We're two minutes into the assembly when I leave my seat and approach Miss Roberts.

"Can I get my water bottle?" I ask.

She sighs. "Yeah, okay. Just be quick."

I leave the hall, quickening my pace as I walk back to the Form Room. Period One was moved out of the Humanities block and into whatever empty classrooms were available so we'd have time to clean out our lockers after the assembly. There won't be anyone in there.

Josh is everywhere. Not just on the walls, our messages on old worksheets added to by the younger years. But as I walk past the quad, the memory of Josh officiating a jokey wedding between Rielle and Amanda pierces me. He fell down those stairs in Year Eight and fractured his leg. The Sports Hall was his favourite place in school. The Drama and Music lessons in Year Seven never had a dull moment with Josh struggling to play in tune or keep character.

I shut my eyes for a second as I walk up the stairs.

The form room isn't empty. Mr Granger is sat at the desk, rifling through one of the drawers. He jumps when he sees me.

"Eve!" he exclaims. "Y'alright?"

He sounds so casual. He didn't know Josh well so maybe that's his excuse. We had him in Year Seven, but Josh had one of the other teachers in Years Eight and Nine for History. But someone died and he's asking me that question so goddamn casually.

"No," I answer shortly, heading to the back of the room to get my water bottle. "Josh died."

Josh died and what am I doing about it?

Not pointing the police towards Eden, that's what. How am I even supposed to do that without sounding like a stupid teenage girl nobody will take seriously? Just go hey, so basically I kind of mentioned to this girl I've known since I was four but I don't really know that her killing my boyfriend and me killing our History teacher would be a good idea.

I clutch my bottle tight.

"Eve, are you sure you're okay?" he asks.

"I'm fine," I say. "I am absolutely fine."

I stop at the toilets after I rush out of the classroom, pulling my phone out of my pocket. There's no way Jenny will be in today and even if she is by some strange way, she's not the type to turn her phone off.

hey how are you? x

my brother died how do u think?

it's all my fault too

how is it your fault?

if he hadn't gone off to stockland lakes with that girl and stayed with me like he said he wouldn't be dead

but i said i didn't mind so he went off and DIED

it's not your fault jen

i'm sorry i have to get back to assembly i'll talk to you later x

Miss Roberts shoots me a look when I walk back in, maybe wondering why I took so long, but she doesn't say anything. Mrs Woods is still on the stage blabbering on about Josh. I squeeze in between Inez and Cerys, taking a sip of water from my bottle.

"God, she's acting like he was a saint," Cerys mutters.

Cerys has always been overprotective and when Josh and I broke up, her exact words were he's dead to me. Even when things got better, she remained skeptical. That's Cerys for you. She's a whiz at maths and solving murder riddles and prefers cereal to humans. She hasn't changed one bit since Josh and there's one thing she's guaranteed to do. And that's give me the cold, hard truth.

"Do you think they're going to find whoever pushed him?" I whisper quietly so only she can hear.

"I don't know," she says. "Maybe."

I see Eden sitting in the third row.

Calm. Eyes fixed on Mrs Woods. Casual even. Like she doesn't know how she ruined everything.

Today was supposed to be a happy day. We were supposed to watch from the windows as the teachers gaped in horror at the number of balloons we shut into the canteen. We're supposed to be putting celebrations on your stories, screaming about finishing secondary school and starting those pesky exams next week. We aren't supposed to be listening to our head of year babble about the death of Josh Hartley, see our form tutors shake as the reminder of death hits them square in the face.

But there she is, acting like she did nothing wrong.

And here I am, letting her get away with it.

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