Series: Like Us Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 241
Estimated words: 236417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1182(@200wpm)___ 946(@250wpm)___ 788(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 236417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1182(@200wpm)___ 946(@250wpm)___ 788(@300wpm)
I hate them.
I almost grab Frog’s water bottle and chuck it myself.
But is that considered assault? Would I be expelled? These thoughts pile onto me as I take out my phone. Maybe I can look up the lizard video. If I performed the dance from The OA, it had to have been epic. My phone buzzes in my hand before I can even pop-up YouTube.
It’s a text in a new group chat called The Fizzle Five.
UNCLE STOKES
You each need to come up with a new product or a marketing strategy for an existing product to present to the board as your final presentation. I’ve also emailed a list of events you’ll need to attend beforehand.
I take a deep breath. Uncle Stokes referred to this as an “extracurricular” that won’t conflict with any of our classes or schoolwork, but it’s going to be more of a thorn than I thought. As several more students trickle into the class, I open my email and see the list that he was talking about.
Mock Q&A Panel
Mini Marketing Campaign Tour (will schedule this when Xander has off a week)
MLB x Fizzle Collab
Fizz Gala
Final Presentations
I can just hear my dad seething with an “I told you so” ready to launch off his tongue. Coming home from the lake house, Xander and I had a longer discussion with our parents about auditioning for future CEO, and Mom and Dad were not too enthused. That was to be expected after what I overheard in the boathouse, but they were mostly warning us about the workload.
“You’re both young. Be young,” our dad said. “Don’t take this shit on. No one is forcing you to.”
I think Mom liked the idea when we pitched it as a bonding experience with each other and our cousins. She even elbowed Dad every time I mentioned Ben, like Ben and Xander will magically form a friendship through soda bubbles and PowerPoints.
I can’t say what will happen, but I didn’t expect a full blown campaign tour to be a part of the competition. The bright spot: Donnelly will be there because Xander has to be.
I’m about to put my phone away when it buzzes. Speaking of my boyfriend.
DONNELLY
Dalton Academy is always out of paper towels. What up with that? Paper towel thief here??
I smooth my lips together, a smile hurting my face. I’m glad Donnelly is watching over my brother at school. It’s Xander’s last year. He’s stressed about college applications. He’s stressed about this Fizzle competition. He’s stressed about prom.
It’s a high-stress time for him, and Donnelly’s unconsciously good at alleviating that kind of stress.
I text back:
Boys’ bathroom is definitely lacking the good stuff. Maybe the paper towel thief is giving them away to the birds.
He’s quick to reply.
DONNELLY
BRB going to investigate some baby bird nests
I smile so big that I jolt when I hear my name.
“Miss Hale,” a man says sternly from behind me. “My class has a no texting policy.”
Uhhhh…I’m a blazing ball of fire. Totally and utterly called out.
Swiveling in my chair, I peer back at the professor. Wow, he’s not old. I have no clue why I thought he’d be a gray-haired, spectacle-wearing wise professor, but he is neither gray nor sporting glasses. He must be in his early-thirties, and his hair is dishwater-blond, the color of a tawny broom.
The narrow of his eyes is more intense without being behind lenses.
Still, I don’t look away. He’s dressed in a greenish-blue Boglioli plaid sport coat with a navy turtleneck underneath. I’m not Charlie though—I don’t usually know the brand and price of men’s fashion. But I happen to know that coat costs two grand since Eliot had been eyeing it all winter. He’d been asking Tom and me if he should splurge. Normally, I don’t think Eliot would blink at the price, but being out of work these days has made him hesitate on some big purchases.
Inference Number One: Professor Wyatt Rochester has money—possibly more money than just a professor’s salary.
Inference Number Two: By the way my professor is glaring at me, I suspect he hates my family.
Inference Number Three: He’s one of those people who’ve seen the Hales in the tabloids and on entertainment news, and he’s decided we all suck.
“Phone. Away,” he snaps like I’m dense. He’s giving Miss Trunchbull energy from Matilda, and I half expect him to send me to the Chokey or force me to eat chocolate cake until I puke. But he’s already striding towards the whiteboard.
“Sorry,” I mutter and quickly shove my cell phone in my bookbag.
Quinn’s body radiates visceral heat beside me. I’m glad my negative feelings towards my professor aren’t unwarranted.
The other students have sufficiently been terrified into silence. Even Jeffra doesn’t give me a single glance. Her MacBook Pro is opened, and her hands hover over the keyboard in rapt attention. If this is Professor Rochester’s first-day tactic to put the fear into his pupils, it’s working. I’m just the ill-fated insect he had to step on in the process.