Some secrets never stay hidden for long…

Six teenagers meeting in Saturday detention: a brain, a beauty, a cheerleader, a rebel, a recluse and the new girl.

But someone is watching. Someone has made sure that they are all in the same room at the same time. Someone knows that each of them is hiding a terrible secret…

…and by the end of detention, everyone will know the truth.

Don’t miss this thrilling new story from Katlyn Duncan, perfect for fans of Rob Aspinall, Sara Shepard and E. Lockhart.

Praise for KATLYN DUNCAN

‘The epitome of a summertime read.’ Rather Be Reading on This Summer

‘Fans of sweet romances and light reads will flock to cheer on Hadley and Will.’ Pretty Little Pages on This Summer

‘I definitely recommend This Summer if you are looking for a great romance that’s not completely light and fuzzy. The writing is fantastic and the romance PERFECT.’ Lose Time Reading

‘I really loved this book from the beginning to the very end. It was a book that you couldn’t put down because you wanted to see if this couple would ever get together and fall in love.’ 4.5 stars from Once Upon a Twilight on This Summer

‘This Summer really reminded me of Colleen Hoover’s Hopeless that I loved and even though it wasn’t as intense, the writing itself was incredible.’ Spiced Latte Reads

‘This Summer was a sweet best-friends romance with a large dose of drama. It is an ideal summer read.’ Rampant Readers

‘Katlyn Duncan’s YA debut, Soul Taken, is a thrilling ride that will leave you breathless for the next page, and curious to find the true soul we nurture within.’ Jennifer Murgia, author of the Angel Star series and Between These Lines

‘Wow! Talk about a completely unique concept with tons of new ideas, roles, and characters that took me on an exhilarating adventure.’ 4.5 stars from I ♥ Bookie Nookie Reviews on Soul Taken

‘Soul Taken is a BRILLIANT read! . . . This is one of those books to look out for.’ 5 stars from A Diary of a Book Addict

Also by Katlyn Duncan

The Life After Trilogy:

Soul Taken

Soul Possessed

Soul Betrayed

This Summer

This Christmas

Darkest Dawn

As You Lay Sleeping

Six Little Secrets

Katlyn Duncan

ONE PLACE. MANY STORIES

Contents

Cover

Blurb

Title Page

Author Bio

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Chapter One: Zoe, Saturday

Chapter Two: Zoe

Chapter Three: Teddy, Five Days Earlier

Chapter Four: Teddy, Saturday

Chapter Five: Zoe, Saturday

Chapter Six: Zoe

Chapter Seven: Cece, Two Days Earlier

Chapter Eight: Cece, Saturday

Chapter Nine: Zoe, Saturday

Chapter Ten: Jackie, Three Days Earlier

Chapter Eleven: Jackie, Saturday

Chapter Twelve: Zoe, Saturday

Chapter Thirteen: Zoe, Saturday

Chapter Fourteen: Q, Four Days Earlier

Chapter Fifteen: Q, Saturday

Chapter Sixteen: Zoe, Saturday

Chapter Seventeen: Holly, One Year Ago

Chapter Eighteen: Holly, Saturday

Chapter Nineteen: Zoe, Saturday

Chapter Twenty: Zoe, Saturday

Chapter Twenty-One: Zoe, Monday

Endpages

Copyright

KATLYN DUNCAN grew up in a small town in New England, but her head was always in the clouds. She wanted to travel and see the world but was happy enough to write her own characters and live through them. Katlyn started writing at a young age and never really stopped. Even if she wasn’t writing a novel or a movie script, she was jotting down ideas in her journal or on Post-it notes. She never thought (even though she dreamed) they would lead to her actually becoming published someday. One of her proudest moments was winning $50 for a writing contest in sixth grade. Katlyn bought her very own television with it. In that same grade, one of her most influential teachers taught her that reading was an escape and she hopes she can bring that to her readers as well.

Katlyn currently lives in lower New England, a quick train ride to New York City, with her husband and adorable wheaten terrier in a Victorian fixer-upper.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This little novella has lived with me much longer than it took to write. These characters took shape in my dreams and while writing other projects. They are the creative shadows of other fantastic characters, and I hope they jumped out on the page for you just as much as they took shape in my heart.

A huge thank you to the SCAG for daily laughs and helpful suggestions for everything I throw at you.

I want to thank my fab SCBWI crit group for your positivity and constructive thoughts for my books.

Singling out Kierney Scott and Sarah Bennett, you two were so helpful in the early stages of SLS, your advice changed the book for the better!

For Chelsea Ichaso and Jen Nadol, I’m grateful for you taking the time to read it from top to bottom and offering some great ideas to bring this book to another level.

As always, big thanks to my family for your support and understanding when I’m lost in thought and when the house isn’t as clean as I’d like.

To all of those at HQDigital, thank you so much for your advice and amazing cover design. We’ve been through eight books together, and I will forever be grateful.

And to my readers, thanks for taking another journey with me. I hope this book sticks with you long after you finish.

Dedication

To Dad. Now you have to finish this one.

CHAPTER ONE

ZOE

Saturday

Zoe Walsh dropped her arms on the dark wooden table, tugging at the long sleeves of her gray and white striped shirt. Her shoulders relaxed for the first time that morning. Her foot bounced on the floor as she reached into her bag for her breakfast. She opened the foil wrapping of her Pop Tart and ate half of the sweet pastry before the door to the library opened. She dropped the tart into her lap. She knew better than most that food wasn’t allowed in the library, even during off hours.

Mr. Curtis, the forty-year-old history teacher and Varsity football coach, lumbered past, nodding his full head of caramel brown hair at her in greeting.

‘Morning,’ he said, furiously typing on his cell phone, looking more like half of the kids in the school than a serious teacher. She smiled to herself. That was his way. He was the ‘cool’ teacher. The one who let most infractions slide and allowed Zoe to attend Saturday detention with no questions asked and nothing to atone for.

It was the one place she could find peace. And while sometimes she shared the space with one or two delinquents, most Saturdays were spent alone with Mr. Curtis. He did his work in the library office, and she did hers out in the library, at least for most of the time. After Dad had passed, her grades had slipped to where she almost had to repeat freshman year. Now she was nearly at the end of her junior year, coasting by in the upper fifty percentile of her grade. She was happy there. She preferred to fly under the radar. At least with those grades, she had a shot at getting out of Pioneer Haven. At least from a distance, there would be an excuse for her mom ignoring her.

