In the arms of one of the football players was his girlfriend, Macy. Macy had been his girlfriend for a few months and he really liked her. She was one of the prettiest girls in the school, and when she had agreed to be his girlfriend, he had been so proud.
Snapping back to reality, he looked at her again and realized she was there with one of the football players. Confused, he asked her, “Macy? What the fuck? What are you doing here?”
The football player was not pleased with this line of speech, and he turned to Macy to look at her, “you know this dude?”
“Yeah, he's the boyfriend I was telling you about.”Nodding in understanding, the guy left the couple with each other.
“Deal with your issues, ” he said, smiling, “ and call me later.”“Of course, ” Macy called, watching him as he left.When he was gone, she turned to Jason. “Why are you here, Jason?”
“What do you mean by that? You were with that football player. We're together! You were cheating on me!”“No, answer my question. What are you doing here? After school hours? And why are you holding a mop?”
“I'm working.”“Okay, what do you mean by that?”
“I work here after school to make some money. You know my mum lost her job-”“Yeah, stop talking about that, I don't care about that. You're telling me I'm dating a janitor?”“I am not a janitor. I just needed some extra cash!”
“Whatever!”“Can we focus? I just caught you in the bathroom with a football player, cheating on me.”“Look-”“No, you listen. The reason I'm working so hard here is so I can get you that thing you said you wanted, the purse? I am working after school so I can afford it and give you other shifts for your birthday and you do this?
What is wrong with you? You're my girlfriend, and you should not even be talking to anyone else but me. But you're shagging a football player? I can't believe you!”
Furious, he dropped the broom stick and turned away. He could barely believe his eyes. While he was working hard and sweating, picking up dirty socks and cleaning up after the dirty boys who used the locker rooms, who messed up the school halls, when was cheating on him.He was cleaning glitter and sand for nothing!
“Look, Jason, it's really not such a big deal. You know we started dating sometime back, yes?”Thinking back, Jason nodded. He had been sending her notes and one day when he asked her to be his girlfriend, she agreed and they had gotten into a relationship. Why was she bringing that up?
“Right, and how does that even matter in the conversation? Macy, you cheated.”
“Look, Jason, ” she started, “you don't really believe we're together, right? ”“Macy? What do you mean? ”Rolling her eyes and sighing, she continued, a frown wrinkling her forehead. “I only got together with you because of a game of truth or dare. The boys had seen that you liked me and daredme to go out with you. ”
“So you're saying-”
“I have never liked you, Jason. You know this. So why are you acting like it was a big deal that I was playing with that guy? Our relationship is a sham. Why else would I be with a loser like you? ”Wounded, Jason brought her out of the bathroom and tried speaking to her. “I love you, Macy. Please don't do this to me. ”
He had made a wrong move with that, because she immediately started laughing at him, a deep sound that grated on his ears. He had seen this side of her, but it had never been directed at him.
“Jason, do me a favor. Look at yourself in the mirror. It's okay, I'll wait here for you. Go in the bathroom and look at yourself. ” Hopelessly, he walked into the bathroom, taking a look at himself in the mirror.
“What about it? ” he asked, leering at himself in the mirror.
“You are not in the same class as I am, Jason. You cannot even afford to buy me a phone. You're so poor you have to work at your own school! How can you not see that that is a huge problem? ”“Macy, please,” he begged.
“I could never be with someone as poor as you. ” Jason stood there, tears running down his cheeks and she continued to deliver her insults at him.Just then, the door to the locker room creaked open, and the football player walked in to put his clothes into the washer. “You guys are still here? Isn't he a janitor? If you like your boyfriend, you should let him get to work. ”
Giggling and twirling a lock of her hair in her fingers, she told him, right in front of Jason. “Oh, him? We're breaking up right now, don't worry about it, okay? ”
Laughing, the boy opened his wallet and there a few notes at Jason, smiling. I overheard you saying you're actually poor, didn't I? I would like to help. ”
Knowing that the boy was one of the footballers and that an insult would be coming with whatever help he was rendering, Jason waved the offer away, thanking him.
