Once the cold air hits me, I realise that I may not have thought my plan all the way through. For one, I have no way to get to the school because my dad hasn't bought me the bike, he promised yet and walking is just not a viable option. I stop short as I catch sight of my dad's bike parked right in front of the door, he does that sometimes when he's in too much of a hurry to get home and right now, it's the answer to my problem.

The spare key is where he always keeps it, in the glass frog near my mom's favourite roses. I sit on the bike and take a deep breath, its time. When I pull up outside the school, it is silent and would be pitch dark if not for the lone streetlight weakly flickering right outside the gate.

My palms are suddenly sweaty. I'm supposed to be here to prevent a murder that I know is happening because the voice in my head told me so. It's not a very convincing story which means getting caught would not be a great idea and getting murdered instead would be an even worse one. That thought stops me in my tracks. Today's victim could very well be me. I might be walking straight into a trap, I might...I hear the sound of running footsteps and quickly duck behind a bush.

"Who the hell was that?"

I recognise the voice, it's Travis, one of the kids from my class.

"I don't know bro, could be the cops, we need to get out of here."

The footsteps recede and I step out of my hiding place. The smell hits me and I realise why Travis and his friend were not eager to have a chat with law enforcement. Though many think it should be, Marijuana is still not legal here and they were bound to get into quite a bit of trouble.

Their hasty exit solves another of my problems as the main gate now stands wide open which makes it easy for me to walk right in without having to do any extra cardio. "What are you doing? Who are you?" I stiffen before I realise that the voice is coming from behind the building and without thinking I run towards it.

The first thing I see is Cory sprawled on the ground, a dark figure crouched over him. They both turn towards me, and I catch a flash of silver in it's hand and instinctively I know it's a knife, probably the knife that was used to slit Karen's throat so I do the only thing I can think of. I shine my flashlight directly at Karen's killer, let out a war cry and charge. To my surprise, it works. By the time I reach Cory, his attacker is gone.

"You good man?"

He looks up at me with red eyes, "who was that?"

"I wish I knew; do you have a ride home?"

"Uh, Travis."

"Yeah, I don't think he's coming back."

"Dude I'm so high right now, I just saw the weirdest thing."

I don't know whether to be grateful or annoyed that Cory was tripping when he was attacked. On one hand, he probably wouldn't have a lot of sleepless nights reliving his near-death experience but on the other hand it would also mean that he wouldn't be able to give me any clues that would help me figure out who the killer is.

I sigh, "come on, let's get you home."

It takes some time to get him on the bike because he stops to marvel at every single thing, he sees on the way there. Luckily, I manage to get the directions to his house out of him and we reach there in a couple of minutes. He almost trips as he gets off the bike and then thrusts something into my hand, "Thanks for getting me home bro."

"Yeah, no problem."

I watch as he walks up to his bedroom window and crawls in and then open my palm, staring at the green substance in a packet. I shrug, "might come in handy."

                                                *************************

The next morning I'm awoken by the shrill screaming of my alarm which is a testament to how tired I am. Usually, my body clock wakes me up way before my backup alarm has a chance to.

When I go downstairs, the house is empty but there is a plate of French toast on the table with a note that simply says 'Enjoy' with a smiley face.

I take a bite of the toast, chewing thoughtfully. I prevented a murder last night, but I was still no closer to figuring out who the killer was. Yesterday, I'd caught them by surprise but if I really wanted to stop anyone else from getting killed, I would need a more concrete plan, preferably one that didn't end up with me bleeding out.

First things first, I needed to meet up with Mia so that we could figure out our next move. I briefly wonder if Cory would remember anything from last night. Any bit of information I could get from him would be useful and would take us closer to unmasking our killer.

When I enter the class, Cory is slumped in his usual seat. He offers me a weak smile and I feel kind of bad for having to pester him with questions later. Mia slips into the seat behind me, "bad night?"

"I don't really know if it was a good one or a bad one."

She looks confused, "what happened?"

"Hey weirdo, that's my seat," Keith says, frowning.

"Find another one," Mia snaps, before turning back to me, "tell me."

"I sit there every day."

Mia sighs and removes two dollars from her pocket, "will this make you fuck off?"