‘Good morning,’ she said.

‘We have some company today,’ he said.

Her chest deflated, yet she tried to keep the disappointment from her face.

After Mr. Curtis had walked into the office, Zoe went back to her food. She knew he’d turn a blind eye, and she was starving. Since Mom came home early the night before, Zoe skipped dinner and hid in her room. That morning, she rushed out of the house before her mom woke up, only having a few minutes to grab breakfast on her way out to the school.

Movement from the back of the room caught Zoe’s attention. She turned to see Victor, the janitor, rolling a vacuum cleaner on the second floor of the library. One of the maintenance closets was up there. He lifted the vacuum as if it were a feather and came down the stairs.

‘You again?’ he asked with a crooked smile.

He came up next to her. Zoe had to crane her neck to meet his eyes. He was the tallest man she’d ever seen. The hem of his pants rested a good inch above his shoes. Would it have killed Principal Killian to buy a bigger uniform for him?

‘I can’t seem to stay out of trouble,’ she said, smiling back. If the idiots at her school stopped to get to know the men who cleaned up after them, they’d realize the janitorial staff were good people, just trying to make a living. She tried to be as friendly as possible to them, when she could, to make up for the crap they had to deal with on a daily basis. Not all teens were entitled jerks.

‘How’s your daughter?’ Zoe asked. Whenever she stayed late at school to complete her homework, Victor always made sure to check on her. He had a daughter around her age, but she went to a different school. Zoe thought that was a blessing. If she heard the trash-talk from the kids about her own dad, she would have wanted to go to a different school. Zoe guessed it had been Victor’s decision too.

‘She’s on her own a lot lately, working on some big project for school,’ he said.

‘I know how that is,’ Zoe said, indicating her backpack. She was well ahead on a lot of her projects for the remainder of the semester since she had a lot of time to herself.

Victor nodded and headed out of the room. ‘Have a good day, Zoe.’

‘You too.’ Zoe turned back to her breakfast.

She took one bite just as a voice, clear as day, appeared on the other side of the door. She nearly choked on the chunk of her Pop Tart. The voice was one that blathered on and on every day at school, and now it was in the one place Zoe thought she could have peace. It belonged to the one person who could ruin her day.

Zoe closed her eyes and wished the girl away. She sat up straighter and listened. She didn’t hear the voice again. Had she imagined it?

The double doors flew open, and Zoe jumped, her eyes springing open as her worst nightmare walked through the door.

Jackie King.

Cheerleader. One of the ones that volunteered to be thrown into the air to perform some crazy death-defying flips. Her record was three flips in a row. A fact she told anyone who was within earshot every chance she could.

‘This sucks. Sucks! Sucks!’ Jackie whined as she sashayed into the room. Her signature ponytail of tight, springy black curls bounced with each step. She’d exchanged her cheer uniform for an outfit that resembled the tight cropped long-sleeve shirt and skorts that she wore on a daily basis. As if they needed reminding of her ‘status’.

‘Get over yourself,’ said Q, the class troublemaker, sauntering in behind her.

Zoe tried hard not to roll her eyes at his bravado. He was the picture of a rebel with his shoulder-length greasy hair and leather jacket. She knew for a fact that his parents had enough money to buy him shampoo and he’d never ridden a motorcycle in his life. Zoe sat behind him in history. His hands were always impeccably clean.

Then came Cece.

How many other kids were coming to torture her today? If she knew, she would have skipped Saturday detention altogether this week. She glanced at the office where Mr. Curtis had his back to them. Why hadn’t Mr. Curtis prepared her for this? It would have been nice to receive a warning.

Cece straightened the hem of her fuzzy light blue sweater—which most likely cost more than Zoe’s entire wardrobe—while simultaneously typing on her phone with her free hand. Even for a Saturday, not a hair was out of place in her short pin-straight bob.

Teddy James stumbled into the room, balancing three textbooks in his hands. His backpack was bursting at the seams. Zoe had a feeling Teddy would roll into the auditorium in a wheelchair for his valedictorian speech if he kept up with lugging around his ridiculously heavy backpack. His brunette hair stuck out at all angles as if he’d rolled out of bed and into the library.

She squirmed a little in her seat as their eyes met for a brief moment. She was the first to turn away.

And the last was Holly Pickard. She’d arrived at PHHS several months ago. She didn’t waste any time getting to know everyone in Zoe’s class, mostly the boys. Zoe guessed it was the long blonde hair and big blue eyes that pulled the guys in. At least that was the starting point. Holly didn’t seem to have any trouble finding a place to sit in the cafeteria. She made more of an impact with Zoe’s classmates than Zoe did throughout all the years in school.

These were five kids Zoe never saw in the same room together unless it was a school assembly. And even then, they were in completely separate groups. Other than Q, none of them seemed the type to get into enough trouble to earn a detention. So why were they all there?

The others gave Zoe a once over as she did them, but no one greeted her. At least that part of their relationship hadn’t changed.

Less than a minute later, Mr. Curtis came into the room and glanced at Zoe. She wouldn’t get the privacy she wanted this Saturday. And that sucked, but it was better than revealing the real reason for being there.

Instead, she focused on the decorated box resting in her teacher’s hands.

What’s he doing with that? Zoe wondered.

‘Take your seats around the table,’ Mr. Curtis said, plopping the box in the middle of one of the long six-foot tables usually reserved for group projects.

Zoe got up from her seat at one of the smaller tables and shouldered her bag, sticking to the back of the group. She waited until everyone else took their seat before choosing the last empty one between Teddy and Holly.

Holly twirled a chunk of her blonde hair around her finger while staring at Mr. Curtis. The neon-pink fingernail polish was striking against the golden strands.

Teddy offered Zoe a small smile. It was the most interaction they had had in about a year. Zoe passed it off as just a circumstance of their current predicament.

Q turned his chair around before sitting.

‘Please sit the correct way, Quentin,’ Mr. Curtis said.

‘It’s Q,’ Q said, not moving from his seat. Q gave every teacher a hard time which he thought was hilarious but most of the time was disruptive and made class go by so much slower than necessary.

‘My apologies,’ Mr. Curtis said, smiling. ‘As you are well aware we’re all here for four hours. As one of the newer teachers in school, Principal Killian selected me to run Saturday detentions for this semester.’ He looked at each of the kids as he gave his introduction. Everyone except Zoe, who’d heard it before.

