saving my essay.
Elinor opened the door. Beside her was a girl I’d seen a couple of times on the farm. One of the interns? I hit print and waited for someone to start speaking. They crowded in, Elinor slightly in front.
“This is Avery Kennar,” Elinor said. “She just started interning here last week.”
“You actually do schoolwork?” Avery asked me, craning her neck to peer at my printer.
I collected the papers and stapled them, then slipped the report into my English notebook and slid that into my messenger bag. “Of course. What did you think?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “That maybe you had people do it for you. I saw that in a movie once. This girl paid five different really smart kids to do her homework and write her papers.” Her hand flew to her mouth. “Not that you aren’t smart. That’s not what I meant.”
“Yes, I actually do my homework and write my own papers,” I said. Weirdo .
Elinor was just standing there staring at me. Her hair was even poufier than it had been the day before, probably because it was one of those overcast, humid days when it felt a lot hotter than it really was. She wore plaid Bermuda shorts and a navy blue T-shirt—with, for some reason, a shiny dark gray vest and scuffed white sneakers with weird sporty swirls on them. There were dark red pom-poms peeking out of the sneakers.
Elinor cleared her throat. “We have a proposition for you, Madeline. You said you needed over three hundred dollars. Between the two of us, we have three hundred and fifty dollars. We want to pay you to help us change our images.”
The girl did not give up! Were they seriously going to pay me three hundred and fifty bucks to tell Fergie and Caro to take their names out of the running? That was crazy. “I told you I can’t—”
“No,” Elinor interrupted, adjusting her purple plastic glasses on her nose. “This isn’t a bribe. We want you to teach us, like a class, how to get less unpopular. Show us how to change. We want you to change us from the inside out.”
“The inside out?” I repeated. “How am I supposed to do that?”
“The same way you did it,” Elinor said. “You learned the secrets. Now teach us.”
“Um, if I can say something?” Avery cut in. “Madeline clearly started out with an advantage: she’s very pretty. I’m not exactly ever going to win Most Beautiful.” But she wasn’t ugly. Or even plain. She was actually almost cute. She had straight shoulder-length brown hair and wore khaki capris and a pink tank top and perfectly fine sandals.
“But she could show you how to look as good as you can,” Elinor said. “That’s what Madeline knows; that’s what she’s always understood. And she can teach us much, much more,” she went on. “As I talked about while we were washing the milking tubes, getting off the list takes more than just a new look.”
What had Elinor promised this Avery chick? “I’m not a teacher,” I said, turning a glare on Elinor. “And I’m not running a Learning Annex class.”
“Please?” Elinor said, folding her hands together in front of her. “I really, really need this. I really need to change. God, I just want to be … normal.”
I looked at their hopeful faces as they waited for me to say yes. I stared at Avery. She didn’t need much help. A little makeup, some trendier clothes. She had the basics.
“I just moved here from Massachusetts and it’s like I’m totally invisible,” Avery said. “I look like everyone else, just like I did in my last school, and I wasn’t exactly Miss Popularity there, either. I want to stand out. And I have no idea how. I’ve tried talking to people, but they ignore me. I overheard Sam Fray say he was interning at a dairy farm, so I signed up for it too. I figured the proximity to a popular guy would help. Like maybe I could get to be friends with him and then he’d sort of introduce me to his friends.”
“Has it worked?” I asked her.
She shook her
Elinor opened the door. Beside her was a girl I’d seen a couple of times on the farm. One of the interns? I hit print and waited for someone to start speaking. They crowded in, Elinor slightly in front.
“This is Avery Kennar,” Elinor said. “She just started interning here last week.”
“You actually do schoolwork?” Avery asked me, craning her neck to peer at my printer.
I collected the papers and stapled them, then slipped the report into my English notebook and slid that into my messenger bag. “Of course. What did you think?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “That maybe you had people do it for you. I saw that in a movie once. This girl paid five different really smart kids to do her homework and write her papers.” Her hand flew to her mouth. “Not that you aren’t smart. That’s not what I meant.”
“Yes, I actually do my homework and write my own papers,” I said. Weirdo .
Elinor was just standing there staring at me. Her hair was even poufier than it had been the day before, probably because it was one of those overcast, humid days when it felt a lot hotter than it really was. She wore plaid Bermuda shorts and a navy blue T-shirt—with, for some reason, a shiny dark gray vest and scuffed white sneakers with weird sporty swirls on them. There were dark red pom-poms peeking out of the sneakers.
Elinor cleared her throat. “We have a proposition for you, Madeline. You said you needed over three hundred dollars. Between the two of us, we have three hundred and fifty dollars. We want to pay you to help us change our images.”
The girl did not give up! Were they seriously going to pay me three hundred and fifty bucks to tell Fergie and Caro to take their names out of the running? That was crazy. “I told you I can’t—”
“No,” Elinor interrupted, adjusting her purple plastic glasses on her nose. “This isn’t a bribe. We want you to teach us, like a class, how to get less unpopular. Show us how to change. We want you to change us from the inside out.”
“The inside out?” I repeated. “How am I supposed to do that?”
“The same way you did it,” Elinor said. “You learned the secrets. Now teach us.”
“Um, if I can say something?” Avery cut in. “Madeline clearly started out with an advantage: she’s very pretty. I’m not exactly ever going to win Most Beautiful.” But she wasn’t ugly. Or even plain. She was actually almost cute. She had straight shoulder-length brown hair and wore khaki capris and a pink tank top and perfectly fine sandals.
“But she could show you how to look as good as you can,” Elinor said. “That’s what Madeline knows; that’s what she’s always understood. And she can teach us much, much more,” she went on. “As I talked about while we were washing the milking tubes, getting off the list takes more than just a new look.”
What had Elinor promised this Avery chick? “I’m not a teacher,” I said, turning a glare on Elinor. “And I’m not running a Learning Annex class.”
“Please?” Elinor said, folding her hands together in front of her. “I really, really need this. I really need to change. God, I just want to be … normal.”
I looked at their hopeful faces as they waited for me to say yes. I stared at Avery. She didn’t need much help. A little makeup, some trendier clothes. She had the basics.
“I just moved here from Massachusetts and it’s like I’m totally invisible,” Avery said. “I look like everyone else, just like I did in my last school, and I wasn’t exactly Miss Popularity there, either. I want to stand out. And I have no idea how. I’ve tried talking to people, but they ignore me. I overheard Sam Fray say he was interning at a dairy farm, so I signed up for it too. I figured the proximity to a popular guy would help. Like maybe I could get to be friends with him and then he’d sort of introduce me to his friends.”
“Has it worked?” I asked her.
She shook her
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