Pushing Perfect(55)

“I had to,” he said. “I had no choice.”

“You always have a choice,” Alex muttered, but she’d turned her body so she didn’t have to look at him.

“Does that mean we’re dealing with someone who doesn’t know us at all?” Raj asked.

“I don’t think so. The person seemed familiar with some of the names. And they knew what kinds of questions to ask, that’s for sure.” He looked down.

“What did you tell him?” Isabel asked. “You told him about me, didn’t you? I figured it had to be someone in drama, since no one else knew.”

“Knew what?” Raj asked.

“Not now,” I said, feeling weirdly protective toward Isabel.

“I answered every question they asked me, but toward the end it really was all about drugs. And I never told them anything about you,” he said to Alex. “I swear.”

“Whatever,” she said.

“You have to believe me. The rest of you guys, yeah, I told him about you. But I didn’t have a choice. You have to know that, now that all of this is happening to you too.”

“Because of you,” I said.

“Look, the texts started talking about statutory rape laws in California. I’m not eighteen yet—Mark could get busted for being with me. I can’t let that happen.”

“Guess you learned how to use your camera phone app, then,” Alex said. “Good job selling us all out.”

“Lay off,” he said. “Mark and I are really serious. I’m in love. Do none of you understand what that’s like?”

“Love shouldn’t have to mean turning on your friends,” Alex said. “And I notice you didn’t deny your new camera skills.”

“Enough!” I said. “Alex, I get that you’re mad. Justin, I get that you think this is some kind of romantic drama and you’re the hero for saving your boyfriend from getting arrested, but I hope you can understand that none of us care about that even a little bit. We need to come up with a plan here. Are we all agreed that we want this to stop?”

I looked around to see everyone nodding.

“Excellent. Justin, is there anything else you can tell us? Do you have any idea who this is or how many people might be involved?”

“I don’t know much,” he said. “Except you’d be amazed how many people I was able to get dirt on. This is a lot bigger than just us.”

“Let’s clarify the facts, then.” I went into logic mode. “Here’s what we know: Justin gave Blocked Sender enough dirt on anyone who’s ever done anything bad at Marbella High to set up some sort of drug empire. He’s been making money through Raj and whoever else, using what Alex taught him to hide the money. He brought in the rest of us as a backup plan when Raj bailed. And he must have another source of information, if Justin didn’t tell him about Alex.”

“Not holding my breath to find out who that is,” Alex said under her breath.

“What else?” I asked. “Is there anything else we can put together? Anything else we know?”

“There’s one more thing,” Isabel said, holding out her phone. “I got a text message on the way over here. We know where I’m supposed to drop off the pills.”





21.


“You could have brought that up a little earlier,” I said.

“Maybe I was a little more interested in hearing what Justin had to say,” she said. “Kind of seemed like the most important thing.”

I could see her point, I supposed. “Well, where are we supposed to bring them?”

“A mailbox,” she said. “The address is 1744 Ridgewood Drive.”

“That complicates the surveillance operation,” Alex said.

“You sound like a seventies movie,” Justin said. “Didn’t we all watch The Conversation at Raj’s house? During our Coppola weekend?”

“Oh, you remember?” Alex wasn’t letting Justin off the hook anytime soon. I’d realized that our movie night at Raj’s wasn’t the first time Alex had been there, but I hadn’t known that the three of them watched movies together. The list of things I didn’t know was getting longer all the time.

“It just means it will be harder to set up a camera than it was at the library,” Raj said.

“It’s a cheap camera,” Alex said. “It won’t work that well in the dark. We’re better off just following Isabel and watching her ourselves.”

“No way,” she said. “We don’t know what will happen if I get caught. And I’ll be the only one out in the open.”

“We can take Kara’s Prius,” Raj said. “It’s perfect for this sort of thing—so quiet.”

“It’ll be kind of tight with all of us, though,” I said.

“I don’t want any part of this,” Isabel said. “You guys do what you want, but once I drop those pills, I’m out.”

“Well, that solves the car problem,” I said. “And we can make sure to stay far away until you’re gone. It’s not like Blocked Sender will come get the pills immediately. He won’t want you to see him.”

“What makes you think the person who picks up the pills will even be Blocked Sender?” Alex asked. “So far he’s been making other people do his dirty work.”