‘Our same principal requested that I put you all to work this weekend since there are more of you than usual,’ Mr. Curtis continued. ‘If you recall, we held the underage-drinking chain event this week.’

He ceremoniously lifted the box and hundreds of white strips of paper piled on the desk in front of them. He leaned toward the next table, grabbing six staplers and two full boxes of staples and placed those in front of them too.

All last week, during lunch, students were encouraged by the student council to pledge not to drink. Three years ago, two of the more popular seniors died in a drunk driving car accident. Sure, Zoe felt sorry for their families, but she didn’t drink. And every day she was bombarded by the peppy Student Council members to sign a promise to continue with the same lifestyle she already chose. The Student Council wanted to beat the length of the chain from the previous year which meant they were extra aggressive with promises.

‘Your task for today is to create the chain from the promises,’ Mr. Curtis said. ‘It will be strung up in the cafeteria on Monday, so you all need to finish this by the end of the day.’

‘You can’t be serious,’ Jackie said.

‘Who did you expect to do this, Ms. King?’ Mr. Curtis asked. ‘Weren’t you on the committee?’

‘Yeah, but the freshmen were supposed to do the stapling.’

‘Well, now you can take part in the rest of the project,’ he said. ‘Unless that’s a problem?’

Jackie huffed loudly but said nothing else.

‘Listen, guys,’ he said, squatting next to the table, dropping down to their level as if they were members of his team. ‘Principal Killian needs this done today. On any other Saturday I’d let it slide, but if you help me out here, I’ll help you out.’

‘Can we get out earlier if we finish quickly?’ Teddy asked.

Mr. Curtis considered that. ‘Maybe.’ He stood up and clapped his hands together. ‘So, if there are no other questions, you can get started,’ he added with a smirk.

Zoe squirmed in her seat as Mr. Curtis rested his eyes on Jackie as if waiting for her to talk back.

‘What if I have to go to the bathroom?’ Cece asked, dropping her giant purse next to her chair.

‘Why? Do you have your period?’ Q asked.

Jackie pulled a face.

‘Ew!’ Cece whined.

And Holly groaned.

Zoe cringed on the inside. Q knew how to cross a line.

Q sat back, grinning at the rest of them.

‘You’re each allowed one five-minute bathroom break,’ Mr. Curtis said, ignoring Q’s crude comment. ‘Let’s not make this harder than it needs to be, okay?’

Cece let out an exasperated groan.

‘And one more thing,’ Mr. Curtis said, placing the now-empty box in front of them. ‘Cell phones. Put them in the box.’

‘No friggin’ way,’ Jackie said.

‘What if there’s an emergency?’ Teddy asked.

‘Your parents are aware you’re here. They can call the school if something is wrong. This isn’t my rule.’

‘This is ridiculous!’ Cece said.

Mr. Curtis sighed.

Zoe wished they would stop fighting him. Didn’t they see he was doing his best? He seemed as annoyed as she was. She doubted he’d expected such a big group this week.

‘Maybe you should have thought of that before ending up here. Phones, now, please,’ Mr. Curtis said.

Zoe dropped hers into the box first, hoping the others would follow without complaint. Mr. Curtis briefly nodded at her before settling his gaze on the others.

The rest complied, but Holly and Jackie hesitated. Jackie hugged the phone to her as if it were a lifeline.

‘You first,’ Holly challenged.

Jackie grumbled and tossed her phone in, then Holly did the same.

Zoe exhaled, not sure why she’d held her breath. Had she expected a bigger fight? Mr. Curtis held power over them today, so it was in everyone’s best interest to do as he asked. She doubted anyone wanted another detention.

Well, anyone except for her.

Mr. Curtis lifted the empty box from the table. ‘I’ll be in the office right over there if you need me. But I suggest you get to work. This will take you until the end of detention.’

Mr. Curtis went into the office, which was partially blocked by two large bookshelves.

Jackie passed out the staplers while Cece started sorting the slips of paper in front of them.

Zoe watched her teacher dump the phones into a filing cabinet and then lock the drawer. Then he settled into his chair and turned toward the computer. Today hadn’t started off as planned. But if they finished early, there was a possibility of getting it back on track.

‘I can’t believe that loser took our phones,’ Jackie muttered. ‘Loser’ was her word of choice. Zoe had heard that word directed at everyone who wasn’t in Jackie’s cheer clique.

‘How will your little friends survive without you?’ Q asked with a sneer.

‘Shut up, loser,’ Jackie said.

‘Ooh,’ Q jeered. ‘I’m shaking in my boots.’

She looked down at his feet. ‘Hideous boots.’

Q eyed her for a moment before scanning the others at the table.

Zoe focused on the slips, making a neat pile in front of her.

‘How did you end up in here, princess?’ Q asked Cece.

‘That’s none of your business,’ she said and glanced behind her at Mr. Curtis. ‘Don’t talk to me.’

Q let out a low whistle. ‘Touchy. It must have been something terrible for you all to get here. I normally spend my Saturdays alone.’ Q leaned back and pressed his head into his hands, giving off the appearance that he was cool with the whole situation.

Zoe narrowed her eyes. She’d attended detention for the past eight weeks. She hadn’t been on the roster, but her butt was in that same chair at eight in the morning every single Saturday. Q hadn’t been. Why was Q trying to appear like he had?

Zoe wanted to say something to knock him down a few pegs, but then Q would probably hound her on why she was here today too. So she kept her mouth shut.

‘That’s something to be proud of,’ Cece muttered.

‘We should get started,’ Teddy said.

Zoe glanced at Teddy who was already hard at work. He had a small chain of paper circles in front of him. He kept out of the conversation. That was his way. It had been ever since they’d met in kindergarten. He never got into trouble which was why it was so surprising to see him in detention.

‘You’re right,’ Holly said, pulling a smattering of slips in front of her. ‘I don’t want to be here all day.’

‘Mr. Curtis never promised we’d get out early,’ Cece said, turning her stapler until it sat right at the edge of the table.

‘I’d rather take that chance,’ Jackie said. ‘We have an early practice tomorrow, and I want to prepare.’

Zoe shook her head slightly. How much preparation did a cheerleader actually need?

She lifted a slip of paper and touched the two ends together until it was circular then stapled them.

