“You did.” He dropped his voice. “And you have until lunch to fix this, or everyone in the whole school will know your secret.”
“James. I’ve been friends with Felix since almost the beginning of the school year. Way before I saw what he gave you,” I said, lowering my voice. “I didn’t get close to him to get him to stop selling to you. That’s ridiculous.”
He leaned forward. “Ridiculous? Are you calling me ridiculous, Sanders?”
“No.” My voice was small. “But maybe…maybe you have a problem, James. You can take this opportunity to get clean.”
“So that’s what this is? You care about me?” The corner of his mouth ticked up a notch. “And here I thought you were fucking Matt.”
So that was the secret he had on me? He knew I liked Matt. But he didn’t know I could be related to Matt. That was a relief. Besides, his intel was all wrong. Matt and I had only kissed. “I’m not sleeping with Matt. So if that’s the big secret you’re going to share…go ahead. I’ll be the one laughing at you.”
“That’s not a secret, Sanders. Matt didn’t even tell me that in confidence. He was joking around about it in front of Mason and Rob. Even Isabella. Everyone knows about it.”
“That’s a lie.” Matt said no one could know about us. He wouldn’t have told anyone that. Especiallythat. Especially not Isabella. Because it wasn’t even true. He hated Isabella. He wouldn’t be joking around about anything with her. I knew that, and yet, I felt my bottom lip tremble.
“No, a lie is when you stare me right in the eye and tell me I’m ridiculous. Because we both know you had Felix cut me off. Have a nice morning, Sanders. Because if you don’t fix this, your afternoon’s going to be hell.”
***
I had played it cool all morning. Even through gym. But as I made my way to lunch, I was starting to panic. I was glad that Felix had stopped selling to James. He’d even confirmed it to me while we were running earlier. And I had no intention of asking him to start selling to James again.
I didn’t know what secret James would reveal at lunch, but I figured it would be about my uncle. And I could handle that. I wasn’t embarrassed that my uncle was a janitor. If it had been up to me, I would have been honest about it from the start. It was my uncle’s idea to keep it a secret.
It was definitely going to be about that. James had already said his piece about Matt. And yet…I had a bad feeling. What he’d said about Matt was a lie. A definite lie. Maybe he knew there was more to that story. What if I was related to Matt? What if James announced it to the whole school…which would make Isabella spill whatever she had on Matt. And I knew it was something bad.
It’ll be fine, I tried to tell myself as I took a deep breath.
But then I saw my uncle through the cafeteria doors. He rarely had lunch duty, probably because he was trying to avoid me. But there he was…pushing around a trashcan, waiting for students to toss their trays. I could handle the teasing. But I wouldn’t be the only one subjected to it. They’d be making fun of him too.
Screw me.I grabbed Felix’s arm before we went into the cafeteria.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“I need you to go up to James right away and tell him you’ll sell to him again.” I couldn’t risk it. I was banking on the fact that the secret was about Matt and me. And I was banking even more on Matt being honest. Because if he really had told everyone we were sleeping together…I didn’t care what Isabella had on him. As far as I was concerned, they could both go to hell. But right now, I was believing in Matt. And if it wasn’t about him? I didn’t want my uncle to witness the rest of the students making fun of me because of him. Or worse…making fun of him.
Felix started laughing, but he stopped when he saw my face. “What? Are you serious? I gave it up. For you. Because you asked me to.”
“I know. And I’m so so thankful. But I need you to go sell whatever you were selling to James right now.”
“Brooklyn, what’s going on?”
“Please.”
“Brooklyn…”
“Please. Please, please, please. You have to. Right freaking now.”
“I don’t…”
I grabbed the front of his blazer. “Felix, please. I’ll do whatever you want. Anything. Just go sell James drugs!”
“Would you lower your voice,” he hissed.
I grabbed his hand and pulled him through the cafeteria doors. “We’ll do it together. I’ll sell them.”
“Brooklyn, can we please just talk about this for a second?”
I pulled him toward the Untouchables’ table. “There’s no time to talk! James needs drugs and you have drugs…”
