But, if the issue of whether you are or aren’t allergic to latex is still bothering you, you could always present the question to your doctor or parents in a different way. For instance, saying you had to wear latex gloves for a volunteer lunch-serving sesh and had a reaction. I’m not condoning direct lying, but when it comes to matters of health, you should always do whatever it takes to keep yourself safe.

I’ll be here crossing my fingers that one of these solutions works for you and that you feel so much better!

In the meantime,

Stay Sexy. Stay Healthy.

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

Amber

“You haven’t ever been, have you?” Hannah asked, her voice a whisper as we stood outside the coding room. She held up her phone, the “useful links” tab pulled up on the Ask Me Anything site, focused on the list of places to score birth control.

“No,” I said, swallowing hard. She’d brought up the blog a few times, and each time guilt ate at my insides when I had to act surprised by the content. “Sorry. Mom always picks the pills up for me.”

She rolled her eyes, face-palming herself. “Right,” she said, laughing. “I wish my mom was as chill as yours.”

“Me, too,” I said and wrapped an arm around her shoulder when she pocketed her phone. “Have you tried talking to her about it?”

“OMG no!” she said. “She’d lose her mind. I’d be grounded forever, plus they’d probably pull all my allowance, too.” She sighed.

“But didn’t you say she’s one of the people on the board trying to push out Tanner’s ancient way of thinking? Maybe she’d be more open to it than you think?”

Maybe Hannah was letting her fear overexaggerate her mother’s response?

“Just because she wants progression in the academy doesn’t mean she wants it for her daughter. It’s fine. Is what it is. Let’s talk about something else. Like the fact that it took you two full days to tell me about your date with—”

I clamped my hand over her mouth, glancing behind me and into the room. Dean and Mr. Griffin were in some kind of intense discussion. Once Hannah stopped mumbling against my palm, I dropped it.

“He could’ve heard you!” I hissed.

“So?” she whispered. “He nailed the first date to a T.”

“Yeah, and I totally rewarded him by botching it.”

“Please.” She waved me off. “That’s ridiculous.”

I shrugged. “Back to you.”

“Right,” she said, sighing. “The place I normally go to now has this boutique spa thing right next to it.”

“So?”

“So,” she continued. “My mother now frequents said spa.”

“Shit.”

“Double shit,” she agreed.

“Okay,” I said. “Are you going to go to the one on Ninth?”

She tilted her head. “How did you know about the one on Ninth?”