Jake Klien: Rise Of The Young Trillionaire

HEY TWERP!

“You deaf or something?!” the voice yelled as the person—appearing as a hulking silhouette in the dark of the night—approached him swiftly.

Jake made no attempt to speed up or try to get away from him. As the person got closer, he recognized the voice. It was Drex's voice, he probably wanted to get back at Jake for what happened between the both of them the other day at work. Jake was not in the mood to deal with that kind of confrontation. He was still pondering these thoughts when he felt a strong pull on his shoulder, which sent him falling off his bike and onto the pavement, bruising his knees and elbows.

“You think you're such a tough guy huh?! I'll show you punk!” Drex said, kicking Jake in his midsection as he lay on the ground.

Jake coughed and spat on the spot as the kick immediately knocked the air out of his lungs.

“What do you want from me?!” Jake screamed at Drex.

“To finish the fight you started, Twerp!” Drex said as he threw another punch. Although, his blow didn't hit the target. His fist was sharply caught by Jake.

“If you want a fight, you've just gotten a damn good one.” Jake said. His voice, thicker, echoed through the night. His eyes were fiery with anger and unhidden rage.

“Bring it on, son of a bitch.” Drex said proudly. Jake threw himself up in an instant and landed a heavy blow on Drex’s nose. Drex stumbled as the attack took him by surprise. He was still staggering when Jake landed another punch on his jaw. This time, Drex fell to the ground as blood rushed out of his nostrils and his jaw was bruised.

He looked up to see Jake standing over him. He attempted to stand up, but Jake kicked him in the chest, knocking the air out of him. Drex was drained of strength as he couldn't recover from the unexpected attack put up by his opponent.

“You picked the wrong night for a showdown, Drex!” Jake said as he used his legs to roll Drex away from his bike. Then mounted his bike, put on his airpods and paddled away from the scene.

Drex lay there, almost lifeless as he watched Jake paddle away on his bicycle. He couldn't believe that Jake had once again defeated him. He watched Jake vanish into the darkness of the night and then he blacked out.

***

Jake got home. He had mixed feelings of depression, anxiety, anger from the encounter with his boss, Maria that night, and of course—contempt from beating Drex up only a few minutes ago. He didn't know what to expect next. He had just declined his boss's sexual advances towards him, he had lost his temper and also insulted her there and then. He didn't even know if he had any chances of keeping his job at KwikStop Pizza—not with what he had already done to Maria that evening. She was never going to forgive him for what he had done. And what about Drex? He was a maniac. He wouldn't let Jake have the last laugh. Only God knows what he would plan to do to Jake next. He had quite a rough day, but he desired a peaceful night. So he wasn't going to let these worries keep him up tonight. He was going to sleep, as he had a studio session scheduled for tomorrow morning. He walked to his wardrobe and pulled out his guitar. It had been a gift from his Mom while she was still alive. He smiled at the thought of temporarily escaping the worries of his life by diving into the beautiful world of music, where only musical notes, lyrics, percussion and cadence mattered. He lay down on his bed and slept almost immediately.

***

The rays of sunlight peered sharply through the curtains, illuminating the previously dark room. Jake was woken up by the rays of sunlight which had hit his face as the sun rose. He squinted as the sun rays pierced his eyes. He stood up, grabbed some water and looked at the time on his phone. It was past six in the morning. It was Sunday morning, and he had a studio session scheduled for the entire day—that was the benefit of scheduling a studio session on a Sunday—the studio is mostly empty on Sundays, so he didn't have to worry about being rushed to finish his song so that another artist can come in to use the studio. He immediately went to freshen up, whipped up breakfast and headed out with his guitar strapped onto his back. He decided to leave his bike at home and jog to the studio instead.

On getting to the studio, he saw his producer-friend, Max Teal. Max had played a big part in encouraging Jake to persist in his own unique sound, even though the major labels had refused to accept his unique sound. And he had always been there to help Jake record his songs, they had become more than friends, they were more or less brothers now.

“Ay yo Jake!!!” Max called out to Jake.

“Hey broski. What's good?!” Jake greeted.

“I'm jiggy bro. You ain't looking bad yourself.” Max responded.

“Thanks man!” Jake appreciated his compliment.

“So… what are we cooking today Jakes Nas X?!” Max asked, teasing Jake.

“Hey!” Jake said, feeling offended.

“What? I don't see you coming up with a cool artist named bro.” Max said, chuckling.

“Jake Nas X?! That's the best you could come up with?” Jake asked him.

“It's actually Jakes, with an 's'—you omitted the 's'-—” Max said laughing.

“—Oh, and it sounds so much better with the 's' in it huh?” Jake said sarcastically.

“Enough chit-chat Mi Amigo, let's get to it.” Max said, putting on his headphones. “Get in the booth homie!” he continued.

“Alright bro.” Jake responded. He unsheathed his guitar, picked up a pair of headphones, put them on and stepped into the recording booth.