Page 11 of Perfect on Paper

“Which is atravestyI’ll honestly never get over. Anyway, who cares? She made herself look stupid today. Everyone knows you’re the one with class.”

“I know, I shouldn’t mind,” Brooke said, looking down at her hands. “Usually I wouldn’t.”

That was true. She was practically the human version of a Care Bear. “What’s up? You okay?”

Her face softened. “Yeah, yeah, totally. Just, argh, stressing about this stupid essay.”

I burst out laughing. “Youstillhaven’t done it?”

She groaned and tipped backward. “Not even halfway!”

“What about those essay-help sessions they run in the library after school? Actually, I’m pretty sure it’s Thursdays, right? Go today.”

“I can’t,Darcy, I have work tonight.”

“Can’t you call in sick?”

Brooke rolled her eyes back so far I could only see the whites, her eyelashes fluttering. “Negative. It’s the launch of a hyped palette today, we’re expecting a full house. They had to roster on five more of us to be safe. They low-key hinted that if anyone skips for any reason other than a coma, we might as well not come back.”

“Harsh. All that over a palette?”

“It’s pressed pigment,” Brooke said, like that somehow explained everything.

“Oh, right, pressed pigment, of course.”

“I have to work Saturday and Sunday, too. How am I going to get this done?”

“Do you want me to come over and help?”

She straightened and gave me an apologetic smile. “Darc, I love you, I do, but I want to get agoodgrade.”

Laughing even harder, I pretended to double over in pain. “Ouch!Ouch!”

Brooke started giggling now, too. “Oh no, that came out so much harsher than I meant it to.”

“Tell me how you really feel next time.”

A movement in the doorway caught my eye, and the spell between us was broken. Brooke seemed to have noticed it at the same time, because we sobered up and turned as one.

Raina hovered in the doorway, looking hesitant. “I think I dropped… my phone.”

We watched silently as she stalked by us to the semicircle.Sure enough, her iPhone, cased in a leather wallet, lay on the floor by one of the chair legs. The silence was getting louder by the second, but it had gone on too long to break it. It must have been obvious I was irked by Raina’s presence. The moment she’d interrupted had felt special.

Not so special it couldn’t be shattered, though, apparently.

The closer it came to my meeting with Brougham, the more nervous I felt.

As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I had no idea what I was doing. Giving advice from my computer was one thing. I could choose my words precisely, and I could always consult one of my books or YouTube coaches if something took me by surprise. Face-to-face? Different ball game. What if I stumbled or couldn’t be sure of myself? Or I misremembered a piece of advice and made the wrong call? Or, most likely of all, what if I let Brougham’s grating personality blind me from approaching things systematically and logically?

Stop it,I scolded myself.You’ve given advice hundreds of times. You know this stuff inside out. Don’t let a stupid, presumptuous guy intimidate you. You’re the expert here.

Still, my heart jumped and tumbled when the last bell rang.

I gathered up my stuff and headed to the library to get a start on my homework. I could’ve used Mom’s classroom, but the thing is, she couldn’t help but chat at me about her day when I sat in there, even if I told her I needed to concentrate.

The minutes trundled by like time itself was coated inmolasses, untilfinally,the clock ticked over to three twenty-five, and it was time for me to pack up, head to the pool, and get this the hell over with.

I got to locker eighty-nine a few minutes before Brougham was due to meet me, and I took the opportunity to check for witnesses and collect that day’s haul. Three letters. Not bad. Prom was coming up in a few months, so this time of year always saw an influx of pleas for help from senior students. At the start, it’d given me a giddy thrill to give advice to students so much older than me, who’d never look twice at me in the hallway, let alone treat me with any measure of respect or deference. Now the thrill was long gone, and it was replaced by a new level of empathy.

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