Forgot something at school. Have to run back and get it. Tell Mom I’ll be home for dinner.

I press Send and hope Max gets the message.

She’s been kind of distracted lately and there’s a chance she won’t even check her phone. With a huff, I send the message to Chloe as well, hoping she hasn’t left her phone somewhere random.

For a teenager, she’s totally inept with technology. Most of us are glued to our phones, but she has this ability to just be in the moment. She’s more interested in face-to-face contact and is constantly leaving her phone behind.

“Just put it in your pocket,” I always tell her.

“It makes it stick out funny. None of my pockets are big enough.”

“Hence a purse.”

“I hate purses. They look pretty and everything, but it’s just another thing to carry around. I’ll just hold it.”

“And leave it somewhere.”

The conversation usually ends with her poking her tongue out at me or making a face that cracks me up.

She’s gorgeous and incorrigible…and I don’t know what I would do without her.

Sliding my phone into my bag, I tighten the shoulder straps and do an about turn. School’s only a ten-minute jog away. Five minutes there. Twenty minutes home. Yeah, I should make it home for dinner…hopefully.

Crap. Mom will probably be annoyed if I’m not. I should have really asked Max to come back and get me, but she won’t want to do that.

I frown. Max is kind of worrying me.

Chloe and I have found our way. Sort of. I mean, I still hate that I can’t pursue Holden. Every time I catch a glimpse of his face, I want to fold. But I’m determined not to hurt my sister again. She has to come first.

It doesn’t help that Holden seems to have taken a large chunk of my brain’s territory. Every time my mind relaxes it finds a way to picture him—on the mound or answering a question in class or throwing me a smile that he knows I can’t reciprocate…or sitting in Cresthill hanging out with his grandpa…or sipping his milkshake and opening up to me on the water tower…

“Max,” I mutter. “You’re worried about Max.”

I clench my teeth and shoo Holden out of my conscience.

Just because we can get away with a little banter on the baseball field doesn’t mean we can have a relationship. Although, I’ve never been more motivated to play ball. Funny that.

“Max.” I spit out my sister’s name like it’s going to somehow save me from thinking about Holden.

I’m such a lost cause right now.

Picking up my pace, I pump my arms and rush back to school. I need to get down to the locker room to grab my sweater before the place is locked up for the night. I don’t have much time thanks to Bess, who is the most irritating girl I’ve ever met.

We have to do a group assignment for Business Studies. I hate group assignments because I always end up doing most of the work and the other two just ride my coattails. It’s happening again with Bess and this guy named Lance who can never string more than two words together. Since baseball practice was canceled this afternoon—Coach didn’t tell us why—I convinced them to meet in the library so we could finally get a decent chunk of the assignment done.

It was the longest two hours of my life, and then just as I was running home, I remembered that I left my sweater in the locker room on Saturday. It may seem stupid, but I’m compelled to go back and get it.

I’m in a foul mood thanks to Bess and Lance, and maybe I just need some extra time to cool off or something. It’s as good an excuse as any.

I stop to check my phone when it dings.

No worries. See you at dinner.

Chloe. I wonder what she got up to this afternoon.

And Max. Where was she?

I shouldn’t keep tabs on her. She’s her own person, but…

Well, she disappeared at the dance on Saturday. I kind of didn’t want to go because I was dreading the idea of spending the night not looking at Holden. In the end, he never showed so it wasn’t a problem…even though I couldn’t deny a sharp spike of disappointment. I so don’t get me sometimes.

Instead I focused on Chloe and making sure she had the best night she could. Rahn joined us and we danced. We laughed. We mended bridges.

But Max wasn’t there.

She’d taken off with some mumbled excuse about not feeling that great. I tried to persuade her to stay, but she wasn’t interested. I was expecting to find her curled up in bed when I got home, but she snuck into the house after curfew. I had to cover for her and everything.

The thing that’s got me really worried is that she won’t tell me where she was.

“Please just let me keep this secret, sis. I promise I’ll tell you when the timing’s right.”

My imagination has been going wild ever since. I don’t know what the heck she’s into right now, but I have to trust that it’s not illegal. Surely Max wouldn’t be that stupid.

I round the corner, my pace slowing as school draws near.