One down, hundreds more to go…

She’d completed over a dozen of them before she took a break and flexed her hand. Apparently, Mr. Curtis had found the most ancient staplers in the school. Pressing down on it over and over made her hand hurt.

As if he heard her thoughts about him, Mr. Curtis strode out of the office, and Zoe sat up straighter, grabbing a piece of paper, appearing busy and unfazed by her sore hand.

Everyone looked up at him.

‘I’m going to make a quick phone call. I’m trusting you all to stay seated. Don’t force my hand in giving you another detention, okay, guys?’

‘Can you grab me a soda while you’re out there?’ Q asked with a smirk.

Mr. Curtis ignored him.

When their teacher left the room, the sound of staplers ceased to fill the space.

So much for working together to get out early.

CHAPTER TWO

ZOE

Everyone stared at the door. The moment suspended in the air was thick and made Zoe’s stomach harden.

The crack of Teddy’s stapler next to her shattered the silence.

Zoe had nothing else to do with her hands, so she continued, keeping her eyes on the project.

Q linked his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair. ‘Who’s going to be the first to spill what big evil deed they did to get in here?’

‘Why do you care?’ Jackie asked. She lifted her purse from under the desk and grabbed a compact. She checked her flawless appearance before snapping it closed.

Q shrugged. ‘This is an eclectic group of individuals. I want to know what dangerous folk I’m spending the day with.’

‘If we were dangerous, we wouldn’t be in detention, idiot,’ Cece said.

‘Oh look,’ Q said. ‘A lucky volunteer.’ He put his hands down, drumming his fingers on the surface of the table before slapping them on it.

The girls jumped, and Teddy flinched.

‘Come on, princess,’ Q pressed.

‘Don’t call me that,’ Cece muttered.

‘Why not? Isn’t that what you are? The perfectly dressed little rich girl?’ Q asked. ‘Why aren’t you locked in your ivory tower this morning?’

Zoe couldn’t take her eyes off the scene unfolding in front of her.

‘What did you do?’ Q asked.

‘What did you do?’ Cece shot back.

‘I’ll show you mine when you show me yours,’ Q said.

Cece glanced around the table at each person except for Q. Her lower lip trembled.

Zoe knew what was coming next.

Cece was an emotional wreck over anything that didn’t go her way. Q’s nickname for her wasn’t far off. Even though she wasn’t close to Teddy’s valedictorian status, she kept her grades on the higher side. In the few classes Zoe shared with Cece, she’d seen way too many tears coming from that girl, and it didn’t have to be much to set her off. Once Cece received a B-plus on an exam, and she excused herself from class. Before she left her seat, she was already crying.

‘Maybe we should get back to work,’ Teddy said, picking up his stapler.

Q cut a look his way. ‘You’re next, nerd.’

‘I’m going to make sure Mr. Curtis gives you another detention,’ Cece said.

Jackie giggled from her seat. ‘You wouldn’t tell anyone. You don’t have the guts.’

Cece glanced at Jackie, open-mouthed. Whatever girl-power alliance Cece thought she had with Jackie disappeared into thin air.

Zoe could have told her that. Jackie’s wrath didn’t spare anyone, not even her friends. Over the years, Zoe watched the revolving door of ‘friends’ that Jackie kept in her tightly knit circle. One day they were laughing in the cafeteria together, and the next day one of the girls would be sitting alone or skipping lunch altogether.

Q grinned, and Zoe’s hand twitched, wanting to wipe it off his face. She hoped that no one else got in trouble so next week she could get her quiet Saturdays back.

‘Come on,’ Q pressed. ‘I could always look at your record.’

‘No, you can’t,’ Cece snapped. ‘Those are locked away.’

‘I’ve never met a lock I couldn’t break,’ Q said.

‘Come on,’ Jackie prodded.

‘I cut class, okay,’ Cece said. ‘To go shopping. Not a big deal.’

Q scoffed. ‘You’re right. Now I regret starting with you.’

‘What about you?’ Cece asked him. ‘You’re always getting in trouble in class. It must have been something good for you to get detention.’

Q sighed, taking his time to answer. ‘Remember that fire drill on Monday?’

Jackie rolled her eyes. ‘That was you?’

Q shrugged, but his smirk gave away his answer. ‘I plead the fifth.’

‘Lame,’ Holly muttered.

‘What about you, Holly?’ Q asked, turning his attention to her.

Her eyes turned to slits. The two of them stared at each other for long enough to make it awkward before a loud crackling sound filled the room.

Everyone looked up toward the ceiling. It was a force of habit from morning and afternoon announcements.

Why would someone use the intercom on a Saturday when they were the only people in the school? If Mr. Curtis wanted to say something to them, he could do it in person. Maybe that’s why he left, to deal with some glitch in the system. No other administrators or teachers were at school, so he seemed the likely candidate to fix it.

‘May I have your attention,’ a hoarse voice said from the intercom. It didn’t sound like Mr. Curtis. Zoe listened harder as the voice continued, ‘The six of you were selected to be here today because you are all hiding something. A secret. One that eats you up inside each day. I’m here to set you free. Life is made up of a series of choices that come with consequences. Today you will all learn that each decision you make affects the world around you. You will each complete a task. One that has to be completed by you and you alone. If you cheat, I will know. And if you inform anyone outside of this room, I will know. The choice is yours.’

The crackling filled the room once again and then the library went silent.

‘What the hell was that?’ Q asked.

‘Who was that?’ Jackie asked.

‘That voice sounded like something out of a horror movie,’ Cece said, drawing her arms against her chest.

‘What did he mean by secrets?’ Teddy asked.

Of course, Teddy had no secrets. He was the most honorable person in the group. Straight-As with the opportunity to pick a college of his choosing. Zoe had no idea what he’d done to get there, but she was sure it wasn’t that terrible. At least not bad enough for someone to want to exploit it.

‘Q, is this your idea of a joke?’ Holly asked.

Q snorted. ‘I’ve been here the whole time.’

‘You could have had one of your friends do it,’ Holly said.

‘What friends?’ Jackie said with a snort.

Q worked his jaw.

‘Yeah,’ Cece said. ‘You’re obsessed with wanting to know why we’re here.’

‘Okay,’ Q said. ‘Now I know you’re full of yourself.’

‘The only one full of himself is you,’ Cece said. ‘You’re annoying and an attention seeker. You know pulling the fire alarm is a crime, right? I’m surprised you’re here instead of jail.’

