."

"You went through my phone?" I ask, completely appalled at Derek's current behavior. "I went to dinner with him to make a plan to ask Harper to homecoming! Why don't you trust me? When did you even get a hold of my phone?"

"When you were busy making dancing doodles in class. You had it sitting out and didn't notice me take it," he says with his hands waving about in front of him. "Maybe if you paid more attention to Mrs. Hagar and less attention on stupid homecoming plans, you'd be passing bio." My head snaps back as if he slapped me. Derek and I have the same phone with black phone cases, so he's right when I didn't notice him take it. It must have been when I was drawing the diagram so I wasn't paying attention anyway.

"So you sat there and went through all my messages?" I ask in shock. "I can't help it if you're suddenly insecure, but get over it. There's nothing between us," I think I am done with him, so I quickly add, "And I am changing my password." I try and shove past him, but he grabs my shoulder and pushes it back so it hits the metal locker. My back hits the dial for the combination lock and a sharp pain spreads across my back. Liam is suddenly behind Derek and strips his arm away from me.

"Don't ever touch her like that Derek. Don't be an idiot." He threatens and Derek squares him up.

"Oh, we were just talking about you. Why have you been calling my girlfriend?" Because of Harper, Liam! Homecoming and Harper!

"I didn't know I had to get permission from you to call Ellie, but I thought Harper's best friend might have an idea on how to ask her to homecoming. Is that a problem?" Liam spits. I shift myself so I am now between them and put my arms out to separate them.

"Okay, guys enough! Back up Derek!" I yell and people that were meandering down the hallway have stopped to watch the commotion. I'm not leaving you here with him, Ellie. I shake my head at Liam. I can't pick you right now, Liam. It will only make everything worse. His blue eyes narrow at Derek and if looks could kill, Derek would be dead on the floor of this hallway. Liam suddenly shoots off down the hall and I shove past Derek without saying another word. I am both flustered and shocked all the way to gym class. I've never seen Derek get aggressive with me and I didn't like it at all. He has never had a reason to be jealous before but I do not like what it does to him.