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“I agree with Susie. Many girls at this school would give their big left toe”—they high-five at the saying—“to be his partner. So sad such an awesome experience is wasted on you.”
“Don’t you guys realize just how fake he is?” I plead.
“Fake?” they ask in unison.
“Girl, there’s nothing fake about that body of his,” Susie says slowly as she shakes her head from side to side.
“He literally drives a big, liftedworktruck, yet he hasn’t worked a day in his life,” I state, emphasizing the wordwork.
Susie sighs. “He doesn’t need to work. Remember, he’s worth millions?” she says, enunciating every syllable in the last part.
“And that’s the problem. Money isn’t everything.” I stand up straight and head toward my class. “See youlater.” I wave over my shoulder, feeling defeated that they both seem to like him and everything he stands for.
Well, I don’t.
Thankfully, these are the only two classes I have to share with my archnemesis this year. As I walk into Econ, I pray he was able to switch seats with someone so we can go back to ignoring each other like we have for the past eleven years that we’ve been in school together.
When I get to my row, I look up, only to see Dalton already sitting there, turned around, talking to the girl behind him.
I roll my eyes and sit down in my chair, hoping he doesn’t notice that I just arrived.
The bell rings, and when he turns forward, I feel my hair being flicked to the side.
“Hey,” I say as I grab it and smooth it down with my hand.
“I don’t want your long brown hair on my desk,” Dalton says with a glare.
“Then, you ask politely for me to move it. You don’t just touch my hair without asking.” I turn back around with a huff, only to get shivers down my spine when I feel him get too close.
“Most girls want me to touch them. Too bad I’ll only ever touch you to get your hair away from me. As far as possible away from me,” he whispers.
I grip my desk to turn me around faster when our teacher, Miss Hernandez, asks, “Are you two done? I’d like to get the class started.”
I glare at Dalton, who has a grin on his face as he sits back in his chair with his feet stretched out in front of him so far that he’s invading my space.
After I close my eyes and take a deep breath to calm the fire building inside of me, I smile at Miss Hernandez. “Sorry, it won’t happen again.” For good measure, I kick his foot that’s next to mine in a silentsit your ass upmotion.
Miss Hernandez—who is a new teacher here and just graduated from college herself—laughs it off, probably remembering the days of having to sit in similar desks herself, and starts the class.
“Everyone, open your books to chapter one,” she says as she writesIntroduction to Economicsacross the whiteboard. “In this chapter, we’ll go over things like microeconomics, macroeconomics, and what the differences are, as well as the global economy and financial planning. I thought it would be interesting to start the class off with something local since it’s such a huge deal in Leighton River. Let’s talk about TimeLand, which falls in the technology and economics category.”
Eli—one of the TimeLand kids, who is sitting one row over from me and a few desks up—snaps his head up when she saysTimeLand. I’ve never seen him have such a reaction to the company his dad helped create. Is he finally seeing them for what they are—an addictive death trap?
I’ve always been one to interact in class, so I don’t hesitate when I say, “Technology is ruining our world.”
“Not with this again,” Dalton says with a huff behind me.
I don’t bother to turn around to address his comment before I continue, “Technology might make life easier for some, but our bodies are made to move. Sitting is becoming the new version of smoking because of the negative effects on our health.”
“Okay,” Miss Hernandez says. “So, you don’t think the technology to make milking cows easier has helped your ranch produce more?”
“Burn,” Dalton fake coughs into his hand, but I still pay him no attention.
“Actually, it’s caused some harm to the cows, and it ups the level of bacteria, so no. I wish it would go back to the old-school way of doing things.”
“Well then, let’s talk about the technology that has made getting your farm products easier to the people of Montana. I’m new to this area, but in my research, I learned that your ranch provides products pretty much all over Montana,” she states.
I want to say,We used to supply all over Montana, but I keep that to myself. Pops is a proud man, and it’s sad that no one in our community really knows just how much he’s had to cut back. Only the places he used to supply know, and that’s because there was no way of getting around not telling them.
