Mom snorts. “Your car is a lease. We can’t sell it.”
“Well… can you take it back? Save on the monthly payment?”
“It’s not that easy,” Dad says. “Don’t you worry about it, Mark. Just get to school.”
I grab a croissant from the basket on the counter and take a bite. Dad’s right. Their financial issues aren’t my problem. But still, I didn’t ask to drive a brand new silver Lexus GS. They insisted on it. They like the reputation we all have when we drive around looking wealthy.
I think my luxurious car is a stupid financial decision, but I’m not complaining. My car kicks ass. No one else at Brazos High has a car as cool as mine. Girls love it. My friends are jealous. It’s a total status symbol. I was fairly popular at school before I got this car, but after I turned sixteen last year, everything changed. I’m right up there with Jake Morgan when it comes to the list of high school elite.
I know Jake gets all the bragging rights of being voted as the hottest guy in school, but I’m not too far behind, if I say so myself. I work hard at the gym every day after school, and I dress nice and smell nice. Before my grandpa died last year, he had told me that being popular wasn’t everything. I think he meant it as some kind of warning against becoming like my parents. And while I know he’s right about that, his advice doesn’t exactly apply right now. High school is a battlefield of the rich and popular and attractive.
Even though my wealth is a total exaggerated lie, I’m still popular. And girls are always telling me I’m attractive. One of these days I might actually choose a girl to settle down with. But for now, I’m happy just playing the field.
Three
ABBY
My best friend Jules curls her lip and stares at me in disgust. We’re getting our morning coffee from the coffee cart in school. It’s been our tradition ever since Brazos High got these coffee carts. The only downside is that if I drink a coffee on an empty stomach I get way too jittery in class.
“What?” I say as I stir my coffee with the little wooden stick.
“You just put like five hundred creamers in there. Ew.”
“It wasthree,” I say, rolling my eyes. “And I can’t help myself. It’s pumpkin spice!” Usually I put regular vanilla creamer in my coffee, but to keep up with the fall season, the coffee cart had new flavors today—Pumpkin spice and peppermint. I wish I could say I’m the kind of girl who doesn’t fall for the trendy pumpkin spice thing, but I’m not. I like it and we can’t afford the fancy Starbucks stuff, so I’ll take the flavor any way I can get it.
Jules rolls her eyes. We head down the hallway on our way to first period. Her boyfriend has soccer practice in the mornings so he usually doesn’t appear from the locker room until right before the bell rings. This time here, Coffee Time, as I call it, is my only sacred best friend time each day. We have two classes together and also lunch, but that doesn’t count because we’re surrounded by other people and, well, we have to do school work in class.
I tell her about my parents and how it’s officially been an entire year with them gone. She loops her arm through mine and listens while I vent. “Part of me wishes I could just take over and send Abuela home, ya know?” I snort out a laugh. “I love her so much but she lets my sisters walk all over her.”
“Maybe you should just start being the boss. Tell Abuela to let you handle the finances.”
“Yeah, right. It’ll never happen.” My heart hurts as I think of the conversation I had with my mom last night. After we got off the phone, she called my sister and griped at her, but I doubt it’ll do much. I just need to keep looking after my family until my parents get back.
Jules and I part at the end of the hallway where she has math class and I go down to the CTE hallway for my first period cosmetology class. We’re doing a skincare unit so lately we’ve been applying makeup on each other as part of the lesson. Only today when I walk into class, all the supplies are still packed away.
“No class today,” Mrs. Ashlee says with a sarcastic groan. “Instead, everyone will be watching a School-wide Initiative.” She makes finger quotes as she says it, and the expression on her face tells us she’s not too thrilled about it. Our school does this every now and then, stopping class to show everyone some video about how to be safe over spring break or the dangers of texting and driving.
She turns on the smart board and rolls it to the front of the class. Cosmetology is a pretty small class with only twelve students in here including me. We all settle into our desks and prepare to be bored. The first ten minutes of the video is not only boring, but also depressing. It’s about bullying and it goes into detail about the horrible things that have happened to teenagers because of it. Then… the video gets interesting.
They’re introducing theexcitingnew app called Un-bully. It’s an app that everyone at school has to download. We sign in with our student ID and then we’ll have access to this weird kudos system. That’s what they call it… kudos.
Every time someone does something kind to their fellow classmate, we can go into the app and give them a kudos by tapping the thumbs up icon. On the other hand, if they do something mean to another person, we can give them a thumbs down which is called a demerit. Each kudos has different categories, like Friendship, Good Samaritan, and Above and Beyond—all levels of kudos that give different numbers of points. There are also levels of the thumbs down demerits relating to bullying, being mean, or scamming people.
The guy on the video talks quickly and excitedly, waving his arms around on screen. I get the feeling he’s an aspiring Hollywood actor who is just waiting for his big break. He tells us about the app’s special algorithms that calculate the points value for each kudos or demerit, taking into account extra information if you type in an explanation when you submit a kudos into the app. The special algorithm ranks everyone on a scoreboard. The contest will take one month and then on September 30th, whoever is at the top of the scoreboard wins.
“This is so lame,” Brittany mutters under her breath from the desk behind me.
“Totally,” I mutter back.
Even Mrs. Ashlee stands next to the smart board looking annoyed that we’re forced to watch this presentation. Usually the teachers at least pretend to care about the videos they show us in class.
“So what’s in it for you?” the guy on the screen says. It’s almost as if he’s been reading our thoughts. “For starters, you should get a sense of satisfaction from using the Un-bully app. It will make you feel rewarded for being a good citizen, and there is no better feeling than making a difference in your community.”
According to the sarcastic muttering in this classroom, I’d say not everyone agrees with Mister Enthusiastic TV Guy. Too bad he’s just a recorded video and he can’t see our reactions in person. I’d love to see how he reacts to knowing that a bunch of high schoolers don’t care about the dumb apps our school wants us to use.
“Now for the good part,” the guy says. He moves close to the screen and pretends to look around the classroom as if he’s actually in the room with us and not on TV. I guess I have to give him credit for trying really hard to be entertaining. “We’ve partnered with a Car World Dealership in your area, and at the end of this month, whichever student is at the top of the scoreboard will win a brand new car.”
Um, what?
