30 First Dates Read Online Free PDF Page A

or someone you know have the charm, style, and personality to be our next star? If so, apply or nominate someone now!" Erin glanced over the rest of page, which contained contact information and an abc.com web address. She continued scanning to the bottom, where she saw in tiny print the words, "All applicants must be at least twenty-one years of age."
    She shook her head slowly, not sure whether to feel flattered or insulted. She chose the former and laughed to herself before crumpling up the sheet of paper and tossing it into the trash can beside her desk. Then she rose from her chair, walked to the large whiteboard at the front of the classroom, and began to erase the examples she'd scribbled there in the past hour. While she was doing that, her sixth-hour students began to trickle in and take their seats.
    "Hey, Miss Crawford, uh, can you come here a second?"
    She turned from the board and saw Manny Escovar, a B student who'd been slipping into the Cs , staring down at the open notebook on his desk with a perplexed look on his face. She walked over and helped him pinpoint the spot where the equation in his homework had gone wrong. She glanced down the page and saw he hadn't even attempted the rest of the assignment.
    The rigors of teaching trig to a roomful of largely apathetic sixteen-year-olds combined with the absurdity of what had just happened improved her perspective, and she faced the next hour with a clearer head.
     
    *  *  *
     
    Later that evening, she slid onto a scratched wood stool at another Uptown bar with Sherri, Ben, and a woman named Lesley, a co-worker of Sherri's. Lesley's straight blonde hair was poufy at the crown and streaked with multicolored highlights. Her tan was sprayed on, her green V-neck top was a little too tight, and her cleavage was deep and man-made. Erin described the Bachelorette incident and they all laughed, herself included.
    "I'd like to be the Bachelorette," Sherri said, a dreamy look on her face.
    Erin grinned. "I don't think the cleaners come on Mondays. I can pull the ad out of the trash for you."
    Sherri gave her a sour look. "Yeah, I'm sure they'd pick me, with these thighs."
    Erin reached across the table and poked her shoulder. "OMG, would you give it up already? You're skinny as a rail."
    "Yeah, right." She sighed. "It doesn't matter anyway. I couldn't even act in the third-grade play. Total basket case. I ran off the stage and embarrassed my mom half to death. She made my costume. I was an oak tree." Sherri paused, no doubt picturing her eight-year-old self clad in brown and green hand-sewn felt. She sighed and poked Erin back. "You should apply though. You're not shy at all."
    "Yeah, Erin. You should apply." Ben's eyes were mocking, and she gave him a dirty look.
    "No," she said, laughing. "Never in a million years would I even consider it."
    She studied the pock-marked table and tried to keep her face from giving anything away, but she felt Ben's eyes reading through her. Sure enough, twenty minutes later, after Sherri left to take Lesley home—they carpooled so they could use the HOV lane on the LBJ Expressway—he called her on it.
    "So you're really going to apply for The Bachelorette , aren't you? I know you. It's written all over your face."
    She scrunched up her bar napkin and tossed it at him. "No, I am not going to apply for The Bachelorette . I meant what I said—never in a million years."
    He raised his eyebrows.
    "It's really unfair how you do this to me." She stared at him for a few seconds and he stared back.
    "You are."
    "No! I am not applying to The Bachelorette ." She paused, not sure she was willing to let him in on the idea she'd only halfway formed. She wasn't aware until that moment that she'd already resolved to do it.
    She let out a long sigh.
    "I've been thinking about The Bachelorette , but not about applying. And I've been thinking about what you said about my list."
    He looked surprised. "What I said?"
    "You know, that thing you said about