Page 54 of I Don't Need Your Protection
“Stuffed animals arenotjust dolls! Every kid loves to have a furry friend. They’re soft and cuddly, and they can make you feel better after a bad day.”
“You still have yours, don’t you?”
I raise my chin. “Yes, I do. Her name is Ellie the Elephant and she is currently sitting on my pillow.”
For a second, I assume he’ll tease me. But he gets this huge grin on his face and says, “That’s actually really cute.”
“It is?”
“Yeah. I can see you snuggling up with a cute stuffed animal. It’s cute.”
My face gets warm again. “Thanks. But let’s make our stuffed animals more fun. How about…people send us their kid’s drawing of an animal, right? And we make it come to life through a stuffed animal! And we can have them personalize it by adding a special message or a card, or maybe we can even have the plushie say something when you squeeze its paw.”
Warner rubs his chin. “You know…yeah, that sounds like a good idea. It’s always smart to tap into the children’s market. Parents will love surprising their kids with a friend they imagined all on their own. We can definitely appeal to the emotions of parents.”
“Okay, cool.” I start writing down the idea. “I already havesome ideas for fun marketing videos, but we’re not holding there yet. We need to come up with a name for our business.”
“Addie and Warner’s Toys,” he says with a large smile.
I raise a brow. “That was very original.”
“It suits us, though.”
I shake my head. “I want something more special…something that will make our product pop…”
“My Favorite Furry Friend?”
I twist my nose. “No, I don’t think that’s special enough. Ugh, I’m so bad at this.”
“Me, too.”
We sit in silence as we wrack our brains. I know this is just an assignment, but I really like this idea and want to choose the perfect name. It would be cool if I somehow end up creating this product for real.
I sit forward. “How about Your Dream Plushie?”
He contemplates it. “Hmm…yeah, I like it.”
“Cool.” I fill out the name of our business and our product on the assignment sheet. “The next step is to find investors. Ugh, do we really have to go around town presenting our product to real people who will invest fake money? It’ll be so embarrassing.”
He shrugs. “They’re used to it. Powell does this every year.”
“So we’ll meet after school tomorrow and spend the whole afternoon bothering people?”
That makes him laugh. “Sounds like a fun way to hang out. We’d better get a good grade on this.”
“Are you not confident in our stuffed friends?” I ask as Iget up and start putting away my things.
“I’m confident in you.”
I nervously tuck some hair behind my ear. “Thanks. I’m confident in you, too.”
He winks. “We make an awesome team, don’t we?”
I beam. “I think so.”
He steps forward and hugs me. “Thanks for agreeing to be my partner. Can I text you later?”
My whole body lights up. “Sure!”
