Risky Business

Other books by Nicole O’Dell

Dare to Be Different
Swept Away

“Purple and yellow polyester gym clothes? This school needs a new wardrobe!” Molly looked at the locker room mirror in disgust as she pulled her shirt of. “They’re so ugly, and we have to wear them every single day.”

“Plus, it’s so gross that they only let us take them home once a week to wash them.” Jess wrinkled her nose and pinched it with the tips of her fingers. She dropped the sweaty gym uniform into her duffel bag, careful to touch as little of it as possible.

“I know.” Sara gestured over her shoulder to an unkempt girl seated on the bench down the row.
“Some
people should wash their clothes a lot more often than that.”

Molly looked at the girl—her clothes way too small and her hair obviously unwashed.
She has more pimples than I have freckles. But still, why does Sara have to be mean?
Molly turned away to swipe some gloss on her lips and changed the subject. “Forget about gym clothes for a sec. What about the rest of our clothes? You know, we’re in high school now. I don’t know about you, but I’m having trouble finding cool stuff in my closet. Everything is so junior high.” Her voice trailed off in a whine as she tied her long blond hair back in a ponytail and fluffed her bangs with her fingertips.

Sara nodded as she ran a brush through her dark, silky hair. “I kn–”

“I’m having the same—” Jess said at the same time and then laughed.

Molly zipped her bag shut. “Okay. Well, I see we’re all having the same problem then. We should do something about it.”

“I’ve been thinking…. We need to get jobs.” Jess slammed her locker closed and spun the combination lock.

“No way anyone would hire us. We’re not old enough.” Sara slipped into step with Molly and Jess as they walked out into the hallway and blended in with the student traffic.

“Besides, we’re not trained for anything.” Molly shrugged, dismissing the issue.

Jess jumped in front of them and turned in a half circle, walking backward. “Well, I’ve thought of all of that, and I have solutions.” She grinned and put up her hand to stop the flood of protests. “Just hear me out a sec. Okay?”

Molly closed her mouth and nodded, then winked at Sara. Jess had taken charge. Something interesting would happen whether they wanted it to or not.

Sara scowled and shook her head, then she sighed.

Jess grabbed their sleeves and pulled them to a stop. “Okay, we need new clothes, so what better place to work than a clothing store? On top of a paycheck, we’d also get a discount.” She raised her eyebrows.

“Now that’s a good point.” Molly nodded.

“Hadn’t thought of that, huh?” Jess teased. “Sure, we’re not sixteen, which makes it more difficult to actually get the job. But we all get good grades and have an impeccable school record with lots of service activities and extracurricular things.”

“I don’t know if that’s enough.” Sara’s eyes narrowed. “Lots of people have all that, plus they’re older—some even with work experience.”

“I made some calls,” Jess continued, unfazed. “Here in Wisconsin, all we need in order to get a job at fifteen is a work permit. We’ll need permission from our parents and a letter of recommendation from the school principal and a few teachers.”

“But why would a business want to hire us?” Molly asked when Jess stopped for air. “I mean, Sara’s right. They could get an older girl with more experience and a later curfew.”

Jess paused at the door to her math class and turned to face the girls. “They can get someone older than us, sure. But why would they? We’re not attached at the hip to a boyfriend, we have nowhere else to be, and we’re highly trainable because we don’t have any bad habits yet.” She entered her classroom without another word.

Molly and Sara looked at each other and chuckled. They shook their heads as they walked away. They would probably be getting jobs—Jess would see to it.

“I do like the idea of a discount,” Molly admitted. “More bang for the buck.”

“I just hope we can work at the same place, at the same time.” Sara brushed her hair out of her eyes. “I’d hate to have a job with no one I know to work with.”

Molly snorted. “Oh no! I feel sorry for anyone who hires the three of us together!”

“Let’s make a list!” Molly jumped onto Sara’s fluffy pink bed, crossed her legs, and poised her pen to write. “Where do we want to work?”

“Claire’s—good jewelry.” Sara touched the silver hearts dangling from her ears.

“Old Navy—great jeans,” Jess added.

“What about a department store?” Molly tapped the tip of the pen on her chin. “I mean, think about it. Everything we could ever need would be in that one store.”

“Yeah, but those stores are so big we might have to work in different areas.”

“That’s true, but a big store like that might be the only place that has three spots to fill at the same time,” Jess countered.

“I’ve got it! Come here.” Sara jumped up and scampered to her older sister’s room with Molly and Jess close at her heels. She ran right to the overstuffed closet. “This.” Sara pulled out a cute sweater. “These.” She grabbed three great shirts and started to pile the things on the bed. “These!” Sara held up the coolest pair of jeans ever.

“I get it. Your sister has great clothes. So what?” Jess rolled her eyes.

“What do these clothes all have in common?” Sara looked from one to the other, waiting for an answer.

Molly stared at the clothes and tapped her lip with her finger. Then it hit her. “Magna.” She grinned. “They’re all from Magna.”

“Right! That’s where we need to work.” Sara gave one confident nod.

Molly watched as smiles spread across their faces.

Perfect!
Molly fingered the clothing. Magna, the most popular clothing store among the older girls, was the perfect place for them to get jobs. But now that they knew
where
to get jobs, they needed to figure out
how
to get jobs.

“Get out that trusty paper of yours, Molly.” Jess turned on her heel and led the way back to Sara’s room. “We need to plan. Let’s make a list of what we need to do.”

“We need to get our parents’ permission—otherwise nothing else matters,” Molly reminded them. “That might be a deal breaker for me.”

“True. Put that at the top of the list,” Sara said. “Then, we need letters of recommendation.”

They brainstormed, schemed, and planned for over two hours about how to get their dream jobs.

1. Get a letter of permission from parents
.

2. Get letters of recommendation from the principal and at least one teacher
.

3. Figure out hours available to work
.

4. Get a ride to the mall
.

5. Pick up applications
.

6. Fill out applications and turn in to the store manager
.

7. Find a really cool outfit to wear to the interview
.

8.
Find three other places to apply for jobs, just in case.

9. Find someone to teach us about interviewing
.