Pushing Perfect(34)

“So he’d be making me get Novalert so he can sell it?”

“Or he’ll ask you to.”

“No way,” I said. “I would never do that. Besides, why ask me? Raj is already selling—why not blackmail him?”

We both sat quietly for a minute, neither one of us wanting to say the obvious. But I knew we were both thinking it. Either Blocked Sender was already blackmailing Raj, or else Raj was involved. Nothing else made sense. At least nothing I could think of.

“Where does that leave us, then?” Alex said, finally.

“I don’t know,” I said. “Waiting for instructions, I guess.”





13.


I thought the waiting might kill me. At first I assumed I’d hear something right away, so I checked my phone constantly, fearing I’d have a new text, hoping I wouldn’t, but in a way wanting to get whatever it was over with. The longer I waited, the more possible it seemed that maybe this would all go away.

The wait seemed endless, but it wasn’t like I didn’t have anything to do. Second quarter was winding down and I had finals to study for in all my classes. Not to mention college apps—I’d started filling out the Common Application, but I was twitching waiting for my SAT scores to come back, and I still had no idea what I was going to write about for my essay. Ms. Davenport was right that I didn’t have a good enough handle on what my skin problem meant to me, and it wasn’t like I wanted to advertise to colleges that I was secretly hideous. I’d have to come up with something, but I still had a little while to think about it.

Exams were in full force when Blocked Sender finally contacted me again. The text arrived in the middle of the day this time, while I was eating lunch in the cafeteria.

Get a Novalert prescription for 30 pills and await further instructions.

My head started to throb, and I knew if I didn’t calm down I’d have yet another panic attack. It almost made me want Novalert. It would be ironic if this whole blackmail situation ended up turning me into a drug addict. I giggled at the thought of it.

“You okay?” Alex asked quietly. Raj and Justin were sitting with us too, debating the difference between effective strategies for hitting on men versus women.

I could understand why she was asking; laughing out loud for no reason was not a thing that okay people usually did.

I passed her the phone.

“That’s not very specific,” she said after reading the text.

“And I don’t see how I’m supposed to get it,” I said. “I’m not asking Raj.” Alex and I hadn’t talked any more about whether we thought he might be involved in some way, whether as blackmailer or blackmail victim, but either way, getting a prescription from him did not strike me as a good idea.

“Any chance you could try again with your mom?”

“I’ve asked her a bunch of times already. She’s convinced that I’m just like my dad and will have a negative reaction to drugs. I can’t tell her I already know I won’t.”

Alex thought for a minute. “It doesn’t have to be a prescription for you, as far as I can tell.”

“But I don’t know anyone else who has one. Or who’d be willing to give it to me.”

“You do know someone with a prescription pad, though.”

For a second I wished I hadn’t told her about Raj. “But how are we supposed to get one if we can’t ask him?”

“Leave that to me,” she said, and then straightened up and started talking in her normal voice. “Hey, guys, fascinating as it is to debate the concept of gendered flirtation, Kara and I were just saying that we kind of need to chill out this weekend, in a nonparty environment. I vote movie night.”

“I’m out,” Justin said.

“Yeah, we know,” Raj said.

Justin punched him in the shoulder. “Wiseass. I mean I’ve got other plans.”

“Do you have a date?” I asked. I remembered him talking about his boyfriend back at the party.

“As a matter of fact, I do.”

“Are we ever going to get to meet this guy?” Alex asked. “You’ve been hiding him for kind of a ridiculously long time. I bet he’s some adorable closeted sophomore.” Her words were light, but her voice was sharp. Almost like she was jealous. Weird, since there was no reality where Justin was a feasible Prospect.

“My lips are sealed,” Justin said.

“That won’t make for a very fun date,” Raj said. “We’ll have more fun watching movies. My house, as usual? My parents will be out Saturday night.”

“Excellent,” Alex said. “Your place is perfect.” She nudged me with her elbow.

“I’m in,” I said. Clearly Alex had a plan. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like it, but that wasn’t going to stop me from going along.

I picked up Alex on my way over to Raj’s—she knew where it was, and Raj had put us on snack duty, so it made sense to go to the Quik-Stop in between her house and his. When she came out, I immediately realized I’d picked the wrong outfit—I’d gone with casual-but-cute, with colored skinny jeans, a tank top, sweater, and flats, but she was basically wearing pajamas, hair tied up in a ponytail, no makeup.

“I’m totally overdressed,” I said.