I don't own any of this. Alpha love to Sarah for her help and all errors and spelling mistakes are mine.

Chapter Thirty-Seven - Confession Time

Summary of last chapter: Hilary, Shahero, Tyson and Russia pull a prank on Maye's computer lab. She's not impressed and tries to seek out the culprit. Kai, having negotiated between Kane and Johnny, visits his dad and is given the option of going to a prestigious hockey camp for spring break which he decides to take. Nicolai holds tryouts to beef up the roster while Arista and Amber are out, and seeing the lack of talent, Kane volunteers to play goalie. Tala gives Amber some unsolicited advice and after hearing Maye harass Arista in the corridor, Amber confesses that she did the prank.

Ian shoved open the double doors and dived down the steps, hitting the ground hard. He ignored the stinging sensation in his soles and hurled himself forward. Students entering the building cursed and shouted at him to slow down as they ducked out of his way, but he could barely hear them over the pounding of his heart.

He needed to find Coach. Find Coach and then he'd be free to tell everyone about how stupid Benson had been. God, she infuriated him. Such a damn idiot. What had she been thinking? Telling Maye that she'd pulled the prank? And for what? Arista would still be summoned to Dickinson's office. And then he'd expel both of them.

That's what would happen, he fumed, because Maye would never let this go. She couldn't, not with all the fuss she'd made out of something as farcical as a senior prank. The woman was demented; a total loony-toon on a power trip. And Benson had offered herself up on a silver platter, throwing herself upon the proverbial sword.

Dumb. Stupid. Idiot.

He winced. That wasn't exactly fair. Given the chance, he'd have done the same. It was only that Amber had blurted it out first, but the words had been on the tip of his tongue too.

He hurried along the asphalt and felt his feet give under him. Catching his balance, he glowered down at the slick carpet of cherry blossoms.

Slow down. You won't get there any faster if you're on your back. Coach's advice set his teeth on edge as he stomped off the path and cut across the grass towards the sports complex, glowing like a beacon in the looming darkness. He'd find coach inside—at least that was the most logical place to begin his search. The man tended to bunker down in his office the night before a game, reviewing tapes and compiling lines, making all those last-minute, coachy checks. And if he wasn't there—well Ian would deal with that later.

The echo of voices had his head lifting and his stomach sank to his knees. Kai appeared, sauntering from the direction of the parking lot. Rei, beside him, had his eyes glued to his phone while Tala and Ruin followed them, strolling hand in hand as if they didn't have a care in the world. Because they didn't, Ian thought darkly. They didn't know what had just happened because they'd been off hanging out, being pals, and just not being where they were needed.

Resentment simmered and crawled greasily along his gut. He increased his pace intending to avoid them. He didn't need their help. If they couldn't even be there for the team, why should he seek them out? Besides, Benson, in her last cry for help, asked him to get Nicolai. Not Kai, not Tala. Nicolai. So that's what he'd do. Not like they'd be any help anyway. Benson needed an adult to fight her corner, not a bunch of self-absorbed idiots. His temper flared hotter when he heard Rei mention hockey camp and his eyes all but rolled to the back of his head. Of fucking course, they were all gushing about Hiwatari's stupid trip to become a professional. Clearly, they had their priorities in order.

"Hey, Ian!"

He shot them a fulminating look and continued on his path. He heard the swish of fast footsteps on the short grass behind him and then a hand landed on his shoulder. Spun around, he found himself looking up into Tala's laughing face.

"Where are you going in such a hurry?"

"I need to get Coach," he told him, shrugging off his grip.

Tala stilled and glanced at Kai. "Has something happened?"

Ian opened his mouth and the words stuck. Amber had asked him to do this one thing, why was he stalling? They couldn't help her.

"Oh, what did you do?" Kai drawled, and Ian's shoulders jumped to his ears as if he could block out that voice. He had no clue why Benson was still twisting herself into knots about Hiwatari, he obviously didn't feel the same about her. Shouldn't he have sensed she was in trouble? Didn't he care? No. Because he was going to hockey camp, going to be a goddamn star and forget about all the people he'd left behind.

Everybody left them behind.

Furious with his thoughts, Ian flipped Kai off. "It's not me. It's Benson. Not that you care."

The muscle in Kai's cheek twitched and Ian watched as he worked his jaw before he forced himself to relax. "Why don't you leave her alone? She doesn't need you following her around and pestering her about her food intake. You pushing croissants at her to get back on the team isn't helping her."

Ian inhaled sharply. Croissants?! Kai thought this was about fucking croissants? Something inside him snapped and he shoved a finger in Kai's direction. "The fuck do you know about anything? Shut up. Just shut up. This is all your fault!" His voice cracked and he felt the humiliating burn of tears in his throat. He should have just kept going. Stopping here was a mistake.

"What the hell, Ian?" Tala demanded. "Stop being such a little asshole—"

"Tala," Ruin stepped in front of Tala, hand pressed against his chest. "Ian, talk to us. What's going on? We can't help if you don't tell us why you're upset."

"I'm not upset."

Rei stepped up beside Ruin, eyes full of concern. "What happened to Amber? Is she okay?"

Ian's eyes bounced from Ruin to Rei, skimming a darkly annoyed Kai before latching back onto Tala. Once upon a time, he would have relied on Tala to fix this mess, but he couldn't do that. Not anymore.

He turned to Rei and his hand came up to cradle his forehead before dropping limply. "Benson told Maye she pulled the prank."

Silence fell between them and Ian wished he could just go back an hour, stop Arista from running into Maye, but he couldn't. An owl hooted close to them and something whipped by in the darkness. A window opened and laughter burst out, faint as if it were a million miles away.

"Why would she do that?" Rei shot Tala and Kai a look of sheer bafflement. "Did she—did she even have anything to do with the prank?"

Tala snorted, hands flying wide in exasperation. Kai shrugged, but his eyes were dark, mouth tight, his knuckles white around the strap of his bag.

Rei's gaze went to Ruin.

"Not that I'm aware of," she muttered, raking her hands through her hair and touching the tip of her tongue to her upper lip, and Ian knew she'd gone into plotting mode. "Ian, you need to tell us everything that happened."

With a quick anxious look over his shoulder towards the sports complex, Ian shoved his hands into his pockets and released the torrent building inside him. "I don't know. We were coming back from the dining hall and Maye was giving Arista grief, like she was convinced Arista, of all people, pulled the prank and—I don't have time. I have to get Coach because someone needs to be on her side. Maye's taking her to Dickinson and she'll push for expulsion." And Dickinson was stupid enough to go along with that. The whole stupid school was run by adult buttheads. None of them understood a damn thing about loyalty or integrity.

Ruin hissed out a breath. "Okay, just tell me, what did Maye do to Arista?"

He ground his teeth together and shuffled his feet. "Maye accused Arista of the prank, Arista refused to go to her office and then when we came around the corner—because we only heard their fight—Arista ran off and Maye was on the floor. She was furious, started ranting about how Arista assaulted her and told Tate Arista pulled the prank, so Amber volunteered like some kind of tribute!" He glanced up just in time to see Kai's blank look. Ian threw his hands in the air and prayed for patience. "Hunger Games, fucking Hunger Games."

"Shit," Ruin muttered, stepping back. "I'm gonna go check on Arista. If she hears about this—" She turned to Tala and he squeezed her hand, nudging her to go.

Ian watched as she rushed away and began to inch his way towards the sports complex, only to frown when Kai tossed his duffle bag at Tala. "Take this. Get dad."

Tala nodded, slapping Kai on the shoulder. He loped off and Ian frowned, looking to Tala. "Where's he going?"

Tala scowled and grabbed Ian's shoulder, turning him back towards the office as he pulled out his phone. "Rei, go get the team together. Make sure none of them do anything stupid—especially Bryan."

"Already on it."

As Rei jogged off towards the bright lights of the school, Ian shrugged off Tala's guiding hand and began to march towards the complex. "You can go with Rei, I'll get Coach on my own. Amber asked me to do it. Not you guys. And where's Hiwatari running off to?" If Hiwatari thought he was going to sweep in like Benson's personal hero, he could think again. She didn't need that.

Tala held up a finger and listened as his phone rang out. "Coach isn't answering his phone." He rang it again as they headed down a grassy verge, slick with dew, with Ian almost jogging to keep up with Tala's long-legged stride. Pools of cool white light gathered below the spotlights that encircled the building and yellow light spilled out from the windows. "And to answer your question, Kai is going to make sure Amber has someone in her corner until we get Coach there."

"We should send someone else. Like Miyami… or someone else." If they sent Miyami, she'd probably end up in the stocks right beside Benson.

"Since when did you become Amber's BFF?"

"Around the same time you fucked off and left us." The words scalded the air and Ian swallowed, wishing he could take them back. They weren't even true. Not really. He and Amber weren't BFFs. At best they were frenemies.

"Fair enough," Tala murmured.

"I'm just saying, it shouldn't be Kai. He doesn't care. He broke up with her. That's why all this shit is happening. And you know it."

Tala lifted a blood-red brow and assessed Ian. "How did you come to that conclusion?"

"Elementary. You know Benson would never tell Maye she did a prank before she got with him. She'd have denied everything. Hell, if you were trying to tell her the sky was blue she'd tell you it's green. That's the kind of her. Now she's moping, she doesn't eat, got herself kicked off the team and tells Maye of all people that she pulled a prank. It's his fault."

"If that's the case, it's my fault too."

Ian felt the sharp twist of guilt but then he lifted his chin. "Well, if the shoe fits. You shouldn't have said that shit to her at breakfast, either."

Tala twisted the phone in his hand as they strode up to the complex and then he reached out to open the door. He stopped. His head dropped and he sighed. "You're right. I shouldn't have said it there, should have found a better way to say it maybe. I owe her an apology. I owe a lot of people apologies, including you."

"Me?" Ian shifted uncomfortably. "Why do you need to say sorry to me?"

"I left."

"Yeah. So what?"

"I didn't tell you guys or give you a say in it, not that anything you said would have convinced me. It was never about the team but Coach Dan, he never pushed me the way I wanted to be pushed. The way I needed it. I could see people like Kai and Brooklyn getting better every time we clashed. I needed to get stronger, faster. I figured going to Clonmel was the way to do it. I don't…" He took a breath and released it slowly. "I don't regret going, even though Balkof was a dictatorial bastard—"

Ian snorted and earned a faintly amused look from Tala but that didn't stop him from feeling that weird fuzzy sensation in his stomach. He didn't need an apology nor was he owed one.

"—but I do regret the way I left and the way I returned assuming you'd all welcome me back with open arms. I didn't say sorry. So I'm saying it now."

Ian stared at him. "Why? Why now? Not that I need one. I don't. I didn't even notice you were gone. I had my own shit going on, you know. And just because we didn't go to Clonmel doesn't mean we didn't improve as players either. We did. Even if Coach is replacing us."

"He's not replacing you guys. He's—"

"Don't care," Ian muttered, gesturing to the door. "We gotta go get him before that idiot girl gets herself kicked out. Not that it wouldn't be a huge improvement if she did but, you know, I'll have to go out of my way to get a new nemesis and stuff. That kind of thing is time-consuming. That's all. So stop looking at me like that."

Tala sighed and then Ian felt a hand on his head, messing with his hair and he growled, swiping for the offending limb. With a snicker, Tala yanked open the door and gestured Ian inside. Lights flickered to life as they stalked down the gleaming tiled floor.

Ian didn't bother to knock on Nicolai's door, just yanked on the handle and nearly fell inside when the door gave way easily. Nicolai looked baffled as he sat at his desk with an equally confused Kane lounging in the chair on the opposite side.

