Just a Little Series (Parts 1 - 4)
Read Just a Little Series (Parts 1 - 4) Online
Authors: Tracie Puckett
Tags: #teen romance, #ya romance, #tracie puckett, #just a little
Just a Little Series | Parts 1-4
By Tracie Puckett
Smashwords Edition
© 2012. All rights reserved.
Smashwords Edition, License Note
Thank you for downloading this ebook. The
contents of this ebook are the copyrighted property of the author,
and may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means— electronic or mechanical—without written permission of the
author, Tracie Puckett.
OTHER BOOKS BY TRACIE PUCKETT
Just a Little Series
The Webster Grove Series
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
places, and incidents depicted in this collection are either
products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any
resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons—living or dead—is
coincidental.
ISBN 978-1-301-14713-7
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S.
Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic
sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the
publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual
property. If you would like to use material from the book (other
than for review purposes), prior written permission must be
obtained by contacting the publisher at
[email protected]. Thank you for your support of the
author’s rights.
Cover photography © Dmitri Gromov |
Dreamstime.com
Cover design by Tracie Puckett
Just a Little Series | Part 1
CHAPTER ONE
Friday, September 07
“This is a completely bogus… assignment,” I
jammed the calculus book into its rightful place in my locker. “And
to make it mandatory—”
“It’s not such a bad thing, Julie,” Matt
took it upon himself to close my locker as I walked away in a fury.
My cousin took a few long strides and caught up with me at the end
of the hallway. He adjusted his book bag on his shoulder and ran
his fingers through his already messy, blond hair. “I don’t
understand why you’re so upset.”
Cool, calm, and collected—that was Matthew
Little in a nutshell—so there was no secret why he was the most
loved, adored, and fawned over boy in the senior class.
Then there was me.
I
was simply the
one all the girls in class envied, and
not
because I was his
cousin, but because
I
was his best friend. Getting personal
one-on-one time with Matt was every girl’s dream, and I was lucky
enough to be the one he called upon for friendship.
“You
should
understand,” I stomped
louder with each step. “That’s the problem.
Everyone
should
understand. This is a great opportunity for people like you, Matt.
But for students like me…”
I let out a sigh and pushed through the
doors of Oakland High School.
I’m not typically this moody, nor am I the
first to disagree with administrative decisions,
especially
when they’re for the greater good, but today had been a day from
Hades. It’d all started when the senior class was called into a
meeting during fifth period and introduced to our class-wide
project. The program was as simple as this: choose a profession of
interest, obtain permission from a local business, and put in
twenty hours of job-shadowing in your chosen field.
Easy-peasey, right? Wrong.
Like I’d told Matt, the program worked
wonders for people like him, people who had a distinct plan for
their future, people who knew what they wanted from life after
graduation.
People who were going places
.
But what about kids like me? What about the
seventeen-year-old, blonde-haired, blue-eyed orphan who had
absolutely no idea what the future held?
What good would this project do me?
None.
None at all.
“Look at the big picture,” Matt said as we
turned the corner to take the three-block stretch to our house.
“This is a great opportunity for you to get your feet wet. Look
around, weigh your options, pursue your interests—”
“That’s great and all, but Matt, we have to
choose
one
field that interests us
and
choose it
within a month. I don’t have time to put in twenty hours at fifty
businesses to see which suits me best.”
If only it was as easy as picking any ole
job and running with it. But it wasn’t that easy. According to our
very specific guidelines, we had to choose a career field closely
related to our area of interest, and then submit a detailed,
five-page report on our experience in the field, relating it to our
goals and aspirations post-graduation.
And the point of this whole project? As we
were told, Oakland had seen an increasingly high rate of high
school dropouts and juvenile delinquents, not to mention the steady
decline in employment rates. When the economy fell on hard times,
Oakland took the brunt of the fall. Our high school, wanting to be
part of a bigger change in the community, implemented the program
to force students to actually put some thought into their futures
beyond high school.
