“Oh, no way,” I said. “I know who that is.”
It was like a thousand alarms started blaring at once, deafening me and making my head pound. But there were no alarms; everyone in the car had fallen silent. We all knew who it was. We finally had our answer.
Except now, of course, we had a million more questions.
23.
Ms. Davenport was clearly visible in the parking lot lighting. Our collective moment of silence didn’t last long; after that first moment of recognition, everyone started yelling at once.
“I had her for trig,” Raj shouted, while Justin and Alex started spewing curse words nearly in sync.
I felt like I was going to throw up. Mark hadn’t actually said Ms. Davenport was Blocked Sender, but it sure seemed like it. Still, maybe she was one of us. Maybe there was someone behind her. I imagined those Russian nesting dolls, layers and layers between the outer doll shell and the secret tiny doll heart. I didn’t want that heart to be Ms. Davenport. Especially since she knew even more secrets of mine than Blocked Sender had threatened to reveal. So far, at least.
“Pictures, people,” Justin said. “Let’s not forget the mission.”
Justin started snapping pictures furiously, while Alex took video. Raj and I didn’t have a clear shot, so we just watched as Mark got out of his car and walked over to Ms. Davenport. Thank goodness he knew we were there; he made sure the bottle itself was visible as he handed it to her, rather than palming it like I imagined he’d have done if he’d been alone. She didn’t seem to catch on, though; she just took it, nodded, and got back in her car.
“Did you guys get that?” I asked, hoping they couldn’t hear how shaky my voice was.
Justin scanned through his shots as Alex watched the video. “I’ve got a good one,” Justin said.
“The video’s a little grainy,” Alex said. “But it might be enough.”
“We’ve only got her getting the pills,” Raj said. “If someone watches this, they might just think she’s buying. It could get Mark in more trouble than Ms. Davenport.”
“It’s still illegal,” I said. “It’s a start.” I didn’t want to state the obvious, which was that going to the police would be terrible for Mark at this point, but Justin didn’t say anything. He must have been really mad. It wasn’t my main worry, though; I was still trying to wrap my head around the reality of what we’d just learned. How was this even possible? Ms. Davenport was a teacher. And not just any teacher. She was the one teacher I actually confided in. She knew more about me than anyone at school, including my friends.
And if she really was Blocked Sender, she’d used that knowledge against me.
I wanted so badly to believe it wasn’t her, but the more I thought about it, the clearer it seemed that it had to be. I started getting angry. Rageful, even. I’d never felt anything like it before—not when I got mad at my parents for their absurdly high expectations, not when Becca and Isabel cut me out of their lives, not even at the doctors who couldn’t do anything about my skin except to keep giving me drugs that did nothing.
I hated her. I wanted her to pay for what she’d done.
“I think we should go to the police,” I said.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Justin said.
Alex knew how close Ms. Davenport and I were, though. “I get how upset you are—”
“Upset?” I yelled. “Upset does not begin to cover it. Upset is the coffee shop being out of croissants. Upset is not acing a test you studied for. I’m not upset. I’m fucking furious.”
“I think that’s the first time I’ve ever heard you swear,” Alex said.
I was so sick of people thinking I wasn’t capable of being anything but logical. I could get pissed off and irrational just like everyone else. “Maybe you just don’t know me that well,” I said.
“So not the issue right now,” Justin said. “Look, Kara, I’m just as mad as you are. But I’m not seeing how all of us getting arrested is going to fix things.”
“It’ll take her down,” I said. “I don’t care about anything else.”
“Right now you don’t,” Raj said, gently. “And we understand, really we do. But you have so many good things to look forward to. If you try to get her this way, you’ll take yourself down with her.”
“And the rest of us,” Justin said. “Don’t forget about that.”
“We’ll find another way,” Alex said. “I promise.”
“I’m all for a strategy session, but I’ve got some things I need to know now,” Justin said. “Like whether my boyfriend was also being blackmailed, or whether he’s just a lying, blackmailing scumbag who is most definitely not my boyfriend.” He started typing on his phone, though Mark was just sitting in his car.