“No, but thank you, I don't want your help. ”
“Now now, Jason, ” piped in Macy, “you had better take it. You don't make enough cleaning the floors. ”“I am fine.”
Ignoring Jason's remark, the football player finally found what hebwas looking for, some crumpled up dollar bills that had been at the bottom of his wallet.Walking over to Jason, he whipped them out, opened his palm and then placed them in there, folding his fingers over the bills.
“Get yourself something nice and leave me and Lacy here alone. ”“Her name is Macy! ” yelled Jason, running towards the guy. It was an impulse he should not have acted on, but he had, and it was much too late to take any of it back.
The guy was one of the school's biggest boys and had many things as an advantage over him, but Jason was too insulted by everything he had been
doing since he first saw the guy.Before he could even get a hit out to the guy, Jason had been hit in the stomach twice, and snapped in the forehead. He felt dizzy, and he was sure he was going to faint, but in the distance he could hear Macy cheering on the footballer.
The footballer left him there feeling faint and went to take his clothes out of the washer, while in the meantime, Macy stood over him with her heels and asked him why he was so stupid.
“Why are you so poor and so foolish? Now Dan has to beat you up to teach you a lesson. What a pity. I almost felt bad for you, being my ex and all, ” she tittered, laughing.
When Dan the footballer came back, he grabbed a marker from a nearby surface and rolled Jason over to write a message on his back.
Jason struggled, but he couldn't stop the guy from writing.“ S-O-R-E L-O-S-E-R,” spelled Dan, capping the marker.
Laughing, he and macy left him sprawled on the floor.Afraid to be hit again, Jason stayed sprawled on the floor for quite some time. He could not believe his luck. Not only was the girl that he loved dating him for pity, but he had been mocked just because he was poor.His father worked far away and had never been able to send too much money home, and he felt it would be selfish to even ask him for money, since he was working so hard. Now look where that had gotten him. He sat up and pulled his shirt down, covering the stupid inscription that had been written on his back. He felt his anger rise again. If only he could become rich overnight, maybe he could get another job asides this one? Just as soon as he had adopted that train of thought, he brushed it away too. He was not going to get any other job. He had looked at every other option before finally landing on this one, so where would he go? He considered everything as his shoulders began to shake.Why was he so helpless? Why did he have to b so poor? It made no sense to him at al
He walked down the stairs and headed towards the kitchen for some breakfast. His mother was still asleep because it was the weekend, so he poured out some cereal into a bowl, grabbing the last of the milk in the kitchen. As he settled down to eat, he heard the doorbell ring, and he set down his spoon into the bowl of cereal, milk splashing down the sides of the full bowl. Just great.In his excitement to open the door, leftover tremors from his newfound wealth had made him drop the spoon too fast, and now not only would he have soggy cereal, he had a mess to clean up.He walked over to the door and yanked down the handle, expecting to see someone. Instead, he noticed that the bill of the mailbox was lowered, signifying that they had new mail.His mother was on top of the bills, luckily for them, but curiosity got the better of him, and he went over to the mailbox, pulling out a small box that rattled whenever he shook it. Back inside the house, he took a seat at the island again and
In the first shop he saw, he looked through the windows and saw that they sold dresses. He had no idea what size of dress that Ashley wore, so he couldn't get her a dress. He moved forward and saw that it was mostly dresses being sold in that part of town. He finally decided to step into one for lack of a better idea. Immediately he walked in, he expected a salesperson to come to his attention.Yet, nothing of the sort happened. Quickly, he stepped out, overwhelmed. He had noticed that there was a small number of people in the store from the window, but he hadn't thought much of it and had carelessly walked in.He kept walking until he saw a store that sold women's purses. Purses were safe, right? If he got her a purse, she could use it, and it meant that he didn't have to worry about sizing. He walked into the shop and was immediately ambushed by a salesperson. It seemed like it was a slow business day, and she was excited to have a customer until she looked at him from top till bo
