A week before the announcement, Tyler had wanted to kill Laura. He’d also wanted to hug her. She had approached him in Boobins’ math class, and told him what he had expected.

He’d seen her pick up the plane as it had dropped out of the appalling throw. And then the bell rang. The next day, she had leant over and whispered to him.

“I told Liz.”
It came with a rush of joy and damnation. Liz was clued in, but Tim wouldn’t know. But Tyler didn’t care about Tim. Quiet resentment had been festering.

*

Then the announcement came, one week on. Stacy, the student body president said via speakers “Our entire eigth grade is going to have a mini-prom!”

After school, he went over to Liz’s, not caring if anyone should be watching. He knocked on her door. She appeared, looking amazingly different to usual. She was smiling.

“Liz. You wanna go to prom with me?

Her smile became a grin.

*

And now, as the time approaches, I think about how Tim will take it. Going on past experience, I decided to take my Dad’s gun.