Page 4 of The Perfect Steal

Todd Burke raised his hand. “What kinds of things are we talking about? A research paper for every due date?”

“No,” Mrs. Rhodes said. “You’ll be doing what the title of this class is all about: learning life skills. I’m hoping that by the end of this semester, you’ll have figured out a lot of the little skills we’ve already talked about, like time management, money management, and the ability to work under pressure.”

If only living with my parents could have counted, because I felt like the constant arguments caused enough pressure in my life.

“On this sheet, I’ve got your partners, and we’ll be going over that in a minute. I might as well tell you the first assignment so I don’t have to keep repeating it once you’ve been assigned. You’ll be researching housing as well as transportation based on the situation and salary I'll give you.”

“What kind of research?” Abbie Taylor asked from the back of the room.

“Some of you won’t be able to afford the kinds of houses you live in now. While others will have to find a way to get to work using something other than a car.”

Working with a partner was going to be a lot more work than I’d planned on. I just had to hope I got a capable partner who would be willing to work through whatever we needed to do and not make me struggle to do the entire assignment.

I glanced around the room, counting the number of students. There was an odd number, and the desk next to me was empty. Maybe she would let me do this by myself. I could do the “single gal” thing, if that’s what I needed to do. It would make doing the assignments a lot easier because I wouldn’t have to depend on anyone else.

Then again, if Mrs. Rhodes had a clipboard for the assignments, she wasn’t pairing us up with the person right next to us.

Letting my gaze drift around the classroom, I noted a few guys I could handle being partnered up with. Not that I’d done a whole lot of conversing with them in the past, but because they seemed to be on top of things and they’d participated enough during lectures.

The door opened, and all the attention turned to see who it was. A tall guy walked in, and at first, my insides jumped at the fact that he had to be around six feet tall. Guys taller than me were a rare commodity. But by the time my gaze got to his face, those hopes sank.

It was just Nate Everton.

He was one of those hot guys who had most of the school eating up every excuse and story like it had never happened before. And the scar he’d gotten last spring only added to that hotness. Ugh, my focus had to be on my grades and not on boys.

I’d only interacted with him a handful of times since all my friends were dating baseball boys. He had moments where I couldn’t stand him, but he had a few redeeming qualities. What they were, at the moment I couldn’t remember as my brain was still focused on the list Mrs. Rhodes would be reading off at any moment.

“How can I help you?” Mrs. Rhodes asked, adjusting her glasses.

Nate walked over and handed her a blue paper. “I just got moved into this class.”

Several seconds passed, and this was probably the quietest the classroom had ever been. Mrs. Rhodes read over whatever paper he’d given her and nodded. “Okay, welcome to class, Mr. Everton. You can take a seat back by Ms. Miller.”

She gestured to me, and as Nate came in my direction, he was really pale, not grinning from ear to ear about some mischief he’d managed. He slumped into the seat and dropped his backpack on top of the desk, turning his head to the side, facing me and resting it on top.

“Are you all right?” I asked, not sure if I should get close. Basketball tryouts were two days away, and while I wasn’t necessarily worried about being cut, I didn’t need to get sick right before they started. Running with a stuffy nose made it difficult to breathe and usually caused me to cough repeatedly.

Just don’t let me be paired up with him.I would be doing all the work if that were the case, and with basketball season set to begin this week, I didn’t have spare time to babysit him to get the assignment done. I already had to put up with his loudness and overconfidence when I hung out with my friends.

If I had to work with him, I was going to cry. Like, serious tears.

But looking at him now tugged on my chest. Being sick was the worst. “Can I get you something?”

“Ibuprofen?” he muttered softly.

That was something I did have. I pulled my travel-size bottle out and opened it, knocking two pills into my palm. “Here,” I said, placing them on the small open space of his desk.

He threw them into his mouth, swallowing without water.

How did he do that? People could do that?

Swallowing pills for me was an event I had to mentally prepare for.

“Do you have a cold, or the flu?” I just needed to prep myself for the symptoms.

“Stomach flu,” he said, lifting his head a few inches. “Did you not get sick from the food at Kate’s?”

For a second, I wondered when he would have eaten at Kate’s, and I glanced in her direction. She was dating Dax, and as nice as she was, she barely tolerated Nate. Then I remembered the dance on Saturday night.

---