With the sound of the falling bracelet, all of them turned over to look at him, and he quickly bent down to the floor to pick it up. He had hoped that the sound had gone unnoticed in the store, but he knew it was wishful thinking.When he got back up and raised his head back up, he saw that everyone was looking at him, the salesperson, Macy, and the footballer. When they saw him, the young couple started laughing, and he felt color rush into his cheeks.They walked over to him, her hand wrapped in his and poked at his cheek. “Jason? Come on now. You're too poor for this place, what are you looking for? ” The footballer went to stand behind him, and grabbed him by the arm. “Come on, get out. We don't want you stealing anything, do we?” he asked, getting a chorus of no from the women.“I have just as much of a right to be here as you!” he heard himself saying. And it was true. These people didn't know what funds he had, yet they had the gall to treat him like a common thief. He had sta
Macy remained standing in place, her minded wide open and gaping. He would be worried about her, but even in his kindness, he remembered that she was the ex that had broken his heart so brutally a few days before.“You were going to show me your jewelry, right?” he asked the salesgirl, raising a brow. She had gone ahead of him, and was already showing him different things she thought he would like.“Do you like diamonds? Precious stones? I'm sure we could find something special in store for you. Do you have a budget?”At a loss for words, he merely shrugged, choosing to keep browsing. He felt an intense gaze on his skin, and he turned around to find that it was only Macy.Her eyes had softened in a way that they had never softened before, and her eyes had gotten dewy. He felt like she was eyeing him like he was a piece of meat, which made him uncomfortable.“Baby!” she suddenly shrieked, and he looked over to the football player, who was also standing there, expectant. Instead, she w
The manager came back out with the salesgirl, and Jason was overjoyed at the sight of someone else beside the three people in the store. All three of them seemed to have some vendetta against him. She was a lovely looking woman, with short brown hair, and she looked friendly enough.“It's him! That's the thief!”The manager didn't say a word and simply went to the table, picking up the hairpin. “Is this what he stole?”“Yes!”Stole? He had not stolen anything! Why was this happening to him? She set the hairpin down and noticed the other things on the table. She turned sharply to him with a sweat running down her face. “This ring. Is it yours? Oh dear God. I shouldn't have come in to work today.” Jason stood in place, wondering what was going on. He picked up his ring and slipped it on his index finger.“Look, I have already seen enough. I paid for that purse, so if I could just have the box and leave? That would be great. Thank you.He watched the manager blanche white at that sugg
When he got home, his mum seemed to be in a good mood, so he kissed her hello and asked how her day had gone.“Oh, it was okay. I got a call from your father and he seemed Inna dapper mood. I'm assuming he has told you? We're not poor?”“Yeah, he has,” he responded, smiling.“Well that's good, now we don't have to worry and you can quit that god awful job that you have.”“Yeah, that's a plus.”Suddenly remembering something, he tells his mother that he has a party to attend that night with his friends. “It's Ashley's birthday tomorrow, but the party is today. That's what the gift bag is for ”He gestured vaguely at the bag and told her more. “I am going to have to go there because it is the first time I've ever been invited to an event like this.”“Go ahead Jason,” she smiled. “Will you be fine for dinner or should I make you some?”“I'm alright. I have a few hours to kill before the party, should I tell you what happened at the shops?”“I would love that!” she exclaimed, and he told
He went over to the table and set down the gift, noting that it had been an hour and more and more people had shown up to the party. The room was almost full, and he admired the lighting.Someone had gone all out for this party, and he admired their effort. He wondered if it was Ashley herself, then decided against it. They had probably not stressed the birthday girl on her day.Soon she came down the stairs and things went into full swing. The party had poured from the front of the house to the other sides and out on the porch, and kids ran around with punch that he suspected was spiked.Ashley walked up to him and tried to introduce him to her cousin, a girl named Cate. Cate was a pretty girl, and he could admit that himself. She had long blonde hair that she was wearing in a thick braid, and she had angelic blue eyes to match. She looked classy, rich, and he was afraid to say a word to her.Ashley gave him a hard elbow to the side and the words spluttered out of his mouth. “Ow- Hi