"Ian? Tala?" Nicolai rose slowly from his chair. "What's the meaning of this? I'm in a meeting."

"We tried phoning. You didn't answer."

Patting the front pocket of his jeans, Nicolai looked to his desk and then his brow furrowed in concentration. He winced. "It's uh, it's in my room charging. I forgot to grab it before coming down here. What's wrong? Is it Kai? Has something happened?"

"No, nothing like that," Tala said swiftly, cutting him off and dropping Kai's duffle bag on the floor.

"It's Amber. She's done something stupid," Ian blurted out, hands resting on the back of Kane's chair.

Kane made a sound of derision and kicked out his feet, crossing them at the ankles. "Of course she has. What did she do? The prank?"

Closing the door behind him, Tala leaned against it and skewered Kane with a dark look. "Something like that."

The cruel humour leaked from Kane's face leaving it blank with shock. "You're serious? Is she an idiot?"

Ignoring them, Ian looked to Nicolai and shoved his hands into his pockets. "I don't know if she actually did it but she told Maye she did."

Kane sat up straight so that the chair rocked upright and Ian stumbled back with a scowl. "She told Maye? She is an idiot."

"Shoe fits."

Nicolai rubbed his hand over his face and turned as if looking for a way to escape the room and the sheer stupidity of his team. "What on earth would possess her to do that?"

"Ian says Maye was threatening Arista and that Amber said she did the prank to distract Maye."

"Yeah, she was harassing Arista in the corridor outside the dining hall. Tried to place the blame for the prank on Arista, and Arista couldn't defend herself because she'd run off so Amber shouts that she did it!"

"Jesus, how very Katniss of her," Kane muttered dryly with a shake of his head.

"Exactly!" Ian felt a little vindicated that someone finally got the reference.

"Where is Amber right now?"

"Maye took her to Dickinson's office," Tala answered, folding his arms. "Kai's gone to check on her and Rei's gonna corral the team, make sure none of the others do anything stupid. Ruin's checking on Arista."

Impressed, Nicolai nodded. "Okay, Tala you need to go back and help Rei. Make sure that all of the team alibi up for the night of the prank. I do not want Maye coming after any more of you. Kane, you go with him." Both boys began to exit the room. "Ian, sit down. I need you to tell me everything you can."

Swallowing a nervous bubble of hysteria, Amber followed Maye into the teachers' lounge with Judy bringing up the rear. Like some kind of gallows procession. Maye's shoulders were back, head up, all but delighting in the drama and triumph of having finally caught her 'culprit'. And that was how she presented it when she crossed to the receptionist's desk and demanded entry to Dickinson's office.

She'd apprehended the culprit. She sounded like the Sheriff of Nottingham or any other cartoon villain.

Amber barely suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. Nothing in that statement was accurate in the slightest. Technically Amber had turned herself in, even if she hadn't done the prank. It was the right thing to do. Especially if it kept Maye from hurling accusations at Arista and spared the rest of the team Maye's special brand of harassment. Still, everything inside Amber told her to deny, deny, deny. It was how she'd survived Preston so far. Now she was going against her instincts and it felt wrong, and just a little bit terrifying.

She let Judy guide her to the row of chairs lining the far wall while Julie, the receptionist, entered Dickinson's office. The door closed behind her but remained ajar while Maye shot Amber a smirk and returned her attention to the filing cabinet on the other side of the desk. She pulled out a hefty file and began to flick through it, stopping on a page with a significant nod.

Amber knew that file. Had seen it crop up once or twice during parent-teacher conferences. Granted, she hadn't thought it was quite that thick. Surely she hadn't done enough to warrant all those extra pages since the start of the year, had she?

Probably. She'd been a bit of a brat. Though, to be fair, Maye, and some others, had deserved it.

The door opened and Julie backed out, brushing down her pencil skirt before turning to Maye, hands clasped in front of her. "Mr Dickinson will see you now."

"Thank you, Julie." Maye paused. "Judy, you confiscated her phone, yes?"

"You know I did," Judy answered, taking the phone and locking it into a clear sided box which she then set in the filing cabinet. She glanced back at Amber. "You'll get it back once this is over."

Amber stifled a sigh, refusing to give Maye the satisfaction of seeing her discomfort at having her only way of communicating with her mother taken from her.

Maye's lips thinned and she sent Amber a sharp look. "Stay there."

Amber rolled her eyes. "Where does she think I'm going to go?"

Judy didn't respond, instead, she crossed to the water cooler in the corner. Behind her desk, Julie took her seat and, sending Amber a shrewd look, returned to rapidly typing on her keyboard.

"Here," Judy said, offering Amber a plastic glass of water and she took it, sipping it to wet her throat. The cool liquid slid down into her stomach and solidified into icy rocks. She was up shit creek without a paddle if Maye got the accusations to stick.

She had to be honest with herself. If Maye had her way, she'd see Amber suspended. Or worse. There was probably worse out there. Maybe torture? God, what if Maye insisted Amber do detentions with her until the end of the year? That would be horrible.

She took another sip and more rocks formed. "How come Maye gets to go first?" she asked, when Judy returned from the receptionist desk once more with a form attached to a clipboard, a black biro held loosely between her fingers.

"Because she's the vice-principal and she's the victim of this prank that you claimed to have pulled." With a sigh, Judy sat down in the vacant chair beside her and primly straightened her navy pencil skirt. "You know, I honestly thought you were smarter than this. Why on earth would you admit to a prank that we both know you didn't pull?"

Amber closed both hands around the glass to hold it steady and raised it to her lips, but didn't drink. "What makes you think I didn't do it? I could have. It's a very me prank, don't you think?"

Judy leaned forward, voice low but controlled as she tried to catch Amber's gaze with her own. "You need to take this seriously." She whipped up the clipboard and showed it to her. "Do you know what this is?"

Amber's stomach dropped. It was a simple piece of A4 with boxes for answers and, at the top of it, her name printed in bold capital letters. "It's an incident report."

"Exactly. We need to keep this official. It's as much for your sake as for ours but once it's filed, it will go on your record. Do you understand? So if you had no part in that prank, then I will tell Dickinson that this is all a misunderstanding and we can get this resolved."

"And what? Maye goes on a witch hunt for someone else?" Amber snorted, watching as the water rippled and sloshed against the sides of the plastic glass. "You saw what happened out there. How is that allowed? How is that not on her permanent record? When Ian and I came along that corridor, Arista was terrified. You know what happened to her. And if we hadn't shown up, that bit-woman would have bullied Arista into a confession for something she didn't do and she claimed Arista assaulted her. That's such bullshit. Okay, maybe Arista knocked her down, but Maye wouldn't let go of her. I heard her voice, she was terrified."

Judy set the clipboard down and clasped her hands over it. "I understand your frustration and your concern Amber but Arista's not the one in trouble right now, you are. Because you told Maye you pulled the prank, that is all she needs to pull you up in front of the Board of Management. She can ask for your expulsion and based on that file and your known reputation in this school, they will most likely agree with her. If you get expelled, you will have to repeat Senior year in another school or at home. It will be a black mark against your name and hinder you in your further educational pursuits. Do you understand how serious this is?"

Swallowing hard, Amber clamped down on the cold hard knot of panic. Expulsion? She'd thought maybe suspension. But expulsion…

"Amber?"

"I understand. I do." Her voice came out thready and weak and she forced a cough, hoping to clear it. The plastic cup crunched as her grip tightened and she carefully set it down on the floor, noting the shakiness of her hand.

She needed to think. She had time now to think and formulate a plan. She hadn't in the corridor, that had been instinctual, a need to protect her friend. Now she needed to figure out what to do. She had two choices. If she continued with her claims, she would face potential expulsion. That would suck because repeating a school year, especially senior year, was not something she'd ever dreamed of doing. But she'd deal with it. Even try to make the best of it and work hard to do better academically.

But if she took the words back, she'd still be in trouble—there was no way that Maye would let her off with a misunderstanding—and Maye would continue her reign of terror. Arista could end up the target again or worse the entire team. Someone else could end up in her place, someone who had nothing to do with the prank or it could be Shahero. And she definitely couldn't let Shahero get expelled. She'd promised her mother and Hiroshi that she'd keep an eye on her, keep her out of trouble.

No, she knew what she had to do. It would suck, she didn't particularly want to do it but it was the morally right thing.

She bit at her lower lip and felt the sharp sting as skin peeled from flesh. "It's not fair."

Judy glanced away from the ticking clock up on the wall above the reception sign. "Life is rarely fair. You need to think smart and play the system so it works for you. That's what Maye will do."

"It was just a prank," she whispered. "There's one every year. It's harmless. Heck, maybe Maye did it."

"You think Maye spent an evening wrapping cellophane around the furniture of an expensive computer lab and filling it with balloons?" Judy shook her head.

Huh, so that was the prank. Really, Amber mused with a sad wave of humour, it was harmless. "Maybe. She doesn't seem like the kind of person who has a lot of hobbies, bar terrorising the children in her care."

The long look Judy sent her while she tapped her pen against the clipboard had Amber sliding down further in her seat and averting her gaze.

"Can I counterclaim against her?"

"For what?"

"How she treated Arista for one thing."

"If you bring up Arista, you're drawing attention to Arista. Is that what you want to do?"

"No," she answered glumly. "I just hate the idea that she gets to win again."

"It's not a competition and, honestly, she's in a position where she always will."

Amber covered her face with her hands and wished for someone to tell her what to do. She wished for her mother but she couldn't involve her, not with baby Sam. Her father, well he'd be ideal, but if he did show up and he got her off, Maye would simply choose another target. Or go after Arista again.

No, she was on her own and it was time for her to make the big decisions.

God her father would be furious with her but on the upside, she wouldn't have to make any college decisions until she repeated senior year. At least there was some semblance of a bright side.

Judy sighed loudly. "You're not going to change your mind, are you?"

Amber mustered up a grim smile. "I'm damned either way. Maye is gunning for us. Maybe if I give her a target, give her the win, she'll be appeased and leave the others alone for a while."

With a sigh, Judy stood up. "Fine. We have some time now, I'd advise you think very hard about what you intend to do Amber. Because once you do it, there's no going back."

Amber watched her walk across the lobby on her pinprick heels to talk to the receptionist in muted tones and listened as the time ticked down. Her stomach twisted into slimy knots and she pressed her fingers to her thready pulse. God, she hoped she was doing the right thing.

Stretching her body into a curve that lifted her torso from the floor, Mariam arched her back and raised her face to the ceiling. The muscles around her spine twinged but otherwise the movement was fluid. She held there as she concentrated on keeping her breathing even and then she bowed back into Downward dog.

With the blood rushing to her head, she heard the door open behind her and someone slipped inside. She held her pose, eyes glued to the galaxy prints on the mat and arms shaking, as she waited for her guest to speak. When they didn't, she sank back into Upward dog and glanced over her shoulder.

Irritation flickered through her at the sight of Kennedie leaning against the door, arms folded across her chest.

Mariam blew an errant strand from her face and raised a brow. "Yes?"

"I didn't know you did yoga," Kennedie mused and sidled further into the room, sitting down on the edge of Mariah's bed to get a better view.

"It helps with flexibility. Now, is there something you need?" After all, they'd never been bosom companions. In fact, she couldn't remember any moment where the two of them actually shared a conversation. They travelled in different social circles which rarely overlapped.

"No, I was just looking for Hilary. She has an article due."

"She's probably in the library."

Mariam tucked her knee in front of her and bent her torso over to clasp her hands on the floor, her other leg stretched long behind her.

