“What do you mean you saw someone?” Jannet asked, her face pressed on the surface of the school desk beside Conner’s. “Like…an arson?”

The image of the figure pushed itself to the front of Conner’s mind. It was something difficult to recall; he’d been so tired, shocked… The truth was, he’d been paying more attention to Erik than anything else.

“Well they weren’t waving a blowtorch around,” Conner said, “but they were pretty suspicious. Anyway, I have an appointment with Mr. Nielson at lunch about it, so you and Anthony are on your own.”

Jannet gave Conner a look that oozed with sly suspicion. “Is this some kind of excuse so you can blow us off for Erik?

Conner blushed, his heart stuttering as he scratched the back of his head; the cowlicks had returned. “I wish,” he muttered with a sigh.

Jannet pouted. “Isn’t it nice you get to be his roommate?”

‘Nice,’ he thought, sighing heavily. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to tell Jannet the truth, but he knew she was his friend. “With everything that happened with my other roommates… I’m not sure. Maybe it’s a curse; forbidden fruit and all that.”

Her face fell, looking at Conner with sympathy. She cleared her throat, making light of the subject, “Well, I think you lucked out. Erick’s a total hottie.”

Conner slumped, groaning. “I know– kill me now. He’s a total straight hottie.”

“What makes you think he’s straight?”

Conner refused to look at Jannet; it was painful to relive. "He...found out I'm gay. He says he doesn't care," he said quickly, "but at the same time, he really doesn't care."

"That doesn't mean he's straight... What do you mean he found out?" she asked, a small tone of anger rising in her throat.

Conner hesitated, finally admitting, “Michael Farley told him.”

Jannet sat up, banging her fist on the table. “That bastard! Are you kidding?”

“Ms. Williams!” Mrs. Pereira called in disapproval, “Free time is not ‘let-me-be-as-loud-and-improper-as-I-can’ time. Please control yourself.”

Jannet grunted, flopping down into her chair with a loud screech as it moved slightly across the floor. “God, they should have canceled all our classes; not just the sciences. There’s practically no one here and half the school is quarantined! It’s not like we can do anything...” she sighed heavily, her cheek pooling into her hand as she leaned on it. “Too bad the dorms are fine or we’d all be free…maybe they’d put us in a nice hotel or something.”

Conner smirked, “You’re just mad that the pool is closed.”

She laughed, “You know me too well! Your parents aren’t asking you to leave, are they?”

He shook his head. “They can’t. Besides, nothing would be more prestigious than if I graduate from Silverside with honors. I can’t risk missing any classes that are still technically ongoing.”

“Ah yes, every parent’s dream– a little prodigy.” She then asked with a raised thin brow, “Is this even where you wanted to go to university?”

Conner sighed, shrugging. “Not really. If it were up to me I would have chosen Dockman.”

“Is that the university for plants?”

“Botany,” Conner corrected, “You know—”

“Get out of our way!” a loud voice said from the hall.

All the students quieted and turned their attention to the open door.

Conner craned his neck, his eyes widening as he saw a sobbing girl being escorted by a livid woman, who could only be her mother. Conner hadn't seen the girl before, having never had classes with her. He focused on the woman who was pulling suitcases behind her, being blocked by a man who might have been a teacher.

“Ma’am,” the man pleaded, “we just need you to sign that you understand your daughter may not be readmitted if you remove her from the program—”

“Your school was blown up!"

"Ma'am-!"

"My daughter isn’t safe here! She’s a target! No prime is safe here! I don’t want to sign your stupid papers—”

Mrs. Pereira closed the door, cutting the woman off mid-sentence.

Murmurs broke out in the room.

Conner exchanged a glance with Jannet. She hugged her arms around herself, a worried look on her face.

Conner fidgeted. "How's Charlotte?" he asked, knowing that was who she was likely concerned over.

"I think she went home," Jannet whispered, dismayed, "She was gone before I woke up. She didn't even wake me to say goodbye..."

Conner blinked at her, "What? That doesn’t sound like her."

"Do you think I’m crazy for worrying?" Jannet asked with a shrug, "Or maybe she left before the explosion...?"

"Maybe... But wouldn't she have still mentioned it to you?"

Jannet went quiet, saying timidly, "Do you think she would have?"

"You'd know best." Conner thought about it, something not sitting right with him. Charlotte was timid, quiet, but she roomed with Jannet. Conner doubted she would have left without saying anything. "She wasn't with you at dinner last night," he said, looking at Jannet, wondering why he hadn’t noticed. Had he been too focused on Erik then, too?

"Mondays she eats with Lucia, and they usually do homework together after." Jannet looked tense, her brows touching as she said, "Actually, I fell asleep before she came back to the dorm..."

"Did you text Charlotte?" Conner asked, his pulse jumping.

Jannet nodded. "Yeah but she didn't respond. I figured she was just upset about the graffiti. Maybe she went home? I don’t know. It feels weird not to know."

