Pushing Perfect(46)

“So this started a month ago?” Alex asked. “That’s it? What does Blocked Sender have over you, Justin?”

“I’d really rather not talk about it.” He looked away from Alex when he said it, though, and she sharpened her gaze.

“Why not? Keeping more secrets? Or is this about that boyfriend of yours?”

“Like I said. Not talking about it.”

“Even with me,” she said. I watched them argue. Were they that close? Justin frowned and leaned back in his chair, clearly not ready to talk.

“Let’s just skip the airing of laundry for now and move on to exactly what’s going on here,” I said. “I haven’t been hanging out with you guys for that long, but it’s clearly not random that the four of us all got roped into this.”

“And we don’t know that it’s just us four,” Alex said.

“Or who’s behind it,” Raj added.

“Can’t help you there,” Justin said. His leg was bouncing so hard I could feel the table vibrating.

Alex banged her hands on the table. “Come on. I know you know more than you’re telling us. You think I can’t tell when you’re lying?”

“I’ve got nothing. Really.”

For someone who was such a good actor, he wasn’t doing a great job of sounding convincing.

“What are we supposed to do now? We’re no closer to figuring this out than I was when I thought it was just me,” I said.

“What’s to figure out?” Justin said. “We’re screwed. Whoever this person is has us just where he wants us. He knows everything about us, and we know nothing about him. And it doesn’t seem like anything bad has happened to us so far. All our secrets are safe. Aren’t we better off just going along with it?”

“That’s not going to work for me,” I said. “We need to figure out who’s doing this.”

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Justin said. “We don’t want to make him mad.”

“Wow, whatever he’s got on you must be big,” Alex said.

Justin ignored her. “I’ll do whatever I have to. And I need you guys to do the same.” He was almost pleading now. “If one of us doesn’t follow directions, the rest of us could be in trouble. That can’t happen.”

“Sounds a little like a threat,” Raj said.

“That’s not what I meant,” he said, as my phone buzzed. There was no question who it would be.

Leave pills behind the copies of The Mystery of Edwin Drood in the library by end of school Monday. Tell no one.

All eyes turned toward me.

I put my phone in the middle of the table, and they took turns reading it. “That’s the spot,” Raj said. He glanced at Justin. “Or it was, before.”

Alex and I nodded. “Before what?” Justin asked.

“Nope,” Alex said. “No info from you, no info from us. You want in, you have to pay up.”

Justin frowned. “Fine. I’ll stay out of it, then. You guys do what you have to, as long as you don’t get me involved.”

“You’re already involved,” Raj said.

“I’m happy to be a bit player in this little drama. I’ll see you guys at school.” He got up so fast he almost knocked over his chair, and then left without looking back.

“That went well,” I said.

Alex was fuming. “God! Why was he being so unhelpful?”

“Because he doesn’t trust us,” I said.

“Yeah, I get that,” she said, with more bitterness than sarcasm.

“Maybe his stuff is just worse than ours,” I said. “Our secrets are all things we want to keep from our parents, but Justin seems more concerned about keeping things from us. Different category.”

“That could be true,” Raj said.

“Easy for you to say when we don’t know what Blocked Sender has on you,” Alex said.

“You don’t have to tell us that,” I said. I wanted to know, but not just because Alex was mad. Alex and I had shared our secrets voluntarily; making someone spill his who didn’t want to made us almost like Blocked Sender.

“No, you’re right,” he said. “I’ve avoided telling you guys because it doesn’t make me look so good. But I’m in the same position you are. What Blocked Sender had on me was something I didn’t want my parents to know. We moved here because I did terribly badly on some exams that I needed to move on to the next level at school, and instead of moving on, I flunked out.”

“Like the SATs?” I asked.

“Kind of. Similar enough, anyway. My parents were humiliated and convinced that I had no future in England, so they panicked and decided to move here so I could start over. My sister was furious—she’d been doing great in school and had lots of friends, and she hates it here. I don’t think she’ll ever forgive me.”

“I don’t get it,” I said. “Your parents already know you flunked out.”

“That’s not the problem. Blocked Sender somehow found out that I’d tried to cheat on those exams. I hadn’t studied at all. Instead, I’d arranged to buy a copy of the test, but it turned out to be a hoax and I’d memorized all the wrong answers. I was totally unprepared for the actual test, which is why it went so poorly. One of my teachers told me the school knew what I’d done but were helping my parents save face by just throwing me out for failing instead of for cheating. I can’t ever let them find out what really happened. My parents moved to another country to help salvage my future—they’d be devastated if they realized why.” He looked back and forth at Alex and me. “So, have you both lost what little respect for me you might have had? Do you see why I didn’t want to tell you?”