Free How to Win at High School by Owen Matthews

“I’m not talking drugs, Wayne. I’m talking homework.”
    â€œHomework,” Wayne says. “What the hell? I don’t even—”
    â€œLocker two fourteen,” Adam tells him. “After school. Let me show you.”

94.
    Adam thinks:
    - Maybe I should have sold the program harder.
    - Maybe Wayne will just blow me off.
    - Maybe I’m back to square one.
    But he’s wrong.
    Wayne shows up at Adam’s locker after school. He looks a little less arrogant next to the collection of gods and goddesses who join him there.
    â€œOne second,” Adam tells him. “Gotta deal with my clientele first.”
    It’s another busy day. Alton Di Sousa has an economics lab due. Paul Nolan has a geography paper.
    (Adam isn’t taking geography, but he swiped an old textbook from Paul’s classroom. He’s been sleeping with it under his pillow all week. Figures, hey, osmosis.)
    (Anyway, nobody’s expecting a master’s thesis from Paul Nolan.)
    So Adam deals with Alton and Paul and the rest of them, and Wayne watches, kind of bored, half interested, like,
    What the hell is this?
    And then the gods and goddesses breeze off and Adam and Wayne look at each other. “Five bucks a page,” Adam tells him. “Ten-dollar bonus if you pull an A.”
    Wayne hems and haws. Wayne isn’t so sure about this.
    â€œTwenty pages a week, minimum,” Adam says. “That’s a hundred bucks, easy.”
    Wayne’s still frowning. Wayne’s still not convinced.
    Then Janie Ng breezes up.
    â€œHey, Adam,” she says.
    Adam excuses himself from Wayne. “Hey, Janie,” he says. “What can I do for you?”
    Janie tells him she’s good. “Still coasting off that history paper last month,” she says. “Just wanted to make sure you knew about the party.”
    Adam blinks. Adam doesn’t know.
    â€œMy parents are going to Vegas in a couple weeks,” Janie says. “I figured we might as well celebrate.”
    â€œYeah,” Adam says. “Of course we should.”
    â€œSo you’re coming,” Janie says. “Right?”
    Adam feels Wayne’s eyes on him. “Yeah,” he says. “Of course I am.”
    Janie grins, big. “Awesome. I’ll IM you the address.”
    Then she thinks of something. “And bring booze, if you can. My parents are being Nazis about their stash. I’m trying to hook up a connection, but we could always use more.”
    â€œOh, yeah,” Adam tells her. “I’m sure I can find something.”
    â€œAwesome,” Janie says. “Next Friday. Don’t bail.”

95.
    Wayne’s in Adam’s grill the moment Janie walks away. “Dude, I am so in.”
    ( Yeah , Adam thinks. I thought so. )
    â€œIt’s not as easy as it looks,” Adam says. “You can’t just write an essay and hand it in. You’re not Paul Nolan. If Paul Nolan hands in a Wayne Tristovsky essay, Paul’s screwed. And if Paul’s screwed, we’re all screwed.”
    Wayne’s hardly paying attention. Wayne’s still watching Janie Ng walk away. “Yeah,” he says, “but dude . Janie Ng just invited you to her party. Do you know what goes on at those things?”
    â€œSounds like people get drunk,” Adam says. “Or maybe they don’t. Listen, if you join my team, I can get you in those parties. Who’s the hottest junior girl?”
    Wayne thinks about it. “Sara Bryant.”
    â€œShe’s your number-one pick?”
    Wayne nods. “She’s stacked, dude. Why?”
    Adam digs around in his backpack. Comes out with an assignment. “This is Sara Bryant’s physics paper. Two pages. Ten bucks. This is your audition.”
    Wayne looks at the assignment. “I can do this.”
    â€œBring it to my locker first thing Monday morning,” Adam tells him. “You do good, you’re hired.