I love song writing and singing and I hope to one day be able to play the songs I write on my own guitar. A real one, not the cheap one I bought on eBay for fifty bucks. My guitar is a piece of crap, but Jacie’s guitar is beautiful. It’s perfect.
“There’s no way you can do that,” I say.
“Yes I can. It’s mine. I can do whatever I want with it.” Jacie takes another sip of her soda, not taking her eyes off me. “I don’t even like the damn thing because it’s just another bribe from my shitty dad. So… if you want it all you have to do is stay with a guy for thirty days.”
I exhale. “Is this going to be like some stupid movie where you pick out some loser and I have to try to date him?”
She laughs. “Nope. I’m being serious. You can choose the guy.”
I sit up straighter. “Really?”
“Really.”
“Well, that sounds like an easy bet to me,” I say. “This is too easy.”
“No, it’s smart. If you win, you’ll realize that relationships can be good if you just give them time.”
“And I’ll also get your guitar.”
She laughs. “Yes. A promise is a promise.”
I hold out my hand. “Shake on it.”
She grabs my hand and shakes. Now it feels final. Real.
In thirty days I’m going to own a Gibson Hummingbird Quilt.
“Now let’s find the lucky guy,” I say as I take a bite out of my pizza crust and scan the cafeteria. My eyes land on Chris’s table first, and I immediately feel bad. He’s sitting with his friends, pretending to pay attention to them. But I can tell he’s not really into it. Guilt claws at me and I look away.
There’s tons of eligible guys in my school, so I just need to find one who likes me and wants to go out. I look at all the tables around us, my eyes wandering over each guy. I skip over the guys who are younger than me and focus on the juniors and seniors.
“So how exactly do I get this new boyfriend?” I ask as I watch a guy who is totally cute in a nerdy way. I don’t know his name or anything about him. It’s not like I can walk up and ask to be his girlfriend.
But then again, this guitar is a big deal so maybe that’s exactly what I should do.
“Honey, if I knew how to get a boyfriend, I’d use that knowledge for myself,” Jacie says with a snort of laughter. “What do you normally do?”
I shrug. Normally a guy will show me attention, like in class they’ll start flirting with me, or they’ll add me on Snapchat and invite me to parties and stuff. It’s kind of obvious when a guy likes me, so if I like them back I’ll just flirt and let them know. Then they ask me to be their girlfriend and that’s how it happens.
“I’ve never sought out a guy…they just find me,” I say.
“God, your life is perfect,” Jacie says, shaking her head. “Guys just find me,” she mocks in a high-pitched voice. “I am so jealous of your awesome life.”
I knock into her with my shoulder. “My life isn’t awesome, Jacie. I’m just nice to guys. You’re always so stand-offish, so they’re scared of you.”
Her eyes go wide. “Are you serious? I’m standoffish?”
“A little?”
She frowns. “Teach me how to be nice.”
“It’s easy. You just … be nice.”
She laughs. “Okay, thanks for the awesome advice.”
“This isn’t advice time,” I say with a flourish of my hand. “It’s time to find me a guy.”
“Are you going to ask someone out?”