I’m going to have to pin Max down at some point and force the truth out of her. We’ve never kept secrets from each other and I seriously hate it.

Jogging back into the school grounds, I check out the sparsely populated parking lot. My forehead flickers with a frown. Students aren’t really allowed in the building once it’s locked up for the night. The janitor works his way through the school, locking up each section. Any outside users, like community groups that use the facilities, have their own access to selected parts of the school. The locker rooms will definitely be locked up if I don’t hurry.

Shouldering the gym door open, I’m relieved to feel it give way. Phew. I’m not too late. I run across the courts and head into the hallway, which leads to the locker and workout rooms. It’s basically pitch black.

Crap, I better hurry.

I don’t want to piss off the janitor. He probably wants to get home and doesn’t want some annoying student holding him up.

I race down the darkened corridor but am stopped short by a noise in the workout room.

That’s weird. Why is the janitor locking up in the dark?

I stop, waiting for him to pop out. Shit, I better explain myself so he doesn’t have a heart attack when he sees me.

“Hey. Hi. I just need to grab something from the girls’ locker room.”

He doesn’t say anything and no one pops into the corridor like I’m expecting.

Did I just imagine that noise?

Sliding the bag off my shoulders, I rest it against the wall and pad towards the workout room. I flick on the light and freeze when I hear a soft noise coming from Coach Keenan’s office.

I’m not imagining anything.

“Hello? Is someone here?”

I’m met with silence again. This time it has a cold, frozen quality about it. My gut starts going crazy. It’s an uneasy stirring that I can’t shake.

Biting my lips together, I softly creep around the leg press and work my way towards Coach’s office. My heart starts thundering. My muscles wind a little tighter with each step closer.

I’m totally psyching myself out.

I’ll probably find nothing.

My mind is playing tricks on me.

I snicker and shake my head for being so paranoid.

I step around the shelves that store all the free weights and fitness bands. I’m about to peek into Coach Keenan’s office when a blur of black comes hurtling towards me.

Frightened by the unexpected, I let out a yelp and then a sharp cry when the black blur shoulders me out of the way.

“Hey!” I shout, throwing out my leg and tripping the person up.

He lands on the ground with an oomph, but then quickly snaps to his feet and turns around with his bag. It catches me on the shoulder, tipping my balance. I stumble to the right, but quickly find my footing.

I should probably let him take off, but like hell am I getting hit by some ski-mask-wearing jerk.

I launch after him, attempting to pull off his black mask so I can see who I’m fighting. This is probably the guy who’s been stealing all the money. The guy who set up Vincent.

I can tell it’s a dude from his build. He’s not particularly tall or broad, but he’s strong. As my fingers scrape down the ski mask, his elbow comes firing back, hitting me in the chin and throwing me off balance.

I do this awkward kind of spin and smash into the wall, but immediately try to push back as anger sparks inside of me. I don’t have a chance, though. His body slams me back down, squishing me between him and the wall. His breathing is fast and erratic as he presses his arm against the back of my neck.

He’s trying to warn me to back the hell off and let him leave.

Not happening.

“Ahhhh!” I fight back, struggling beneath his hold. “Get off me!”

With a scream, I push off the wall and wrench my body around, once again grappling to rip off his mask. He slaps my hands away and swings out with a panicky right hook that clips my cheekbone. Pain explodes across my face, my eyes bulging wide as my anger is replaced with the sharp tang of fear.

Gripping my shirt, he pulls me towards him and fires his knee into my thigh. My leg goes dead and immediately buckles. Snatching his jacket sleeves, I instinctively hold on before I hit the floor. He grunts and tries to shake himself free but I squeeze a little tighter. I don’t want this asshole to get away.

He grunts again and fists my shirt, shoving me back against the wall.

“Ahh!” I cry out as my shoulder smacks into a sharp edge, but still I hold on until he rips his arm away with what feels like superhuman force.

A sharp pain slices across the palm of my hand, but I barely have a chance to squeak before he grabs me and pushes me towards the window of Coach Keenan’s office. My head smacks against the glass and a band of pain wraps itself around me before I flop to the floor like a rag doll.

My mind is spinning as I strain to see the black blur rush out of the workout room. The sound of racing feet fades into the distance and I’m enveloped by silence.

Closing my eyes, I let out a soft whimper as my head lolls to the side.