"So, who's the homecoming queen anyway?" Jade asked, carrying a wad of rope under her arm as we headed back to Roy's car. The employees hadn't been too happy when we walked in fifteen minutes before closing, but we'd managed to get what we needed.

"They don't announce it till tomorrow during the dance," Roy explained, the can of paint in his hands sloshing as he bumped it with each step. "Each student gets a ballot as they walk through the door. They can pick one of the nominees that were voted on from each class, or they can write someone in. They stick it in a box and Principal Herrings tallies up the votes."

"It could be anybody," I realized, slowing as we neared the blue vehicle. Roy set the can on the pavement, reaching in his pocket for his keys. I continued as he popped the trunk, a sinking feeling in my stomach. "For all we know, we could be about to scar some freshman for the rest of her high school career."

"Not making me feel any better about it," Ian said, picking up the can and placing it inside as Jade threw in the rope. Roy shut the trunk, but none of us made any move to get in the car.

"I know what it's like to have something embarrassing happen like that-- something everyone sees. Even if people like you, they don't forget about it. It never goes away." I sighed, crossing my arms. "At least with outing a cheater we were targeting someone who did something wrong."

Ian shifted his weight at the last few words, and the guilt from what we did washed over me again as his eyes fell to the pavement.

"That's true." Roy nodded, frowning. "And everything else was only risky for us. We weren't affecting anyone else so... personally."

"What if we didn't have to affect anyone else?" Jade questioned. "What if we could rig it somehow? Plus, being the victim would make it easier to plan. We'd know where to stand on stage, how long to wait-- it'd be almost impossible for anything to go wrong."

"How would we get that many ballots?" Ian asked.

Roy snapped his fingers, face lighting up as he spoke. "The dance is being held at school, which has a copy machine in every computer lab. Someone can sneak out during the dance and make a bunch of copies before they start counting the ballots."

I nodded, thinking it over in my head. "That could work. It makes this ten times more complicated, but it might work. We'll need to make sure there aren't too many though-- if the count is higher than the student body, they'll know it's been tampered with."

"And the ballots will have to look genuine," Jade added. "We can't just copy the same handwriting over and over again or it'll be obvious. We'll need to copy blank ballots and write my name differently each time."

My eyebrows raised at her words. "Your name?"

"Maddie, you streaked for us. Getting covered in a little paint is the least I could do."

Roy threw his arm around her shoulders. "I can't believe I'm taking the homecoming queen to the dance."

My eyebrows raised at the revelation. Jade's face turned red as she smiled, and I couldn't help but grin at the two of them.

My happiness faltered for a second as I thought of Daniel and the fact that his homecoming ticket would probably be going unused. It felt weird to be planning to go without him. Even weirder to realize that the feeling was mostly guilt rather than sadness.

Just over a month ago, I'd been excited to go to what would've been our first dance together. Now the only thing I could focus on was the next challenge. The thoughts of dancing or what dress I would wear hadn't even crossed my mind since I'd bought the ticket a week ago. Maybe Daniel was right-- maybe I had been different since the competition started.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm guessing the ballots don't come on full sheets of paper," Ian said. "That means we'll need to cut them from the full sheets used in the copy machines. This is gonna be a big job for four people."

Roy sighed, brow furrowing. "I'd say we ask for help, but everyone we know is probably competing against us."

"And no one's supposed to know who we are," I added.

"Um," Jade's voice could barely be heard when she spoke up, and I glanced over to see her fidgeting under Roy's arm, biting her lip. "About that. Matthew-- my brother-- he kind of... sort of... found out." She grimaced, looking between us. "I tried to convince him it wasn't us, but then he saw a notification on my phone and, well... he knows. He won't tell anyone, though. And given the fact that he's obsessed with this competition, I'm sure he'll help us."

"Alright." I nodded, trying not to think too much about someone knowing who we were. It was probably harmless-- I was pretty sure nothing could be proven, even if word did start to get around. "One person's better than nothing. Let's go ask him."

"Uh, quick question," she interrupted as I moved towards the car door, and I stopped as I reached for the handle. "How do you guys feel about sneaking in?"

♧

I watched Roy hoist himself onto the roof of Jade's porch, scurrying across to the open window and disappearing inside. There was a moment of silence filled only by the chirping crickets before Ian spoke up. "You want a boost?"

"I think I'm fine," I whispered, stepping up onto the railing and placing my hands on the shingles. "Probably would've helped if Roy waited and pulled me up, though."

"Guess he's eager to get in Jade's room," Ian said, stepping up next to me and hoisting himself up onto the roof, where he offered me his hand. I grabbed it and he pulled, helping me lift myself up. He kept looking at me, waiting for a response. "It was a joke-- you know, ha-ha, funny?"

"Yeah, I got it." I started towards the window, but he placed a hand on my shoulder, stopping me.

"Look, I'm really sorry about what happened with Daniel. I can talk to him if you need me to explain what happened. He should hate me, not you."

"Ian... it's not your fault. But thanks." We shared half-smiles for a second, slightly easing the tension that'd been lingering between us. The truth was, if I was going to be angry with someone, it should be me, not Ian. "Come on, we should probably move before Jade's parents find us hanging out on their house."

I crawled through the opening, stepping onto the light wood floors of Jade's room. Ian followed a second after, heading over to her desk chair as she put the screen back onto the window.

"Okay, my parents are sleeping, so we should be fine as long as we don't make too much noise," she said, heading over to the door. "I'll go get Matt."

She shut it behind her, leaving the three of us in silence. I glanced around, taking in the movie posters hanging on the walls and the knick-knacks on her bedside table, admiring her room for a second before she came back, an excited looking Matthew trailing in behind her.

"I'm so in," he said, shutting the door behind him. "I don't even know what it is yet, but I'm in."

"We just need some extra manpower," Jade said, quickly giving a rundown of everything we would need to do the next night. "It's a lot of work- If it's just the four of us, it might be too much."

"We'll have to sneak you in the school, but I don't think it should be too hard," I added. "There's no pressure if you don't want to do it, though."

"Are you kidding?" he exclaimed, laughing as he tried to keep his voice down. "No one could talk me out of this-- especially if I get to watch Jade get drenched in paint."

"I'm sure The Seven will be recording," she replied, not sounding too bothered by it. "Even if you're not in the room, I'm sure you'll get to see it."

"You know," Matthew put a finger in the air, signaling an idea, "I have a lot of friends who follow the competition just like me. How much help do you guys need?"

"Honestly?" I went through the list of things we needed to do in my head. It was exhausting just thinking about the next twenty four hours. "Matthew, we need all the help we can get."