Kiss & Sell Read Online Free Page B

he said, already reaching for the phone. “I can’t imagine an intelligent woman such as herself would think this was a wise decision.”
    “Actually,” I interjected as he began to dial. “My mom was the one who gave me permission to do the posting.”
    Principal Howard cleared his throat awkwardly and then continued to punch numbers into the phone. “I think I’d like to hear that from her, if it’s all the same.”
    “Whatever you say, sir,” I said evenly, leaning back in my chair and crossing my legs at the ankles. As I waited, I looked up at the ceiling and started to count the little holes in the tiles.
    After a few rings, I could hear my mom answer through the earpiece of the phone. For a psychologist, she sure could raise her voice when she wanted to.
    “Hello? Mrs. Sawyer?” he asked. “This is Principal Howard. I’ve got Arielle here with me in my office.”
    He paused and I could imagine my mom asking him a million questions all at once. Was I okay? Was I in the hospital? Had there been an accident at school?
    “No, no, nothing like that,” he answered quickly. “It’s actually concerning an e-mail that was sent to the entire student body today.”
    Another pause.
    “Actually, it was regarding her intention of selling a kiss on eBay?” he answered, looking straight into my eyes as he said it. “I told her I couldn’t imaginethat a professional, upstanding woman such as yourself would actually agree to something as potentially dangerous as this, but…”
    I tried to hide the growing smile behind my hand as my mom cut Principal Howard off mid-sentence. Without saying anything, he turned his chair slightly to face the wall.
    “You really condone this sort of behavior?” He tried his best to whisper, but I could hear every word. “You don’t at all fear for her safety?”
    Again, I heard my mom’s squeaks coming from the phone and took this opportunity to reach into my pocket and apply some Chapstick to my dry lips.
    “Oh. Well, I guess if you set certain
rules
for her, that changes things slightly,” he sputtered, spinning around even further. “And I guess it
is
more like a school fundraiser if the money is going toward the new gymnasium.”
    Silence.
    You could practically hear the crickets chirping outside the office window, it was so quiet in the room.
    “No, Mrs. Sawyer, I’m not in the business of stifling young people’s personal growth,” Principal Howard said through clenched teeth.
    I almost lost it then, but somehow managed to hold back my giggles. There was no way I was giving him another reason to make me spend more time in this stuffy room. In fact, I was starting to miss being in class—and I wasn’t exactly student of the month if you know what I mean.
    As the silence grew on Principal Howard’s end of the convo, I knew my mom was convincing him that not only was this kissing thing not something to scold, but in fact, it was something that should be commended. And the truth of the matter was that I was beginning to think that myself. I was realizing that if I wanted something to happen in my life, I had to reach out and take the bull by the horns.
    Or, the boy by the lips in my case.
    I plastered a blank expression on my face and stared back up at the ceiling as Principal Howard turned back around and placed the phone back on its receiver.
    “Your mother and I discussed it, and I suppose we don’t have to take any disciplinary action today,” he said.
    You discussed it? More like Mom put the smack down on you, like those beefed up guys on WWE.
But I kept my opinions to myself.
    “And since all proceeds are going to the school, I guess I have no problem with it,” he said. “Just let me in on these little ‘fundraisers’ before you do them in the future, okay?”
    He actually used air quotes when he said “fundraisers,” like we didn’t both know what he meant.
    “I will definitely do that, sir,” I said. And then, drawing on all my acting skills, I