by T. M. Meek
As Alex threw her backpack onto Leena’s bed she let out a long sigh. “We need to make and sell t-shirts to boost our income for the Triple-C.”
“Why?” Leena was bewildered. “Don’t we have enough work to do?”
“We’ve got some stiff competition. We can sell shirts after every presentation.”
“Can we do that? I mean, don’t we have to stick to the description we put in about what we’d do as a team?”
“Julio was flexible in his description when he submitted it. He simply typed in a few words: financial literacy, presentations and sales. So that pretty much leaves us wide open for adjusting as we need.”
“Yeah. That’s a pretty broad definition.”
“So are you game for designing some t-shirts?”
“Ok. I’ll do it.”
“Great.”
“But if we sell shirts after our presentation, then we can’t charge extra for staying behind to answer questions.”
“I already asked my aunt if she would help sell shirts and she said she would. She also said she believes your mom would help too.”
“That’s true. If my mom is giving us a ride or riding with Lucita or your aunt, she’ll help.”
“But will you ask your mom if she’ll help, just so we can be sure she’s available and willing?”
“Sure. But like I said, if she’s there, it wouldn’t surprise me if she helped. She’s just nice like that.”
“Same with my Aunt Meredith.”
“So do you think if we sell t-shirts that we’ll win?”
“There’s no guarantees. But we’ll have a better chance. Especially if the t-shirts are cool.”
“I’ll make a few designs and you tell me if you think they’re cool. If you like them, maybe lots of other people will too.”
“You’ve got good taste. I think you’ll make some cool designs.” Alex was sincere in her compliment of Leena’s talents as a graphic artist.
“Let’s get Julio’s opinions too. If he likes some of them then that’s another good opinion.”
“We’ll need to set up a store on the website to sell them there too.”
“If the t-shirts sell well, when will we ever have time to do homework? Won’t we be packing and shipping all day long?”
“I don’t know. We’ll figure it out.” Alex shrugged. “Just remember that although we may be busier for awhile, it’s just until the competition is over.”
“I hope so.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Alex scoffed.
“It just feels like you’re turning this whole thing into a full time business, that’s all,” Leena smiled as she lovingly patted Alex on the cheek. Leena had her limits as to how much she could be used in Alex’s ambitions and she just gave her an indirect warning that Alex might be pushing her too far.
“It’s a part-time business for a good cause.”
“It’s just starting to feel full-time and that’s not what I agreed to. Once Julio finds out how much more work we’ll be doing, I bet you’ll see he’s on my side.” Alex could sense Leena was serious and rather than cause a problem with her that could sour their friendship, she thought of a compromise.
“We’ll sell the shirts for a limited time.”
“Now that’s a good idea.” Leena felt relief as she was starting to feel like Alex wasn’t going to turn them all into child laborers after all. But then she thought about Alex’s choice of words and began to doubt Alex’s intentions. “Wait a minute. What exactly do you mean by ‘limited time’?”
“If the shirts don’t sell well, then there’s no reason to keep making them or offering them, right?”
“Good point.” Leena smiled cheerfully that the problem was solved. She just hadn’t considered Alex’s other thoughts since Alex was determined to offer the kinds of cool shirts that would sell well…very well.