Serena readjusted her hat, pulling it lower over her ears, then jogged in place. A few students passed, but she refused to move from her spot on the sidewalk. She was there first, she figured. Let them be the ones to walk around her.

She hated giving up her usual atrium bench, but she wanted to catch Lincoln as soon as possible that morning. She also wanted to talk to him outside, away from all the other students. Jackson Greene had a lot of friends — friends who were probably more than happy to eavesdrop on his behalf.

Finally, the Millers’ burgundy minivan pulled into the parking lot. Serena marched forward and met Lincoln as soon as he stepped onto the sidewalk.

“Um … Good morning?” he mumbled.

“He’s up to something,” she said. “I know it.”

Lincoln waved to his mother as she drove off, then turned back to Serena. “You mean Jackson?”

“Who else? I saw him and Charlie talking in the garden when I got to school this morning. Yesterday morning, he and his entire team met up in the newsroom.”

“Jackson’s not a member of the newspaper staff.”

“He is now,” Serena said. “Jackson, Megan, Hashemi — they all joined. I checked myself.”

“Well, that’s not against the rules —”

“Then later on Wednesday, I saw Jackson and Charlie plotting something with Rob Richards and Thom Jordan. I couldn’t hear them, but with the way they were talking — all quiet and secretive — I could tell they were up to something devious.” She paused, noticing the deep frown on Lincoln’s face. “Okay, maybe not devious. But still, they’re up to something.”

“Is that all you have?” Lincoln asked.

She blew out a long stream of air. “I told Dr. Kelsey and Mr. James about Jackson and his friends. Mr. James reviewed the video footage and confirmed that they were meeting in the newsroom. They think —”

“Wait. The security system still works?”

Serena nodded. “Even though the NVR hard drive was stolen, the cameras can still record.”

Lincoln scratched his head. “How?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t ask for details.” She really wished Lincoln would stop asking questions and let her finish. “Apparently, because of the way the system works, they can’t use the NVR to sort through the recorded footage — something about it having to be saved on the NVR hard drive, not the cameras.” She took a deep breath. “What’s important is that, in order to monitor Jackson, they need to review all the video from each camera every day before it records over itself. So I volunteered to pitch in.”

“You agreed to look at twenty-four hours of security camera videos? For all sixteen cameras? Every day?”

“I’ve got time in the morning and during study hall. And at lunch. And after school.”

Lincoln started toward the building. Serena fell into step beside him. “Of course, I can’t stop you from helping out,” he said, “but that’s a lot of video to review.”

Serena had been doing the math herself. Even if she fast-forwarded through each video at its highest speed, it would take an hour to go through each camera.

“Mr. James said that it’s supposed to go a lot faster with a working NVR,” she said. “Any idea when they’re replacing the hard drive?”

“Next year. It seems that those hard drives are crazy expensive.” Lincoln stopped at the front doors. “Are you really sure Jackson Greene flooded the school?”

“Who else is smart enough to pull off a prank like that?”

“But that’s the thing,” Lincoln said. “Whoever pulled that prank left evidence. Jackson would never have done that.”

“Maybe it wasn’t Jackson who made the mistake. Maybe it was Charlie. Or Bradley. Or …”

She trailed off as she saw Charlie de la Cruz biking toward the school. He slowed as he seemed to notice them. Then he turned and headed to another bike rack.

“He’s avoiding us,” Serena said.

“Or maybe he just wants to lock his bike up somewhere else.” Lincoln pressed his fingers against his temples. “Okay, I’ll talk to Gaby. Maybe there’s some extra money in the Student Council budget that can go toward a new hard drive.”

Serena huffed. “Yeah, good luck with that.”

“She’s fair.”

“She’s also got googly eyes for Jackson Greene. And she’s Charlie’s twin sister,” Serena said. Clearly, having common sense and being chair of the Honor Board were mutually exclusive.

Lincoln sighed. “You don’t trust Jackson or any of his friends, do you?”

“Of course not. Neither does Dr. Kelsey.” She crossed her arms. “And neither should you.”