‘It’s only a matter of time,’ Q said. He sounded proud of that fact.

Zoe tugged on her sleeves again, keeping her thoughts to herself. That voice was seriously creepy. If it was a prank, it wasn’t funny at all. She had no idea what he was talking about.

‘Can we get back to that voice?’ Jackie said.

‘And consequences?’ Cece said. ‘I swear, Q if this is some joke—’

Q cut Cece off. ‘What are you going to do, princess?’

‘Will you two stop bickering?’ Holly said. ‘If someone is messing with us, then we should take it seriously.’

‘We don’t know anything yet,’ Q said. ‘Where are these tasks?’

‘Guys?’ Teddy said, staring down at the table. He pulled out a slip of paper from the pile. It wasn’t like the rest. It was red while the rest were white.

‘What is that?’ Jackie asked.

‘Is that a pinky promise not to drink?’ Q asked with a grin.

‘Teddy,’ Cece said. ‘Your name is on the other side.’

Teddy swallowed hard as if he expected the piece of paper to jump out and bite him.

‘Why does it have your name on it?’ Zoe asked. Her voice cut the air like a knife. It was the first time the others noticed she was in the room. But no one cut her off. They all wanted to know what was going on.

‘There’s more writing on the other side,’ Teddy said, his voice shaking.

‘What does it say?’ Q asked, leaning across the table.

‘Is this part of what that voice said?’ Jackie asked, her voice warbling slightly.

‘Should we read through all of these slips to make sure none of our names are on them?’ Cece suggested.

‘I’m pretty sure there would be another red one,’ Teddy said, licking his lips and swallowing hard.

‘How would you know?’ Holly asked accusingly.

‘Because this person wants us to find it,’ Zoe said. This had to be what the voice wanted. A shiver ran down her spine.

‘You all need to stop being so dramatic,’ Q said.

‘What does it say?’ Holly asked.

Teddy looked around at the group then down to the paper. He read it, his mouth silently forming the words.

‘The suspense is killing me,’ Q said with an eye roll.

Teddy jerked as if he forgot where he was.

‘Read it to us,’ Holly said.

‘Yeah, Teddy,’ Jackie said, leaning forward.

Teddy looked at Zoe for a moment. His face was ashen. What could he possibly be afraid of?

Teddy tore his eyes from Zoe and read the note aloud.

CHAPTER THREE

TEDDY

Five Days Earlier

Teddy closed his textbook and was out of his chair before the bell finished ringing. It was the first day of the week, and already he dreaded the rest. All he wanted to do was sleep. He had too much to do, though.

He wasn’t sure how Mom did it. Getting eight hours of sleep between two days made him completely zoned out, while she could go a week with that many hours. But she did what she had to do to make sure Teddy had everything he needed to succeed. At the same time, he worked hard both at school and outside to ensure he’d be able to return the favor to her someday.

Teddy was almost at his locker as his peers entered the hallway.

He picked up his pace.

‘Get out of my way, loser!’

He didn’t need to turn around to know who that was. Everyone knew that voice, even the terrified freshmen and stuck-up seniors.

Teddy glanced over his shoulder to see Jackie’s next victim.

It was Holly. The new girl.

Holly crossed her arms and lifted her chin to Jackie. But with Jackie’s friend’s right behind her, Holly didn’t stand a chance.

Teddy turned around and slammed right into someone.

‘Watch it!’ she said.

Teddy’s eyes locked on a pair of dark brown eyes. Ones that he saw in his dreams sometimes. But in his subconscious, they weren’t as sad. Or in that particular case, pissed off.

The roots of her natural hair were showing through the fading red strands. And her drastic haircut finally started to look somewhat normal.

He had some idea why she cut all of her hair off but never asked.

‘Sorry,’ Teddy said.

Zoe pushed passed him and down the hall.

He hung his head. After every interaction with her, he felt worse. There was so much he wanted to say.

His phone buzzed in his pocket. He waited until he got to his locker before he looked at it.

Pick me up at 4.

Teddy spun the combination on the lock. He was about to open it when someone touched his shoulder.

He flinched and whirled around.

‘Whoa!’ Kevin Jensen said, scratching at his acne-ridden cheek. ‘Didn’t mean to scare you.’

‘You didn’t,’ Teddy said. Without asking, he knew what Kevin wanted. It was the same conversation after each big exam.

‘What did you get on the test?’ Kevin asked, his mouth spread into a wide grin.

And Teddy went with his usual response. ‘That’s none of your business.’

‘Aw, come on,’ Kevin said. ‘I bet I got a higher grade.’

‘Ninety-five,’ Teddy said.

Kevin clicked his tongue. ‘I got a ninety-nine. You’re slacking.’

Teddy received a perfect score. He wanted to stick it to Kevin. Make him relax. Then Teddy could be valedictorian. His ticket out of this one-horse town.

‘I have to go,’ Teddy said. He didn’t have time for Kevin today. And he hoped to stop at home before meeting Declan. It was the only time he could see Mom.

‘Don’t study too hard,’ Kevin said with a laugh.

Teddy opened his mouth to say the first thing that came to his mind. He stopped short, not wanting to continue any conversation with his academic rival.

Another text from Declan came through.

I need some $$.

He sighed and pressed the HOME button. He clicked on his bank’s mobile app and made sure he had enough to lend Declan.

There was always enough, but knowing the exact numbers eased his mind.

He flipped over to his messages and responded to his cousin: I want it back in a week. Or I’m charging interest.

He ground his teeth together. He wouldn’t have much time to go home and catch up with Mom now. Declan most likely needed the money right away. He always waited until the last minute, leaving Teddy to be the responsible one.

‘Mr. James,’ a female voice said to his right.

Teddy looked up from his phone. He stashed it away in his pocket by reflex.

His AP English teacher, Mrs. Hathaway, smiled at him. ‘You can use your phone. Classes are over for the day.’

Teddy chuckled. ‘Force of habit.’

She held her smile. ‘I wanted to discuss the possibility of joining our tutoring program. I have one student in mind for you to work with.’

‘I’m not sure if I have time to tutor other students,’ Teddy said. ‘My homework takes up a lot of my time.’ It wasn’t a complete lie. He had a lot of homework, but he had to keep his nights and weekends free for his extracurricular activity. The one that would get him and his mom out of dodge.

