Page 45 of Between the Lines

“What?!”

“Oh, you haven’t heard?Weare nine-month-employees, soweshould ‘take our vacations during our summers off.’ Butheis atwelve-month-employee, so we’re not allowed to question the amount of time he’s out of office.”

“You’rejoking.”

Her wide smile is painted in overwhelming frustration as she says, “Welcome to the world of education,” and finishes her fruit.

In unison, all of our cell phonesdingand vibrate.

Aaron exclaims, “Easy cash, friends! Who wants to keep me company this season?!”

Lucy is already tapping away on her phone, and Penelope snorts and says, “In your dreams.”

“It fills up fast. Seriously, best idea Luce has had—aside from deciding that she wanted to spend forever with me.”

Penelope makes a gagging noise, Lucy rolls her eyes but then bats her lashes at her man, and I tap my phone to see what all the fuss is about.

An email readsWINTER ATHLETICS – GAME DAY ASSISTANCE NEEDED.

“What’s this?”

“A way for staff to earn extra cash, and for coaches to have to hound player parents less,” Aaron says as I open the spreadsheet. Since it’s a live document, I can see Lucy’s name filling in on all of the boys’ basketball slots.

“You’re technically an employee. You can sign up if you want to, Claire. It’s good money.”

“What would I have to do?”

“Depends. You could take admissions money, or work the clock at games. If you’re willing to travel, some sports need a season-long bookkeeper.”

I eye the list before me. Endless dates with after school hours blink like a wide open canvas.

If it’s for work, my parents don’t hound me as much.

If it’s for work, I have extra cash in my pockets, in my freedom fund.

If it’s for work, I have some of my freedomback.

“And if I don’t know how to work a basketball clock…”

“It’s super easy,” Lucy insists without looking up from her phone. “I learned in about five minutes. Actually, we have this really useful cheat sheet that we keep with the box now.”

Without even thinking, I’m typing my name onto every available slot that I can fill.

The adrenaline buzz I get, despite the fact that I’ll be doing this forwork, sizzles through me like a flame so hot that I don’t even consider how sad it is that this is what I have to do to get my freedom back.

twenty-one

claire

I shouldn’t be peelingat the crack in my manicure, but my anxiety is currently winning.

It’s Wednesday. Which means Mom has book club, and Zoey has cello. Which means I’musuallyon kid duty.

Except tonight, I’m not. Tonight, I’m in the middle school gym, waiting for a basketball game to start, where I’ll be running a clock or something. There’s a sheet of paper in the middle of the table in front of the score box. The directions are written in such perfectly blocked handwriting, I wonder if this was printed in some new font.

Mom gave me a guilt trip the second I asked if I could work late on Wednesday.

Maybe that was my problem. Maybe I shouldn’t haveasked.

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