Honors Economics Seminar: Tightwaddery or The Good Life on a Dollar a Day

As Jack Thornton added three books and a pre-printed instruction packet- all for the same class, of course- to his pile, he felt the familiar stomach-twist of financial anxiety. He had spent the entire summer working every lifeguard hour the YMCA would give him, and had thought he'd set aside more than enough money to hold him until he could find a campus job. He'd made that calculation before he'd seen his book list, however, and was quickly jettisoning things from his mental list.

It wasn't such a wrench to mark the bookstore's poster sale off, only a slightly larger one to decide he couldn't even afford the rain-damaged books at the off-campus bookstore, and Jesse would understand if Jack couldn't bring anything fancier than a bag of ice to his "welcome back to school" party.

Jack had been carefully harboring the hope, however, that if he could get enough of his books used, he might be able to afford a new sketchpad and set of pastels- he'd seen them in the art supply store on his way in. As he did the calculation in his head on his way to the business section, he decided he couldn't get the large box of pastels, but if he could get his last book used, he might be able to get a smaller box. There were still a few pages left in his last sketchbook, he could go a bit longer without replacing it, surely.

He couldn't help but smile when he reached the shelf for ECON1014, Macroeconomics and Entrepreneurship, and saw that there was one book left, and it was used- it was his lucky day. Jack reached for it, laying his hand on the top at the same moment another hand came to rest on the front cover from the other side of the aisle. He looked through the bookshelf to find a pair of wide blue eyes in a heart-shaped face, looking back at him in surprise.

"Oh, sorry," the girl said, drawing her hand back from the front of the economics textbook as though it were suddenly on fire. She glanced around and her eyebrows drew together, creating a line at the top of the bridge of her slightly-upturned nose. "Is that the last copy of Professor Gowan's book?"

Jack looked around as though another copy might magically appear out of the ether, then looked back to find that the girl he'd been talking to was already marching off, the textbook still sitting on the shelf.

He considered grabbing it and leaving her to her devices, but couldn't quite bring himself to do it- she would need the book the same as he would, if she was taking the course as well so with a sigh Jack left the book on the shelf and hurried after the mysterious girl.

She wasn't hard to catch up to as she was carrying an almost-unseemly number of books in her arms.

"Can I… give you a hand?" he asked, uncertainly.

She glanced at his own armload of books and shook her head. "I can manage," she said, and continued to weave her way through the other students, glancing into aisles of shelves until she seemed to find the one she wanted.

"Excuse me," she said to a guy kneeling on the floor, pulling open a box of books and restocking a shelf.

The guy looked up and smiled at her. Jack thought she was the sort of girl that guys just couldn't help but smile at.

"The shelf for ECON1014 is empty, I was wondering if you knew if there were any more of Professor Gowan's books in stock?" the girl asked, smiling back at the guy on the ground.

Jack noticed, not that he was looking, particularly, that it was an unusual smile- closed-mouthed and curling up more at the edges than was usual.

"Gowan?" the bookstore worker said with a slight laugh. "Yeah, I got more of that jerk's books over there." He gestured vaguely at the palate of book boxes blocking the other end of the aisle. "I'll look as soon as I'm done here, okay?"

"Thank you," the girl said and took a step back out of his way to stand beside Jack.

This was Jack's first real opportunity to look at her when not in motion- she was a few inches shorter than he was, and wearing a pink sundress which showed off a pair of pale, well-toned legs and matching pink sandals. She smelled old-fashioned, Jack thought oddly, a bit like his grandmother's house- lavender and rosemary- and he wondered why a girl her age would pick those scents.

He wondered if they would be in the same Econ class. Gowan taught several sections, so they probably weren't, but it was always possible.

"I'm Jack," he said after what was probably too long.

She turned those big blue eyes and oddly-curly smile on him, and for the first time her lips pulled away from her straight white teeth in a grin. "Elizabeth," she said. She moved as if to shake his hand, but her arms were so laden with books that it was clear that would be folly. She glanced down at her books then back up at him, grinned again, and shrugged. "Nice to meet you, Jack."

"Here's old Gowan's books," the bookstore worker said, interrupting the pair of them. "I might as well take them over to the shelf if it's empty."

"Oh no!" Elizabeth said, quickly. "I can take them. I didn't mean to interrupt your work."

Even as she said it, three books fell off the top of the stack in her arms and hit the floor. As she bent to retrieve them, which caused several more books to fall, Jack had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing out loud at her.

"I'll take them over," he said, shifting his own books into one arm without incident and reaching for the box as Elizabeth finally rose, red-faced and flustered. She followed him to the Econ shelves without a word, and Jack had a feeling she was regaining her composure as they walked.

Once back where they started, Jack began to unpack the box onto the shelf, feeling his heart drop as he noticed that every single book was brand new, and nearly half again the cost of the used book he'd intended to buy. He was a gentleman though, and Elizabeth was buying twice the number of books he was. He had just opened his mouth to say exactly that when she reached out and took one of the new books from the stack he had just made.