"Oh, probably. Doesn't that hurt?"

Her hamstrings were screaming but Mariam wouldn't admit that, instead she sat upright, using her fingertips to steady herself. "No."

"Hmm, it looks like it should hurt." Kennedie leaned back on the bed and the framed picture on the shelf caught her attention. Mariam ground her teeth as Kennedie picked up the picture of Rei and Mariah posing on the quad. "Cute picture. Though it does seem in bad taste to put it here where Salima can see it."

Which was why it was turned towards Mariah's bed and not aimed out at the room. Sweat trickled down Mariam's temple as she switched legs and sat up again.

"Look Kennedie, I'm in the middle of something, and as you can see, Hilary's not here, so would you mind going back to your dorm."

With a surprised laugh, Kennedie placed the frame back on the shelf—facing the room; Mariam made a mental reminder to turn it around after Kennedie left—and stood up, brushing down her skirt. "Sure. It's just I thought you might want to hear the good news."

"What news?" Because if Kennedie was happy about it, it probably wasn't good.

"Amber's getting expelled."

Mariam stilled and felt the hard knock of her heart through her chest. "Excuse me?"

With a cat-got-the-cream smile curling her lips, Kennedie toyed with the end of her plait, twisting the pale pink strands around her fingers. "Mm-hmm. Apparently, she confessed all. Told Maye she pulled the prank."

Mariam sat up, reached for her towel and dabbed her face. She gave herself time to think, time to calm. This was big and contrary to Kennedie's obvious belief, not good news. "I don't think Maye can expel Amber for something like a school prank. Does she have any proof?"

"Amber confessed," Kennedie repeated, garnet eyes bright with triumph. "It's like all my Christmases have come at once."

Getting to her feet, Mariam slung her towel over her shoulders. Her damp hair curled against her neck and she lifted it to get some air. "That doesn't mean she'll get expelled. The prank was harmless. There was no damage done to any school property. It's not expulsion worthy."

Kennedie snorted. "With Amber's record? Please. Besides, Maye was really upset, she's going to push for expulsion and she always gets what she wants."

That was true. Even she had fallen afoul of the vice-principal more than enough times to know that Maye was someone you didn't want to cross and if you did, you wouldn't come out unscathed. Still, there was a prickle between her shoulder blades, a warning sensation to be on guard. There was no reason for Kennedie to be up here telling her this.

It didn't make sense. And she'd been looking for Hilary earlier—there was a link there. Mariam couldn't join the dots but she didn't need to. Not when she could just get rid of Kennedie before Hilary came back.

"Well, it's been a fun talk, Kennedie, but I have things to do."

A furrow appeared between Kennedie's pale pink brows as she slowly stood up, eyeing Mariam shrewdly. "You know, I thought you'd have considered this to be good news. If Amber goes away, that clears the path to Kai. I never did understand why he chose her over you."

Mariam paused in the act of rolling up her mat and turned to stare at her. "Are you for real? You think that Kai will come crawling back to me because Amber's no longer in the picture?" Her lips curved cruelly as she straightened, propping a hand on her hip.

"Let me tell you something Kennedie: I am no one's consolation prize. And for another thing, he and Amber aren't together. Haven't been for a while. If he had wanted me, he'd have made his move by now." And that had been a bitter pill to swallow in the early hours of the morning when sleep had eluded her and all terrible truths came to light. "And if he wanted her, he'd be with her. But he's not. And even if he did make a move, I wouldn't take him back because I deserve better. Now if you're quite finished with this weird gloating that you're doing, you can go because I need a shower."

Kennedie set down the box she'd been looking at and made a show of shrugging off Mariam's words as she walked past her to the door. "Well, I, for one, will enjoy an Amber-free school. She deserves this. She's been flouting the rules forever and no matter what she does, she always gets away with it."

As the door closed with a snick, Mariam dropped the mat, letting it thud to the floor, and lowered herself onto the edge of her bed. Her legs felt like water and not, she suspected, from her stretches.

This should have been good news. She should have felt jubilant. Amber had pissed her off by hooking up with Kai so soon after she and Kai broke up. That had broken a few rules of friendship but now, it seemed so petty to hold that against her. After all, the more she thought about it, the more she realised that Amber was as much a victim of Kai as she had been. He'd pursued them both, dated them for a short amount of time before dumping them. Each time he'd claimed he'd wanted friendship because the truth was, he couldn't handle the commitment but didn't want the hassle of dealing with a bad break up. It was like a spiel. He probably had his next girl lined up. So, no, she couldn't hate Amber but—

The anger was still there. She couldn't help it. She'd felt betrayed and the way everyone turned on her, treating her like a pariah? It hadn't sat well. But she hadn't exactly played nice either. With a grimace, she stood up to put the mat away. She couldn't just ignore what Kennedie had told her but what could she do?

She stood up and grabbed her towel, turning the photo around to face the bed once more. She needed to shower first. Once she showered, then she could think about what to do next. Her fingers hovered over her phone and she bit her lip, then with a heavy sigh, she picked it up and tapped out a quick message.

Your cousin is getting expelled. She told Maye she did the prank. Figured you might want to know. Don't do anything stupid.

Kai took the steps two at a time and yanked open the doors to the main admin building. Inside, the open planned lobby was empty, the only sound a distant vacuum that echoed from one of the narrow corridors that split off to the side. He stalked past the small wooden nooks carved into the white walls that mimicked window seats and past the scattering of red armchairs that invited students to sit and hang out.

His shoes thudded against the cream tiled floor, a perfect echo for the way his heart knocked against his ribs. He ignored it, refusing to acknowledge the acrid fury mixed with fear building in his chest. If he let it lash out, he'd cause more problems than he'd solve.

But he was furious.

Maye had no right to go after his team like this, and Amber… god, he wanted to shake her. Or shake her loose. If he'd walked away from his attraction to her, ignored it and focused on hockey, none of this would be happening. He'd have tossed her off as easily as he discarded a broken stick. A casualty of the game, but she was insidious, digging her way under his skin, worming her way into his heart and now he'd do anything for her.

Which meant fixing this mess she'd made.

He veered towards the teaching section and pulled open the glass-paned door and stepped inside. The thick carpet pillowed his footsteps as he stalked down the narrow hushed corridor with its row of closed mahogany doors all named for the various members of staff. During the break, the school would operate with a skeleton staff, so the majority had left for the holiday. It made his blood boil because, of course, Maye would pull this stunt now of all times. Probably figured there'd be no one there to stop her.

He heard the muted murmurs and the rhythmic click of a keyboard, the low grind as a printer spat out its contents. The corridor opened into the reception area and he paused, taking in the sight of the secretary set up behind her long curved counter, eyes glued to the screen as she frantically typed from the document propped beside her.

He turned to the row of seats that lined the far wall and his heart bounced hard in his chest. Amber sat hunched over, fingers curled tight around the seat edge as if anchoring herself to the world. Strands of dark hair framed her face having escaped her stubby ponytail. Her eyes were dark and too large for her face gone pale under the golden tan.

He glanced around the rest of the office but Dickinson's door was closed and the secretary had moved to the printer in the small printing room off to the side. They were, as much as possible, alone.

As he approached, Amber looked up with a flicker of irritation that melted into surprise and then panic. "What are you doing here?" she demanded, jumping to her feet and sending a sharp look towards Dickinson's office as her hands came up to his chest to shove him out.

He felt the heat of them through the thin cotton of his sweater. "I could ask you the same thing," he muttered, planting his feet and refusing to budge. "What do you think you're doing?"

"The only thing I can. You need to leave, if Maye sees you, you'll end up in serious trouble."

"Oh, like you?"

Her eyes flared hot and her mouth, the one that always got her in trouble, firmed into a thin line. "I'm not on the team dumbass, and you have a game tomorrow. You can't be here, so go away. I'm handling this."

"Is that what this is about? The fact that you're not on the team?"

"What? No."

"It sure seems like it. Dad holds tryouts and the next thing I know you're getting yourself expelled."

She rolled her eyes and sent another frantic look towards the office. He could hear muted conversation, and it pissed him off to realise that Dickinson and Maye were in there potentially discussing Amber's future. He could go in, say something, but that wouldn't help and it would impact the team.

"Could you please go? You're not helping here."

"Look, Dad's on his way. He's going to contact James and they'll get this sorted so you are not to say anything further."

Amber stared at him in horror. "No, he can't—"

The door opened behind them and Kai shifted his gaze over Amber's head, braced to defend himself and her if needs be. Judy Tate eased the door shut behind her and approached them with a frown.

"Kai, you can't be here."

"I need to talk to Amber."

The lines around Tate's eyes tightened and her mouth flattened. "I don't think that would be a good idea right now. Maybe tomorrow after—"

"Now."

Amber jabbed him with her elbow. He sent her a sharp look of censure that had her scowling and averting her gaze.

Tate's blonde brows kicked up and she turned slightly to regard Amber before moving to a nearby door and nudging it open. "In there, both of you. Maybe you can talk some sense into her," she added in an undertone.

Kai didn't bother responding. He'd not been able to convince Amber to do anything when they were dating, he couldn't imagine having much sway over her now. Not when she was so determined to sacrifice herself.

Stepping forward, he gestured for Amber to go ahead. He caught the mutinous twist of her lips, the way her chin lifted and he stayed where he was, staring her down until, with an exaggerated sigh, she stomped inside.

"You have ten minutes, maybe less," Tate added as she closed the door behind them.

"You shouldn't be here."

"So you keep saying." And he was getting fed up of hearing it. He was here because of her actions. She was potentially getting herself expelled and she expected him to just accept that? No. Absolutely not.

"And you need to tell your dad not to get my dad involved."

"No."

"Yes, if dad comes here, he'll get me off."

"That would be the point. Funnily enough, Ember, no one wants to see you expelled."

"Maye does! If she doesn't get someone for this prank, she'll keep coming after us. She has to feel like she's won, Kai. You give a little to take the lot. I'm the little."

He squeezed his eyes shut as a headache began to throb between his eyes, in perfect harmony to the one in his chest, like a bleeding wound. "That doesn't even make sense."

And he was getting pissed off with her, could feel it bubbling in his chest. He rubbed his hands over his face and frantically tried to think. Why did letting Maye win have to mean losing Amber?

"We'll figure out another way—"

"No," she hissed, striding over to poke him in the sternum, cheeks flushed with temper. "You'll stay out of it. You need to let me do this."

"Why?"

"Because it's the right thing to do. If she doesn't get someone, if it's not me, it'll be Arista. That's who she was after in the corridor and I couldn't let her do that. We both know Arista had nothing to do with the prank. It was done at night, of course, it wasn't her. She would never leave her dorm."

"Exactly, so no one would believe Maye if she tried to blame Arista."

She dismissed that with a slash of her hand. "It wasn't just that. She said Arista assaulted her. I don't know what happened before we went around that corner but Maye was on the ground. I had to distract her, I had to do something."

"Dickinson would have thrown out Maye's claims. It's a lot easier to convince him that Arista didn't have anything to do with it than try to convince him that you didn't."

She growled under her breath and her thumb came up to her mouth, her teeth sinking into the flesh. He could see her pea-sized brain scrambling to come up with some justification for her crackpot scheming but there wasn't any justification. "You're not listening to me. Maye is out for blood and she will not be satisfied until she pins the blame on someone for this stupid prank."

"But why does it have to be you?"

"Because it couldn't be anyone else!" Her voice was still a whisper but the words seemed to scream through the office. She stumbled back from the force of them and caught herself on the pine table behind her. Sucking in a sharp breath, she rolled her lips together but the words had already escaped, they couldn't be pulled back now.