‘That’s a shame,’ she said, her lips tugging at the corners. ‘You would be a great asset.’

Teddy nodded. He knew he would be. He almost felt sorry about not accepting the offer. It would be great on his college application, but he couldn’t risk it. He needed the money more.

‘Well, I won’t bother you about it,’ she said, adjusting the collar of her white button-down. ‘Next year you might have more free time, so do let me know if you change your mind.’

‘I will.’ He spun the combination lock again. The straps of his bag dug into his shoulders, and he needed to unload some books.

He lifted the handle to his locker, and something fell onto the floor by his feet.

‘Oh, I’ll get that,’ Mrs. Hathaway said, bending over.

Teddy wasn’t sure how anything would fall out of his locker without seriously injuring anyone. His textbooks were massive.

When Mrs. Hathaway stood up, her lips puckered as if someone had shoved a lemon in her mouth. ‘What is this?’

Teddy swallowed. He knew exactly what it was. And what its street value was, just by looking at it.

‘Is this marijuana?’ she asked.

Teddy reached for it, but she pulled her hand away from him. ‘That’s not mine.’

What the hell? He glanced around him, but no one paid attention to the academic and his teacher.

‘Mr. James, I think you need to come with me to Principal Killian’s office right now.’

CHAPTER FOUR

TEDDY

Saturday

‘Theodore, you are the first to play the game,’ Teddy read off the red slip of paper. ‘Your instructions are hidden in your favorite novel. You have fifteen minutes to fulfill the task, or you fail.’

The room fell silent. The echo of Teddy’s task hung in the air.

He blinked, unsure of what was going on.

All eyes turned to Teddy. Heat moved under his skin as the sound of his given name echoed in his head. No one called him Theodore, except for his late grandmother. The formality of the note struck him, almost as if someone was playing to his childhood self. The self that was most vulnerable. Over the years, he went from a shy kid to someone stronger with thicker skin. But not at school. No, that other ‘self’ was for a different part of his life.

Or was someone messing with him? Not even his teachers had called him Theodore since kindergarten.

‘That was creepy as hell,’ Q said.

Teddy’s mouth flattened, hoping the others wouldn’t see the quiver in his lips. ‘Well, he got my name wrong.’

‘Your task is to find a book?’ Zoe asked.

Teddy wasn’t sure what to do. The last five minutes had been surreal.

‘I think we should tell Mr. Curtis,’ Jackie said. ‘I didn’t ask to be a part of this.’

‘A part of what?’ Q asked. ‘He has to read a book. Big deal.’

‘It’s just a dumb prank,’ Teddy said.

‘Who would mess with perfect Teddy?’ Q asked.

Teddy winced at the word ‘perfect’. It was how everyone at school described him. Trouble had never found him in school. Until this week.

Why was he a target? And twice in one week. First the weed in his locker. Now, this? He didn’t even do drugs. Sure, he’d been around them. The small bag wasn’t enough to get the police involved, but it was sufficient to land him in detention. Principal Killian had gone easy on him. It helped that he’d never been in trouble before. Though, now that record was marred by this situation.

Teddy could have talked himself out of it if Mrs. Hathaway had kept her mouth shut. She was appalled by the situation. Her hysterics made it worse. If she’d have given him a chance to appeal to Principal Killian, he’d be home instead of in the library with his classmates.

Someone had done this to him. And that person was in the building right now. If only he could get to the front office and find out who used the intercom. He wouldn’t risk Mr. Curtis finding him out of his seat. Having more than one detention in his file would give Kevin another heads up on him for valedictorian. Teddy had to keep a low profile for a while, maintaining the rest of his school career all about school and nothing else.

Teddy glanced at the door. Where was Mr. Curtis? Had he heard the voice too? The front office staff could program the intercom to report to the entire school or one room. Since Mr. Curtis hadn’t returned to the room, Teddy doubted that Mr. Curtis had heard it. Unless he didn’t care for pranks either and had already caught the person who disguised his voice.

Teddy hoped so. Maybe Mr. Curtis would come back to the room with the culprit. He could then try and move the blame for the weed to this person, saying he was blackmailed, which he was.

He looked down at the note. Fifteen minutes. The clock was ticking.

‘I think you should at least check it out, man,’ Q said. ‘What’s the harm?’

‘I really think we should tell Mr. Curtis,’ Jackie repeated.

Teddy gave her a look. She never spoke to him during school. They moved in different circles. He didn’t care about being popular, but if he could show the cheerleader he wasn’t a wimp, then he might land on her good side for the rest of their academic career together.

Chairs scraped against the floor behind him as the others followed.

‘What’s your favorite book?’ Cece asked, coming up beside him. They shared several classes together and like Jackie, rarely uttered a word to each other unless they had to. She was pretty but not his type, but he’d take any action these days. He knew he’d probably graduate as a virgin, but he still had another year to go. Anything could happen.

‘Carrie,’ Teddy and Zoe said at the same time.

He looked at her. She bit down a smile, but he knew it was there. The others glanced at her too.

‘How did you know that?’ Q asked, his eyes narrowed.

‘We used to be friends,’ Zoe said.

Teddy swallowed his hurt as he turned down the third stack of bookshelves. He spent the majority of his reading in the horror genre. Mom devoured those books during every spare moment she had, turning Teddy on to the genre. When he was younger, they would sit under the blankets of his bed with a flashlight reading scary stories.

He’d never told anyone that. It was something he shared with his mom alone. So why did this person think he knew his favorite book? Other than the tattered copy under his mattress, not many people in his life knew.

‘Carrie?’ Holly asked.

‘Stephen King,’ Q said, ‘not the book I was thinking for you, nerd.’

Teddy ground his teeth together. ‘I prefer modern fiction to the classics. And don’t call me that.’

Q laughed and slapped a hand on Teddy’s shoulder. ‘I think I like you a little more now.’

Teddy stiffened at his touch.

‘Chill out, man. I’m just messing around,’ Q added.

They all filtered down the aisle, following Teddy.

Teddy found the book. There was only one copy. It didn’t have a sticker on the spine, so it wasn’t a library copy. The paperback shook in his hands. The worn edges reminded him of his personal copy. He imagined seeing the name Bert handwritten on the inside. His mom purchased the book second-hand. There was writing in the margins from the Bert guy. While reading, Teddy felt as if he knew this stranger more than he knew his own father.

No, it wasn’t possible.

