Trina walked through the courtyard, carrying a table on her shoulder and a folding chair in her other arm. As she walked, other students seemed to be avoiding her. They ducked down and jumped out the way. One guy even yelled "Hey!" at her. Eventually, Trina found an empty corner by the doorway to the main building. This would ensure she would get the maximum traffic. She leaned the folding chair against the wall. She sat the table down and set it up. Once it was set up, she took the folding chair and set it down behind the table. She then put down her backpack and opened it up. She pulled out a sheet of paper and a glass jar. She placed the jar on the table and taped the sheet to the front of the table.
As Trina was taping the paper to the table, Jade walked through the door. Jade looked at Trina with raised eyebrows. "Watcha doing Trina?"
"Can't you read the sign?" said Trina.
"I can't," said Jade. "It's backwards."
"Oops." Trina quickly fixed her mistake. She pointed to the sign with a flourish. "It's a kissing booth."
"Is this for the booster club or something?" said Jade.
"No," said Trina. "You know Mom and Dad and Tori thought the same thing. Why does everybody think I've joined the booster club?"
"Well, when somebody sets up a kissing booth at a school, it's usually for a fundraiser," said Jade.
"Well it's not," said Trina. "I just need to make some extra money."
"For what?" said Jade.
"I'm planning on getting a minor cosmetic surgery," said Trina.
Jade raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Yes," said Trina. "I'm gonna have to wait until I'm eighteen to get it, cause of my parents. Until then, I'll be saving up so I'll be able to afford it."
"And you think this will work?" said Jade.
"Yeah," said Trina. "Guys are going to be practically throwing money at me."
"Well good luck." Jade went to a nearby table and sat down. "Mind if I watch?"
"No," said Trina. "Lunch is about to start, so I'm about to get a lot of customers."
Jade stared at Trina's kissing booth, a smirk on her face. Trina's face was propped up by her hand. "I can't believe no one wants to kiss me."
"I can," said Jade.
"Why aren't there any guys here?" said Trina. "Is there a game today or something?"
"I'm sure it's one of those midday football games schools are known to schedule," said Jade.
"Well no wonder I'm not making any money," said Trina.
Jade stood up. "Maybe you set up the booth wrong?"
"How?" said Trina. "I set up by the door so everyone who walks through it will see me."
"The location's fine. There's just something wrong with the booth." Jade walked up to the table. "Can I sit there?"
"Okay." Trina got out of the chair and held out the chair for Jade. "Now what?"
"Give it a bit." At that moment, a boy walked out of the main building and by the table. He briefly glanced at Jade, who smiled at him. "Hey handsome, wanna kiss?"
"S...sure," said the boy.
"Five dollars." The boy dropped the money in the jar. He leaned in towards Jade. She wrapped an arm around his neck and pulled him close to her, planting a kiss on his lips. The two remained locked together for some time. Eventually, Jade pulled away. The boy just stood there, frozen. It took a few moments for him to recover. As he walked away, Jade smiled. "Looks like we know what the problem is."
Jade followed Trina as she walked through the hall that lead to the courtyard. It was now later in the day and school was over. There was about to be a rush of students in the halls. "Come on Trina, give me my share."
"Sure," said Trina as she entered the courtyard. She headed over to the table she'd set up earlier that day.
"I want my fair share," said Jade.
"Ten percent is more than fair," said Trina.
Jade glared at Trina. "Really? I get 5.50 and you get to keep the rest? You think that's fair?"
"Well I set up the table, the chair, and made the sign," said Trina. "That's most of the work."
"Right," said Jade. "That's why guys came over here. Because of the table."
"What are you suggesting?" said Trina.
"That I made most of the money," said Jade.
"That's not true," said Trina.
"You know, you're right. I made all of the money." Trina gasped. "So if we're talking about contributions, I should be getting all the money."
"That's my money," said Trina. "I need it."
"Well I need to get compensated for my hard work and effort," said Jade.
Trina looked down at her purse for a while. "How about if you work the table after school, I'll think about giving you a bigger slice?"
"I'll have to talk with Beck first," said Jade as she started walking away. "He might want to do something with me after school."
"Oh come on," said Trina. "You don't already know if you have plans with your boyfriend?"
Jade turned back to Trina. "What can I say? I'm a bit forgetful."
Trina followed Jade. "I know you're lying. This is a negotiation trick. It won't work on me. It won't work on me."
As the two left the courtyard, Tori left the main building. As she walked out into the courtyard, she saw the table out of the corner of her eye. She recognized the sign that said "Kissing Booth". She'd seen Trina making it earlier in the week. She'd assumed that Trina had joined the booster club and was doing this as some kind of fundraiser. Though, Trina was nowhere to be seen. In fact no one seemed to be working the kissing booth. This was typical of Trina to shirk on her responsibilities. As Tori contemplated her sister's flakiness, a Senior boy came up behind her. "Are you working the kissing booth?"
"Uh yeah." Tori didn't know why she said yes. Perhaps she wanted to pick up her sister's slack. The school shouldn't suffer because Trina was too lazy to honor her commitments. She'd give her sister an earful later.
"Great, I've got the money." The Senior dropped five dollars into the jar.
"On behalf of the booster club, I thank you." Tori stuck her face forward.
The boy leaned in and kissed her on the lips. He slowly pulled away. "And what a thank you."
"The booster club appreciates your feedback." Tori's face turned red as the boy walked away. Who knew fundraising could be so fun.
