The Clueless Girl's Guide to Being a Genius by Janice Repka Page A

tattoos?” LeeAnn asked. Mr. Finch raised his shirtsleeve to reveal a boat on his biceps. As he flexed his muscle, the boat traveled on a painted wave.
    â€œToo cool,” said Hunter.
    â€œCheck out this one,” Mr. Finch said. He bent forward, showing off the four-leaf clover tattooed on the center of his bald head. “If you touch it, it’ll bring you good luck.”
    On their way out, each student patted the top of his head. I was the last to go. “That was thoroughly enjoyable and educational,” I told Mr. Finch. I reached into my book bag. “Here are twenty thank-you tickets for you and your helpers.”
    â€œYou don’t have to give us nothing,” Mr. Finch protested.
    â€œPlease,” I said. “They’re for the Great Math Showdown. We’re the underdogs, and your support would mean a lot to us. Come if you can.”
    Mr. Finch took the tickets. “Maybe we will.” He tilted his head forward. “Hey, you want to rub my tattoo?”
    I blushed.
    â€œGo ahead,” said Mr. Finch. “For luck, for your math contest. They’re a smart bunch of kids, but everybody can do with a bit o’ luck, right?”
    I pictured Mr. Ripple again, this time crunching his potato chips as my team stood for the competition. In my imagination, the students from his gifted math class were equally smug and also crunching chips.
    I reached for Mr. Finch’s tattoo. “One can never have too much luck.”

12
    Mindy Takes Aphrodite Shopping
    V eronica Breech had been my friend since second grade, but no matter what I did, she totally went out of her way to outdo me. Her parents divorced when she was a baby, and her mom and dad thought they could prove they loved her by giving her a stack of credit cards. So if I got a cell phone, Veronica got an iPhone. If I went to the arcade, Veronica got a trip to Disney World. Once I thought about jumping in the creek, just to see if she would jump in the river.
    â€œWhy do you hang out with that girl?” Mom asked. “If she’s a friend, I’m a moose.”
    My mom was not a moose. The sad fact was that I hung out with Veronica because she was popular, and hanging out with popular people made me more popular.
    Anyway, a few weeks after the pool hall trip, Veronica was waiting outside math class for me. I had bought these awesome sunglasses last time we went shopping—white Ray-Bans marked down to almost nothing on clearance because they had a scratch you could really barely see—and to one-up me, Veronica ordered these cool new “Color of the Week” contacts. The day she was waiting outside of math class for me, her eyes were violet to match her new blouse.
    â€œAre you going to the spring dance?” Veronica asked.
    â€œHave I ever missed a chance to wear three-inch heels?” I replied.
    â€œDetails! How many boys have asked you, and who’s Mr. Lucky?”
    â€œThree have asked, but I’m not sure who to pick.”
    â€œMe neither,” said Veronica. “Only, I got asked by four guys. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t so popular—just kidding.”
    At Carnegie Middle School, the Spring Fling was the big event of the year. I had waited an entire week for Adam to ask me, dressing especially amazing each day and even curling my hair. No matter what I did, he wasn’t interested. Yesterday, I asked him if he wanted to walk me home again, but he said he had to get to basketball practice. The boys who asked me to the dance were okay, but Adam was the most sought-after boy in the eighth grade, and the girl on his arm would have the power to turn all the other girls at the dance instantly green. At least he hadn’t asked Veronica. That would have been a fate worse than Adamlessness.
    â€œI totally know what you mean,” I told her. “I still have to go shopping. It’s not gonna be easy to find the perfect dress to complement my ringlets updo.