"Thanks for your help, Jack," she said, gracing him with that odd smile again.

"Oh… don't you want this one?" Jack asked, surprised, pointing at the used copy. "It's less expensive, and you've got a lot of books to buy."

She shook her head. "This one will be fine, thanks. I should go though, my housemate is waiting for me. See you around, maybe."

"Yeah," Jack said, even as she had already spun away. "See you around," he muttered, turning back to the bookshelf and taking the used book down, the butterflies that had been fluttering through his stomach seeming to have suddenly turned heavy and cold.

Rich Girl, he realized. She hadn't had to work her butt off all summer to afford her books, her daddy would pay for them. She didn't have to stay in one of the bleak, airless campus dorms so that her scholarships would help pay her housing, she had a house.

He was annoyed with himself for having noticed her curly smile, pretty legs, and lavender scent. Jack Thornton had no business knowing how a girl like that smiled, or wanting that smile directed at him.

He turned on his heel and took off in the opposite direction toward the shelves holding the materials for the Fine Arts classes. Rosie was over there, looking for her own books, and the pastels and sketchbooks as well. Much better to focus on Rosemary and art, and forget about Elizabeth and her books as quickly as possible.

Jack could only be pleased that they were unlikely to see each other again soon.

~?~?~?~?~

"Good Lord, Elizabeth," Faith said, staring in disbelief at the number of books her friend carried up to the checkout desk.

Elizabeth sighed and rolled her eyes. "You know my plan," she said quietly. "If I'm going to have my master's degree in five years, it's a minimum of eighteen credits per semester, and four in the summers. Since this is my freshman year, and these are mostly Gen Eds, I figured I could go a little heavy here at the beginning so it's not as overwhelming when I get to the last few classes."

The two girls shuffled forward as the line moved.

"Are you planning to sleep, eat, or date any time in the next five years?" Faith asked.

"Yes, yes, and absolutely not," Elizabeth answered tartly, studiously not glancing over her shoulder. Jack of the economics textbook would not still be standing where she'd left him anyway.

Faith glanced up from where she'd been sorting through Elizabeth's books, one eyebrow raised. "That was emphatic," she said, a small smile tugging the corners of her mouth.

"I emphatically do not intend to date," Elizabeth said.

"Hmmm," was all Faith appeared to have to say, but she bent her head to the books again with a smile resting on her lips. "Ah-hah!" she said after a moment, drawing Elizabeth's psychology text from the pile. "Since we're taking the same psych class, I was hoping you'd let me use your book."

"Of course," Elizabeth said, surprised. "You're welcome to it, but wouldn't it be easier to have your own, especially considering our schedules?" First-year nursing students were notoriously busy, after all.

Faith sighed. "Yes, but I couldn't find enough of my books used and something had to give. Since you were going to have a copy of the psych book, it seemed the obvious thing."

"You can use mine," Elizabeth said, "but I think you should go get your own copy and let me buy it. Or, more accurately, you should let my father buy it."

"I couldn't-" Faith began, but Elizabeth cut her off.

"Of course you can. It's not as though he will know the difference, and what is the point of having money at one's disposal if one can't help a friend?" She glanced around with a sad smile. "I'd buy everyone's books if I could, but that's a little beyond me. I can buy your psych text though."

"Are you sure?" Faith asked.

"One-hundred percent," Elizabeth said with a grin. "Give me your books, I'll hold your place in line."

Faith handed over the basked that she'd put her books in and dashed off, leaving Elizabeth alone in the crowd. She wanted to open up her Early Childhood Education text and start reading, but she could scarcely move, so laden down with books was she.

That left her nothing to do but daydream, and she was annoyed but unsurprised to find the subject of her daydream was Jack- he of the red university sweatshirt, gelled hair, and dimpled smile.

She wondered if he was an economics major. She hadn't bothered to sneak a look at his books to get an idea, and hadn't bothered to ask, for which she was annoyed with herself. Name, class, and major, wasn't that what they always said? Get those three pieces of information about everyone you meet. Elizabeth had been too caught up in her own troubles to bother, but Jack hadn't seemed interested in finding out anything about her either.

Perhaps he was unfriendly, Elizabeth thought. Or perhaps he was shy. She hoped it was the latter- he had a nice smile, and unfriendly people tended not to smile enough.

Or perhaps he was neither of those things and he'd thought she was stuck-up for not asking about him, which Elizabeth had to admit was a real possibility. People had thought it of her before, particularly anyone who had met her mother or older sister, so Elizabeth had cultivated as friendly, sweet, and helpful a manner as possible. It had all seemed to abandon her where Jack-of-the-economics-textbook was concerned, which annoyed her.

What annoyed her even more was the question of why she was annoyed. She'd met the man for all of ten minutes and exchanged all of fifteen words with him, why should his opinion matter in the slightest?

