OPPORTUNITY SYSTEM: THE RISE TO FAME

Chapter 3, The challenge

James trudged home slowly, still clutching his letter of suspension in his hands. He didn't think he had ever felt this heartbroken before. Nothing he had ever experienced compared to this level of sadness.

He had his future in his hands but he had thrown it away. He had the opportunity to finally make something of himself but he had been too dumb, too stupid.

He had come from a poor family, a broken home. His parents had gotten divorced when he was just four years old. His father never paid child support so his mother had to grind it hard, working three jobs just to make ends meet. Now,  just when things seemed to finally be looking up for him; he got a scholarship into one of the biggest schools in the country, he got a job, he got a girlfriend, he had blown it all in one stupid move. He had blown it!

If only he could have reversed time he wouldn't have. He would have not confronted Randy. He would have just left him to kiss and grope his girlfriend in peace. Now he had lost everything.

What was he going to do? Would he drop out? He didn't want to. He had worked too hard to get here just to give up now. So what could be done? Take a loan to pay the school fees? He didn't know. He could not think straight. His head was crammed with gloomy thoughts.

He finally got to the street of his house. It was evening and most of the students were outside, enjoying the fresh air, some of them were couples, holding hands. He thought fleetingly of Selena. The times they had stood together here, holding hands. He tried to rid himself of those thoughts. He didn't want to think of her but she kept cropping up in his head.

One or two people looked at him curiously as he walked past slowly, looking miserable, his face stained with tears. He ignored them. He felt like he was not like them. He felt cut out from them, felt out of place. They had their future secured by wealthy parents who owned big companies or worked in large establishments and pumped in hundreds of dollars weekly for their kids. He didn't.  What was he anyway? Just a poor black boy, alien in a world of the rich and the influential.

He got to his house. It was dark. There was no electricity. He had been too broke to pay an electricity bill so his electricity had been cut. Someone was there, the mailman. He was putting some envelopes in his mailbox. It was the same mailman that had delivered the letter of suspension to him earlier.

"How are you doing, Jackson?" The mailman asked.

James merely shook his head miserably. The mailman smiled sympathetically but didn't say anything else. He got on his bike and rode off.

James wiped the tears from his face with his sleeve. He walked towards the mailbox and opened it to check the letters that had been delivered. Most of it was nothing but overdue bills, his electricity bill was especially long. There was also a letter from his workplace telling him he had been fired for misconduct. This didn't surprise him, it merely added to his feeling of misery. He had expected that.

James dumped it all back in the mailbox. He felt almost disappointed. He had felt a little twinge of hope when he saw the mailman. It was as though he was expecting a cheque of a million dollars. It was so ridiculous he had a crazy urge to laugh out loud. It was just a dream. Just a silly dream he had had when he was in a coma. He had to get that into his head. There was no 'million dollars' from any 'opportunity system' coming to save him.

He opened the door to his house and walked in. Everywhere was dark. He switched on the flashlight on his phone. The whole place was messy. Unwashed plates lay on the floor and his dirty laundry was all over the bed and the floor. He was not in the mood to clean up. He merely shifted some clothes and lay on the bed. He didn't bother changing out of his clothes or locking the door. He fell into a strangely calm sleep.

After what seemed like only a minute, James' eyes snapped open again. It was already morning and the sunlight blazed in from the windows.

He checked the time on his phone. It was 10:47. He felt sudden panic as he thought he was going to be late for class but the feeling of panic was quickly eclipsed by a gloomy one when he remembered. He had been suspended. He couldn't attend any classes.

He stretched and yawned.  What was he going to do today? He had been fired so he could not go to work and he had been suspended so he could not go to class. He supposed he would just sit all day alone in his house feeling sorry for himself.

Someone was honking outside his apartment. He wasn't too perturbed about it. Some students living in this street owned their cars anyway.

He got up and entered the bathroom. He brushed, showered, and put on some clothes. The honking had still not stopped. James tried to ignore it as he cleaned up his room. It was probably just a wild student making a nuisance early in the morning. The honking however grew louder and more obnoxious until James couldn't take it anymore. He dropped the clothes he had been packing and stormed outside.

"Hey, do you mind keeping it down?!" He yelled at the red sports car that had been making all that noise, annoyed.

The person in the car wound down the glass slowly. James' annoyance grew into fury when he saw who it was. Randy! He was the one that had been honking for the past twenty minutes. Was this guy ever going to just leave him the heck alone?

"Hey, Jackson," Randy smirked. "Just came to check if you've gotten your black ass out of my dad's school yet."

"I have only been suspended, Randy," James shouted back.  "I can still stay in the school."

Randy got down from the car and walked towards him slowly, looking intimidating. He wore a shirt with some buttons undone to show his muscles. James noticed some students walking to class had stopped, their attention drawn to both of them.

"I wasn't talking about suspension, you little dunce." He said, loud enough for everyone around to hear. "I am talking about your scholarship, how it has been revoked. I know better than anyone that you cannot afford a penny of the school fees."

Some people watching laughed and Randy smirked at him.

"It is none of your business," James growled, turning to walk back into his apartment.

"If I were you Jackson I would drop out like a good little dog and return back to my cave in Africa," Randy yelled at him.

James turned back, his eyes red in anger. Randy was smiling in his face, his hands in his pockets. It took all of James' willpower not to punch his stupid face.

"Okay, Randy. You think you are such a tough guy don't you?" James snarled. "Let's have a little bet. If I don't pay off my debt and school fees in the next twenty four hours, I will leave this school for good. But if I pay off my debt,  you get suspended from the team, right before the big final on Saturday plus I get Selena back."