AN- I think this story is going to be really long. I hope you enjoy, and
please review.
On A Budget
Lizzie walked up to Gordo in the hallway.
"Hey, Gordo," Lizzie said.
"Hey, Lizzie. I am sorry about the confusion in class today. If being married bothers you this much, I will talk to the teacher about it," Gordo said.
"Gordo, that is not necessary. I do not know why I made such a big deal. In fact, I think I owe you an apology. I have a lot on my mind right now, in the scheme of things, being married is just a class project, and it could be a lot worse. Please accept my apology."
Gordo smiled. "Apology accepted. I agree. Now, the next thing we need to deal with is homework, which she assigned tonight. Should we work on it in my house or yours?"
"That is what I was getting to next, actually. I would say we should do it at my house, but tonight, Matt is the captain of his basketball team, and they are having a party at my house tonight. As much as I want to support the Hill Ridge eighth grade team, the house will be really noisy," Lizzie said. Amazingly, even after the accident, Matt was still quite a good athlete. He couldn't play for a few weeks, but before the accident,
"Well, we will do it in my house. It is my day to drive you anyway, and afterwards, I can drop you off at your house," Gordo offered.
"That sounds like a good plan," Lizzie said, "Let me call mom and make sure it is okay with her." Gordo and Lizzie walked outside and met up with Miranda. Once in the car, Lizzie called home, and asked her mom if she could go with Gordo to work on the project. Jo McGuire Okayed the plans, and the threesome took off in Gordo's car.
"So, how was economics?" Miranda asked.
Lizzie and Gordo looked at each other. Lizzie spoke up. "It was interesting. Gordo and I were paired together and we are supposed to get married. The class only had six people, so we were paired by our grades. How was 'Life'?"
"I can't decide what I think of that class. I will be able to tell you for sure by Friday, but so far, it is just confusing. I mean, we have three teachers and there are ten of us in the class. Today, we didn't talk about much . . . just about what we are going to discuss throughout the quarter, and at the end, one of the teachers said there was a possibility we were going to go on an overnight trip. The class has only two boys, and I am the only junior- the rest are seniors. It seems like a fun class, though," Miranda said.
"Yeah, I think you will enjoy it," Gordo said.
The rest of the car ride was discussing their classes and the usual stuff. Once Miranda was dropped off, Gordo drove Lizzie to his house. Once at his house, they went to his room, dropped their book bags on the ground and went downstairs to get a snack and went back upstairs. Once upstairs, they sat down on Gordo's floor and started the homework.
Lizzie took a chocolate chip cookie and said, "So, what should we start on?"
"Well, I think we should re-read our worksheet with the stories and stuff and then plan around them. After that, we should probably look at our salaries and figure out our budget for the necessities in life. Does that sound okay to you?" Gordo asked.
"Good start. We can do this," Lizzie said confidently.
Lizzie re-read her salary- she was currently working in a furniture warehouse part time while working. She worked 35 hours a week for $9.50 an hour. This meant, assuming she worked this yearly for forty- nine weeks out of the year, her annual income was around $16,252 a year, but throughout the project, this could change, depending on her raises and change of jobs. Lizzie told Gordo her calculations and Gordo said, "That is good. I think I am currently a tennis coach at a middle school for 12 weeks out of the year while I teach lessons on the side yearly. I work at the middle school for about $400 a week, while the tennis lessons give me an extra $18,000 a year. This would give me $22,400 a year," Gordo said as he pulled out his calculator. "Assuming that taxes take away 27 percent, this would give us $28,507 a year to work with. While not extremely high, I think we can find an apartment with this and work out a reasonable budget."
Lizzie nodded in agreement. The homework said they had to work out a budget assuming this was going to be their income when they bought their house, and would be included in the final copy of the budget. The current budget configuration was not due until next week, although the apartment part was due the next day.
Gordo pulled up a chair for Lizzie as they worked on his computer for the apartment search. Two seconds later, Gordo and Lizzie were looking at pictures of random apartment complexes in Minnesota. "What does the sheet ask for us to consider for the apartment?" Gordo asked as Lizzie looked at the sheet.
"How many bedrooms do we have?"
"Well, the personal sheet said two," Gordo responded.
"Okay. Do we have any pets?" Lizzie read from the sheet.
"Normally, I would say yes, but considering our budget and all the factors we have to include if we have a pet, I think we will live without a pet," Gordo said.
"What about furniture? Do we want the apartment already furnished or do we want to furnish it ourselves?"
