جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 10

That night, we went back to our tiny apartment with the leaky roof.My father hadn't said a word even after we got home. Instead, he grabbed a pair of clippers and stood in front of the cracked mirror. Then, he shaved off the bleached hair he had always been so proud of, leaving nothing but a close-cropped buzz cut behind.Finally, he crushed the half-pack of cigarettes left in his pocket and dumped the pieces down the drain.Meanwhile, my mother filled a basin with cold water and scrubbed the heavy makeup off her face with a bar of soap until her skin was raw.After that, she took a pair of scissors and snipped every pair of ripped fishnet stockings in the closet into strips of rags.Once they were done, their eyes were red rimmed as they raised their hand and swore under the dim lightbulb, "We're going to live like decent people from now on. We won't give anyone a chance to call our son a little gangster ever again."From that day on, my father started delivering takeout come r

The autumn wind was bitterly cold.However, a seed called ambition still took root and grew wildly in my young heart.…After I graduated from middle school, I was admitted to the best elite private high school in the entire state because I'd scored the highest grades in the city.The night my acceptance letter arrived, my mother and father didn't sleep a wink as they held the embossed envelope with wide eyes.I heard them sighing over and over in the living room through the thin crack of my bedroom door.After all, that school was filled with children from wealthy and influential families. Just the first semester's tuition, fees, uniforms, and dorm costs came to a whopping 50,000 dollars."50 grand… We couldn't come up with that kind of money even if we sold everything we had."My mother wiped away her tears, despair filling her voice.My father took a hard drag on his unlit cigarette, his fingers trembling."The money's one thing. I'll sell my blood or work under the table

Victor stood in the middle of the classroom, surrounded by a group of rich kids who treated him like he was the center of the universe.He froze momentarily when he saw me walk into the classroom. Then, a vicious gleam flashed across his eyes.He deliberately raised his voice so everyone in the room could hear."Well, look who it is! Isn't that the crippled beggar's son? How'd he manage to sneak in here? You guys had better keep an eye on your wallets and expensive watches. His parents used to be street punks with sticky fingers. Be careful not to let him swipe your stuff!"The classroom immediately erupted in harsh, mocking laughter.Several girls wearing flawless makeup pinched their noses and scooted their desks farther away from me as if they were avoiding the plague."Oh, my God, he reeks of poverty! How could the school let trash like him in?"I looked coldly at Victor's smug face and said nothing. Then, I walked to the seat in the far back corner and quietly sat down.I

The blond gangster raised the steel pipe as if he was about to bring it down on my right arm.I stood my ground, betraying not even the slightest hint of panic.Instead, I pulled my phone from my pocket, tapped the record button, and let the pale glow of the screen light up my emotionless face."I've already called the police. They'll be here in three minutes. How much did George pay you? Was it 10,000 or 20,000?"I spoke as casually as if I were merely haggling over prices at a farmers market and not being threatened with a steel pipe.The thugs froze and exchanged uneasy glances. They clearly hadn't expected a high school kid to stay this calm with a steel pipe pointed at him.I let out a scoff and dangled the bait that I'd prepared in advance."I'll pay double what he promised you. However, I want the recording of him telling you to beat me up, along with the transactions of him illegally using his company's funds to pay you. "Think about it. You'll make 20,000 at most if y

Eventually, the school administration called me into the dean's office due to the enormous pressure in the form of a petition signed by the school's affluent parents.The dean looked grim as he slammed a stack of printed forum posts onto the desk in front of me."Shawn, your grades are outstanding, but we cannot tolerate rumors that damage the school's reputation. If you can't put an end to this before the SATs, then we'll have no choice but to revoke your guaranteed admission spot for the sake of the school's reputation. "We may even have to ask you to withdraw."When I returned to the classroom, I was met with strange looks, whispered conversations, and open hostility from every direction.As I read the floating comments in front of me, I felt like the monster in my heart was trying to claw itself out of my heart."George is pure evil! He's trying to ruin Shawn's life!""Frankie and Tanya are at home, so desperate that they're praying to every deity that would listen to help