Constant

Chapter 3

The pile of pamphlets covered the coffee table, and Mom shuffled through them all. The business fair seemed to have been rewarding because Mom was in a good mood.

"I think I'm gonna look into this insurance thing... or maybe this essential oil business," she said, holding up two pamphlets. "What do you think? Could I sell insurance?" I thought about what Bethany had said about everything being a scam, I didn't know what exactly she had meant by that. These pamphlets actually looked legit. Maybe Bethany was wrong, and I had just gotten the wrong impression when going in there. I was a skeptic by nature.

"I don't know," I replied. "Maybe oils are easier? Insurance sounds complicated."

"Yeah, maybe you're right," she said, looking at the pamphlet from Lumenoil.

"Are you thinking of quitting SaveTown?" I asked. She shook her head.

"The whole idea is that I can do this on my time off," she said. "I could do both. God knows I have the time."

I nodded. "That sounds like a good idea," I said. "The more sources of income we have, the better. It might even let us buy a new couch."

Mom laughed. "You think we need a new one?" she teased, knowing that I hated our stained and broken couch that we'd had since forever. We had covered it with a less appalling blanket. We didn't spend money unless we needed to, and the couch served its purpose for now.

"You know what?" she said, collecting all the pamphlets and papers on the table. "I think I'm going with Lumenoil. It just feels right. Also, it rolls off the tongue. Lum-en-oil. I'm gonna call the representative right away."

She bounced off the couch and walked to her bedroom, closing the door behind her. I sighed. This could, indeed, be a very good thing. We'd never had two sources of income before. There was a first time for everything, and this time it might mean we were staying... at least for a little bit.

There were boxes everywhere, labeled with different essential oils, incense, and incense burners. I gaped at the scene as Mom went through the boxes. I hadn't expected this.

"You'll take a few of these oils with you to school," she said. "Peppermint is apparently great for studies as it aids concentration. I bet you could sell a few to your classmates."

"Mom," I said. "I don't have friends, and I don't think I wanna be the weird girl selling oils... besides, I thought this was going to be your thing, not mine. I have school to focus on."

"I know, sweetie, but I figured it wouldn't hurt if you sold a few at school," she said. "You can at least try, right? If no one buys, then fine, at least we tried. We're in this together, aren't we?" She smiled softly at me, but I could sense the desperation in her voice. She didn't want me to have the burden of making money for us, but I also knew that this was the first time she had ever asked me to help out. Mom had always told me to prioritize school and nothing else, so maybe I could try this one thing, right? What was the harm? As she said, if it didn't work out, I could just... not.

I sighed, hating how she could make me agree to anything—like moving a millionth time.

"Fine, but I won't promise anything."

"Thank you, sweetie," she said. "I really have a good feeling about this. This is it." I'd heard that one before, but I didn't want to burst her bubble. This was the first time she had two jobs, and maybe she was right. Being a little optimistic for once wouldn't hurt me. God only knew I had enough pessimism in my body to last a lifetime or two.

I watched the students roam the hallway, using my prejudices to judge who would buy essential oils to help them study. The genius ones wouldn't because they would be too smart to fall for it, and the slackers wouldn't care either way. I decided to just pick someone and go for broke. What was the worst thing that could happen? If I made a complete fool out of myself, I could probably convince Mom to move again.

I approached a blonde girl with slumped shoulders. It looked like she was trying to hide from everyone. I could recognize myself in her.

"Hi," I said, my mouth going dry. My tongue felt like a lump of unmovable meat. This really wasn't my thing. She jumped in surprise, looking at me in confusion.

"Oh, you're the new girl," she concluded.

"Yeah, I was just wondering if you wanted to buy some essential oils," I asked. "I have some peppermint oil that will help with concentration, like, when you're studying... not that you might need it, you might be super-smart, but still, we can all gain from some help sometimes, you know?" I couldn't believe the words that were coming out of my mouth—and for the looks of it, she didn't either. Her face contorted into disbelief, and something akin to anger.

Before I could figure out some other sales tactic, someone shoved me into the locker behind me. I got distracted by pain and the sound of the clattering of broken bottles in my bag. The smell grew overwhelming almost immediately. I held back a gag.

"Stay away from my little sister with your shit," someone shouted in my face. I shrunk and met the eyes of my attacker. Semi-sharp jaw, you could still see a little baby fat on his face, and a straight nose that had just the hint of a bump on the bridge. His eyes were blue and narrowed, his dark eyebrows drawn together. He would probably be beautiful if he smiled, but right now, he was as far away from smiling as you could come. It took me a second to recognize him this up close—it was Ben, the guy who was lucky enough to win the maze.

"I was just talking," I croaked.

Ben rolled his eyes. "Puh-lease," he said, "you're not the first, and sadly not the last, who tries dumping that oil shit on people. A word of advice: get a real damn job. Or are you stupid or something?"

When I finally collected myself, I narrowed my eyes, stood a little taller, and shook my head slowly. If he thought I was afraid of him, he had another thing coming.

"You don't know me, you know nothing about me, so don't think for a second that you can insult me like that," I snapped.

He snorted. "As if I care, new girl. If I catch you selling that crap to anyone ever again, I promise you that you'll be sorry. Got it?"

I huffed and rolled my eyes. Was I supposed to fear this guy?

"Got it?" he said again, voice hard.

"Yeah, I got it, geez," I replied. "Thanks for ruining my bag, by the way."

He tilted his head slightly to the side, smirking.

"Maybe your fantastic oils can heal it," he said, doing jazz-hands as if making a magic trick. I ignored him and pushed past them. I needed to go to the bathroom and see if I could salvage anything from the bag.