Just my Luck Print

Adam Crenshaw is tired of living in his little sister's shadow. She wins everything, and he gets the leftovers. Big brothers are supposed to be the role models, right?

Then one day, all that changes. Louie is a leprechaun who offers him all the luck he could possibly want - for a price. The offer is tempting, but Adam refuses to work with him. To teach him a lesson, Louie steals all of his luck, and Adam's life is turned upside down. He now has a choice between giving in to the leprechaun's demands, or losing everything that matters to him.

My sister had to be the most annoying person on the planet. I sighed after hearing over morning announcements that she’d won the spot for Student Body Treasurer.
Andrew tapped me on the back, and leaned forward.

“Weren’t you trying for that too, Adam? Must really suck your sister won it.” He snickered.

I was trying for it, actually. I was
furious when I found out she was running too, but I couldn’t do anything about it. She hadn’t known when she signed up that I had as well. Mom and Dad just figured it was healthy to have a little family rivalry, and wouldn’t let either of us drop out. Classy. I was pretty sure they both knew who would win. Anyone
who went up against Megan, lost. There was no question about it. I should have dropped out. I brushed the hair out of my face that Mom was constantly begging me to cut.

Science class was long and boring, but I made sure to keep notes. I wasn’t about to get the lecture on working hard again. It didn’t matter that I usually got straight A’s. I’d always be the one to get lectured if a grade slipped to a B.

The bell rang, ending class. I cringed, knowing I was about to have Megan’s win rubbed in my face. Not by her. She usually took these wins in stride. It was just something that happened for her. It was more the fact that people loved to see my little
sister get everything while I got . . . leftovers.

I left the room and headed straight for my locker, ignoring the laughter and cheering for the people who had just won. Unfortunately, I had to go through the crowd to get to my next class. I braced myself and walked quickly, accidentally catching
Megan’s eye as I went past.

“Hey, Adam. Wait.” She ran to catch up with me. 

“Yeah?” I glanced toward my class, hoping she’d get the hint I needed to hurry.

“You okay with this? I can back down if you want.” The light in her eyes showed her excitement.

“No. You earned it. I’m assuming it was by a pretty large margin. I don’t need your charity.” I couldn’t help the sarcasm that came out.

She jerked back, her face showing hurt. “I—I’m sorry, Adam. I just thought you might want to do it since you’re not as busy.”

I glared at her. “I have plenty to do. I have a job, remember? Just because I’m not honors everything and doing cheer, etc., doesn’t mean I’m not busy.” Ignoring her growl of frustration, I walked to my next class and dropped into my chair. It
wasn’t until I opened my book that I realized I’d grabbed the wrong one.
Awesome. Hopefully we wouldn’t need to read anything.

I sighed in relief when we were split into groups to work on our debates for the next day. I loved this class. I could argue all I want, and get good grades for it. Usually I was in the middle of the debate. Other times, I liked to sit back and listen to everyone else before stepping in and giving my opinion. It was awesome when I could shut down the debate because no one could argue with what I had to say.

I let my mind wander while my group argued about facts. I had a baseball game later that day and it was a big game. We were nearing the end of the season and were a shoo-in
to make it to state. Baseball was my thing. Megan ran track. Basketball had been fun for me until she took the spotlight in that too.

“Yo, Adam. You in there?” Ben waved his hand in front of my face and laughed.

I jumped at the bell and stood. “Oh. Sorry. I was thinking baseball. What’s up?”

“Do you want to be the one to debate? You do the best job with it,” Ben said.


“Uh, sure. What are we debating again?” I grinned, sheepishly.


Tonia rolled her eyes. “Wow, you must have been really asleep. We’re debating about whether or not immunizations are a good thing. We’re supposed to argue in support of them.”


“Oh. I can do that. No problem.” I’d heard all about this argument at home.


“Great. Here are the notes. You may want to read them.”
Tonia
handed me the notes “Thanks. My mom is thinking of going to school to become a nurse, so I could get some
information from her.”


Tonia cocked her head to the side. “Oh really? That’s great. Didn’t she just have twins?”

“No, they’re two already. Little terrors.” I grinned.


“They sound like fun. I’ll have to meet them sometime.” She smiled up at me.


“Sure. We’ll need to go over these notes.”
Ben slugged me on the shoulder. “See you guys later.” He knew I’d had a crush on Tonia since the beginning of the school year.


“See ya.” I waved at Tonia and went to my locker. I got to hang out with Tonia Martinez. Maybe I could handle today after all.

***

After school was done for the day, I hurried out the door, avoiding any more talk about the elections. I’d been bugged nonstop about having my sister beat me. Again. There
was no baseball because of the game later that night so I went home to grab something to eat. Megan wouldn’t be home, and I looked forward to having a little peace to myself.

Mom must have taken the twins somewhere, because the house was empty when I got home. I left
all my stuff in the front hallway for Megan to pick up. Why do it when I knew she would? I headed to the kitchen to grab a soda and a bag of chips.

The doorbell rang and I turned around, grumbling at the interruption. I needed to get
homework done. I set my snacks on the counter and went in to the hallway.

When I couldn’t see anything in the peephole, I was even more annoyed. I opened the door, to find a very strange little man standing there. I could have sworn he was a leprechaun. Either that, or a salesman who loved his green.

“Can I help you?” I asked.

“Louie’s the name. I’m here . . .” He wrung his hands together before shaking his head and muttering something about gold. “I’m here to offer you the chance of a
lifetime.”

“What do you mean?” Yep. Salesman. I should have just ignored the doorbell.

“I’m part of a group of leprechauns who offer people luck. We give you a free trial, and if you like it, you can buy more.”

Luck? I could use some of that about now. But not from this creepy dude.

“We’re all good. Thanks.” I tried to shut the door, but the leprechaun stopped it with his hand.

“You don’t know what you’re missing out on. You could have everything. You’d be the star of your town. If you buy enough, you could become famous.”

“You can’t honestly think I’d believe you’d just hand me anything I want. No one can just give away luck.” I laughed and tried to close the door.

“Do you believe in this?” Louie snapped his fingers and a gold coin appeared. He rolled it along his fingers before he snapped again and it disappeared.

I swallowed, staring at his hand where the coin had just been. Well, that was . . . odd. Of course, it could have been an illusion. Seriously, though, this was tempting. I could finally beat Megan at something. I considered it for a moment before
shaking my head. “I’m sorry. I can’t. I don’t even know you.”

The little man grinned. “I was hoping you’d say that.” He snapped his fingers and cackled before disappearing.

I stared at the empty doorway for a second before dropping to the ground, lightheaded. What had
he just done?

***

When the dizziness finally passed, I stood and closed the door. I went to the kitchen to grab my snack and go back to my room. I didn’t see my brother William’s toy truck on the ground and tripped on it. Normally I could catch myself pretty well, but right after the truck was Maddie’s princess doll. I had no chance.

Battered, and bruised, I pulled myself up and stumbled the rest of the way to my room. After pushing all the junk off my bed, I collapsed onto it in pain. I pulled my headphones on and started my homework. My headache wasn’t helping me concentrate at all. After getting a math problem wrong several times, I finally gave up and laid my head down on the book.

“Adam?” Mom poked her head into the room.


“Yeah?”

“What time is your game again?”


“It’s at 6:00. I have to be there at 5:30.” I closed my book. “Are you coming?”