Hear racing in his chest, he folded his arms and leaned back against the door, feigning calm. "Why?"

Why her? Why was it always her? He could guess but he wanted to hear her say the words. If she did, then maybe he could allay her fears, talk some sense into her, do something. And stop feeling so useless all the time. Every step he seemed to take with her just seemed to put them further apart.

She swung her gaze to the ceiling and licked her lips. "If it wasn't me, it would have been Ian. You didn't hear Arista, but we did. It just had to be me."

"Why?" he repeated.

"Because I failed her," she told him, voice thick with the tears beginning to fill her eyes. She blinked them away and huffed out a frustrated breath. "I should have been there to help her, I should have told someone about her and Brooklyn. Everything that happened, all of it, it's my fault. I know it. I fucked up and ruined everything. If I had told someone about Brooklyn, Arista wouldn't have been attacked, she wouldn't have stopped playing hockey, you wouldn't be down a goalie."

He wouldn't have broken up with her. She didn't say the words but he could hear them.

Looking away from him, she wiped at her cheeks and sniffled. Then she closed in on herself, wrapping her arms around her waist as if bracing for the next attack. "I can't help her, I don't know what to do to make it right, but I can protect her from Maye."

"Except you're doing it again, trying to do it all on your own just like last time."

She flinched, shrinking back as she shook her head. "That's not fair. I told Ian to get Nicolai, I'm trying to do the right thing, the right way."

"But you don't want your father involved so what, the right thing is you getting expelled? How is that right?" Because he couldn't understand it. Her not being in Preston was the antithesis of right.

"Because you have a game tomorrow. If any of the others get involved, they might get kicked off the team and then where will you be? I'm the one person who isn't needed. So I can deal with this bullshit—"

He felt like she'd kicked him in the chest. "Not needed? Of course, you're needed!"

"No, Kai, I'm not. Not the way the others are. If I get expelled today, it's not that big of a deal. Sure, I'll not see everyone every day but I can go back to Bakuten, redo my senior year there and"—she chuckled wryly—"maybe do better with my grades. Me not being here won't impact the team and, it might be for the best. At least I won't cause any more trouble."

Her lips twisted into a smile but he couldn't return it. There was a hard lump in his chest threatening to crush him. She said her not being there wouldn't impact the team. Of course, it would. It would impact him. He couldn't imagine walking around campus and not seeing her, of attending classes without her comments, of sitting in study hall without hearing her inaudible mutterings. He relied on that, it anchored him.

He'd resigned himself to the fact that someday, in the future, he wouldn't see her. But it wasn't supposed to be any time soon, and now with that future looming, it seemed bleak and— fuck, he didn't want it.

And it crushed him to realise she didn't believe she was important. She was vital! And she didn't know it because she believed that she was less than them. Tala was right. He'd fucked up.

His eyes burned as he absorbed the hard truth. His fingers curled into fists so tight he felt his knuckle pop and stilled when her hands closed around his, soft and warm. His heart cracked open. She was comforting him.

He swallowed hard and he tugged his hands-free to cup her face, brushing his thumb over the curve of her cheeks. "Don't do this."

"I have to. It's the only way to stop Maye."

"There has to be another way."

"Not that I can think of." And if she couldn't think of it, he doubted it existed. The disappointment stabbed at him, and he dropped his brow to hers, breathing her in. He didn't want this. It wasn't right, or fair.

"Let me go, Kai."

No, he thought fiercely, instinctively. But she was right. There was no other option.

"It'll be fine," she whispered, pressing into his touch.

Except it wouldn't be.

"Okay, here's the plan. You go in there and you stall. Don't say anything more. Use your legalese, your gift of the gab and stall them until Dad gets there." At her wordless protest, he added, "Just because you haven't thought of another way doesn't he might not. Just let him try. Wait out the time, Ember."

She gently pried his hands from her face and held them lightly as her lips curved in a faintly bemused smile. "Like a penalty kill?"

His own lips quivered in response to the teasing. He wanted to draw her close, capture that smirk with his lips and taste her laughter. He wanted to clutch her tight and bury his face in her hair. The yearning was almost crippling.

Instead, he remained where he was.

"Exactly like a penalty kill."

The knock at the door broke their moment and she disentangled their fingers and stepped back. Then with a deep breath, she lifted her chin and squared her shoulders. He itched to pull her back, to push her behind him but he couldn't protect her from this.

He had to let her go.

As she stepped out to cross the hall to Dickinson's office, Kai closed the door behind her and rested his forehead against the cool wood. His eyes squeezed shut and he wallowed in the sick dread for a moment, before he reined it in. As soon as Dickinson's door closed across the hall, he exited the room. He needed to get the team together. They were going to fix this. He was not going to lose her.

Hilary was running on fumes when she finally reached her dorm and stepped inside. She mumbled hello to Salima—who sat at her desk, red hair tied up in a sloppy bun—and slung her bag towards the bottom of her bed. She flopped face down on it not even bothering to take off her shoes. The cool pillow felt glorious against her warm face and the darkness was a balm to her gritty eyes.

"You okay, Hilary?"

"Mm. Long day," she murmured, voice muffled by cotton.

"Okay, well don't suffocate yourself. Not before Spring break."

With a sigh, Hilary rolled onto her back and slung an arm over her eyes, grateful that Salima had chosen to work with the light from her desk lamp. "I have just sent in the most boring paper assignment ever. But I don't have it hanging over me for the holidays. And I ticked off three other items from my list. I was productive!"

"Three?" Salima queried, her fingers moving lightly over the keys of her laptop. "I envy your motivation. I can't even get up the energy to go shower."

Stretching, so that her toes curled, Hilary confessed, "I want to have at least one day of lying on my couch watching movies. Can't do that if I haven't got my work done."

"You work too hard."

With a laugh, Hilary kicked off her shoes, listening as they landed with a thud on the floor. She wiggled her toes and stretched out her body. Sitting in the library for three hours made everything inside her feel squashed. "Not enough. The harder I work this year, the better my chances of getting accepted to a good college."

"You still have two more years, but since you can be so productive, I can go get a shower." There was a click and then the creak of bedsprings as Salima moved to grab her robe, towels and toiletries. "You're still coming to the game tomorrow morning, right?"

Hilary's stomach flipped and she worked on keeping her face straight. "The game?"

"JV versus Varsity. The one thing Kirby and the others have been talking about all week, month, year?"

"Oh, sure, sorry, it slipped my mind." And that did not come out as casual as she'd hoped. The silence buzzed between them and heat flooded her cheeks, creeping up from her neck and burning her ears. She could feel Salima's pointed look but she refused to acknowledge it. "I'll be there, unless something else pops up."

And maybe it would be better if she skipped it. Her crush on Tyson was getting out of control and while he remained frustratingly oblivious, others were beginning to notice. And their last two interactions hadn't exactly been glowing moments for her. Plus there was always the chance she'd let slip something incriminating. The last thing she wanted to do was get herself in trouble for the prank, never mind bring Tyson down with her.

God, she was so pathetic.

At least the week away from Preston would give her some clarity and distance. She could throw herself back into her studies and forget the madness of the past fortnight. She could reassess her goals and get back on track. After all, Hilary thought, she was here to study, not to alienate teachers and pine over idiotic hockey boys.

Or just the one really.

"What could possibly pop up, Hils? You've got all your work done. You can spare one or two hours to watch our friends trounce the Varsity team."

Hilary jerked her shoulder. "Anything could happen." And shouldn't Salima be a little more sympathetic? If anyone knew about pining about hockey boys who only saw them as friends it was Salima.

She flinched at that snide thought and sat up, throwing her legs off the side of the bed. "I'll be there. Just remind me."

"Sure."

"Now, I need to pack. That's the next thing on my list and then I can sleep."

With a laugh, Salima shook her head, muttered under her breath about Hilary's dedication and left the room to go shower. Hilary frowned and scanned the floor. She had vague memories of stuffing her suitcase under the bed when she'd last unpacked and maybe she should compile a list to make the packing more efficient?

The door opened again and Hilary glanced over her shoulder, a teasing comment about the quickness of Salima's shower on her tongue. It fizzled away as Mariam stalked in, dressed in her pyjama shorts and cami, rubbing her damp hair with a towel and frowning at her phone screen. The phone pinged in her hand and she placed it on the bed, catching sight of Hilary.

"Hey, did Kennedie find you?"

"I haven't seen her all day." Much to Hilary's pleasure, though that pleasure was now souring to dread. "Was she here looking for me?"

"I think you were an excuse," Mariam muttered, tossing her towel into her laundry bag and began to twist her mass of blue hair into a bun.

"For?"

"Oh, to tell me about Amber's latest escapade." Mariam quirked a brow. "Haven't you heard? Amber's confessed to the prank, told Maye she did it earlier."

Hilary's mouth went dry and her eyes rounded. Amber had taken the blame? Why? She had nothing to do with the prank, she hadn't even been there.

But if she took the blame, then they wouldn't look at her or Tyson.

Hilary squeezed her eyes shut against the selfish thought. "Why would she do that? She has to know Maye won't let this slide. She's going to end up suspended or expelled."

Mariam rolled her shoulders and glanced down at her phone again. "Well, she's not known for being smart." Then with a groan, she dropped to the edge of the bed. "I don't know why she would do this. It's possibly the stupidest thing she's ever done. And now that Amber's confessed, Maye's going to have all she needs to go after the others. There's no way Amber pulled it off on her own."

Hilary shoved to her feet. She needed to do something. She couldn't let someone else take the blame for something she did.

"Hey, wait, Hilary, where are you going?"

She strode out into the empty corridor. She needed to talk to Shahero and Russia. They'd know what to do. But what if they hadn't heard yet? Of course, they hadn't heard. If they had, they'd have done something. Maybe Maye was on her way to get Hilary now too. She fisted her hands and sucked in a shaky breath. No, she needed to think smart. First, she'd find the girls and then she'd see what they'd do next.

She shouldn't have taken part in the prank. It was always going to backfire. And now her school career was about to go up in flames. Oh, maybe Maye wouldn't expel her, after all this was her first misdemeanour and she had an impeccable school record, but she'd still get punished. There would still be a black mark against her name. And what about Tyson? And the girls? The girls would get expelled for sure. Russia was already walking a tightrope while Shahero had broken so many rules that she was on her final, last chance. And Tyson… well, she couldn't even let herself think about him.

"Hilary!"

"What?"

"Where are you going?"

Hilary pointed to the door in front of her and Mariam muttered a curse.

"Do you really think interviewing them now is a good idea? Hilary, they will absolutely kick your ass if you do this."

"I just want to talk to them," Hilary insisted. She needed to see if they knew. If they had a plan. They always had a plan. She just wanted to be included and, more than that, she wanted to make sure their plan wasn't to save themselves. Because that was absolutely what her gut screamed at her to do, and it was wrong.

So she rapped hard on the closed door. There was a muffled shout and she knocked again. Once more, she told herself and then if they didn't answer…

"Is this a good idea?"

"It's the right thing to do."

The door swung open and a visibly irritated Ruin appeared in front of them, stylishly dressed in a black dress shirt, that looked vaguely like a man's, and equally black skin-tight jeans tucked into black boots. She looked like she was heading out for the night, rather than hanging in her dorm, which probably meant she didn't know about Amber.

Hilary's throat clogged up and she wilted under Ruin's intense scrutiny.

"What? I don't have all night. We have a bit of an issue."

"It's about Amber."

