OPPORTUNITY SYSTEM: THE RISE TO FAME

Chapter 2, Nothing but your misery

James sat up so quickly that the nurse attending to him yelped in fear. He was breathing heavily, his chest heaving. He looked around, he was lying in a cozy bed, a drip attached to his hand. The whole place smelled strongly of antiseptic. Of course. He was in the clinic.

He looked at the nurse who was staring at him, still looking a little frightened.

"Who shouted?" He asked her.

"What?" She said.

"Who shouted? Someone shouted my name right now."

"Nobody shouted your name. It's been only me here." The nurse said.

"But I heard someone……." His voice trailed off. The nurse was giving him a strange look, as though worried about his mental health.

"How did I get here? What happened." He asked instead.

"The guy you had a fight with, uh………"

"Randy?" I said, my teeth gritted in anger.

"Yeah, Randy. He knocked you out cold. What were you thinking picking up a fight with a guy like that?" The nurse said, raising an eyebrow.

I didn't reply. It was bad enough that I had been humiliated by the guy I had caught my girlfriend with, not to have this nurse rubbing the defeat in my face.

"Anyway, some members of the gym called an ambulance. You suffered a head concussion." The nurse said.

"How long do I have to be here?" He asked quietly.

"Well," the nurse said. "I initially thought you'd need to stay here for a couple of days but you seemed to have made a quick recovery, haven't you? I will just need to check a few things and if everything is right, you'll be going today."

The nurse walked out of the room. James was deep in thought. He wasn't thinking about Randy or his girlfriend, Selena. He was thinking about the strange dream he had. Was it a dream? It had seemed so real. He could almost still feel the hot sand on his feet.

He searched around him and found his phone. He checked his account balance. Nothing has happened. It was just a silly dream then?

"James?" The nurse was back in the room. In her hands were the pieces of equipment she wanted to test him with.

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James was discharged from the clinic. The nurse had tested him but he seemed perfectly fine.

He was walking along the road, he didn't know exactly where to go. He didn't want to go back to work, not after what had happened when he was making a delivery. He didn't want to go home and be bored there. Instead, he felt a crazy urge to visit Selena. He chided himself quietly. She had betrayed him, and left him for a richer man after he had sacrificed everything for her.

He continued walking. In the distance, he saw that the school cafe was open. He was hungry anyway so he walked towards the café.

He walked into the cafe and ordered coffee. He sat down at his table and checked his phone. He was half expecting to see a credit alert of a million dollars but there was nothing. His bank balance remained at fifty dollars. He almost felt disappointed.

"Hey, isn't this Jackson, the broke delivery man." Someone shouted at him and there was laughter. James whirled around and scowled when he saw who it was. It was Randy, the guy who had snatched his girlfriend from him. He was sitting surrounded by four of his cronies.

"Yo Jackson, is it true that you, your mom, and your siblings all live in one room? " Randy shouted at him and his cronies laughed again.

James sighed and continued sipping coffee, though his insides were boiling. He didn't want any trouble again. Perhaps if he just kept his head down and said nothing, they would stop.

"Or perhaps it isn't a room. Perhaps it is a jungle in Africa." Randy yelled at him.

Okay, now that was racist. James could not take it anymore. He stood up, knocking down his coffee. He was trembling in anger.

"What do you want from me, Randy? You already took Selena from me. What else do you want?"

"What do I want from you? Nothing but your misery Jackson. I want to see you suffer." Randy sneered.

James started forward towards Randy, knocking down chairs in the process. Randy also stood up with his cronies, ready for a fight. Their faces were close to each other. James was heaving in anger but Randy was smiling.

"You want to have another go?" Randy said. "I guess one night in the hospital wing wasn't enough to teach you a lesson."

James had to control the urge to punch him in the face. He didn't want any trouble but Randy was really pushing it. He closed his eyes and tried to down his anger.

"Leave me alone, Randy." I said. "Leave-me-alone!"

"Or what?!" He said and his cronies laughed again.

At that moment, the door to the cafe opened again and a mailman walked in. He looked around the cafe, as though searching for someone.

"James Jackson!" He yelled. "Is James Jackson in here?"

James raised his hand and he walked towards him. He brought out an envelope and handed it to him.

"I looked for you in the clinic but they said you had left. I was asked to give you this." The mailman said.

The envelope had the emblem of the school on it. James opened it slowly and brought out a letter. He began to read the letter slowly his face shocked as he perused its content. He felt like fainting.

Randy snatched the letter from him and read it. He let out a laugh and passed the letter to his cronies.

"Yo, Jackson's been suspended and his scholarship got revoked." He said admist laughter. "For: 'violent conduct against Mr. Randy Heffley'."

"But….but…." James stuttered. "But it was the both of us who fought. You even attacked me first. Why am I suspended while you are not?"

Randy laughed harder than ever. He flung the letter back in James' face.

"I forgot to mention something to you James," Randy said. "My father is the owner of this school. I can never get suspended."

Then guffawing, he pushed James roughly out of the way and walked out of the cafe with his cronies.

"Jackson?" The mailman said he was still standing there, waiting. "You still have to sign this form."

James barely heard him. He couldn't even think straight. He sank to his knees slowly, crying hard.