The Penny Problem

Chapter 3

I'm rather busy this weekend, so sadly I won't get many chapters up :( But enjoy what I have so far! =)

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"Alice?" Devi asked.

"Hey, you guys see that penny story?" Val said, meeting up with us.

I didn't answer. I was in the middle of my life flashing before my eyes.

"Alice...Aaaa-liiiiice.....ALICE!" Devi and Val finally shouted, taking me out of my 10th birthday.

"What?" I said.

"What? WHAT!?! You know that-"I clasped my hand over her shouting pie hole so people wouldn't stare, but it was too late.

"What's going on? What's happening?" Val asked.

"Val,  we're in New York! How amazing is that? And we're about to see the 2Day show, too." I began wrapping my scarf around Devi's mouth.

"Alice, what are you doing?" Val asked again.

"You know, I think I left my camera on the bus! Let's go get it real quick!" I finished before dragging them off. I jogged to the van, tapped on the door, and rushed to the very last seat.

"ALICE, YOU KNOW ARE LIVES ARE DONE FOR AND--" I replaced the scarf.

"Hold her hands back please." I told Val.

"Oh, anything to get her back from this morning!" she answered, happily tying another scarf around her hands.

"MMMM! MHUHEHMNEH--"

"Listen to me,"

"MHUHMHMEHM--"

"Quiet..."

"mhmhmHUMHhuhmhm--"

"Shh." Devi stayed silent. "We both know I did it. But no one else knows, so shut your over sized mouth up. You hear me?" I said in a motherly tone of voice.

"Who did what? I still don't know what's going on." Val said. I gave her the quick explanation of the penny problem. I could tell she was about to yell, so I said,"You yell right now and I will rip your skirt for real this time, okay?" She whimpered, then slowly nodded. I turned to Devi. "Alright. I'm gonna take the scarf off now." I said in a motherly tone of voice. I slowly untied the scarf, and pulled it back. "Huh! It actually worked on you for onc--"

"ALICE! I HATE YOU SO MUCH RIGHT NOwmhmhmhmHHUHMHHEMH!" Back on with the scarf.

"Hello, Alice in Wonderland."

I turned around to see Max and his "posse" standing in the isleway. With one head nod, they all took surrounding seats.

"What do you want, Max." I asked in a annoyed tone. I really didn't want to deal with him right now.

"I'll cut to the chase. We both know you dropped the penny that hit Ryleigh-May Corda."

Oh crap. I forgot about them.

Max continued, "And we both know that she'll do whatever it takes to find out who did it."

I brought out my poker face, showing no emotion.

"We also know she would adore the person, or personS, who turned the culprit in." With that last statement, a couple of the boys snickered. I shot death glares, and the fun stopped cold.

"Maybe you didn't hear me." I stood up and crossed my arms.  "I said, what do you want. We all know what happened, Captain Obvious." I stated with an eye roll.

"MO AHLIH!" Devi mumbled from behind her scarf. Val was in shock and as stayed quiet as a mouse.

Max continued with his speech. "Nothing much...just $500, homework done for the rest of the year, and the new game, Street Slicers." he said, standing up to face me.

"$50, only Algebra homework. You'll get Street Slicers on the BSi version only. Not on Vii or Zbox." I bargained.

"200$, Algerbra AND Science, Street Slicers on Vii." He argued back. There was no way I could pay for all this with MY allowance.

"$100, Algebra & Science, Street Slicers on BSi. That's all I'm doing." That's all I could do.

Max twisted his mouth into a worried look, then turned around to his friends demanding a huddle.

"Hoooinu-" I folded down Devi's scarf real quick. "You think you can win this? And I still CAN'T BELIEVE--" I pulled the scarf up, muffling her words.

"I got this in the bag." I whispered to them. Hopefully, it was true.

"You do realize we could be getting much more than you're offering if we turned you in." Max had decided to bring out the big gun.

"And you do realize a boy would be a more likely culprit that a innocent girl. You'd look pretty bad if you blamed me." I brought the tank that time.

"Please, you don't look innocent!" Ty said from behind.

"More innocent than you." I shot back. An uneasy silence filled the bus.

"Fine, deal." Max said, holding out his hand. I shook it, not letting my guard down. "And maybe you'd like to throw in a little something on here?" Max tapped his lips.

"Yeah, I can throw a punch," I held my fist out ready to strike.Max jumped backwards into his sea of surrounding friends. Me and Devi laughed our butts off.  Max and his friends settled down into their seats, for people had started filing onto the buses. Devi finally calmed down enough so I could take her scarves off, and Val began coming back to reality. While Devi whisper-yelled on how much trouble we were in, I zoned out. I was thinking about the deal I made, and whether it was a good one or not. I knew it would take time to get the money, and the homework was a lot too. Not to mention the game, which is another 25 bucks. When I was laying down in the hotel bed for the last time, I was just hoping the whole thing could blow over and life could be a candy colored meadow again.

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Grazie,

BRI=)