“Just shut up and look!” she said, shoving her hands into the pockets of her navy-blue, butt gripping, short shorts.
Thankfully, Jordan wasn’t drinking his coffee at the time. If he was, he would’ve spit it out all over the bright green and white bills Mia had in her hand. The bold numbers written with a ‘one’ followed by two ‘zeros’ were enough to make anyone’s heart race, and they were written on every bill.
“H-huh?” Jordan said. He was speechless; It was a surprise he managed to even say anything at all while Mia waved the stack of money closer to his hands.
That’s the reaction I was looking for, Mia thought.
“See? What did I tell you?” she said with a gleaming smile. However, that smile started to weaken with each moment Jordan didn’t return one. “Aren’t you happy?” she asked with her newly formed frown.
“Yeah, but,” Jordan said, finally able to choke a few words out. “You got all that on your own? In just a week?”
“Yep, four big ol’ figures,” she said, flicking her tongue playfully. “Come on! Take it! This’ll cover the eviction warning cost! And you can even buy yourself something! I don’t know. Fix the car or something! Then we can finally get you out of the house when you’re not in school,” she said, practically shoving the money toward Jordan.
“You do know what I’m about to ask you, right?”
“Well, don’t.”
“Well, no,” Jordan sighed. “Where the hell did you get this?”
“Can’t tell you. Not yet at least.”
“Well, that isn’t ominous at all,” Jordan said, finally accepting the money in his hands.
“Just a little more and maybe we can finally fix the hole in the bathroom window. How did that even get there?”
“What do you mean a ‘little’ more?” Jordan asked. “You don’t plan on doing what it is you did again do you? It isn’t anything like drugs or treason, right?”
“No drugs, no one was hurt, and no government was disbanded,” she laughed. “Trust me. We both keep doing what we’re doing and it’s gonna be okay, right?”
Jordan didn’t want to rain on Mia’s parade, especially after it was rained on only a week ago. She seemed so happy to be able to help keep their household together, but he would have had to tell her sooner or later. He shoved an opened envelope toward her; a folded letter bulged from the opening. She furrowed her brows in confusion as she slowly sat down on what seemed to be her personal kitchen chair. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and began to read the letter. Mia’s pupils slowly glided from left to right, then snapped back to their neutral position and she read line after line. Her eyes went cold and still, and she hadn’t even finished reading the letter.
“Fuck…” she squealed.
Jordan could hear the tears welling up in voice before they did in her eyes.
“I’m so sorry. Things have been a mess and you haven’t been able to keep your grades up and…”
“Fuck! No! Do you understand what losing the scholarship means?” she shouted, the trembling of her lips foretold the story of a face covered in a river of tears. She flung her right fist to the side, launching the cup of coffee Jordan had set out for her, smashing it into a set of sharp stones bathed in a sea of dark brown. Jordan tried to get a word in, but closed his eyes and turned away when Mia continued. “This is all I fucking have. This is what my dad and I trained months to get. And you’re telling me that’s all gone?”