“Don’t even think about it. I can’t. You know I can’t stand him, and he can’t stand me.”
“Come on, that’s not true.” Ari downplayed the situation, seductively playing around with her ponytail.
“Of course it is, he bolted offstage as soon as he saw her! Not even Taylor could make him run off like that.” Unlike the others, Poppy was maybe a bit too direct.
“Thanks, Poppy,” I grumbled.
“Sure. Want an Oreo?”
Amelia intercepted it to get my attention. “Listen, June, he won’t know it’s you. You just have to text him.”
All of them looked at me with puppy eyes. I took a deep breath.
“What should I say?”
“This.”
Amelia handed me her iPhone with a message written on it:Meet me at the park in front of school in ten minutes.
“What? Why would I ask him to meet there?”
“Because it’s the closest isolated place to my house, and you can walk there,” replied Poppy.
“I’m not going anywhere, especially not if he’s there. Why can’t you guys go?”
“Because if Brian finds out, he’ll kill us. James doesn’t sell anything anymore because of my brother.” Amelia and Ari exchanged a knowing look.
“Sorry, what would he be selling?” I frowned before continuing. “Are we . . . are we talking about illegal stuff?”
I was scandalized. Ari tried to placate me. “It’s nothing illegal. Just pills.”
“Oh my god! Why would he sell you that crap?”
“We have history homework due tomorrow, and we need help. It’s not illegal, they’re prescription drugs. But we don’t have a prescription. James does.”
“Studying isn’t enough?”
Amelia shot me a look that made me embarrassed for asking that question.
“I’m having a party at my house tonight,” explained Poppy.
My jaw dropped. Another party? I nearly turned into my mom.
“Since we wanna do both, we need a little help,” whispered Ari persuasively.
“That’s how you get good grades?”
The girls exchanged a conspiratorial look.
“June, there’s nothing wrong with doing it once in a while. Between practice and extracurriculars, we get home late, and the last thing we want to do is spend the whole night studying.”
Welcome to the real world,I wanted to yell at her.
“We use a few pills when we can’t focus. We only use them once in a while. They’re prescription drugs, nothing dangerous.”
Ari was using every persuasive bone in her body, but Poppy started laughing in my face. Obviously she was lying. Everyone was.
“Okay, it’s not illegal, but is it dangerous? Isn’t it prescribed by a doctor?” I demanded.