"We're aware. If you're here for a quote, do one. None of us are speaking about it."

"GET OFF ME!"

"Ow! That was my boob you just punched! 'Ris stop it!"

Ruin didn't even flinch at the shout that came from inside the room and closed the door behind her, keeping her back against it.

"Sounds like a fun party," Mariam quipped.

Ruin's expression didn't falter. "What do you two want?"

Under that grim stare, Hilary wrung her hands and tentatively asked, "Um, are the other girls here?" She didn't want to name Shahero and Russia specifically. At least not yet.

"Which ones?"

"Gonna guess it's not Arista and Miyami," Mariam offered.

"The others are at the team meeting."

Oh. There was a team meeting? And she wasn't part of the team so of course, she hadn't been invited. It was stupid to feel upset about that.

"Let me out, Ruin. I need to talk to Maye."

Ruin's eyes closed and she ignored the hammering at the door behind her. "What do you two want?"

"Ruin! Please! I'm not letting Amber take the blame for this. She's in trouble because she stood up for me."

Ruin reached her hand up and pressed her thumb and index fingers to her eyelids. "Arista, shut up. Look, all due respect, we're busy right now."

"This is something I need to do! Baby steps, Ruin. That's what I keep being told, well this is one of my baby steps. I need to confront Maye."

"Why does Arista need to confront Maye?" Mariam asked, toying with the tasselled drawstring of her shorts.

"She doesn't. As I said, we're busy, you two can leave." The door jolted on its hinges and Miyami shouted something that was muffled.

"Amber didn't do the prank," Hilary blurted out.

With a tight smile, Ruin nodded. "We know."

"Then why did she say she did?"

"I told you, we're not giving you some quotes—"

"I'm not here on behalf of the paper!" Hilary shouted. "I'm here because Amber didn't do the prank! I did."

She caught Mariam's sharp look out of the corner of her eye and she forced herself not to wilt.

Ruin stared at her, confusion furrowing her brow before it cleared. "You did?" She sighed. "Hold on, let's talk inside." With a growl, she turned and rapped on the door. "I'm coming in. Miyami, get her away from the door."

There was the sound of a tussle and then Ruin opened the door, stepping aside to gesture Hilary and Mariam in. Hilary entered and glanced around the room. Her sense of order balked. It looked like a bomb had exploded. There were quilts and blankets everywhere, at least two feathers were floating in the air and pillows had been flung to every corner. One mattress was upended and in the midst of it, Arista lay wrapped up in a duvet, like a burrito, with Miyami sitting on her, arms folded as she glowered at Hilary.

"What are you doing here?"

"I heard about Amber and I know she didn't do the prank."

"Try telling that to Maye. Never mind," Miyami muttered, then tucking her silver hair behind her ears, she stood up. "I'll go down and tell her I did it."

"No," Arista growled, kicking herself out of her duvet prison. She scrambled to her feet and brushed herself down, sending her cousin a dark look promising revenge. "It has to be me. I'm the one she wants. She thinks I did it anyway." Her attention shifted to Hilary, almost accusingly. "Amber took the blame for me. You need to make sure everyone knows that."

Hilary gaped at Arista. "But—But— Neither of you did the prank. I did it."

"You?" Miyami glanced at the other girls for confirmation.

"Yes, me."

"You did it?" Arista demanded, shoving past Miyami only to by the hood of her jacket. "Amber's down there taking the blame for the prank you did."

"Yes, I know. I'm sorry. I'm going to do down and—"

"No, you won't."

"Ruin?"

"Arista, think about it. She didn't do it alone, did you?"

Hilary's lips parted but she couldn't tell them. Even if they were friends, it wasn't her place to put anyone but herself on the chopping block.

"Oh, so that's why they've been hanging around Tyson recently," Miyami muttered. "I should have known."

Arista dropped to the bed with a thump. "So what do we do?"

"I'll tell Maye I did it. It's not right that Amber is getting blamed for this."

"Look," Ruin said, "we appreciate that you're willing to do this Hilary, but Maye won't believe you. And even if she did, she'll want to know who else was involved. It doesn't matter if you won't tell her, she'll find someone."

Miyami grimaced. "Maye doesn't care about the truth. She just wants to blame someone. Anyone will do, within reason."

"Then let me do it," Arista muttered, tugging her sleeves down over her wrist.

Hilary opened her mouth to protest that it should be her because she, after all, had actually been involved in committing the prank. But Mariam snorted loudly, drawing their attention.

"If you go down, she won't release Amber. She'll just say both of you did it, or all four of you if you're that desperate to throw yourselves on the pyre. Like you said, Miyami, Maye doesn't care who takes the fall. Fact is, the more of you involved, the happier she'll be. She'll expel all of you because it will make her life easier. So if you go down there, you're giving Maye what she wants."

Silence filled the room as the fruitlessness of their situation dawned. There was nothing they could do. Maye had won. Hilary felt awful. If she hadn't said anything to Tyson, to Russia, none of this would have happened. It sickened her to realise that Amber would get expelled for Hilary's actions. It was her fault. And she couldn't fix it. Even if she tried, Mariam was right, Maye would expel everyone involved regardless of who they were…

Except, could Maye actually expel everyone? Was that logically possible?

She froze and waited for the buzz of inspiration to settle into something concrete. Excitement fluttered in her stomach as the idea twisted and reformed. She bit her lip. It would be reckless, dangerous, and had a lot of elements that could go wrong.

But if it did work…?

"I think I might have an idea."

The mood in the Small Common Room was sombre as Shahero slipped inside, grateful for the fact that someone had dipped the lights, and all attention was fixed solely on Rei as he stood at the front of the room. Her team and the JV crowd had taken over the array of mismatch furniture, lying down or sitting together, with Enrique on the floor beside Sonia's chair. The TV in the corner was muted, as Jessica Fletcher earnestly tried to explain some piece of evidence to the grizzled detective disinclined to believe her.

Shahero leaned against the back wall, glancing up when Ozuma escorted Bryan in before returning to his position in front of the door Her heart climbed to her throat as Bryan dropped moodily onto a leather sofa beside Spencer. She ducked her head to avoid his gaze and sidled further back into the room where the shadows deepened. She found an unoccupied loveseat in deep maroon and quickly settled in, drawing her phone from her pocket. Had they taken Amber's phone? If she texted would she get it?

"Has anyone talked to Amber?" Aspin asked as she settled on the arm of the chair Sonia occupied.

Rei shook his head, slipping his hands into his pockets. "Kai went to see her but I don't know if they'll let him. Tala and Ian have gone to get Nicolai."

Here's hoping Nicolai could do something, Shahero thought, because she couldn't see herself escaping to go help. Not with Ozuma on the door and the rest of the team gathered around her. Then again, if she kept her head down, there would come a time when they were distracted. She knew how her team worked. Their attention span was surprisingly low. She just needed to keep them from noticing her. Sooner or later the accusations would start flying and she did not want to be there for that.

"And what are we supposed to do?" Johnny demanded. "Just wait here?"

Shahero glanced over at Bryan to gauge his response but he was glaring at the floor, fingers digging into his thighs as Spencer kept watch.

"Yes," Rei replied, sitting on the couch beside Mariah. "That's exactly what we need to do. We can't give Maye any more reasons to crack down on us."

Poor Rei. He looked like he'd rather be anywhere than sharing this news with the team. Hell, it wasn't even his responsibility anymore. He wasn't Captain. But here he was, stepping up as usual to do the dirty work. Good, old, dependable, Rei. Which was more than she could say for others. She unlocked her phone and stared sightlessly at the empty notification screen. What was she supposed to do?

"Look, I'm just saying," Johnny said, raising his voice over the other murmuring, "this won't work. And it's not enough. Are we just going to sit here and let Maye do this?"

"Yes," Rei repeated, with a sigh. "If we get involved, we're not going to be helping. We'll make it worse. Let Nicolai handle it."

"What if he doesn't?" Enrique asked.

"He will."

"But Amber's not on the team anymore."

Silence fell as the team digested Daichi's point.

"Look, Amber shouldn't have opened her mouth. Everyone knew that Maye was going to blame us."

Shahero looked up from her phone to glower in Ozuma's direction, noting with some satisfaction as Bryan did the same. Maybe if they teamed up they could bodily move Ozuma out of the way and get down to the office. Though, she imagined, the minute Bryan realised she was hip-deep in the prank that Amber was taking the blame for, their partnership would be over before it started. Still, it might be worth it.

"She always acts first and thinks later."

"Give it a rest, Ozuma."

"It's true and you know it, Kirby. Her big mouth is always leading her straight into trouble and we always have to yank her out."

With a sneer, Aspin shifted on the edge of the armchair. "Excuse you, you've never once yanked any of us out of trouble."

Shahero nodded, curling her feet up under her and rubbing her thumb over the dark screen. The Octopussies took care of their own. Which was why she needed to get downstairs.

"I've covered for you idiots enough, haven't I? And Sonia's put her responsibilities as a prefect in danger to—"

"Oh, Ozuma, don't. I chose to help them in whatever pranks they pulled."

Which was true, Shahero conceded, though usually, their pranks hadn't resulted in this much trouble. She couldn't believe that Maye was threatening to expel Amber. Well, she could believe it. It was typical Maye, always overreacting in the extreme but this was taking things too far. A harmless prank, where nobody got injured and no vandalism occurred did not result in expulsion. In fact, up until this point, Shahero had felt pretty good about the prank. As far as pranks went, it was genius.

But, now, she didn't get to gloat or feel triumphant. Instead, Maye had ruined it by going after Amber, who wasn't even involved.

She rubbed her forehead and stifled a weary sigh.

Someone knocked on the door and Ozuma pried it open. A second later, Hitoshi entered followed by Ian. Shahero curled tighter into the loveseat as she watched him scan the room, pausing on her for a moment as his brow furrowed slightly—a silent check-in to see if she was okay which she responded to with a dip of her head—before he took centre stage.

"Okay, listen up. I talked to Nicolai and he wants you guys to sit tight. No heroics," he said, "no dumbass plans, just stay here."

"Does Nicolai have a plan?" Aspin asked.

Hitoshi skewered her with a look. "Plans are what got you guys into this mess."

Shahero sunk a little further down in her chair. He made it sound like their prank had zero forethought, but they'd put tons of thought into it. They'd even had blueprints.

"Look," he said with a sigh, "it sucks, but there's nothing you can do right now. If you want to help Amber, stay here until this dies down. You've got a game tomorrow. Don't jeopardise that by putting yourselves in Maye's crosshairs."

He took another moment to study the room, meeting the gaze of those he'd consider problem children, before he crossed to Rei and began to talk in hushed whispers.

Shahero eased herself to the edge of her seat but before she could move, Russia joined her, eyes grim as she draped her arm along the back of the chair.

"Well, dis wasn' supposed t' 'appen."

Shahero stifled a sigh. "No kidding. I don't know what Amber was thinking."

Except she did know. It was typical Amber. Recklessly throwing herself into the fray to protect her friends. Most of the time Shahero admired her for it, but not when it left Shahero with a heaping pile of guilt. What was she supposed to tell Treasa and Hiroshi? Worse, what would she tell baby Sam? Sorry, but I'm the reason your sister doesn't have a job?

Ugh. Disaster.

She rubbed her forehead and stared at the floor. She needed to get down to the office. But Amber clearly thought she was protecting Shahero so if she went down and tried to take the blame, Maye would just punish both of them. Which was exactly what Amber was trying to prevent. She couldn't undo Amber's good gesture.

But, fuck, she wanted to.

"Whatever you're thinking right now, forget about it."

