[|]

The moment I got home, I began to think of the outfit I was going to wear at the party. It was a cosplay party, very nerdy if one would look at it from an unpopular person's point of view. But I knew it wasn't going to be anything like that as I've seen pictures of the kind of revealing outfits these people wore to their parties and now, I had to wear something like that fit into their party niche.

The only problem was that I had no money to get myself a real costume talk more of a cheap knockoff and no matter how tempting it was, I would never touch my college savings.

I also didn't want to embarrass myself so I went to my desktop computer in the corner and looked up the easiest cosplay outfits. I found a ton but none looked like something I could use my clothes to pass on as the costumes.

I had no choice, I needed to work extra hours to get one. And the only job that could get me that was walking dogs. At least, I could find something at the dollar store after the little I'll make.

"I have until today and tomorrow to make enough to buy me the things I'll need," I said and took off my clothes.

When the door opened, my heart almost stopped beating out of fear and shock. I snapped my head in the direction of the door and sighed in relief when I saw it was my mother, holding some folded clothes, probably from laundry.

"You scared me, mom. What the heck?"

"Oh, sorry. I came to drop off some of your washed clothes. I didn't know you were home," she said and dropped half of the folded clothes on the edge of my single bed.

"Thanks," I said and almost started to tell my mom about the party but held my tongue.

"I'll leave for work in an hour. I have to work extra hours again. The rent is due next week and the landlord has already been sending threatening texts."

My heart ached at her sad tone. Life has been hard for us since I was born. My late father was a mechanic who fed his family from the job he was doing but after his death, things got hard. My mom remarried but the lazy piece of shit that called himself my stepfather never helped for once. All he did was come home, eat, smoke his nasty cancer sticks and waste the power we paid on his stupid sports shows.

"Hey, how's school?" My mom asked, breaking my thoughts.

"It's great," I replied in a dismissive tone. Mom has been fearing the day I would finish high school because once I was done, I am supposed to head for college next but look at us, no hope of it.

The only thing I had saved was ten thousand dollars which were not going to even help me in any way. It was depressing but this is the life of a broke person.

"Okay. Take care," she said and left my room.

I sighed and thought back to the party. I laid on my back and sighed again, wishing the weekend would come and go, especially if I slept through it.

[|]

I pouted at the twenty dollars in my palm. This was what I made from walking dogs for over two hours. It was fully disappointing because those were the only dogs I walked today and tomorrow wasn't looking hopeful. With a defeated sigh, I put the money into my pocket and started to walk away from the house I did work for.

As I walked in silence for twenty minutes, I noticed a car moving very slowly beside me. I raised my head and looked to my left. I blinked at the sight of Maddy Kingston, the head of the cheerleading squad for the basketball team in an opened roof car. She was smiling at me while bobbing her head to the soft music playing in her car.

"Aren't you Jackie Garner?"

"Yes," I replied in a curt tone. Why were the popular kids suddenly talking to me? Was there some rumor going around that had my name attached to it?

Maddy eyed my body and patted the leather seat beside her.

"Get in, let me drop you off," she said and I became suspicious.

First of all, Maddy was a very rude and disrespectful person. She was the type who never mingled with people of her status and she expected me to sit in her car?

"No, thanks," I said and started to walk away.

"Come on, Jackie. Let me drop you off. I'm just being kind," she said as she drove beside me.

I sighed and looked around me. I was still far from home and I was planning on walking home because I needed to save the money I earned today. I rolled my eyes and walked to the car. I opened the door and sat down with my arms stiffly crossed.

"Thanks," she said and drove off.

The ride was silent for ten minutes before she cleared her throat.

"So, how are you?"

Weird question. Could she at least keep quiet until I reached my destination?

"Fine," I said coldly.

Maddy hummed. "I heard you'll be coming to Lucas' party. Is it true?"

I glanced at her, wondering where she heard such. No one knew about it.

"Don't worry, one of the cheerleaders heard Lucas inviting you over. You two were standing close to her locker."

"Uh, yes. He invited me," I replied, feeling uncomfortable. If the eavesdropper heard Lucas inviting me, she might've heard him talking about the phone he bought for me.

"Nice," Maddy said and took a turn into the highway. "Do you have anything to wear to the party? Seeing that it's a cosplay party and all."

I was about to tell her no but bit my bottom lip.

"Look, you don't have to front, Jackie. You know what? Why don't we go shopping?"

I raised an eyebrow at her while looking at her as if she'd gone crazy.

"Excuse me?"

Maddy shrugged. "I was heading to the mall anyway. So, let's go together. You've not gotten anything to wear, I suppose. While I buy mine, you buy yours. There's this nice store at the mall..."

I zoned out afterward as fear crept into my mind. I had no money to buy anything and now she was planning on taking me to an expensive store. I could not even bring myself to say no because it would be embarrassing. So, I nodded my head and pressed my back into the leather seat.

"It'll be fun," Maddy said excitedly.

"Yeah, fun," I replied, gulping.