Free V is for Virgin by Kelly Oram

middle of the gazillion black bracelets already riding up her arm.
    “Thanks!” I called as she walked away, then I turned my giddy smile on my best friend. “Can you believe this?” I asked Cara and handed her the five bucks. I’d put her in charge of the money.
    “Honestly? I’m still hung up on Lacy and Devon signing up for the abstinence challenge.”
    “I know, right?” I turned behind me to grab some more Not Everybody’s Doing It pamphlets and a bracelet to replace the one Cindy bought. “I thought I might sell like one or two but—OW!”
    I spun around to see why Cara had elbowed me, and found myself caught in Isaac Warren’s smile. “How’s it going, Virgin Val?”
    It took me a moment to untangle my tongue from itself, and even then I could only manage a single word. “Great!”
    “Success then?”
    “Oh.” I blushed. “Well, you know. We’ve had three times as many kids laugh at us than buy something, but still. I can’t believe people are wanting them at all.”
    “Why not?”
    “Because people have been making fun of me nonstop since the whole Virgin Val thing started. I didn’t think anyone would listen to me, much less support me. There’s the people on YouTube, but that’s anonymous.”
    Isaac shrugged. “Yeah, but it’s different now because not only did you not let the teasing get to you, but you’re doing something about it. It’s like you said, someone just had to set the example. You’re making people brave.”
    “Thanks,” I said shyly. “I still didn’t expect I’d get much of a response today. I honestly figured I’d be able to count the number of pieces I sold on a single hand, but I’ve sold close to forty so far.”
    “That many!” Isaac was shocked by the number, but quickly recovered from it and burst into laughter. “I wouldn’t have guessed there were that many virgins left in our school.”
    “There may not be.” I laughed, handing Isaac the flyer I’d made advertising the abstinence challenge. “We’ve sold as many A pieces as we have V’s.”
    “The abstinence challenge?” Isaac asked with a smile that made me blush again. Thankfully he didn’t notice it because he was actually reading the challenge.
    I couldn’t quite hide the embarrassment in my tone when I replied. “You made a very valid argument that day. I couldn’t just leave all the fun to the virgins after that, could I?”
    Instead of putting the flyer back down on the stack, Isaac folded it and slipped it into his back pocket—drawing both Cara’s attention and mine to his jeans, and the way they were so nicely worn from riding his motorcycle. When I managed to drag my eyes back to his face he was watching me with that intense stare he’d given me before. “Nicely done,” he told me. “An abstinence challenge is a great idea.”
    “Yeah, it is,” Cara spoke up. I’m surprised she hadn’t interrupted us sooner. “And Lacy and Devon actually signed up for it!”
    Cara just could not get over that.
    Isaac’s smile turned very knowing as he asked, “Did they?”
    Cara must have noticed Isaac’s look too because she went, “Hey, wait a minute. Isn’t Devon on the baseball team with you?”
    Isaac winked at her then, and I’m pretty sure it gave her a heart attack.
    “So what’d you have to bribe him with?” I managed to tease when Isaac looked at me again.
    “I never said a word to Devon,” he replied innocently. Too innocently. “Must have been your excellent skills of persuasion.”
    I willed myself to play it cool and with a deep breath said, “I have excellent persuasion skills, huh?” I picked out an A keychain that I’d sort of made just for him. “So are my persuasion skills convincing you to sport a Virgin Val original?”
    Isaac pretended to think about it for a moment but the corners of his mouth curved up into a smile. “No,” he said dropping a twenty into the donation box Cara held. “It’s all your natural charm that’s doing it.”
    He