A Match Made in High School by Kristin Walker Read Free Book Online Page A

to object, loudly, but Maggie Klein cut me off. “It’s settled, then! Cheerleading it is.” She wrote it in the stupid marriage ed file. “Fiona, have you given any thought to what job you’d like to share with Todd to earn your real-world cash?
    No, of course I hadn’t. I had blocked this damn course from my mind as much as possible. “Yes,” I lied. But only one job popped into my head—the one I already had. I said, “I babysit for an eleven-year-old girl. I’d have to check with her parents, but if they give the okay, then Todd and I can babysit together.” The instant those words hit the air, I did a mental head-smack. I’d just forfeited my only source of spending money for the entire semester. Ugh. I hoped, hoped, hoped Todd would object. Then I could make up something else. Leaf raking, maybe. Leaf raking would’ve been perfect!
    But Todd waved his hand in the air, saying, “Pshhh, no prob.”
    “Wait, I changed my mind,” I said. “Leaf raking. We’ll rake leaves.”
    “No, no,” Todd said. “You said babysitting. We’ll do babysitting.” He grinned at me and blinked a few times. “It’ll give us more quality together time.”
    “Oooh, nice observation, Todd!” Maggie Klein said. I tried to object. “But—”
    Maggie Klein scribbled on the sheet. “I’ve already written it down. Okay, you two are babysitters. Great.”
    Dammit.
    50 Kristin Walker
    “Now, let’s move on to the budget.” Maggie Klein held out a red velvet bag with a drawstring top. “Todd, I’d like you to reach in here and select a coin.”
    Todd stretched out his hand. I thought I saw his fingers graze hers as he reached inside. I was almost sure I saw his wrist brush against her thumbs as he playfully swirled his hand inside the bag. I definitely saw her blushing. He pulled out a coin with the number 150 on it.
    “Well done, Todd! One-fifty is the highest Income Factor available. There are only two of them in the bag. Okay, multiply any cash you earn by 150, and that’s how much you have to spend on the monthly expenses outlined in your packet. You decide together what to spend it on, and turn it in to me at the end of each month. She leaned closer to Todd and made her voice all lilty. “I’ll bet you can buy the nice house.” I swear she fluttered her eyelashes at him. He leaned in to her. “And the luxury hybrid car.” They both laughed.
    “One more thing,” she said. “Even though you perform your job together, you must decide who in the marriage is theoretically the breadwinner. Is it just one of you? Do you both contribute to the household? It may come into play later on in the course, so decide carefully. Questions?”
    I pride myself on my ability to keep my mouth shut, so I shook my head.
    Todd said, “No, Maggie, you’ve explained it very well.”
    Maggie Klein blushed again. Todd was some kind of charisma savant. A sexy hypnotist for lonely, aging women. Total cougar crack.

CHAPTER 6
51
    “Okay, then. Remember to write in your journals. And note on your schedules that we have a regular fifteen-minute counseling session every . . .” She snatched up a sheet of paper. “. . . Tuesday at eleven o’clock. So I’ll see the two of you then, okay?” She really liked to make sure things were okay.
    “Looking forward to it,” Todd said, reaching out his hand. She clasped it gently and they shook. How is it that pretty boys can get away with so much crap?
    ThE ART oF puLLING pRANkS IS SoMEThING I’VE
    never mastered. In fact, I can’t even tell jokes. I always mix up the words, or laugh too hard at myself, or get to the punch line only to realize I’d forgotten a key piece of information. (“Wait, wait, did I mention he was wearing a wet suit? I forgot to say he was wearing a wet suit. Pretend I said that.”) So it was a good thing I had Mar and Johnny to help strategize a plan for revenge on Todd. By the time we got everything together and got to the gym that night, the dance had