"I say we furnish it ourselves. That way, if we move, we will have some furniture to live with," Gordo said.
Lizzie agreed. "How many bathrooms?"
Gordo looked at Lizzie. "I don't really have an opinion. I would say two, one for us to share and one for guests, but if you want one for yourself, we can do that."
"This isn't real life, Gordo. One bathroom is fine. I really don't care, considering we really don't have to live in the apartment in real life," Lizzie said.
"Okay, that is true. Lets see what this site says," Gordo said, and after a few more clicks on the computer, he and Lizzie started reading about their options. Figuring they didn't want to spend more than $600 a year on an apartment, they finally found one that suited their various needs. After a quick search, they found an apartment near Brooklyn Park within their budget that also met their needs. After they finished that, they sat back on Gordo's floor to work some more details out.
"Okay, since we don't have a furnished apartment, our next assignment is to 'buy' furniture. How much do we want to spend on furniture?" Lizzie asked, still reading the sheet.
"Well, I guess since this is our first year, and our budget is going to be incredibly tight, I say we try to spend less than $5000 on furniture, hopefully less, but it depends on what we want. What do we want?"
"What is the least amount of furniture we can have?" Lizzie asked.
"Well, we need a kitchen table with chairs; sofa; coffee table; and chairs. Also, in the bedrooms, we will need a bed for each room; dressers; and a nightstand. There is probably more, but I just can't think about it," Gordo said.
"Sounds good. It says on the sheet we are allowed to have three items come from our parent's home, so I say we take two beds with everything included and a sofa, because those are also expensive," Lizzie suggested.
Gordo took the sheet from Lizzie and got out a pencil to start making a list. "Okay, that sounds really good. What type of beds are they?" Gordo asked as he wrote the information down.
"I don't know. I guess a king size for us and a full bed for the guest room," Lizzie said.
"Okay, what about the rest of the furniture? I guess we should go online and look for ads or something," Gordo said, answering his own question. Gordo and Lizzie once again went to Gordo's computer. After about an hour of research, they found everything for about $2300 and with the apartment added, they had currently spent $9600, and this was just on their apartment and furniture. Everything else would have to be determined by Monday.
At 5:30, they were finished with the project and free to do whatever they wanted. Both of them got off of Gordo's floor and stood up. "Ugh, all that math and research was so annoying. All those numbers!" Lizzie said as she sat on Gordo's bed.
Gordo sat down beside her. "Yeah, well at least you don't have to do AP calculus homework tonight."
"True, but that does remind me that I have a quiz in AP English History on Thursday. We have now jumped to the sixteenth century."
"How is that class going, by the way? Did my helping a few weeks ago help any?"
"Yeah, you really helped my average and give great study tips," Lizzie remarked.
"Good. I am glad I was able to help," Gordo said.
"Ugh!" Lizzie said as she went from sitting to lying down. "Our economics teacher needs to get a life. I mean, she has way too much time on her hands and I bet she loves to read all of our homework and laugh at it in her spare time."
"She does seem crazy."
"Yeah, I never understood the significance of these projects. They cover nothing but math and we have enough math as it is in Calculus and science. In the long run, this project will teach me nothing about life or my future." Lizzie said as she sat back up.
"Yeah, well you already know your future. Luke told you," Gordo said.
"Luke? Oh, yeah, well I don't remember anything he said about my future, so he doesn't count."
"All right. I was just pointing that out."
Lizzie wanted to get out of this conversation fast. The last time she talked to Gordo about the future was on the dock that day and she did not want something like that to happen again, so she decided to change the subject. "So, when are your parents supposed to be home?" Just then, the cracked door opened a little because of the air. Annoyed by this, got up to close it. "Well?" Lizzie said as she sat next to Gordo on his bed.
"Why? Are you trying to suggest we do something we aren't supposed to?" Gordo asked jokingly.
"What?" Lizzie said, totally missing the fact that her closing the door as she asked that question looked a bit suggestive. When Lizzie finally caught on to the situation, she laughed lightly. "Oh, be quiet. I was just asking because I don't want to interrupt your plans for dinner or anything." Lizzie said honestly.
Gordo replied, "Oh, well they should be home any minute. Do you need to be home soon?"
"Yeah, probably."
"Okay, well I will drop you off home now," Gordo said as Lizzie and him got off from his bed and Lizzie got her stuff together.
Five minutes later, they were in the car on their way to Lizzie's house. Almost as soon as the car stopped, Lizzie felt the familiar slight sharp pain in her stomach. Something was about to happen, but what?
