Stone x Reader

Chapter 13: New day, New hobo

       A ferocity shook you out of your sleep. Today would be a new day. A day where you can completely become a different person without any prior work... At least that's what you wanted.

      All that mattered was proving Stone wrong in his dumb, cigarette-smoking face. So what if you only had one hobo lesson? If life could magically turn out better for the characters in your books, why not you? 

     You strode out of your house with this sorely misplaced confidence. So much so, that David thought it a good idea to bring it to attention.

    "Someone's excited this morning..."

   You smartly turned to the old man with a puffed out chest. 

     "So? What's it to you?" 

     It only took five seconds to deflate under yourself. Maybe you should only spit the venom at Stone.

    "I'mreallysorryI'mnottryingtoberudeIjust-"

   "Slooooow down, kiddo. I've heard worse things than that. I'm just wondering what's got you all hopped up."

   "Well, I..." the more you thought about it the more stupid it sounded, "I'm trying to be more tough."

         He furrowed his brows at you.

    "Well, not tough exactly. I'm just trying to hype myself up for today. Those hobo kids I told you about? There's this one that's just..." 

     You couldn't find the words, so you grunted to get your point across. 

    "He doesn't think I can do this. So I told him I'll prove him wrong. That I can be just like them. If not better!" 

     David was silent for a few seconds. Longer than you would've liked...

   "What?" you pestered.

    "Look," he started uneasily, "I'm glad you're takin' a step to stand up for yourself, but I don't think-"

    "You don't think I'm able to do it?? That I'm too spineless?!"

    David put his hands up. "That's not what I'm saying-"

      "But you're thinking it!!" You couldn't believe your ears. Even if you were aware they were being selective.

       He halted the carriage to take a look at you. He looked more like the stern old men you see at your parents parties. Just that look alone caused you to shrink. You avoided eye contact and waited for a reprimand.

       The old man sighed and took off his cap.

      "Hey. I'm not gonna be an ass like your folks." He softly reassured. "All I'm saying is that maybe you need to rethink this whole 'being tough' thing. You're different. Maybe you can use that to be a good hobo."

      You looked at him incredulously. Did he not know how this place works??!!

      "Do you not know how this place works??!! Every day these guys act like the worst of the worst. And that's in order to survive. How am I gonna survive if I can't be like them?!"

     David didn't have much of an answer for that. All you two could do was hope for the best. The rest of the ride was quiet. You spent it ruminating over the different ways you could be a good hobo, but it all came up empty.

      Brainstorming was put to a halt as Skipp waved you over.

      "Hey!" He noticed something was up. "You okay?"

       "Yeah! Yeah... Just- really excited for hobo lessons." You put on a strained smile and a forced thumbs up.

       Not wanting to make you late for your hobo school, Skipp decided to drop it for now. He'll most likely peck at it later.

      Slipping out of your riches and into your rags, you walked alongside Skipp to the teacher who couldn't read. As well as....

      "Oh great." Stone didn't realize it was time to deal with you already. Don't think just because he was drunk off his ass that he's forgotten about your soap-box speech. If chances were good, he might actually crack a smile at your failures.

       To ease the oncoming headaches from your incessant apologizing, he took one long swig of his drink. Or maybe it'll make it worse... Who knows.

      "Look who came back after public ridicule!" Skipp said in a way that wasn't any help in lifting your spirits. Although you appreciated the sentiment. However oblivious it was.

     "Hey! What happened to the other clothes we gave you?" Vinnie looked offended that her only student didn't use what was provided.

"... I'm pretty sure the other clothes gave me a rash." You said with a concerned stance.

"Yeah? And? That's the norm! Geez, we still got a long way to go." She rubbed a hand over her face. "Whatever! Today we're gonna go over the surefire way of getting moolah. Can anyone tell me what that is?"
Despite her lack of caring for any thing that doesn't involve her, she did seem to take this teacher thing seriously. It was mainly because of that money you owed, but still. Gotta give credit where it's due.

"Ooh! Ooh! I know!! Pick me!" Skipp was raising his hand.

"Not you Skipp." Vinnie was staring at you. Expecting an answer.

You seized up when Skipp couldn't answer the pop quiz. See- You hated getting things wrong.

So. Much.

And whenever you were afraid of saying the wrong answer, you kinda beat around the bush with it. And hope someone else will reach the conclusion for you while you look ashamed of yourself for not knowing it.

All of this to say, that that didn't happen. No one answered for you, and no one came to your rescue.

So to the best of your ability, with all your might, you opened your mouth to say-

"Oh my god it's scamming." Stone exasperated. "It's just scamming...! Do us all a favor and shut down those gears in your head before you explode, yeah?" He was gonna need a lot more drinks if he was gonna have to deal with your melodramatic bullshit.

'don'tcrydon'tcrydon'tcrydon'tcry' was the mantra repeating in your head. Meanwhile Vinnie frowned at Stone for interrupting her lesson.

"What the asshole said. We're gonna teach you how to scam!!!" She said with a confident smirk. "You ready newbie?"

Swallowing down the lump in your throat, you looked at Stone and remembered what you promised to yourself last night. You were gonna be a dang good hobo, and rub it in Stone's dang face!!!

With new resolve, you took a breath and answered Vinnie.

"What's it to you?"

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....You were gonna have to work on the lingo....