The Arrangement

Prologue Pt. 1

April 22, 2011

I groan as I feel the migraine already forming in my head before entering class. It's not all bad though, it'll be my last time here. Thank, God.

"I'm handing out cards, if I give you the wrong one, please hand it back." The teacher says with a hint of glee in her tone. It could be because she likes to see us miserable give us work on our last day.

Mrs. Donovan, the teacher, waves her hand in the air and asks if anyone didn't get a card and I raise my hand with two other girls.

"Sorry, girls. I don't seem to have your cards." Mrs. Donovan says and writes down something on a sticky note. "Here," she gives us all a pass to different classes. "Check with these teachers to see if they have your cards, if they don't just come back here and we'll figure something out."

We all leave the classroom and look at our sticky notes.

"Ugh, I got Russo." Says one of the girls to my left and my eyes light up. Parker's in Mr. Russo's class.

"I'll trade with you if you want. I got Hornsby." I tell the dark-haired girl. I had no idea what her name was, which was pretty sad but not that sad, I don't even know our principal's name.

Once we traded cards we went our separate ways. I knocked twice on Mr. Russo's door before somebody opened it. Mr. Russo was in the front of the room, lecturing I suppose, before he turned to me and asked what I needed. So I explained to him and he gave me a card with my name on it and told me to take a seat.

I went to the back where I saw Parker.

"Skipping class just to see me?" Parker says with his creepy smile. He does that a lot.

"Shut up." I rolled my eyes. "What're we doing anyways?" I ask. Parker juts his chin to the front where Mr. Russo continues talking.

"When you read these cards you'll probably be confused, so before you ask any questions let me explain. Since it's the last day for you seniors, well, most of you, we're going to look at your career choices transitioning from freshmen year to senior year. I'll also be passing back an internship list if any of you are interested."

I open my card and read what was written in terrible writing. Terrible writing which I still have to this day.

After high school, I plan on going to a great college, like, Harvard or something. I want to be a writer. Or a film director. Or a party planner, is that a job? I'm not sure what I want to be yet but I guess I'll find out later. Maybe I'll do it all.

"Well you were quite the eager beaver back in the day, weren't you?" Parker says leaning over my card yank it out of his sight.

"And what about you?" I lower my chin to read his card. "Mister "Anything That Pays Well"?" I laugh at him. Four years and nothing's changed with him. Not that I'm any different. I'm still clueless as to what I want to pursue.

"What?" He shrugs. "It's the truth." He says before putting the internship sheet in the middle for us both to read.

"Boring, boring, bor- very boring," Parker says before I snatch the paper from him.

"Hugo House? I've heard of that." I mumble to myself and sign my name down for the internship.

"You still want to write? I haven't seen you read a book since sophomore year." Parker says with an eyebrow lifted.

"I read, a lot, actually. You're just too busy staring at boobs to notice." I say bluntly.

"I- what- no I'm not--" Parker starts to defend himself.