Lucky Girl by Jamie Pacton (novels for beginners txt) 📕

want to run to the snack bar and hide. But a crowd has gathered around us, and there’s no way I can push through them and flee into the night.

“So, where were you when the ticket was bought?” asks Molly.

“I was at home, catching up on some homework,” Bran says. “It was pretty much just a normal day.”

The reporter asks a few more questions, all of which Bran handles with ease.

Then, unexpectedly, Molly Rawlings turns her camera and microphone on me.

“This is another local teenager, Jane Belleweather,” she says. “Jane, why do you think no one has come forward to claim the prize?”

“Maybe they’re scared,” I manage to choke out. Stage fright and a sense that everyone can see my secret makes my voice shake. “It could be a lot of pressure on them.”

Molly gives an effortless laugh. “But it’s a LOT of money. Surely that’s worth a bit of pressure.”

“I wish I’d won it!” someone calls out from the crowd. An appreciative chuckle rises from the circle of people around us.

“Whatever reason the lucky winner has for not coming forward yet,” interjects Bran, rescuing me, “Jane and I are going to find them.”

We are?

I shoot a quick, worried glance at Bran, but he’s beaming at Molly and talking a bit more about how he’ll use his investigative-reporter skills to figure out who won and how I’ll be his research assistant.

I wish he’d talked with me about this first, but something about Bran’s optimism and vulnerability in this moment makes my heart ache, and I remember him as a twelve-year-old nerd, checking out stacks of Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books from the library. I can’t not help him. Even if I’m the one he’s looking for.

LAKESBORO COMMUNITY FACEBOOK GROUP THURSDAY, 11:00 P.M.

BRANDON KIM: Hi, everyone! Not sure if you caught the news tonight (lol, you were probably there, as it seemed like everyone in town was at the pumpkin patch this evening), but I’m trying to find the lucky lotto winner. I will be investigating over the next few days, but if anyone in town has any information, please reach out. It could be tips, clues, guesses—whatever you think will help! Here’s my website information and my Instagram.

OLLIE WENTSER: So cool you’re doing this, Bran!

MARY FULTON: It’s weird though, right, that no one has come forward? Well, you know it’s not me. Because if it were, I’d be on a jet to Bermuda already.

AMY PEMBERLY: It’s super weird! I mean, how can it be so secret?

MARY FULTON: Maybe the person will come forward? I mean, I’m betting that someone will see the news segment and then check their ticket. Still believe that this is just a case of somebody getting too busy to check the numbers.

BRANDON KIM: That’s a great point! It could all come out in the normal way over the next few days. But I’m definitely hoping to find the person so I can interview them.

J. WILKINS: I HAVE A TIP! The lucky ticket was sold at Wanda’s. Why don’t you talk to them?

BRANDON KIM: That’s a great idea, and that’s first on the list for my partner and me to check out tomorrow after school. Thanks!

CHAPTER SIX

I SLAM MY LAPTOP CLOSED, DONE WITH INSTAGRAM AND FACEBOOK FOR the night. There are now over two hundred comments on the first thread about the winner, and Bran’s thread is fast approaching that. If tonight has proven nothing else, it’s that everyone in this damn town wants to know who won the lotto money.

How am I going to keep Bran off my trail? Would the clerk at Wanda’s even remember me? They don’t have a security system—they don’t, right? I’ve never seen a camera there—but maybe I can keep Bran away from Wanda’s? Though I know tomorrow he’ll want to head there as soon as school’s out. He already told the entire town that.

Running a hand over my face, I collapse onto my bed. I’ve been Googling the tragic stories of other lotto winners who’ve had terrible luck. I’m not sure why I keep looking these people up, but I can’t seem to stop myself. Each one is more horrible than the last, and that’s saying a lot since Abraham Shakespeare was buried under his patio. To keep them all together, I’ve been writing them in a notebook so I can remind myself of what not to do on the off chance I’m able to cash the ticket.

Flipping to an empty page in the notebook, I pick up the list I started making, just so I can keep a handle on all the hot-mess things happening in my life right now:

JANE’S RIDICULOUS LIFE PROBLEMS:

You won the lotto. Shut up. It’s not actually a problem, except …

- You can’t cash the ticket.

- Because if you try to, the lotto commission will take away the money and charge you with a misdemeanor. All of which could be avoided by finding someone you trust to cash the ticket, except …

- Mom is a train wreck of a human who will blow the money on absolute junk, and although being a lotto winner’s kid might be okay, there’s no guarantee I could get the money. I could ask Grandma, except …

- She’s a hippie who lives in a free-love commune (ahem, in a high-rise) and doesn’t believe in possessions. Though maybe I’ll try. I could ask Bran, except …

- Oh, that’s right, he’s seventeen too. The only other person I know who’s eighteen is Holden, and I could ask him, except …

- He’s an asshole. No exceptions.

I look at the list and add another problem:

- Oh yeah, and Bran, my most beloved BFF, has decided that unmasking the lotto winner will help him get the internship he wants. Which would be fine, except …

- I’m the winner, and I can’t be unmasked until I figure all this out.

- Which leaves me lying to my BFF on top of all this other stuff. And