Normally being trapped in a room with Crush would be favorable, but right now it wasn't. Not when we were so close to figuring out who LoudMouth was. Once we caught him or her, maybe Freak Week would be explained and my life wouldn't be in danger anymore.

But I couldn't do anything trapped in a room with Crush.

Fortunately, it seemed Freak Week was on my side for once. Everything material— and I mean everything— was made of cheese. Even the shirt I was wearing now stank of provolone.

"We have to eat through this door and save my Banana!" I cried, moving to the door cheese. "Hurry!"

"I can't help, Lace."

"Why not?"

He ducked his head. "I'm lactose intolerant."

"Then I guess I'm doing this alone."

"Why don't we wait for someone to save us?" Crush asked.

I turned to him, placing my hands on my hips. "I'm not a damsel in distress. I'm the main female lead who protects her friends. I'll protect you too."

Crush's eyes widened, then his expression became sad. "Actually, Lace. I have something to tell you—"

"CHEESE BALL!" a loud voice suddenly shouted and then the Parmesan door exploded into little flakes. "MAN I wish I had some spaghetti," Harry announced, appearing in the food mess, cheese covering his oily face.

"Harry!" I cried. "I'm actually happy to see you!"

"Let's take down these curds of prey and save Banana!" Marmie said, appearing next to Harry. "Let's put an end to Freak Week once and for all!"

"Thanks for the help, I was about to eat that wall all by myself," I told the pair. "Let's not waste any time though. Operation Rescue Banana is a go."

The four of us tore out of the room Crush and I were locked in. I didn't know where we were going, but my Banana senses were telling me to go to the PA room. Somehow I felt LoudMouth might like to be in areas where he could well... literally have a loud mouth.

As we ran Harry kept grabbing fistfuls of cheese from the walls and lockers. "Gotta get some food in us before we fight," he enlightened us. "Make sure you all eat something."

Beep, beep. My phone went off in my pocket. I pulled it out, seeing a text message from Jim.

Sorry for the delayed response, Lace... But there's something you should know. Crush knows about me and LoudMouth Internet-dating because he used to be a member of the same online science forum. There's a lot we don't know about that kid. Be careful, Lace.

I stared at my phone. What? Crush knew LoudMouth? What did this mean? Was Crush a part of this? Was Crush the one trying to destroy me?

When I opened my mouth to reveal this new information, the words wouldn't come out. How could it be Crush? Someone I loved? How could he be the enemy? How could I make all our friends turn on him? What if it wasn't true?

"You should eat something, Crush," Harry said. "You're so skinny. LoudMouth might break you."

"He can't eat. He's lactose intolerant," I told Harry.

Harry did a double take. "What?"

"Not hungry," Crush said quickly. "Let's quickly save Banana— oof!"

"Mr. Kevin!" Harry cried.

Mr. Kevin patted Crush on the head and apologized for bumping into him. "Hi all—"

"It was you!" Marmie shouted. "Harry, hold him down!"

"What was me?" Mr. Kevin said.

"You can act all dumb and innocent but we know," Marmie said, her eyes narrowing. "Why did you kidnap Banana?"

Mr. Kevin shook his head. "I didn't! She's right behind me."

"Species!" Banana shouted happily, popping through the door Mr. Kevin had come through.

"Banana? What happened? How did you escape?"

"They tied me up in string cheese! Little do they know I've been eating it since age three!" she told us, holding up some of the string cheese remnants. "Also, my body head was melting it anyway."

"Who was there? Who took you?" Marmie asked. "Was it Mr. Kevin?"

Banana shook her head. "I'm not sure. I was blind folded until it turned into Gouda. Then Mr. Kevin was there and helping me escape."

"What's the point then?" Marmie wondered out loud. "They must've known we'd head to the PA room. There's no surprise attack?"

I gasped. "It was a distraction— guys the floor is melting!"

True to my words, the cheese floor was slowly becoming softer and squishier. There was a layer of liquid on the top. Someone was warming up the floors. To what? Drag us to our cheesy deaths?

"They must've known what today's Freak Week event was," Marmie said, shock drawing across her face. "They're warming up the floor! That's why they separated us! To have time to melt the floor!"

"Mr. Kevin!" I yelled. "Stop this right now! What do you want? I won't let you take down my friends!"

Crush moved to stand beside me, putting his hands on my shoulder. "Tell us the truth!"

Mr. Kevin glanced wildly between us. "It isn't me! I can't even keep my wife, how could I keep such a huge secret as this?"

"We'll have to force it out of him," I said, cracking my knuckles.

"Wait," Harry said quickly, letting go of Mr. Kevin. "It's not Mr. Kevin."

"What?" the rest of us chorused.

Harry slowly started slogging through the rapidly melting cheese. "I've been thinking something has been strange this whole time. We were all so quick to blame Mr. Kevin so we weren't looking at anyone else. We'd get strange messages even when we were all together. They tried to separate Lace from the rest of the group. The suspect would have to be unnoticed. I was thinking, who is the most quiet out of all of us? Surely not me. Not Banana either. Not Lace."

All of us were holding our breaths. What was Harry getting to?

"I didn't want this to be true. I didn't think a friend could betray us. But I was thinking, even if the suspect did separate Lace from us, they must've known she would try to find a way out. They'd want to keep her distracted. Who could distract Lace?"

I glanced at Crush. He was staring at Harry hard, his mouth in a tight line.

"I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt," Harry said, speaking directly to Crush now. "You're our friend, dude. But when you lied to Lace, I caught on."

"He lied?" I asked.

Harry nodded. "Crush isn't lactose intolerant. He said that so you'd be stuck in that room for even longer. If you think about it, Lace, you're the only one who ever pays attention to Crush. He's had so many opportunities to trick and deceive us all while playing innocent."

We all twisted around to face Crush, whose face was a mask of calm.

"You've always been to calm about this," Harry said. "You seemed too prepared for the days. You never blurted out your feelings. You barely said any puns. You never floated away. You're just about immune, aren't you? Why are you doing this? What do you want with Lace?"

A smile slowly spread across Crush's face. A sinister, scary smile. Chills went up the back of my spine.

Not Crush, I thought. Anything but Crush.

"What I want," Crush began, voice gentle and friendly, "is destruction."

Just then the floor finally caved from below us. On instinct, I reached for Crush, dragging him into the human nacho pile. I wouldn't let this end now. I had to find out the truth.

I had to know just who Crush really was.

Hey all!!! Thanks for tuning in to another one of my chapters for #WritingWithGrace contest I've been commissioned by AT&T to bring you! It's not too late for you to join in yourself! Head over to the @WritingWith profile for all the fun details (and you can read all the previously selected chapters!)! There's only two more weeks left of the contest! So make it snappy! J Remember- you could get your work read at Vidcon! That's a lot of people hearing your writing!