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over the twenty. “Duh.”

51.
    It works for a while. A couple more assignments. Low-nineties grades. Seventy bucks a pop. Sara pays up gladly now. She’s over the weirdness of it. Adam’s over the fear.
    (Sara’s still calling him Pizza Man, but what the hell? She’s paying him.)
    (Things are happening.)
    Then Jessie McGill finds Adam in the hall. “I heard what you’re doing with Sara.”
    Adam freezes. Adam blinks.
    Adam puts on his poker face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    â€œCome on .” Jessie pulls him into an alcove. Stands so close that Adam can smell her perfume.
    It’s Candy, by
    Prada .
    It’s intoxicating.
    â€œSo what’s the deal,” Jessie says. “How much is she paying you?”
    Adam shrugs. “I gotta get to class.”
    Jessie puts her arm out. Stops him. She’s smiling like this is all one big punch line—
    (Which, Adam supposes, it is.)
    (He’s the Pizza Man, after all.)
    â€œHow much?” Jessie says again.
    Adam looks at her. Adam sighs. “Ten bucks a page,” he says. “Twenty bucks extra for an A. You happy?”
    He tries to squeeze past her. Doesn’t wait for an answer. Jessie doesn’t move. “Wait,” she says.
    Adam sighs again. He’s thinking about how much of a pariah he’s going to be when word gets out he’s extorting Sara Bryant in second-period physics.
    But he waits anyway.
    It’s Jessie McGill.
    Jessie bites her bottom lip. Fixes Adam with those big brown eyes. Then she blows his mind. “Can we make a deal too?”
    Adam stops trying to get out of there. For a minute, he considers the possibilities.
    Two popular girls.
    Two goddesses .
    Then he shakes his head. “Not going to work,” he says. “We’re not lab partners, and Nadja thinks I’m crazy.”
    â€œI’m not talking about physics,” Jessie says. “Nadja just does the assignments anyway. I don’t even have to ask.”
    â€œSo, I don’t get it,” Adam says. “What do you need me for?”
    â€œEnglish,” she says. “That Shakespeare essay. We’re allowed to work with partners, remember?”
    Jessie bites her bottom lip again.
    Jessie smiles.
    Jessie says: “Will you be my partner, Adam?”

52.
    Adam hands in the Shakespeare paper a week later. A couple days after that, Mrs. Stewart—
    (the English teacher)
    â€”hands it back to Jessie and Adam.
    â€œNice work, you two,” she says. “You should work together more often.”
    Jessie McGill takes out her purse and peels off a twenty. “You heard her, Adam,” she says. “We should work together more often.”
    â€œWhenever you want,” Adam tells her. “You know my rates.”
    Jessie grins at him. “Then until next time, Pizza Man.”

53.
    Still with the Pizza Man.
    It triggers something in Adam.
    He leans back across to Jessie McGill’s desk. “Listen,” he whispers. “You know anyone else who wants in on this action?”
    â€œWhat do you mean?” Jessie says.
    â€œThis homework stuff,” he says. “You know anyone else who needs an A?”
    â€œYou mean, like, you’d do their projects too?”
    Adam nods.
    (Go big or go home.)
    â€œAsk around,” he says. “Paul, Alton, Janie, tell them my rates. If they need something done, tell them to talk to Adam Higgs.”
    Jessie cocks her head. “Wow, you’re quite the little schemer, aren’t you?”
    Adam grins at her. “Whatever it takes.”

54.
    â€œThese are seriously hot girls,” Sam says. “And they’re friends with you now?”
    Adam and Sam are eating McDonald’s—
    (Adam’s treat)
    â€”and Adam’s telling Sam about Sara Bryant and Jessie McGill while they scarf down Big Mac meals. He gets Sam to look up both girls on his phone. He tells