He couldn’t bear to look. Instead, he focused on the piece of red paper sticking out from the pages. Teddy touched the edge of the paper and slid it out.

Scrawled letters in a thick black marker stared up at him.

‘You take from others for personal gain. Now it’s time someone took from you. The one thing you cherish. Money. You will hold ten one-hundred-dollar bills, a small sample of your growing bank account. You will destroy them, or I will take away everything. You have ten minutes.’

Teddy’s palms dampened as his trembling hands opened the book wider. A hole was cut in the middle of the pages, just big enough for a stack of cash to fit inside. He cringed at the idea of someone purposefully cutting the pages. Especially since this was his book.

He dropped the note, and it fluttered to the floor.

Q picked it up and read it aloud. Everyone peered over Teddy’s shoulder to take a look at the cash.

‘Is that your money?’ Jackie asked. Her eyes were wide saucers.

Teddy closed the book and held it against him. ‘No.’

He had the urge to protect the book and the money inside. He knew the money wasn’t his. It couldn’t be. There was no way anyone could have access to his account. He used the savings account his grandmother had opened for him when he was a kid to store everything he earned. Even if this person knew how much he had, the bills in the book were probably fake.

He wanted to check the money and count it, but not with his classmates ogling the cash. They already knew too much.

‘So, he wants you to destroy that money?’ Cece asked.

‘Where did you get all that, anyway?’ Q asked.

‘This isn’t real,’ Teddy said. ‘Someone is messing with me.’ He opened the book again and picked up the top bill, a crisp hundred-dollar note. He held it up to the light and saw the security thread in the paper. This bill wasn’t counterfeit.

Teddy’s grip on the book tightened.

Q lifted a lighter from his pocket and held it out. ‘If it’s not real then you shouldn’t have any trouble destroying it as the note said.’

‘This is stupid.’ Teddy snatched the note from Q and headed back toward the table. He tucked the note into the book and closed it.

‘What are you doing?’ Zoe asked.

‘What does it look like?’ Teddy said. ‘I’m going to finish this chain and then get ahead in my reading for next week.’ At least then he’d have more time to stay out tonight if he completed his work early. He started for the table.

‘You’re not going to destroy that money?’ Jackie asked.

‘Why should I?’ Teddy asked. It was real, and it was a thousand dollars. He wanted to stash it away in his account, just as he did with every other spare hundred he earned.

‘Are you sure?’ Q asked.

Teddy glared at Q. ‘I’m sure.’

‘You have, like, eight minutes left,’ Jackie said.

‘Then in eight minutes you’ll see I’m right,’ Teddy said. He wished everyone would get off his back. He hated that they knew about his money. It was the only thing he had to himself.

‘Let me see the cash,’ Q said.

‘What?’ Teddy asked. ‘No way.’

Q lunged for the book, and Teddy snatched it away.

‘Stop,’ Teddy said.

‘If this is a prank then you shouldn’t be worried about anything,’ Q said. ‘Unless you know more than you’re letting on.’

‘Guys, enough,’ Holly said.

Q’s eyes narrowed. ‘You said it wasn’t real. Prove it.’

Teddy sat down and placed the book on the table.

Big mistake.

Q was quicker and grabbed the book.

Teddy launched up from his chair. He wasn’t sure what Q was going to do, but he wouldn’t risk it. ‘Give that back.’

‘Who the hell is Bert?’ Q asked, looking at the inside cover of the book.

Teddy’s heart plummeted. It was his copy.

‘My mom got it at a book sale,’ Teddy said, not wanting to delve into his personal history with the novel.

Q wasn’t going to listen. Teddy reached for the book and grabbed the back half.

‘Stop,’ Teddy warned.

‘What’s the big deal?’ Q held on and pulled back.

Teddy pulled harder and felt the book strain under the pressure. Then the spine split in half, leaving a part of the book in each of their hands.

‘Dude,’ Q said.

‘Give it back,’ Teddy said quietly, trying to control his breathing. Heat crept up his body.

Q smiled sheepishly and handed his half of the book.

‘Nice going, loser,’ Jackie said to Q.

It was bad enough that someone had broken into Teddy’s house to get the book, now it was wrecked. A prankster and Q ruined a part of his past.

Teddy sat down, and everyone else did the same. The room was silent for several moments. He placed the torn halves of the novel together, shoved the book in his bag, and immediately went back to the paper chain.

He was hyper-aware of everyone in the room.

Zoe sifted through the pile of paper in front of her. She probably still clung onto the idea that there were more red slips.

He couldn’t care less if there were more. He wanted the timer to tick down so they could see that all of this was some sick joke. Or else for the person to reveal himself. He bet it was his cousin. Declan always messed with him when he could. And taking Teddy’s money would be the ultimate prank for Declan. Teddy caught him numerous times snooping in his room. That’s probably how he knew Carrie was his favorite book.

Teddy sat back in his chair and started to believe that it had been Declan. Logistically, Teddy wasn’t sure how his cousin knew about the bank account, but he was the only other person who knew how much Teddy made on a weekly basis.

If he didn’t hide it away, his junkie cousin would probably have stolen all of the saved-up cash. There was no way Teddy would let Declan get one grubby finger on the money.

As everyone started stapling the chain again, Teddy noticed all of them glancing at the clock when they thought no one was looking.

Instead of staring at the clock, he started working too.

‘One minute left,’ Jackie said, breaking the silence.

Did this girl always have to be the center of attention?

Teddy looked up at the clock as the second hand made its rotation around the face. When the minute was up, he looked down at his bag and then gave a pointed glance to Jackie.

‘See, I told—’ Teddy’s words were swallowed up by a faint sound.

He held his breath, hoping that he didn’t hear it again.

The alert tone from his phone made his throat clench. Even from inside the librarian’s office, he recognized the sound. When he was out of school for the day or home on the weekends he always kept his phone on the highest ringer in case he was needed.

‘No,’ he said, standing up.

‘What is it?’ Zoe asked.

His chair toppled to the ground behind him as he leaped up and started for the office.

‘What’s going on here?’ Mr. Curtis’s voice boomed across the room.

Teddy whirled around and locked eyes with his teacher. Of course, he had to come back just when he needed to get to his phone.

‘I asked you a question,’ Mr. Curtis said, his eyebrows drawn together.

