Kiss & Sell Read Free Page B

thinking you’re worth kissing and the kisses will come.”
    “I guess,” I said, surprised to hear this come out of his mouth. “Since when are you all smart and stuff?”
    “Gee, thanks,” Phin answered sarcastically.
    “I just mean that, well, that was sort of profound.”
    “I’m sneaky like that,” Phin said winking at me. “You two don’t know
everything
about me. I’ve got plenty of surprises up my sleeves.”
    I was about to ask him exactly what he’d been keeping from us, when we were interrupted by a voice behind us.
    “Wow! you’re seriously selling a kiss on the internet?” a girl said loudly enough for anyone within earshot to hear. I recognized her from fifth period geometry, but for the life of me, I couldn’t remember her name. Not that I felt all that bad…it
Was
only the second day of school after all. And I’d never really had a great memory.
    “Uh, yeah, sort of,” I said slowly.
    “Huh. That’s funny. Never would have pegged you to be the type,” she said.
    Wait, I’d only talked to this girl for about five seconds, and she already knew what “Type” I was? I guess first impressions really
Were
important. Did my plaid skirt and pink tank really scream, “I wouldn’t sell my kiss on eBay?”
    Before I had a chance to ask her this, McCartney had already jumped to my defense. “What does
that
mean?” she challenged.
    The blond flinched as if McCartney had just hissed at her like a pissed off cat. I appreciated that McCartney had my back, but the girl needed to retract the claws just a little. I placed my hand lightly on her arm, and tried to smile at the new girl, whose own grin had faded away fast.
    “Nothing. Just, you know, it’s a pretty bold move,” she answered, obviously intimidated by McCartney. “Don’t get me wrong, I think It’s cool. Er, let me know how it goes.”
    Then we watched as the girl practically ran out of the room.
    “Well, that wasn’t awkward at all,” I said, turning to McCartney. “And if you’re there to threaten everyone who brings up the subject, then I won’t have anything to worry about.”
    McCartney ignored me as she turned back to the computer screen. “Forget her,” she said, typing away at the keys furiously. “We’ve seriously got to do something about this whole ‘no one knowing about your auction’ thing.”
    “What are you gonna do, McCartney?” I asked nervously.
    She hit a few more buttons, then announced triumphantly, “There! All done. People are
definitely
going to know about it now, which means you’re that much closer to getting that kiss.”
    I looked at her, a sinking feeling growing in my stomach.
    “I just sent the link to everyone in school,” McCartney said nonchalantly, and got up to leave.
    Frozen in place and now staring at a blank computer screen, I tried to process what she’d said. When I finally snapped out of it, I had to run to catch up to them.
    “But,” I sputtered. “The
entire
school? Was that really necessary? I mean, you could’ve just sent it to all the guys, because as you know, my first kiss isn’t going to be with a girl…you didn’t have to send it to everyone.”
    “Yeah, but some of those
girls
have other
guy
friends, or brothers or whatever,” said Phin. “It’s like networking.”
    “But now everyone’s going to be all up in my business,” I said, fidgeting uncomfortably.
    “That’s what you want,” McCartney said. “The more people who know about it, the better chance you have of finding a totally kissable bidder!”
    If I’d been worried about people staring at me before, I had a feeling I was about to be in for a strange couple of weeks.

    By lunchtime pretty much everyone knew about my eBay posting. Walking down the hall to the caf was excruciating. I tried to pretend that I didn’t notice the whispers and giggles as I walked up to the table we’d designated as ours. Collapsing into an open chair, I set my bag down on the table and then lay my head on