That stung a little more than I thought it would.
“You guys did well.” Principal Rogers strode toward us. “Everything’s nice and clean, priced… You two went above and beyond.”
“Thank you, sir,” Grace said.
“Hopefully you learned something through this.”
We looked at each other and nodded, then I said, “Sure did.”
And I had. Not only from cleaning off old school stuff, but spending time with Grace. Not to mention the monotony of cleaning for hours and hours on end. It gave me time to think.
No scholarship. No money for college. What was I going to do in a couple months when I graduated? Hadn’t found any answers yet, but at least I’d started thinking about it instead of numbing it out with Pax and his beer.
Mr. Rogers smiled, then strode toward Miss Johnson over by where the checkout tables were.
“Care to make a little bet?” I asked Grace.
“On what?” She arched an eyebrow.
“That I’m going to sell tons more stuff than you.”
“As if.” She planted her good hand on her hip. “You willing to put your money where your mouth is?”
“It’s so on.” I cleared my throat and stood straight. “Whoever makes the most sales today wins. Loser has to…buy the winner ice cream at Vanilla Ice Cream Parlour in Twin River.”
“I’ll take that bet!” she said, then waved.
I whipped around to see who was coming.
“What’s up, guys?” Aanya asked as she came up to us. “Ready to make some money?”
“Hope you don’t mind, I brought in reinforcements,” Grace said.
I narrowed my eyes at her. “You were going to make a bet all along, weren’t you?”
“Duh.” She rolled her eyes. “And you’re going down.”
“Yeah, well…I might have brought along a little help, too.” I laughed as Oliver came strutting through the parking lot.
Aanya started laughing. “Oh my gosh, is his mohawk bright orange?”
“Dude,” I yelled. “That’s not school colors, man.”
He shrugged, then held up an old trophy Grace had polished and put out for sale. “How much for this?”
“Oh my gosh,” Grace said, laughing. “He’s going to buy more than you’ll sell.”
“You’re not wrong!” Aanya gave Grace a high five, then pointed at me. “You guys are going down.”
“Who’s going down for what?” Oliver came up and knuckle bumped me.
“These guys think they’re going to sell more than us.”
“Please. Who can resist my charm?” Oliver smiled, and Aanya rolled her eyes.
“Me, actually,” she teased. “Pretty easily.”
“Boys against girls…” Grace said. “We’re so going to crush you.”