In theory, it was an excellent step toward
progression. But unfortunately for me, it was bringing a sad
reality to light; I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with
the rest of my life. Even my plans for
tomorrow
were a bit
hazy. How was I supposed to make any kind of
definite
plan
for the future?
As we turned to take the sidewalk to the
two-story brick house on the corner of Linden and Main, the door
swung open and my Uncle Charlie met Matt and me with a wide
grin.
“There they are!”
With one arm around each of our shoulders,
Charlie pulled us into the house and threw a sideways glance from
Matt to me, and then back to Matt. It was easy to tell that he was
up to something because Charlie was notorious for (lovingly)
sticking his nose where it didn’t belong. I could only assume that
there was more to his happy greeting than we immediately knew.
“What’s going on, Dad?” my cousin weaseled
his way out of his father’s grip and tossed his book bag in the
corner.
Charlie tightened his grip around my
shoulder and squeezed. “Anything special happen at school
today?”
We exchanged glances, neither of us sure how
to respond, and my uncle loosened his grip to step back.
“Come on, guys,” he said, dropping his arms.
“The assembly. The new job-shadowing program—”
“How’d you hear about that?” I watched him
with a suspicious eye. “It only happened two hours ago.”
“Small town,” Matt mumbled, turning back to
his dad. Obviously he suspected Charlie was up to something, too.
He gave his father a look that said he didn’t quite trust his
expression. “What’s with the enthusiasm, Dad? You’re acting like it
was
your
idea.”
“It
was
my idea,” he raised his chest
proudly.
When Matt and I exchanged eye rolls, Charlie
threw his hands in the air.
“Excuse me if I’m tired of watching Oakland
seep through the cracks,” he said, no longer as jolly as he’d been
five seconds ago. “This community has excellent potential, but you
kids are failing to recognize it. Now, I’ve gotten almost every
business in town to agree to the program, and now all we have to do
is get
your
generation excited about it.” Looking between us
for the hundredth time, Charlie shook his head. “And from the looks
on your faces, I can already tell that’s going to be next to
impossible.”
I stared at Charlie with parted lips,
wanting to give him a good swift thump across the head. So
he
was the genius behind this grand plan?
“Nice goin’, Dad,” Matt walked from the
foyer to the kitchen at the far end of the house.
Charlie remained firmly in place, watching
me with a goofy grin. “Well, what do
you
think?”
“I think… I love you,” I started, “but I’m
two seconds away from killing you.”
“Well,” he leaned back on his heels and
adjusted the belt under his bulging belly, “that’s certainly not
the most appropriate way to thank the Oakland Police Chief—”
“I’m not talking to the Chief right now,” I
said. “I’m talking to my Uncle Charlie.”
“Okay, then, as your Uncle Charlie, talk to
me. What are your thoughts?”
“I think it’s an awful idea,” I refused to
hold anything back. “I know you mean well, I do. But come on.
You’re killing me
.”
“Julie,” he said, putting his hands on my
shoulders, “I know you’ve always had a flare for the dramatics,
Pumpkin, but you’ve gotta put this one on the backburner. What’s
done is done. This is a great opportunity to keep the kids in our
town proactive—”
“Yeah,” I said, dropping my arms in defeat
and following Matt into the kitchen.
“You give up too easily,” Matt stirred a
white sauce over the stove. “You know he has a soft spot for you.
You could’ve worn him down if you’d just tried a little
harder.”
“Yeah, and some help
you
were,” I
ignored his late advice. “How dare you just leave me in there to
fight that battle alone? You know how I feel about this
assignment.”
“Look at it this way,” Matt tasted the sauce
with a wooden spoon, “it’s twenty hours of job experience. Whether
you enjoy it or not, it doesn’t really matter in the end. All you
have to do is fudge a report and submit it. It’s not like the
school is gonna follow up on the students ten years from now and
penalize them for not following all of their high school
dreams.”
“That’s beside the point, Mattie,” I took a
seat on a barstool at the center island. I leaned my elbows against
the marble counter top and cradled my head in my hands. Not wanting
to continue the conversation for another second, I turned to my
cousin. “What’s on the menu for the evening?”