"Maybe you should text Lucia," Conner said, feeling nervous, "Just to check."

Jannet shoved him, taking out her phone. "Stop it! You're freaking me out!!"

"I'm sure she’s with her parents or something," he said, trying to sound convincing. A darkness loomed over him, making the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He felt like he was lying, but he couldn't know that for sure.

After sending a quick message, Jannet put her phone on her desk, watching it, waiting for Lucia to respond. She gripped the hem of her skirt. “Do you think that woman was right? Do you think the school was attacked?”

Conner shrugged, shaking his head. “I don’t know.”

Jannet was on edge as she asked, “What do you think you saw, exactly?”

Another quiet moment passed before Conner looked at her. “…I don’t know.”

~~~

At the professor’s dismissal, everyone jumped from their seats, Conner and Jannet slowly walking out into the hallway. Students were packed like sardines, screams and loud laughter bouncing off the walls, cascading around them.

“Lucia didn't respond, I’m going to go look for her,” Jannet shouted, waving bye to Conner, who nodded.

Conner shoved his way down the crowded halls to the main entrance of the school. He stopped by the secretary’s desk to check in, and then made his way towards the dean’s office.

Before Conner could reach for the door, it opened, making him jump and step back. His heart skipped a beat as he looked up at Erik, who was equally surprised to see Conner. 

Erik gave him a wide smile, "Hey! What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I just wanted to talk to Mr. Nielson about the fire," Conner said. He shivered as he thought back to last night, when they had finally been released back into the dorms. Erik had fallen asleep almost immediately, dashing any hopes Conner had had of late night talking. "What about you?" Conner asked.

"Nothing serious," he said, "Mr. Nielson just wanted to make sure I knew that the terms of my scholarship wouldn't allow me to jump ship. I think my brother must have called him, but this is my last year for my bachelor’s degree so..." Erik looked down at Conner with an expression Conner had never seen. "You're not leaving… are you?"

Conner shook his head, biting his lip. "Nope, I'm staying. My parents would never jeopardize my schooling and even if they tried, I’ve worked too hard at this point to forfeit my honors," Conner sighed, feeling the weight of responsibility rest on his shoulders. 

Laughing nervously Erik nodded, "Well, I'm glad you're staying. The dorm room would feel pretty weird without you."

Conner blinked, about to attempt to say something when he was stopped by a loud: "Conner!" The secretary said sternly, "Mr. Nielson is waiting." She peered over her glasses at him.

"Right, sorry." Conner looked up at Erik. "Well, I'll see you tonight-"

"I could wait for you," Erik said quickly.

Conner's freckled cheeks flushed red. "Okay. Thanks." He glanced back at Erik who sat in front of the secretary's desk, chatting with her happily.

Conner smiled, entering the office.

Mr. Nielson looked up from his desk. "Conner! How are you?"

"I'm good, thank you, sir," Conner said, sitting across from him.

Mr. Nielson nodded. "Good! And how is your rooming situation? No complaints I hope?"

"None, sir."

"Excellent." Mr. Nielson looked at his computer. "So, it says here you saw someone last night? A...'suspicious figure'?"

"That's right. I was evacuated to the field-"

"Which field?" Mr. Nielson said, dragging a finger across his desk which illuminated a virtual schematic of the entire school across the surface.

"Um, east field," Conner said, watching the principal zoom into the east field on the blueprint.

He rotated the image so that it was facing Conner. "And where did you see...him? Her?"

"They had their face covered, but they came out of this window, here." Conner pointed at the schematic.

He marked the window, looking up at Conner. "Any other kind of information? I mean, are you sure it wasn't someone trying to escape the building because of the fire?"

Conner clasped his hands together. "I suppose...it could have been? But then why would they cover their face?"

"Because of the smoke?" Mr. Nielson offered. He sighed, "Is there anything else you can remember?"

Conner shook his head.

"Why didn't you come forward sooner?" he asked.

"I suppose I didn't really know what I was seeing..."

Mr. Nielson typed something into the file. "Okay, Conner. I'll look into it... We’ll see if the surveillance picked up anything. Unfortunately, there isn't much here to go on, but if you remember or see anything else you let me know. I'll make inquiries about this, alright?"

Conner stood, slightly embarrassed. "Thank you for your time, sir."

When Conner left the dean's office, he looked up expecting to see Erik waiting for him. Instead, Jannet was standing with Lucia–a Hispanic girl–both worriedly talking to a concerned looking Erik.

"What's going on?" Conner asked. They all looked over at him as he approached their group.

Conner had never seen Jannet with tears in her eyes. "Lucia didn't see Charlotte last night..." Jannet whimpered, rushing forward to hug Conner, who patted her back awkwardly.

He looked up at Lucia. "You didn't see her?" he asked. There was a horrible, sick feeling in his chest.

Lucia gulped as she said, "No one's seen Charlotte since yesterday... She isn't answering her phone and her parents didn't come to get her– They didn’t even know she’d left the school. ...She's missing."