She glowered up at Hitoshi as he crouched down in front of her. "It's not right," she whispered. "She shouldn't be in trouble for this."

"You know if you go down there—"

"Maye expels us both. I know." She did know. Didn't make it feel any better.

Relieved, Hitoshi nodded. "Good, because it won't be an exchange, it'll be two birds, one stone." His brown eyes trailed to Russia. "Or three?"

"No idea wha' y'r talkin' abou'," Russia replied coolly.

He didn't look convinced but he didn't move, continuing to watch Shahero steadily.

"Hey," he said, reaching out to brush her knee. "Nicolai will be on his way. Just hold on."

She nodded and Hitoshi rose to his feet, crossing to Bryan. He was good at this, she realised. He knew exactly who he needed to talk down, who needed a boost of confidence and who to leave alone. She'd never really seen him do his assistant coach role, but, now witnessing it, she couldn't ignore that he had a talent for it. Not that she'd tell him. Still, she needed his attention to be off her so she could figure out what to do next.

"Maybe we could pull the fire alarm."

"Nah, dat'll not stop Maye. She'd let da place burn if it meant she'd get someone expelled."

Shahero couldn't disagree. She was trying to think up another solution when she felt the seat beside her dip as another body joined them.

"So what's the plan?" Tyson asked, eyes bouncing around the room and she assumed he was attempting to look casual but there was a fine thrum of energy all but vibrating from him. Chill, Tyson had none.

"There is no plan. You heard your brother. We sit tight." Which went against every instinct she had but here they were.

"Where's 'ilary?"

Tyson looked around her to offer Russia a shrug. "Haven't talked to her much since the prank."

"Not surprisin'. Probably regrettin' bein' involved. It'll not look too good on 'er transcripts if she's found ou'."

Tyson shot her a sharp look of rebuke. "She won't be. You guys should give her more credit."

Shahero eyed him and he rubbed the back of his flushed neck, muttering under his breath that he should check in with his friends. As he made his hasty escape, Shahero exchanged a bemused look with Russia. "Does Tyson…?

"No, 'e couldn'. 'e's always pokin' at 'er…" Russia's green eyes narrowed and she twisted a tendril of scarlet hair around her finger as her expression grew horrified. "Oh god. D'ya t'ink?"

Shahero categorically did not want to think about that. Definitely not. Her gaze trailed to where Hitoshi was now sitting with Kirby and Daichi, wearing an expression that said he was reassuring them in that wonderfully, acerbic way of his.

The door opened again and Kai strode in with Tala and Kane flanking him. Shahero sat up, nearly dislodging Russia.

Questions hit him from every corner of the room. Had he seen Amber? How was she? Was she expelled?

"Let him speak," Hitoshi snapped, voice easily cutting through the noise.

With a grateful nod, Kai dropped down into the space Mariah created as she slipped fluidly into Rei's lap. He scrubbed his hands over his face. He looked exhausted, as if he'd been up all night. Shahero felt a flutter of sympathy for him before she ruthlessly squashed it.

"Well, did you see her?" Aspin demanded, squeezing onto the chair with Sonia so Kane could take her spot, while Tala leaned against the wall behind Spencer, reaching forward to give Bryan's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. Shahero's stomach clutched and she drew her knees to her chest. They'd hate her if they knew how much of this was her fault.

"I saw her."

Kirby brightened, leaning forward and planting her elbows on her knees. "And? How is she?"

A look passed between Kai and Tala. Unease skittered between Shahero's shoulder blades. Something was wrong.

"She's resigned herself to getting expelled."

The room fell silent and Shahero sank further into the cushions, her eyes squeezing shut. Something hard lodged in her throat and she swallowed thickly. If Amber had made that decision, nothing would sway her from it.

"What about James? Has anyone called him?" Ozuma asked, pulling his own phone out. "He won't let them—"

"She doesn't want him called," Tala answered, his shoulders lifting to his ears as exclamations blasted him from every side.

Feeling eyes on her, Shahero glanced up and found Kai glowering at her with a level of animosity that said he'd guessed her involvement in the prank. She averted her gaze, refusing to give him an inch. Besides, he didn't get to be Amber's knight in shining armour. Not with the mixed signals he kept sending. He did not have the moral high ground here. If anyone was hurting Amber, it was him. She refused to feel sorry for him.

"But they can't expel her. She was protecting Arista, right?" Sonia asked, searching the faces around her for support.

"She's confessed and she refuses to budge." When more protests were voiced, Kai continued, pitching his own voice over them. "She knows what she's doing. Give her some credit." He swallowed and his hands locked together into a tight fist. "If she doesn't take the fall, Maye will keep coming for us. She'll go after Arista again because she thinks of her as the weak link. If Amber is expelled, Maye will—she'll have to accept that Amber did the prank and leave the rest of us alone. If she doesn't, it becomes harassment and Dad can step in."

"So we're sacrificing Amber?" Ian demanded, surging to his feet.

"Amber sacrificed herself," Tala retorted. "It's the only thing she can do, we have to respect that."

Bryan made a sound of derision, body held tightly in place. Shahero pressed her hands together in front of her mouth and the throbbing in her throat intensified. This was wrong.

"Let me go down and talk to her, I can—"

Hitoshi snapped a finger in Kirby's direction. "Sit your butt down, Kirby, or I'll bench you."

His tone, or maybe the threat itself, had Kirby dropping like a sunk stone onto her seat. Shahero hissed at Hitoshi but, far from quelled, he ignored her and directed his attention to the room.

"Don't make any hasty decisions. You need to think smart now. And if you can't… don't think at all. Let me do the thinking for you."

"She shouldn't be down there on her own," Kirby mumbled, leaning into Miguel's embrace as he pressed a kiss to her crown.

"She won't be alone," Kai said, standing up and rubbing the base of his spine through his t-shirt. "Dad's on his way and I'm going back down, see if there's something we can do. Just sit tight and keep out of trouble —"

Bryan snorted and got to his feet. "You've done enough. I'll go down. I can talk to her."

Kai shifted to intercept but Bryan shouldered him out of the way, sending him stumbling into Rei and Mariah. Tala reached for him. The others shouted and leapt to their feet. With a curse, Ozuma blocked Bryan's path resulting in a shoving match.

In the chaos, Shahero took her chance and darted out the door into the cool corridor. And immediately collided with someone. She stumbled back and frowned at Miyami, Hilary and Mariam. A weird combination she hadn't been expecting. Before she could ask, anything really, Miyami linked their arms and dragged her back inside.

"Alright, listen up, we have a plan!"

The words were barely heard over the din of shouts and shoving bodies and Miyami stomped her foot. With a sigh, she stuck both fingers in her mouth and whistled sharp enough to wake the dead. All movement stopped, except for Bryan, who wrestled himself free and charged the door. Mariam shut it in his face, blocking him from getting past.

Bryan stared her down. "Move."

Mariam didn't budge. "Sit down."

"Move, Mariam." The words were all but ground out through clenched teeth and by the flexing of Bryan's fingers, Shahero guessed he was seconds away from lifting Mariam out of the way.

Instead of being intimidated, Mariam stayed where she was. "No. Sit down and listen."

They stood there for one humming moment, a clash of wills until Bryan exhaled harshly and stepped back. Mariam relaxed and her chin lifted, as she looked at the rest of the room. "Like Miyami said, we have a plan."

Bryan moved back to his seat and Shahero glanced at Kai, wondering what he'd made of that moment between his ex and his teammate, but Kai's attention was glued to his phone as he traded hushed whispers with Tala.

"Well, actually," Miyami said, nudging Hilary, "it's Hilary's plan. She's going to confess to the prank!"

Bewildered murmurs broke out and now Kai and Tala looked up from the phone with twin looks of confusion.

From across the room, Tyson jumped to his feet. "No, she's not. Miyami, she had nothing to do with it. Whatever she's said—"

Hilary shifted uncomfortably as all attention locked on her. "Tyson, stop. Trust me. This is a good plan."

Shahero peeked at Russia and met her pointed look. Not like they hadn't figured that this would happen. Maybe not quite this way but there was a reason they'd dragged Hilary along on their little foray out after dark. And if she wanted to take the blame…

Hitoshi groaned theatrically. "Confessing to Maye is a terrible plan. What is wrong with you all?"

"It's the only plan we have," Miyami growled. "Look, Maye can't expel all of us. So we go down and say we all did it individually."

Hitoshi shook his head, releasing his hair from the black band so that it fell around his shoulders. His fingers moved to massage the knot that built at the base of his neck whenever he was stressed "She'll still punish you as a group. It's not like your connections to each other are secret."

"We're not talking about the hockey team. We're talking as many students as possible, ones who have no links to us and teams on the brink of winning prestigious prizes," Mariam drawled as she skirted the edge of the room and moved to lean against the sofa that Bryan occupied. "It might make Dickinson pause."

With her heartbeat thrumming like a desperate bird in her chest, Shahero stared at the girls in bewilderment. They wanted everyone to confess? That was… kind of genius. The thrumming expanded into the tiniest glow, like hope stretching thin gossamer wings. They might actually be able to save Amber without incriminating themselves. And selfish though that was, it was the best outcome for everyone.

"And," Miyami said, "if Maye does want to expel everyone, she's gonna potentially piss off some of the most influential families in the entire school and the board of management is not going to want to do that."

"The school depends on the generous donations and winnings from competitions. They can't risk losing it," Hilary added, hands clasped in front of her. "Maye will have no choice but to back down."

"Holy crap Hilary, that's smart."

Hilary preened under Tyson's compliment and quickly ducked her head to hide her blush. It was almost nauseating, Shahero mused, if she wasn't so impressed by the plan herself. Except—

"We're not exactly loved by the entire school. Why would anyone else help us?"

"Because people hate Maye more. You're not the only ones who've been targeted by Maye. I know the cheerleaders have had more than a few issues."

"Mariam's right," Mariah said, "If there's an opportunity to get one over on Maye, they'll want in. She's public enemy number one with us too."

Sonia lifted her hand to catch the attention of the room. "Ozuma and I can ask the prefects to help, and I know some people I've tutored who always say they owe me. I don't think this is what they meant though."

"I can get the football team to help."

Silence fell and they slowly turned to the far side of the room, to the dark corner where Max sat with a burly junior with deeply tanned skin and ash blond hair so pale it seemed silver in the illumination from the muted TV. Shahero glanced at Hitoshi, registering the confusion on his and her teammates' faces.

"This is a hockey team meeting only," Kai told him coldly.

The boy held up his phone, the screen lit up to show a message. "And as of an hour ago, I'm on that team."

"This is Rick," Max introduced, jumping to his feet. "He used to be on the football team."

"And got kicked off for assaulting another player," Kane muttered.

"I call it tackling but yeah, the powers that be came down tough on me because of who the other kid is. Look, I don't like you assholes much, but if you're saying your little friend is in trouble because she's being unfairly targeted by those same powers, I'm willing to help you out. I still have friends on the football team, they'd put their weight behind this. The school won't suspend the entire football team, not at this stage of their tournament. They're a shoo-in for the cup. Unlike you guys."

Shahero curled her lip in distaste and looked to her teammates, surprised to see that they were actually contemplating this. The flicker of hope expanded again.

Hitoshi blew out a breath and planting his hands on his hips, studied the room. "Okay, I am not condoning this but if this is what you feel you need to do, I cannot stop you. Although I would gather as many people as possible if you want this plan to succeed, otherwise she's just gonna suspend you or disband the team."

Which was pretty much Hitoshi's way of saying, go with the grace of god, or something equally inspiring. Shahero exchanged a quick look with Russia as the team began to get to their feet, muttering under their breath about who else they could get.

