Page 88 of We’re All Going to Die Tonight!

“I need to stand out. I need to do something that will make it so no college can ignore me.”

“So, what are your ideas?” I asked. “And…what the hell do you need me for?”

I wondered if maybe he was going to try to do some kind of video essay. It was the only thing that made sense.

But then his lips curled in that way rich guys’ do. And he laughed, then looked around before leaning forward and saying, in a conspiratorial whisper, the most insane shit I’d literally ever heard.

“I’m going to survive an attempted murder.”

Chapter 51

Caulder

October 17

3:52 a.m.

Did Lucas just say what the hell I think he just said?

Did he just say Emerson approached him to fake an attempted murder?

All of us turn to Emerson to see if this bullshit can possibly be real. He’s still smiling, still holding that knife, making my skin crawl just looking at him. I should’ve known, I think over and over again. I should’ve known he was responsible.

“Well, not how I would tell the story,” Emerson says. “But he’s got the main points.”

“Wait,” Kaitlyn says, a dark edge infiltrating her tone. “You mean…you hired a killer? Or this was a fucking setup?”

Lucas winces while Emerson chuckles.

“Well, both, sort of,” Lucas says. “I mean, he didn’t hire a killer to actually kill people. But he hired…Well, he hired me to help make it look like someone was trying to kill us.”

“What are you talking about?” Avery asks.

“He wanted it to look like someone broke into the house and attacked us,” he says. “I…I was supposed to be the victim that got knocked out. And he was supposed to survive, obviously, and live to tell—”

“But you were knocked out,” I say. “I tried to get you to wake up for hours. And you were covered in blood. You had a gash.”

“The gash was real,” Lucas continues, glancing at Emerson. “Emerson cut me so it would look real. He cut himself, too. He knew where to do it, since he volunteered at the hospital. And then we just added a shit ton of movie blood, the really good stuff. But we went a little overboard…”

“Again,” I say. “You were unconscious. Don’t tell me you let Emerson knock you out.”

“Sleeping pills,” Kaitlyn says, surprising me and making us turn to her. “Javi found them. And he said they were some strong shit. Just one would’ve knocked you out.”

“Javi knew?” I ask.

Kaitlyn shakes her head. “He had his theory, but it wasn’t…finished. Just that he didn’t trust Emerson and thought the sleeping drugs were suspicious.”

“It was only supposed to be something dramatic he could write about,” Lucas says. “It was supposed to be something unique to—”

“But people actually died,” I say, the words coming out of my mouth as if my throat’s coated with sawdust. “Javi actually died. And Mr. Jay. Emerson, how do you explain that?”

Emerson sighs. “It got away from me, I admit.”

“That wasn’t supposed to happen,” Lucas says, and his eyes are wide and regretful as he looks at me. “I swear, Caulder. None of that was supposed to happen. Something had to have changed…Or maybe Emerson lied to me when he came upstairs. There was something…off.”

Lucas looks at Emerson, who simply smirks.

“Wait, you were upstairs?” I ask. “This whole time?”