"Next?"

Elizabeth looked up from her reverie to realize that she was next and Faith was nowhere to be found.

~?~?~?~?~

"I can't believe you bought all of my books except psychology," Faith said as the two girls walked together toward their house off campus laden down by heavy bags of books. "That's nearly $700 extra. How are you going to explain that to your dad?"

Elizabeth shrugged. "That's my problem, not yours."

Elizabeth closed her eyes and turned her face upward with a smile. It was likely to be the last really warm day they got this year, and she was reveling in it. She couldn't revel for too long, otherwise she'd be burned to a crisp, but for the length of their walk home, she could wish she was a daisy who would eat sunshine for every meal.

"Would you look at that?" Faith said.

Elizabeth blinked her eyes open and followed Faith's pointing finger to the bottom of the hill to a small field spread out before an ornamental pond where there were two teams of men playing soccer together, half of them wearing shirts, the other half not.

"Oh!" Elizabeth cried, looking away quickly and feeling her face go hot.

"Come on," Faith said, tugging Elizabeth's elbow, "I want a look!"

"Faith!" Elizabeth cried, scandalized. "I can't!"

"Looking is not dating," Faith said, not even bothering to look back as she dragged Elizabeth down the hill. "And besides, you haven't started your classes yet. No reason you can't be a little distracted."

"They're not animals to be gawked at in a zoo!" Elizabeth hissed now that they were nearly close enough to the field to be heard.

"They wouldn't be out in public if they didn't want a few gawkers," Faith said, pragmatically, setting her books down on the ground and leaning against the fence. "You know how guys are."

"You know I don't," Elizabeth, whose mother had sent her to an all-girls high school, muttered.

"Trust me then," Faith said with a grin, "they don't mind."

Elizabeth couldn't quite bring herself to watch the boys straight on like Faith was doing, but she did sneak some fascinated glances as she looked over at the pond as though it were the most interesting thing she had ever seen. On one of these half-shy glances, however, she noticed something that made her forget her reticence.

"That's Jack!" she said, shocked.

"Jack? Which one?" Faith asked.

Elizabeth blushed and looked away again. "The tall blonde on the… shirtless team."

"Oh I see," Faith said in a tone of voice that made Elizabeth shoot her a quelling glance that went completely ignored. "Jack who, now?"

"I… don't actually know," Elizabeth stammered. "I don't really know him, we just… ran into each other in the bookstore earlier."

"Well well," Faith said. "I'd take your mysterious Jack with a bag of chips, if you know what I mean."

Elizabeth didn't, but Faith didn't appear to need a response, so she ignored her friend and focused instead on looking at Jack while trying very hard not to look as though she was looking at Jack.

His chest was the same golden color as his face and arms, and he moved more freely without his shirt than he had with it, as though he were more used to having it off than on. He ran with the long-legged grace of a man who likes to run, and Elizabeth could imagine him tracking miles on a track, or in the early morning light on the sidewalk.

These musings were cut off by a body insinuating itself between Elizabeth and Faith and the soccer players- a mercifully-clothed body attached to a grinning face.

"Afternoon, ladies," he said with a wink. "Can I help you?"

"No!" Elizabeth said, quickly, hoping that this apparent awareness of their presence by the soccer players did not extend to Jack- that would be truly mortifying, being caught watching him half-dressed. "We were just… going home." She gestured vaguely in the direction of their house and grinned like a maniac.

"Yes," Faith said, sounding far less flustered. "We came this way for the scenery, you know."

The man laughed and offered a hand to Faith. "Carson Shepherd. Junior. Pre-med."

Faith took his hand and shook. "Faith Carter. Freshman. Nursing."

"Pleasure," Carson said, then turned a raised brow at Elizabeth.

"Elizabeth Thatcher. Freshman. Early Childhood Education," she said, vaguely.

"Elizabeth here met one of your soccer friends," Faith said quickly before Elizabeth could extract them from the situation. "The blonde over there on the skins team."

"Jack?" Carson asked, turning a speculative glance at Elizabeth. "You have good taste, but you won't have an easy time with him."

"No!" Elizabeth said quickly. "It's not-"

"She didn't catch his last name," Faith continued over Elizabeth's objections.

Carson grinned. "Jack Thornton. Sophomore. Criminal Justice. He's here on a full-ride academic scholarship though, so he's pretty focused on keeping his GPA up."

"He and Elizabeth might get along then- her plan is to be out in five years with her master's. She doesn't date," Faith added in a stage whisper. "I do though!" she continued in her normal tone.

Elizabeth sighed and grabbed Faith's elbow and tugged her down the road.

"It was very nice to meet you, Carson," she said over her shoulder, "but Faith and I need to go home right this instant before I commit assault in public."

Carson grinned and waved to the pair of them. "See you around then!"

After a few minutes, Faith stopped struggling against Elizabeth and fell into step instead. Neither girl noticed Carson go up to Jack and point the pair of them out.