"We don't have a lot of time," Kai said, raising his voice over the din. "Grab who you can and get to the office asap."

As they exited the room and entered the cool corridor, Shahero hung back and stuck her hands into the back pocket of her jeans. What if they were wrong? What if Maye did try to expel them? Well, if she did, they'd all go down together. She straightened her shoulders and heaved a sigh. No, they could do this.

She stiffened as Bryan came up beside her, his stride shortening to match her dragged-out pace.

"What do you think?" he asked.

"I don't know if it'll work. But it's the best plan we've got right now."

"Surprising that Tachibana came up with it." There was a question under his words and she jerked a shoulder. She knew why Hilary came up with it; guilt was a powerful motivator. Not that Hilary really had anything to feel guilty about, she conceded. She and Russia had strong-armed her into helping them. Still.

She opened her mouth, unsure if she'd tell Bryan about their role in the prank or explain why Hilary would help them, or just assure him that Hilary wasn't leading them into a trap of some kind, but she was cut off.

"If it stops your cousin getting expelled, does it matter who came up with the plan?"

Shahero glowered at Mariam as she stalked past them, sending a haughty look over her shoulder. "Maybe not, but why are you helping? I thought you'd be in favour of Amber being expelled."

Mariam snorted inelegantly. "Everyone seems to have that assumption but it doesn't surprise me that everyone's an idiot."

Bryan chuffed out a quiet laugh as Mariam overtook a few other students to join Hilary as she walked with Miyami, Tyson and Max. Shahero whistled softly and glanced at Bryan. "What was that about?"

Whatever emotion had been lurking in his gaze, he quickly caged it away. "Who knows. Who cares. Let's go ruin Maye's day."

Now that was a plan she could get behind.

Dickinson's office had always seemed cosy and welcoming for the most part, with its dark furniture and framed certificates, the glowing fire in the hearth. Tonight it resembled something closer to a courtroom, with Amber on the stand facing her judge, jury and executioner.

Though, as she sat in the uncomfortable wooden guest chair, she wasn't really sure who was who in that scenario. Dickinson quietly read the incident report with Maye's meticulously drafted statement at his elbow, while Judy sat off to the side where she couldn't influence proceedings or show any "unconscious bias". Maye's new buzz word for the day.

And the cherry on top of this shit show was the fact that Maye had taken up position inside the room, guarding the door.

It was bad enough Amber had to sit through this farce, but the fact that Maye got to relish in her humiliation was almost unbearable. Half of her just wanted to ask for them to hurry up and expel her, the other part wanted to keep her promise to Kai and stall. Not that she knew what she was stalling for. It was expulsion or Maye would go after someone else. Neither of those scenarios were particularly favourable.

Dickinson's leather chair creaked as he shifted within it, shuffling the notes on his desk and sending Amber another suitably chastising look through his narrow wire-framed glasses. It was like being rebuked by a retail Santa Claus but Amber dutifully ducked her head and studied the green rug that covered the wooden floor. Honestly, the room was like something out of an interior design magazine.

"Miss Benson, this is very concerning." His words were softly disappointed as he set the notes down and clasped his hand in front of him. "Both Mrs Tate and Miss Maye say you've confessed to the prank on the computer lab. Is that true? Did you do it?"

Amber nodded.

"Out loud, Miss Benson, if you please."

"Yes." She glanced over her shoulder to where Maye stood in front of the door watching her, before meeting Dickinson's eyes directly. "I did the prank."

"Miss Benson, do you understand how serious this is?" A log broke in the fire and flurries of sparks flew up the chimney seeking freedom. She was tempted to follow them.

"Yes, sir. In my defence—"

"There is no defence," Maye snapped, voice sharp and oddly out of place in the cosy office.

Judy muttered something under her breath but kept it to herself when Dickinson glanced in her direction.

"Now Rachel —"

"I am the victim, Stanley. And have been for quite some time through the action of this student and her friends. My authority has been continuously questioned, I've been harassed and physically threatened. This attack was intended to force me to quit. It played on a known phobia of mine and it crossed a line. How can she argue a defence for that?" To Amber's shock, Maye's voice quivered and she made an impressive show of controlling herself. It was disturbingly believable.

Amber sucked in a breath and counted to ten. While she knew that Maye was an epic manipulator, it was a different matter to see the woman at work. And judging by the way Dickinson nodded, eyes sympathetic as he wiped his glasses on his little scarlet handkerchief, he bought it hook, line and sinker.

And why wouldn't he? Hell, if Amber were a stranger, unaware of Maye's actions and reputation, she would have pitied her.

But since she did know her, Amber forced herself to speak. "Sir, it was not a malicious attack"—Maye hissed but Amber refused to look at her—"it was a prank. I didn't realise it would upset Miss Maye so much. I wasn't aware of her phobia."

"Of course you knew." Dickinson opened his mouth to protest Maye's interruption, but she held up a hand and reconsidered her tactics. "Maybe she didn't know, exactly, but Stanley, the prank cannot be condoned. It was a blatant mockery of the school code of conduct which all students must adhere to. If we do not penalise students who break the rules and show that there are repercussions for their actions, what is to stop another student from doing something similar? Something worse? We operate on a zero policy for bullying, why does that not extend to the staff who work here?"

"I hardly think this prank constitutes as bullying," Judy said.

Maye's face dropped from righteous fury to incredulity. "Well, I think it does. This is just another act in a long string of defiances. You cannot ignore that Miss Benson often breaks the rules and does so without any respect. We have tried the usual methods of disciplining her. Notice that in her file she has had multiple detentions this year alone. This is not an isolated incident, this child is not an innocent victim. We have been lenient with her and this is our reward. A child who has snuck out past curfew, stolen an access card from a staff member, broken into a computer lab and vandalised the contents with the intention to cause psychological if not physical harm. What sort of role model is she presenting to the younger students?"

Put that way, Maye did have a point. It was galling to admit. Amber stared hard at her fingers and wished for the ground to swallow her. There was no way another school would take her on after this. And she wasn't sure how her parents would pay for home tuition. Maybe she'd just work at the Friars for the rest of her life.

"Miss Maye, you are giving Amber a lot of credit—"

"Judy, I admire your willingness to see the good in all students but sometimes we must admit that some are beyond our help."

Oh god, she felt sick. Maye sounded convincingly maternal, as if she'd tried so hard to help Amber only for it to be in vain. Her stomach rolled and she wiped her slick hands against her pants.

"If Miss Benson does not receive punishment for this," Maye continued, "I'm concerned that others will consider the rules simply guidelines and they will test them. We've seen it in the news, heard it from teachers in other schools. Students who have lost faith in their faculty, who take measures into their own hands. Can we really stand by and let that happen to Preston? At this stage, I think zero tolerance, and by that I mean expulsion, is not only necessary but our only option. We have to be seen to act, not only to protect students but to protect our staff. They cannot be targets."

Amber glanced up into Dickinson's placid face, willing him to reject Maye's words. His gaze dropped to the papers in front of him, the inordinately large file that Maye had dropped onto his desk like the final brick in her tomb, and his moustache twitched.

Amber's heart dropped to her knees.

"And what of the others?" Maye ploughed on. "I don't, for an instant, believe that she acted alone. And even if she did, there would have been others that were aware of her actions and yet none of them came forward. We need to show the students that we are a united front and that we are in charge, not them. They do not get to incite fear or attack teachers to get their way. As such, I propose that we cancel the trip for the entire senior year, that way there are no misunderstandings and the students will see that there are penalties for breaking the rules. It will dissuade them from acting out further—"

Judy stood up, arms folding across her chest. "You cannot blame the actions of one person on the entire student body."

"They implicated themselves when they refused to tell us who did the prank. One person facing punishment will not stop the others—"

Amber flushed hot, then cold with shock and dismay. Maye wasn't going to just give this up because she had her. She was going to go after the others.

She jumped to her feet. "I told you, no one else was involved."

Maye didn't even look at her, a manic glint in her eyes. She'd scented blood and now she was on the hunt. "Stanley, this is just the tip of the iceberg. There needs to be a deterrent for the others."

Amber whirled on him, gaze pleading. "Sir, please," her voice cracked, "there was no one else. Just me."

"Both of you, settle down." Dickinson held both his hands up and then he sighed, expression turning bleak. "Now, I have listened and I do agree. We need to show a united front and be seen to take punitive actions for situations such as this. If we don't, it will encourage other students to take advantage of our rules. We have them for a reason. To protect staff and students alike."

His attention turned to Amber and her mouth dried to dust, her heart a trapped thing beating at her throat. She braced herself.

"I'm sorry, Amber. I understand there may have been nothing malicious behind your actions but we must be seen to act—"

"Why is one of my players in a meeting with three adults without any parental or guardian representation?"

Amber jolted as Nicolai strode into the office, eyes glittering with fury as he swept the office with a burning look. He immediately moved to her side and pointed a finger in Dickinson's direction.

"This is not professional. She has a right to have someone here on her side."

"Nicolai." Dickinson chuckled awkwardly. "It's hardly an interrogation."

"Looks that way to me."

"She confessed," Maye stated, shoulders moving back. "We had the right to question her to ascertain the correct punishment."

"Under duress," Nicolai snapped back. "She did it to save another student, another one of my players, who was being harassed by a member of staff."

"Harrassed? She knocked me down. That was assault!"

"Don't try me, Maye, I'm not in the mood for your histrionics. Everyone in this room is aware of Miss Belyaev's situation and you put her under a great deal of emotional stress. So, forgive me, but I'm struggling to understand how Amber is in the spotlight when you were clearly at fault. You know, this almost seems like a witch hunt directed at my team. Is that what's happening here?"

Dickinson clasped his hands together. "Miss Maye is not under investigation right now, Amber is. She confessed to a rather serious incident—"

"Someone pulled a prank, Stanley. They didn't launch missiles, they didn't incite violence. It was a prank. Schools are notorious for them. Maye is overreacting and you know it, and she's doing this specifically to target certain students in this school who she has a problem with."

"Those are serious allegations. This is something we must carefully discuss—"

"Are you aware that Amber's father is a lawyer?"

Nicolai let those words settle in the room and Amber pressed her lips together, her knees giving out like water beneath her as she sank to the chair. She hadn't expected this. Not this righteous fury on her behalf.

"I'm sure if he heard about this he would be questioning your actions right now. In fact, he might consider your actions unjust and that you're potentially going to expel a student, his daughter, without due cause or evidence. I don't think the school could afford that kind of scrutiny, do you? After all, where did my player find the access card? Where was the school security? How come none of the cameras picked anything up? Are the students truly safe in this school?"

Amber's eyes widened as she stared up at Nicolai. Holy shit, Nicolai was awesome. Those were absolutely the kinds of questions her dad would ask. Which was why she'd hadn't wanted him here. She tried to communicate that to Nicolai but he refused to look away from Dickinson.

Dickinson shifted uncomfortably in his seat, his shoulders drawing back as he looked anywhere but at Nicolai's face.

"Well," he blustered, "as I said, we would need to discuss this matter further. A meeting with the board of managers will have to be scheduled. And naturally, we'll take everything under advisement. Expulsion does seem to be a little reactionary considering the nature of the prank but we must be seen to punish those who break the rules. To pull this prank Amber would have been out past curfew and she vandalised school property. These things cannot go un—"

Nicolai refused to back down. "You can't prove any of that."

"Nicolai," the word was wheeled out of the older man, "she did confess."

"Under duress."

Nicolai was a god.

