Lunch Money Read Free

his dresser—four stacks, and each had been over a foot tall. Stacking up quarters like that always made Greg feel rich.
    So on that day in April of his fifth-grade year, Greg had started looking around the cafeteria, and everywhere he looked, he saw quarters. He saw kids trading quarters for ice-cream sandwiches and cupcakes and cookies at the dessert table. He saw kids over at the school store trading quarters for neon pens and sparkly pencils, and for little decorations like rubber soccer balls and plastic butterflies to stick onto the ends of those new pencils. He saw Albert Hobart drop three quarters into a machine so he could have a cold can of juice with his lunch. Kids were buying extra food, fancy pens andpencils, special drinks and snacks. There were quarters all over the place, buckets of them.
    And then Greg remembered those hands that had been raised back in his classroom, all those kids who’d had a couple of quarters to lend him— extra quarters.
    Excited, Greg had started making some calculations in his head—another one his talents. There were about 450 fourth, fifth, and sixth graders at Ashworth Intermediate School. If even half of those kids had two extra quarters to spend every day, then there had to be at least four hundred quarters floating around the school. That was a hundred dollars a day, over five hundred dollars each week—money, extra money, just jingling around in pockets and lunch bags!
    At that moment Greg’s view of school changed completely and forever. School had suddenly become the most interesting place on the planet. Because young Greg Kenton had decided that school would be an excellent place to make his fortune.

 
Chapter 3

THE PERFECT HAMMER
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    The very next day Greg had started selling candy and gum in the shadow of the sliding board during lunch recess—gum was ten cents a stick, and he sold tropical fruit Starbursts at three for a quarter.
    Sales were brisk, and Greg was making some money. But it was risky. Kids took the candy and gum into their classrooms, which was against school rules. And if one kid had turned him in, Greg would have found himself having a little chat with the principal, Mrs. Davenport.
    So Greg began to look around for other things he could sell. He thought about the ads on TV when he watched his favorite shows. What did they always try to sell to kids—besides candy and breakfast cereals? Simple: toys.
    Greg did some research on the Internet and quickly discovered dozens of companiesthat sold toys and souvenirs and gadgets at incredibly low prices.
    â€œYou need to do what ?”
    That’s what Greg’s mom had said when he told her he needed to borrow her credit card.
    And Greg had explained: “I need to buy some toys—not for me. They’re to sell to other kids. To make some money. This company has great stuff, and it’s real cheap, but I need to order with a credit card. I can pay you back with cash right away, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
    His mom was actually worried about something else. She thought Greg spent too much time thinking about making money. Just a few days before, she had asked her husband, “Is it something we’ve done, to make Greg like this? All he ever thinks about is getting rich. I want him to just enjoy being a kid, hang out with his friends more, have more fun.” But her husband had told her, “As far as I can see, Greg’s definitely a kid. He likes to read and draw, he plays sports, and he gets good grades. I’d say he’s pretty well balanced. And he seems to be having plenty of fun. This money thing is probably just a phase. Besides, there’s nothingwrong with wanting to make money. Or working hard. If that’s what you call a problem, then I wish some other people in this family had it too!”

    So his mom had used her credit card to help Greg place an order with the NicNac Novelty Company. He ordered