On A Budget
Lizzie walked up to Gordo in the hallway.
"Hey, Gordo," Lizzie said.
"Hey, Lizzie. I am sorry about the confusion in class today. If being married bothers you this much, I will talk to the teacher about it," Gordo said.
"Gordo, that is not necessary. I do not know why I made such a big deal. In fact, I think I owe you an apology. I have a lot on my mind right now, in the scheme of things, being married is just a class project, and it could be a lot worse. Please accept my apology."
Gordo smiled. "Apology accepted. I agree. Now, the next thing we need to deal with is homework, which she assigned tonight. Should we work on it in my house or yours?"
"That is what I was getting to next, actually. I would say we should do it at my house, but tonight, Matt is the captain of his basketball team, and they are having a party at my house tonight. As much as I want to support the Hill Ridge eighth grade team, the house will be really noisy," Lizzie said. Amazingly, even after the accident, Matt was still quite a good athlete. He couldn't play for a few weeks, but before the accident,
"Well, we will do it in my house. It is my day to drive you anyway, and afterwards, I can drop you off at your house," Gordo offered.
"That sounds like a good plan," Lizzie said, "Let me call mom and make sure it is okay with her." Gordo and Lizzie walked outside and met up with Miranda. Once in the car, Lizzie called home, and asked her mom if she could go with Gordo to work on the project. Jo McGuire Okayed the plans, and the threesome took off in Gordo's car.
"So, how was economics?" Miranda asked.
Lizzie and Gordo looked at each other. Lizzie spoke up. "It was interesting. Gordo and I were paired together and we are supposed to get married. The class only had six people, so we were paired by our grades. How was 'Life'?"
"I can't decide what I think of that class. I will be able to tell you for sure by Friday, but so far, it is just confusing. I mean, we have three teachers and there are ten of us in the class. Today, we didn't talk about much . . . just about what we are going to discuss throughout the quarter, and at the end, one of the teachers said there was a possibility we were going to go on an overnight trip. The class has only two boys, and I am the only junior- the rest are seniors. It seems like a fun class, though," Miranda said.
"Yeah, I think you will enjoy it," Gordo said.
The rest of the car ride was discussing their classes and the usual stuff. Once Miranda was dropped off, Gordo drove Lizzie to his house. Once at his house, they went to his room, dropped their book bags on the ground and went downstairs to get a snack and went back upstairs. Once upstairs, they sat down on Gordo's floor and started the homework.
Lizzie took a chocolate chip cookie and said, "So, what should we start on?"
"Well, I think we should re-read our worksheet with the stories and stuff and then plan around them. After that, we should probably look at our salaries and figure out our budget for the necessities in life. Does that sound okay to you?" Gordo asked.
"Good start. We can do this," Lizzie said confidently.
Lizzie re-read her salary- she was currently working in a furniture warehouse part time while working. She worked 35 hours a week for $9.50 an hour. This meant, assuming she worked this yearly for forty- nine weeks out of the year, her annual income was around $16,252 a year, but throughout the project, this could change, depending on her raises and change of jobs. Lizzie told Gordo her calculations and Gordo said, "That is good. I think I am currently a tennis coach at a middle school for 12 weeks out of the year while I teach lessons on the side yearly. I work at the middle school for about $400 a week, while the tennis lessons give me an extra $18,000 a year. This would give me $22,400 a year," Gordo said as he pulled out his calculator. "Assuming that taxes take away 27 percent, this would give us $28,507 a year to work with. While not extremely high, I think we can find an apartment with this and work out a reasonable budget."
Lizzie nodded in agreement. The homework said they had to work out a budget assuming this was going to be their income when they bought their house, and would be included in the final copy of the budget. The current budget configuration was not due until next week, although the apartment part was due the next day.
Gordo pulled up a chair for Lizzie as they worked on his computer for the apartment search. Two seconds later, Gordo and Lizzie were looking at pictures of random apartment complexes in Minnesota. "What does the sheet ask for us to consider for the apartment?" Gordo asked as Lizzie looked at the sheet.
"How many bedrooms do we have?"
"Well, the personal sheet said two," Gordo responded.
"Okay. Do we have any pets?" Lizzie read from the sheet.
"Normally, I would say yes, but considering our budget and all the factors we have to include if we have a pet, I think we will live without a pet," Gordo said.
"What about furniture? Do we want the apartment already furnished or do we want to furnish it ourselves?"