The door opened again and Julie scurried in, frazzled and wide-eyed as she scanned the room, landing on Dickinson with great relief.

"Excuse me, Mr Dickinson—"

"Julie, we're in a meeting at the moment."

"I'm aware, sir, and I wouldn't interrupt if it weren't important. We have a situation outside."

"Can't this wait?" Maye demanded, all but seething at the interruption.

Julie reared back, then tilted her head in challenge. "I'm afraid it cannot. Mr Dickinson, it seems that there are others who claim they did the prank."

Amber sagged. She could almost guess which students had decided this was a good idea. What had she told Kai: Keep the others from doing something stupid. How hard was it to lock a damn door?

With the open door, the burble of teen voices could be heard, laughing and jeering. Dickinson frowned, slowly getting to his feet.

Maye's eyes widened with glee and Amber could all but see her restraining herself from dancing. She scurried to the door. "Oh! Oh, this is—this is exactly what I warned you would happen, Stanley."

"Ah, Julie, I'll be right out. Amber, stay seated. Miss Maye, you should stay here too."

Maye gaped at him. "But no, I need to—"

"Sit down, Rachel," Judy muttered.

Dickinson quickly made his exit leaving them alone in his office. The clock ticked and the fire hissed. Amber glanced at Nicolai as he leaned against Dickinson's desk and watched the door, and she realised he'd put himself between her and Maye. That was oddly nice.

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Maye sidle up to the window to open it. Immediately voices began to slip inside.

"Look, you're not listening, I did the prank." Amber stiffened in her chair. That sounded like Shahero. It could not be Shahero. Dammit. She'd just put herself through the inquisition to protect her and the others.

"No, she didn't. I did it."

Was that Kane? Or maybe it was just another boy who sounded a lot like a really resigned, not happy to be there, Kane.

"No, it was me. I did it." Sounded suspiciously like Hilary Tachibana and was immediately followed by Tyson's: "Hilary didn't do it. I did. I can prove it. I know stuff—Ow, Hilary!"

"It was me. I did it. All by myself." Ian?

She chanced another glance at Nicolai to see his eyes were closed, steam all but escaping from his ears.

"Shut up, idiot. I did it." Amber's heart leapt in her chest. She knew that voice intimately. What did Kai think he was doing?

"Give me strength," Nicolai mumbled, so quietly that only Amber heard the soft prayer.

Judy excused herself and marched to the door. "What on earth is going— Max?!"

"Hey mom," her son greeted cheerfully, "just came here to tell you that I did the prank."

Amber sighed. They were all going to get expelled. Those assholes.

"I told you," Maye hissed, just as Dickinson slipped back inside and firmly closed the door behind him. "Amber didn't do this on her own. They probably think that we can't expel them all."

"You're beginning to sound like you have a vendetta," Nicolai said, voice rising over the din as he strolled over to Dickinson and Maye, gaze moving by them to the window outside. He shook his head faintly. "That's a lot of student pranksters out there."

"Ah, yes, Judy will deal with them while we come to a..." Dickinson struggled for a moment before mopping his brow.

"Deal? Stanley, we should stick to our guns—"

"You can't expel fifty students," Nicolai told her.

"Well we could just disband your team, couldn't we?"

"Is that a threat, Maye?"

Since they were distracted, Amber eased out of her chair and slipped onto the small armchair in front of the window on the other side of the door. She peered out through the blinds to where her team gathered in the hallway. Some had taken up position in the seats she'd occupied, while others leaned against the wall, some were pressed up against the counter where the harried secretaries took their names, while others had taken a seat on the floor like some kind of sit-in protest. It was amazing.

She spotted the JV team clustered together and Miyami with Johnny's arm casually slung over her shoulder. His head was lowered as he talked to Shahero who was pouting, and Amber realised that Johnny had a firm grip on her sleeve. Mariah stood with Kirby and Hilary and… Mariam? Amber absorbed that jolt and continued to scan the faces of friends and students she recognised. What were they all thinking?

Finally, she found Kai by the far wall with Bryan and Tala, arms folded, one foot propped on the chair Bryan sat on, as he said something that made Tala smirk. She touched her fingertips to the cold glass as a tickle burned in the back of her throat.

They came. All of them. For her.

She loved those stupid assholes. Her team of idiots.

As if sensing her gaze, Kai looked up and unerringly found her. She smiled and quickly blinked away the dampness from her eyes as she offered a tentative wave. Kai nudged Tala and Bryan and they looked up, and Bryan nodded in her direction. Hope began to spread through her. They had a plan. There was no other reason for them to be down here en masse and considering the fact that more people were arriving, some very influential members of the student body, she could guess what that plan was.

Outside, Judy stepped in front of the window and gestured for her to go back to her seat. Amber stifled a sigh and crossed to Dickinson's desk. She didn't sit down though. It was too weird to have them all at her back and she hated feeling shorter than she was. So, she leaned against the desk, smiling faintly when Nicolai moved back to join her, taking up his spot again.

"Stanley," Maye coaxed, "we'll find the ringleaders and then penalise the rest —"

"Um, it's not just the hockey team," Amber informed them, crossing her ankles and bracing her hands against the table behind her. "There's cheerleaders out there and half the football team—the one that's going to play in the finals soon. Christian Carter, his dad's a judge, isn't he? Robert Jurgen, Dominique Ashburn, Enrique Giancarlo, Jesse St Clair—their parents all donate huge sums of money, right?"

The colour leeched from Dickinson's face and for a moment Amber thought he might keel over but he righted himself, shuffling over to stand by the fire.

"We can't expel them."

"Stanley," Maye hissed, moving in front of him, "this is what I was talking about. This is a coordinated attack on our authority and it must be squashed."

"We can't expel them," Dickinson repeated. "It would be an unmitigated disaster. The reaction of the parents, the school board, the media. No, a mass expulsion for a school prank would be taking it too far."

"So what will you do? Just let them go unpunished? They win and we look like fools? You need to cancel the trip."

"Oh yes, the parents wouldn't possibly find a problem with us doing that," Judy stated as she entered the room and moved to stand beside Nicolai. Amber wondered if they realised they'd taken sides. Probably not, but she noticed. She'd remember.

"You can't cancel the trip," Judy continued, louder. "They've paid money towards it and some of them won't be home this week to look after their children. That would be the worst thing you could do. The legal ramifications alone…"

"We can't let them go unpunished!"

Amber shifted closer to Nicolai and Maye zeroed in on her, finger pointing, eyes wild and she was almost foaming at the mouth. "This is all your fault. You orchestrated this."

"What? No, I didn't!"

"Rachel, stop," Judy groaned. "You're going to end up getting us sued."

Nicolai scoffed. "How could Amber have done this when you accosted her in the hall after dinner and she's been stuck here since?"

"You saw me confiscate her phone," Judy added, "how would she have contacted anyone?"

Amber dropped her gaze to the floor. Now would not be the time for any sign of her interaction with Kai to show on her face. She hoped to god that Maye hadn't seen him leaving the office and that Judy wouldn't let that detail slip. God, if this place had security cameras, she'd be screwed.

"Of course she did it. It's her team out there leading this revolt. You're all just too blind to see it."

Amber skewered Maye with a look. "I had nothing to do with this and, besides, I'm not on the team."

"And yet, here is Coach Hiwatari ready to defend you." Maye's brow arched as she planted her hands on her hips. "It looks to me like you're on the team, though who knows for how long after this."

"I'm here as her representative because none of you contacted either of her parents." The unspoken threat in those words had Dickinson holding up a hand as he slowly crossed to his desk and turned to face them.

"Let's not throw accusations or say anything we might regret. This has clearly gotten out of hand and it's time to reassess. Now, obviously, we will not be expelling Amber but some punitive action must be taken. The prank, this"—he gestured to the scene beyond the door—"demonstration, all of it has gone too far. We need to be seen to be fair in our interactions with our students and with our staff. Mutual respect is paramount to the success of this school. As such, we will adjourn for this evening and I will call an emergency meeting tomorrow to discuss what shall be done.

"Nicolai has raised a valid point," he continued, "we should not have had this meeting without one of Amber's parents present. I apologise for that, Amber. I only wished to handle this as quietly as possible, to see if we could reach an understanding without adding any unnecessary stress."

"So, what, we all just leave? And nothing will be done?"

Dickinson sent Maye a quietly censorious look. "We will meet again tomorrow, I will send a correspondence when a time has been set. All relevant parties will be expected, including your father, Amber."

"And she goes back to her dorm and conspires to create another farce? Stanley, this needs to be dealt with now."

"I'll take Amber with me," Judy offered. "I have a futon that Max uses when he stays over. It's more than comfortable and will stop any conspiring that you feel may happen."

Maye opened her mouth then closed it, before shooting a foul look in Amber's direction as she strode to the door. "I guess we're finished for the night. And what about the group outside?"

"Their names have been taken and I've sent them back to their dorms," Judy replied.

"Thank you, Judy. Rachel, we will discuss this tomorrow with clearer heads."

The look Maye shot Dickinson was anything but friendly, but then she smiled thinly and turned on her heel to storm out. Amber stayed where she was until Nicolai nudged her forward and Judy followed them, closing the door behind her. They watched as Maye disappeared into her own office and slammed the door so hard the framed photos on the wall rattled.

"Well, tomorrow will be fun," Judy muttered, pulling out her phone.

Nicolai exhaled loudly, hands going to his pockets. "What's to bet she gets this meeting organised for the afternoon?"

Judy considered it for a moment. "I'll talk to Julie and make sure that doesn't happen."

As she left them alone, Amber shuffled her feet and glanced at Nicolai. "Thanks for coming. You didn't have to but I'm glad you did."

"Amber, I'm your coach, I'm here to support you both on the ice and off the ice. And I know you're angry with me about the tryouts."

She opened her mouth to deny that, but he held up a hand.

"You've a right to your feelings. I had to do what I thought was right for everyone involved. You're not off the team. I want you back the same way all those kids who came down here tonight want you back. You can't come back if you're expelled."

She slumped, guilt gnawing at her. "Right. I'm sorry. I just wanted to protect Arista."

"Stop apologising. You were in a tough spot and you did what you could. Now, do you want to phone your dad?"

Amber's stomach swooped and dropped to her knees. "I mean, does he really need to be here?"

Nicolai arched a brow. "Well, do you want your mum involved?"

"No. No." She groaned and rubbed her face. "Um, maybe you could phone him? He might take it better from you."

Eyes, dark and disturbingly similar to Kai's, warmed as he looked at her. "Okay, but I'll be here for the meeting tomorrow if I can. You're not dealing with this on your own, Amber."

She swallowed the lump in her throat and was grateful for Judy's interruption as she walked up to them. "I talked to Julie and she'll try her best. So Amber, you ready to go? The sooner you sleep, the sooner tomorrow is over."

Amber frowned. "I'm not sure that's how it works. But yeah, let's go."

She didn't really see herself sleeping well but she was more than ready for all of this to be over. Just so that she could see where she finally stood once the smoke cleared. She had, with the help of her team, killed that penalty, but god only knew what the next day would bring. Because one thing was for sure, Maye wouldn't easily accept defeat. Not when she'd come so close.

TBC

A.N. Alright, so full disclosure I've been working on this since the last update. I've written 63,000 words for this chapter overall and this is what it's been pared down to. And since Ireland's in lockdown, and everyone's being told to stay home, I figured I'd update now and give you all something nice and long to read. Thanks as always to Sarah for letting me bounce ideas and to those who keep me motivated by reminding me there are people who still read and enjoy this fanfic. I update for you guys.

Thank you.