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I nodded strongly. “Yeah. I’ve got him.” I just needed to get between him and a cell phone tower tomorrow.

“If you’re gonna turn in pictures, they’ll have other girls in them by default. All the more reason to ask them first,” Sarah said.

It made sense, but, “How?”

“How we do everything, silly,” Sarah said, pulling out her phone.

We crafted the ZB message together, under my login, since I was already the most hated of the group—and because no one sane would respond to a completely anonymous request.

“It doesn’t sound like me,” I complained.

“It sounds like an infomercial,” Lacey said.

“Don’t worry, it’ll do,” Sarah said, and hit send. Then she and Lacey went and boosted it, so within seconds everyone in two-friends-length of reach on our network saw:

Been harassed by a member of the baseball team?

Want to talk about it in a safe setting?

Informal support group forming.

Message me here for details. Anonymous messages OK.

I set my phone down in between all three of us, like it was an Ouija board. I knew we’d just done the right thing, I could feel it in my bones, but said, “There is like no way that this can end well.”

“Maybe it’ll end a little less badly?” Lacey said.

Sarah’s phone buzzed and she turned on her screen. “Uh oh. Ryan wants to have a chat with me.”

“Sorry Sarah.” Lacey began.

“Don’t be. I’d rather have him pissed at me then lose you.” But she did stand up, as her phone got a fresh text, and then another. “I should go now—homework.”

“Dinner,” Lacey said, offering her another excuse.

“Dinner—shit—I gotta get home!” I looked out the open window, praying my mom was still asleep. I swiped my phone up and then all of us were standing. My phone started buzzing, but I didn’t dare use my powers to look—if they were fading, I needed to save them for tomorrow.

Lacey took both our hands. “Thank you two for joining me in the ranks of the soon to be really unpopular.”

“Speak for yourselves. Somehow, I will weather this and rise above,” Sarah said, swanning her neck before pretending to notice us again. “And then take you two with me.” She went back to normal, show over. “Just don’t hide anything from me anymore, okay?”

We all hugged in agreement.

Sarah went out the front door for her car while I got ready to make my peace with the window, so I could help Lacey put the screen back.

“What dirt did you get on Mason?” Lacey asked as I rested on her windowsill.

“He’s a cheater. I think I can bust him tomorrow. There’s some details to sort out first.”

“Holy shit,” she said. Redson High fancied itself an honor system campus. To get caught cheating was to get expelled—and not graduate. “How’d you find that out?”

“Can’t tell you. But it’s legit, I swear. I just need to figure out where he’s going to be tomorrow.” Which was going to be harder than I wanted to let on. “My powers—when I was getting bullied today, they stuttered.”

“What?”

I tried to play it off. “I was going to zap Mason or something—and when I went to reach for them, they weren’t there.”

“Oh my God.”