‘I, uh—’ Teddy mumbled. His mind raced for an excuse, but all he could think about was the alert on his phone. The one that sounded after he deposited or withdrew from his bank account. It wasn’t a coincidence that it went off the moment his time was up. He needed to see the balance of his account right this second.

But with Mr. Curtis in the room, Teddy knew that wasn’t going to happen.

‘I’m stretching my legs,’ Teddy said weakly, giving the first excuse that came to mind. ‘I have a cramp.’

Mr. Curtis narrowed his eyes, then glanced at the rest of the group. ‘Get back to your seat.’

‘Did you hear that announcement?’ Jackie asked Mr. Curtis.

‘What announcement?’ Mr. Curtis asked, eyeing the group.

‘It’s nothing,’ Teddy said, dropping back into his chair.

His heart pounded, and his armpits dampened. The hope that Mr. Curtis had caught the person in charge of the ‘game’ disappeared in that instant. Explaining what happened to Mr. Curtis wouldn’t get his book or money back.

Maybe whoever played this game with him knew the alert tone and was messing with him even more. He was the only one with the numeric pin to get into the account.

He glanced at the book and let out a shuddering breath. He was wrong. He wasn’t the only one who knew the pin. He’d written it down inside the book. The one that someone had stolen from him and cut up.

He tried to hold onto his composure, but dread pooled in his stomach.

His money was safe. It had to be.

He repeated those words in his head, not believing the alternative.

‘You didn’t hear anything?’ Zoe asked Mr. Curtis.

‘I don’t know what’s going on here,’ Mr. Curtis said. ‘But I’m trying to be as fair as I can. I have to work on the computer now to file some paperwork to the state for my teaching license, so I need to concentrate. Help me out, and I’ll try as hard as I can to get you out of here. All right?’

Everyone muttered their consent.

Mr. Curtis entered the office, and Teddy reached down into his bag for the novel. He opened it under the desk and lifted the stack of cash, counting it quickly.

He had sifted through nine one-hundred-dollar bills before he stopped at the last one.

This one was unlike the rest. It was a fake, printed on red paper. And someone else’s face replaced Benjamin Franklin’s.

Teddy lifted the paper and held it up.

The rest of the group leaned closer, each of them taking in the face.

Their eyes fell on the next victim.

It was Cece.

CHAPTER FIVE

ZOE

Saturday

The picture of Cece on the red slip of paper stared back at Zoe. It looked like her school photo, but with the red tint to her face it made her look creepy as hell. Zoe’s skin prickled, and the sensation crawled up her arms.

Teddy’s fingers gripped the money, crinkling the hundred-dollar bills in his hand.

Where did Teddy get all of that? His mom worked two jobs to pay all the bills, Zoe doubted they had cash lying around. The note for Teddy said that he cherished money which made no sense to her.

‘Why did you try to get into the office?’ Jackie asked Teddy.

Zoe was torn. She wanted to know more about Teddy, but the game was continuing no matter how much they talked about it.

‘Take it, Cece,’ Teddy murmured, ignoring Jackie’s question.

Cece shook her head, her hands clasped in her lap.

Teddy tossed it at her.

It floated in the air for a moment, suspended, before it fluttered down, landing on the white strips of paper scattered over the table.

‘If you’re not going to look at it,’ Q said, reaching for it.

Zoe lunged forward, plucking the paper from the stack.

Q cocked his head to the side, taking in Zoe’s defiance.

Holly and Jackie looked at her too. Zoe’s cheeks flushed. She wasn’t sure why she did it. She normally kept to herself, but for some reason, she didn’t want Q to get the paper. Was he doing this to them? He always tripped people in the hallway or played tricks on unsuspecting kids. This seemed like something he would do.

Zoe placed the paper in front of Cece and lifted her gaze to Q, daring him to say something. ‘It’s obviously for her.’

Q blinked slowly then his attention was back on Teddy. ‘I wouldn’t have destroyed the money either. Though by the way you ran, you looked spooked. What happened?’

Teddy licked his lips but said nothing.

‘Come on, Teddy,’ Holly said. ‘If this person is messing with us, we need to know what we’re up against.’

Everyone held their breath while watching the war taking place on Teddy’s face.

‘It’s not a big deal,’ Teddy said. ‘I work at night. I have a personal bank account for my money with mobile banking. When the time was up, I heard the app alert coming from my phone.’

‘Do you think this person got into your account?’ Jackie asked, leaning forward in her chair.

Teddy shrugged. ‘Or maybe it was a coincidence.’

‘It would be a bizarre coincidence,’ Zoe said.

‘Why do you have a personal bank account anyway?’ Q asked.

‘I have a bank account,’ Cece said matter-of-factly.

‘I’m not talking about a trust account,’ Q snapped.

‘I’m saving up for college,’ Teddy said.

‘Aren’t your parents going to pay for that?’ Jackie asked.

Zoe glared at Jackie. This girl was clueless about anyone outside of her little bubble of friends. Other than Holly, everyone in that room had gone to school together since kindergarten. Everyone—or at least Zoe thought everyone—knew Teddy only had one parent.

‘He doesn’t—’ Zoe started, but Teddy interrupted her.

‘It’s just my mom and me,’ he said.

Zoe’s heart went out to him. They had been friends through middle school, but once Teddy jumped on the fast-track to honors classes, he never looked back. Now she knew why. While his life in school wasn’t much of a mystery, his personal life was. And not for the first time, Zoe thought she should have tried harder to stay friends with him.

‘I want more out of my life than this place,’ Teddy continued. ‘I took the pittance my grandmother left me and started building it. If someone messed with my account, then I have nothing. No future at all.’

Zoe understood completely. She wanted out of this podunk town the second she held her diploma in her hands. But unlike Teddy, she had nowhere to go. She couldn’t leave, no matter how much she dreamed she could. She’d never be able to abandon her mom the way Noelle did. Her sister was just as selfish as their mother which didn’t leave Zoe with much choice. From the way Teddy talked about losing everything, he didn’t seem as upset as she would have been. He probably held onto the hope that this was a joke.

Zoe glanced at the office, where Mr. Curtis had his back to them as he typed on the computer. She wondered if he would make an exception and allow Teddy to check his phone. Other than coming to detention that morning, Teddy never got into any trouble. Ever.

‘What did the note mean about you taking from others?’ Jackie asked, bringing them all back to the situation they were in.

Teddy’s gaze lifted to hers. ‘I have no idea.’

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