"I say we furnish it ourselves. That way, if we move, we will have some furniture to live with," Gordo said.
Lizzie agreed. "How many bathrooms?"
Gordo looked at Lizzie. "I don't really have an opinion. I would say two, one for us to share and one for guests, but if you want one for yourself, we can do that."
"This isn't real life, Gordo. One bathroom is fine. I really don't care, considering we really don't have to live in the apartment in real life," Lizzie said.
"Okay, that is true. Lets see what this site says," Gordo said, and after a few more clicks on the computer, he and Lizzie started reading about their options. Figuring they didn't want to spend more than $600 a year on an apartment, they finally found one that suited their various needs. After a quick search, they found an apartment near Brooklyn Park within their budget that also met their needs. After they finished that, they sat back on Gordo's floor to work some more details out.
"Okay, since we don't have a furnished apartment, our next assignment is to 'buy' furniture. How much do we want to spend on furniture?" Lizzie asked, still reading the sheet.
"Well, I guess since this is our first year, and our budget is going to be incredibly tight, I say we try to spend less than $5000 on furniture, hopefully less, but it depends on what we want. What do we want?"
"What is the least amount of furniture we can have?" Lizzie asked.
"Well, we need a kitchen table with chairs; sofa; coffee table; and chairs. Also, in the bedrooms, we will need a bed for each room; dressers; and a nightstand. There is probably more, but I just can't think about it," Gordo said.
"Sounds good. It says on the sheet we are allowed to have three items come from our parent's home, so I say we take two beds with everything included and a sofa, because those are also expensive," Lizzie suggested.
Gordo took the sheet from Lizzie and got out a pencil to start making a list. "Okay, that sounds really good. What type of beds are they?" Gordo asked as he wrote the information down.
"I don't know. I guess a king size for us and a full bed for the guest room," Lizzie said.
"Okay, what about the rest of the furniture? I guess we should go online and look for ads or something," Gordo said, answering his own question. Gordo and Lizzie once again went to Gordo's computer. After about an hour of research, they found everything for about $2300 and with the apartment added, they had currently spent $9600, and this was just on their apartment and furniture. Everything else would have to be determined by Monday.
At 5:30, they were finished with the project and free to do whatever they wanted. Both of them got off of Gordo's floor and stood up. "Ugh, all that math and research was so annoying. All those numbers!" Lizzie said as she sat on Gordo's bed.
Gordo sat down beside her. "Yeah, well at least you don't have to do AP calculus homework tonight."
"True, but that does remind me that I have a quiz in AP English History on Thursday. We have now jumped to the sixteenth century."
"How is that class going, by the way? Did my helping a few weeks ago help any?"
"Yeah, you really helped my average and give great study tips," Lizzie remarked.
"Good. I am glad I was able to help," Gordo said.
"Ugh!" Lizzie said as she went from sitting to lying down. "Our economics teacher needs to get a life. I mean, she has way too much time on her hands and I bet she loves to read all of our homework and laugh at it in her spare time."
"She does seem crazy."
"Yeah, I never understood the significance of these projects. They cover nothing but math and we have enough math as it is in Calculus and science. In the long run, this project will teach me nothing about life or my future." Lizzie said as she sat back up.
"Yeah, well you already know your future. Luke told you," Gordo said.
"Luke? Oh, yeah, well I don't remember anything he said about my future, so he doesn't count."
"All right. I was just pointing that out."
Lizzie wanted to get out of this conversation fast. The last time she talked to Gordo about the future was on the dock that day and she did not want something like that to happen again, so she decided to change the subject. "So, when are your parents supposed to be home?" Just then, the cracked door opened a little because of the air. Annoyed by this, got up to close it. "Well?" Lizzie said as she sat next to Gordo on his bed.
"Why? Are you trying to suggest we do something we aren't supposed to?" Gordo asked jokingly.
"What?" Lizzie said, totally missing the fact that her closing the door as she asked that question looked a bit suggestive. When Lizzie finally caught on to the situation, she laughed lightly. "Oh, be quiet. I was just asking because I don't want to interrupt your plans for dinner or anything." Lizzie said honestly.
Gordo replied, "Oh, well they should be home any minute. Do you need to be home soon?"
"Yeah, probably."
"Okay, well I will drop you off home now," Gordo said as Lizzie and him got off from his bed and Lizzie got her stuff together.
Five minutes later, they were in the car on their way to Lizzie's house. Almost as soon as the car stopped, Lizzie felt the familiar slight sharp pain in her stomach. Something was about to happen, but what?