Until May (Until Her/Him #11)(68)

“She was, but she stepped out a minute ago.”

“Do you want me to help you look for her?”

“No, I’ll find her. Go back and enjoy the party,” I tell him, not sure what she’s up to but positive it’s not good.

“All right.” He tucks his hands into the pockets of his slacks before turning and heading back toward the gym. I continue down the hall, and when I reach the end, I spot a light on in one of the classrooms and open it, stepping inside.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I ask May, finding her standing in what looks like a closet, and she screams as she spins around to face me, looking like a deer caught in headlights.

“You scared me.”

“Good, I hope you’re fucking scared.” I scrub my hands down my face. “What are you doing, sneaking around the school alone?”

“What do you think I’m doing?” She rolls her eyes. “I’m searching for the person who’s after you.”

“Doll.” I shake my head. “You are not Nancy Drew.”

“Maybe not, but something Zach said the other day came back to me, and I wanted to see if I could figure out who he was talking about.”

“What’s that?”

“He said that he works with someone who is a huge fan of yours.”

“And?”

“And what are the chances of that?”

“I don’t know. Lots of people love soccer.”

“Yes, and I’m sure you have lots of fans all over the world, but what are the chances that I work with one of your fans, and that someone just so happened to use your picture on a dating site?”

“I don’t know, doll, probably about as likely as you and me running into each other after someone used my picture to catfish you.”

“Exactly.” She moves around me. “And we know that whoever signed up for the site did it using the school’s network, so they work here.”

“You’ve got a point, but who do you think it is?”

“I don’t know.” She huffs out a breath. “Besides Zach, no one else has even flirted with me, so I really have no clue,” she says, and I give her a doubt-filled look as we leave the classroom and start walking back toward the gym. “I’m going to call Zach tomorrow and ask him who he was talking about.”

“You probably should have done that before playing night detective,” I mutter, and she laughs, then stops suddenly.

“Hey, William,” she says quietly, but her voice bounces off the walls around us, making it seem louder than it is. I look down at the end of the hall, where a man is standing. “I didn’t know you were chaperoning tonight.”

“I got here a little late.” His eyes come to me, then move back to her. “Are you okay?”

“Oh yeah, just showing Aiden around the school.” She looks up at me and licks her lips. “William works in the IT department.”

I nod, understanding what she’s saying, and start walking with her hand in mine toward the gym with purpose, wanting to get her around as many people as possible.

“It’s good to meet you, man,” I say as we walk toward him, and he starts to open his mouth, then his eyes widen as they go over my shoulder. On instinct, I shove May away from me as I spin around, barely glimpsing the barrel of a gun pointed in my direction, and jerk back before a crack of thunder rings through the empty hall as May screams. I look down at my chest, expecting to have been hit, but there is no pain and no blood. Turning to look over my shoulder, I watch William crumple to the ground and red begin to stain the floor around him as the sound of footsteps gets farther away.

“Shit.” I run toward William as May scrambles on her hands and knees to where he’s lying and rip my sweater off over my head, pressing it to his stomach. “Go call the police.”

“Someone shot me,” William says, sounding dazed, and May sobs, pushing her hands down on mine.

“Doll, I need you to look at me,” I bite out, wanting to get her attention, and her big, brown, watery eyes meet mine.

“Go into the gym, find Toya, and call the police.”

“I can’t leave you.” She shakes her head franticly back and forth as the tears streaming down her cheeks rip me apart.

“You need to get William help. Go to the gym and find Toya,” I repeat, and she nods after a second and pushes up off the ground. I watch her until she’s behind the closed door of the gym, then look down the hall where the shooter was. Everything was such a blur that I didn’t see who it was, but I know they got spooked.

“I feel lightheaded.” William’s words snap me out of my thoughts, and I focus on him.

“Do not go to sleep. Help will be here soon.”

“Someone shot me,” he repeats as the gym doors are shoved open, and kids start running for the exit while May jogs our way with a few people, including Toya and Tony, behind her.

“The ambulance is on the way,” May whispers, dropping to her knees across from me.

“Good job, baby,” I tell her quietly, and she looks at William, then touches his hair like he’s a small child, smoothing it back away from his forehead.

“Do we know who did this?” a woman I recognize as the principal asks, with her hands shaking as she holds a phone to her ear.