Keith takes it with a smile, "of course."

"No one's ever paid for my company before," I quip.

She rolls her eyes, "spit it out Lucas."

"Cory was the third victim."

She turns around and turns back to me, "he's right there with his throat still intact."

"He was an almost victim, but I managed to get there in time."

"You're not making any sense here, could you start from the beginning?"

I sigh, this was the tricky part. 

"I went for a midnight ride yesterday."

"Your parents just let you do that?"

"My parents aren't around enough to know what I do, remember?"

She nods, "continue."

I swallow, "I was passing the school and I heard this commotion and so I went in and our killer was right on top of Cory and was about to.." I made a stabbing motion with my hand, "but I guess I spooked them, they just took off and left Cory there."

She fixed her gaze on Cory, "did he see who it was?"

I shook my head, "they were wearing a mask and he was high as fuck."

"So, we're not going to get anything out of him?"

"I mean we could, I just don't think its going to be anything useful."

She sighs, "well at least he's alive and we can start figuring out the killer's victim pattern."

I tap my fingers on my desk, "do you think they'll come for him again?"

"You could tell him to lock his windows at night just to be safe."

I bite my lip and force myself to say the words, "maybe I could invite him to my house for a few nights."

Mia looks at me like I'm crazy, which even I think is a possibility I can't rule out, "you're joking."

"I'm just saying."

"You want a psychotic almost serial killer to turn up at your house instead?"

"I have a baseball bat."

Mia chuckles, "yeah, that'll help."

"I mean he's annoying, but he doesn't deserve to die."

"Yeah, now that Maya isn't currently talking to him, he probably will take you up on that offer."

"I mean, I also did save his life."

"Yeah, that too."

Miss Carter walks in right then and I spend the rest of the lesson trying to figure out how to broach the subject with Cory. Turns out that was entirely unnecessary. As soon as the period ends, I find Cory blocking my way out of the class, "Luke, I need to talk to you."

I wince at the nickname, "sure, what's up?"

"I can't sleep."

"I don't really see how I can help with that."

"Every time I close my eyes, I see him with that knife."

I freeze, "it was a man?"

He looks confused, "I mean, I guess, why does that matter?"

"Are you positive your attacker was a guy?"

"No, but why would a woman want to kill me?"

I pause for a second, not sure how to answer that, "do you know anyone who would want to kill you?"

"Derek, I guess, he's mad that I got to be captain and he didn't."

I file away that information, "do you want to come over to my house for dinner tonight," I say, "we have great security, I doubt Derek would be able to get you there."

He seems to be fixated on something behind me and I turn to see Maya talking to Travis. She laughs and Travis moves closer to her, their shoulders almost touching. I turn back to Cory, feeling sorry for him, "so what do you say?"

"Yeah, I think I'd like that," he finally shifts his gaze back to me, "Thanks man."

"No problem."

I sidle past him and walk smack dab into a girl. Her bag falls and as I pick it up to hand it back to her, I find myself looking at the most beautiful person I've ever seen in my life. Her long dark hair falls across her shoulders in waves and her eyebrows scrunch up as she gives me an apologetic look, "I'm so sorry."

I'm struck dumb so I just stand there staring at her while she takes the bag from my hand.

"Peyton," dimly, I realise that is Maya's voice, "what are you doing here?"

"I'm here cause my little sister's an idiot who forgot to take the essay she spent the whole night working on."

"Oh my god, my English essay."

I recover enough to move out of the way as Peyton hands over a file to Maya, "next time keep it on the dining table so you won't forget it."

"I will," Maya turns to me, "Lucas, this is my sister Peyton, Peyton, this is Lucas, he's new."

She grins at me and sticks out her hand, "nice to meet you."

"Uh, same."

With a last smile at me, she turns and walks down the corridor with Maya.

"Isn't she amazing?" Cory says, coming to stand beside me.

"Yeah."

"She always does this you know, staying up late to write brilliant essays that get her brilliant grades. God, I love her."

It finally registers that he's talking about Maya and not her perfect, gorgeous older sister. "I'm sure she'll come around" I say half-heartedly, "you guys are meant to be."

He nods sadly, "I can't imagine my life without her."