Trina and Jade headed back towards the table. "Okay, how about for every guy I kiss I get a dollar."
Trina thought about it for a moment. "Wait you're making less money than if you got ten percent."
"So I should be asking for more?" said Jade.
"No, no," said Trina. "My math was wrong. That's a fair deal."
"Good, so I'll work the..." Jade stopped when she saw the crowd around the kissing booth. "Wait, you got someone else to work the table?"
"I did not." Trina looked at the table, seeing that a large crowd of boys had formed around it. Trina made her way through the crowd, pushing and shoving people aside. Finally she got to the table and saw her sister kissing a boy in a striped sweater. "Tori?"
"Trina." Tori turned away from the boy. "I've been working the booth while you were gone. You can have it back now."
Tori got up and pulled the chair out for her sister. The crowd proceeded to disperse. Trina turned to the glass jar, her jaw dropping. "How much money did you make?"
"I don't know. I lost track," said Tori. "I must've kissed at least twenty guys."
"That's at least more than I made," said Jade.
"You worked the kissing booth too?" said Tori. "Are you part of the booster club?"
"Uh...yes," said Jade. "We're raising money for the ping pong team."
"Ping pong team?" A puzzled look came over Tori's face. She turned to Trina. "You're not part of the booster club, are you?"
Trina giggled nervously. "I don't get why everybody thinks I'm part of the booster club. You think I'm part of the booster club. Jade thinks I'm part of the booster club. Mom and Dad think-"
"If you're not part of the booster club, why are you running a kissing booth?" said Tori.
A smile came over Jade's face. "Yeah Trina, explain to her why you're doing this."
Trina looked down at her feet. "Trina! What are you doing?"
Trina bit her lip and turned to her sister. "I've been saving up for a minor cosmetic surgery."
"And Mom and Dad are okay with this?" said Tori, her face turning red.
"I don't need their permission once I turn eighteen," said Trina.
"You don't even need this surgery," said Tori, pointing towards Trina's body.
"Then why didn't any of the guys want to kiss me?" said Trina.
"You know, she raises a good point," said Jade.
"Thank you," said Trina.
Jade turned towards Tori. "I mean, we're the only ones who were able to raise any money from this kissing booth. She didn't bring in one cent. It's only fair that we get to split the money between ourselves."
"Whoa," said Trina. "This was my idea, I made the sign, I brought the table to school, I-"
"None of us are getting any of this money," said Tori. "Those guys thought they were giving it to the booster club, and that's where the money should go. Or we return it to the guys who paid us."
Jade smirked. "Something tells me they won't mind what we do with the money."
"We can't go around tricking people out of their money," said Tori.
"Hey," said Trina. "That's my money. Since you helped my out, I'll let you get a cut of it, but it belongs to me."
"Sure," said Jade. "Even though you've done nothing to help raise it."
"Excuse me," said Trina. "If it wasn't for me-"
"Girls! Girls! What's going on here? What are you fighting about?" The three girls turned around to see Lane standing behind them. He looked from girl to girl, expecting some explanation. He then saw the sign on the table. "Why is there a kissing booth here? Is this for the booster club?"
"Uh...yeah," said Trina. "Would you like to support our extracurricular activities?"
Trina and Tori lay on the couches in their living room, both with dejected looks on their faces. Jade was there too, having joined them on their ride home from school. Tori believed she'd wanted to enjoy their misery. Though, while she was happier than the Vega girls, Jade still looked turned to Tori. "Thanks Tori. Now I kissed all those guys for nothing."
"You have no right to complain," said Tori. "I kissed way more guys than you."
"How is that?" said Jade. "What about you draws so many guys in?"
Tori jumped up from the couch. "Maybe it's because I don't look at people like you want to eat their first born."
Jade shrugged. "Yeah maybe."
Trina sighed and stared down at her body. "I was so close to getting that surgery. If Tori hadn't opened her mouth I'd have more than enough money."
Tori turned to Trina. "Really? We couldn't have raised much more than two hundred dollars? Is that all they cost?"
"No," said Trina. "But I've raised a lot of money before today."
Tori raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? Where'd you find the money?"
"Here and there," said Trina. "I've tightened my belt and went without to save money. I don't buy anything I can't afford."
"So you could afford those professional looking headshots you got last weekend?" said Tori.
"No," said Trina. "But Mom and Dad could."
"Hey Tori," said Jade.
"Yes Jade," said Tori.
"What were you going to do you your share of the money?" said Jade.
"Nothing," said Tori. "That's not our money. We tricked people out of it."
"Oh come on," said Jade. "Enough with this goody-goody act. There aren't any grown ups around here. Just us. You can be honest."
"Well, what would you have done with your share?" said Tori.
"I asked you first," said Jade.
"Well, and this is just a hypothetical that I'd never do in real life, I kind of want-" At that moment, the phone rang. Tori jumped off the couch and ran to the phone. "I've got it. I've got it. Hello, Vega residence. Oh, Aunt Ethel. It nice to...oh you want Trina. I'll get her."
"Gimmie." Trina extended her hand and took the phone from her sister. "Hey Auntie Ethel. How's it going? Oh that's fine. I understand if you can't make it to my birth week. Uh huh. No, we haven't gotten your card yet. Uh huh. Really? That's so nice of you. How much is the check worth? Really, that much? Wow. Yeah, I have an idea what I'm going to spend that money on."