It All Started In A McDonald's...

something's coming, i can smell it... shit my waffles are burning

Did I write something? It does appear so. Not a long note. