Profitable

Chapter 2

"What do you think?" I ask Brandon, who studies the page of the diary so intently that it's hard to believe he's actually reading it.

"I think the writer has nice handwriting," he offers sheepishly. "Other than that, what do you want me to say about it?"

I give an exasperated groan. "Don't you remember all the rumors about her? She claimed to be able to do things that are impossible! And besides, why did a dead girl's diary wash up here?"

"She did live here," Brandon points out. "I think it's a fake. Someone wanted money for this thing, and they probably just lost it. If you read anything from it, you'll probably just be reading a load of bullshit."

He throws the diary back into my hands. I glance at the page before shutting it and locking it with the key, sliding it back between the front cover and the front page. "What do I do with it, then?"

"Is someone going to help me or not?" Janet Freeman, an impatient girl that never seems to stop talking, hisses from beside the register. I watch, unimpressed, as she twirls her hair around her finger and demands, "Adam, where's your brother been? I haven't been able to find him."

"Is he in hiding?" Brandon mutters. I laugh and throw the journal onto the seat of a chair behind the counter. Janet and Al had a lasting relationship (to everyone's astonishment) before he broke it off because, no surprise, she's irritating.

"He's probably trying to get a job at the antique store," I respond.

"That dump? I told him he should've tried harder in school, got into some college, and gotten a real job." Janet tosses her hair over her shoulder, her eyes narrowed.

"We don't exactly have the money to send him to some college," I say bluntly, pulling her items toward me and scanning them.

"Besides, you know Al. He'd skip all his classes just because the professor wouldn't notice his absence," Brandon chimes in. "And who are you to talk about going to college? I don't believe you're a scholar."

"N-no," Janet stammered, looking taken aback and embarrassed in the same instant. "I'm just, you know, taking care of my grandmother in her house. It's nice of me to do, don't you think?"

Letting out a snort, Brandon opens his mouth to remark, but I stop him with a fierce glance. "Seems fair to me," I reply, attempting to end any conversation on Al's future. He's pretty much accepted living with Dad for his whole life, even though Dad will never let that happen.

"And what about you, Adam? Are you going to college? You're smart, right? And Brandon, you... might be able to succeed, if you bluff your way through your application, and only send it to, I don't know... a community college."

"We still don't have the money," I start, laughing a bit, but my voice is drowned out by Brandon's exclamation of "Excuse me?"

"You aren't really that smart, Brandon. I've been in the same class as you before."

"Yeah, in preschool," Brandon hisses, seething. "Look, babe, you're not that smart either! No one wants someone as annoying as you in their college anyway!" His words are so venomous that I can just about taste it. I expect Janet to look overwhelmed, but she just folds her arms.

"Do you really think I care what you think?" she retorts, faking a yawn. He slams his fist on the counter, obviously irritated that she's waving away his comments like flies and that he's not able to do the same thing.

"Obviously, you do, otherwise you wouldn't be talking to me," he shoots back. That's not necessarily true when it comes to Janet; she'll reprimand someone just to hear the words come out of her mouth. But I don't try to correct him, I just bag whatever she bought and take her money off the counter.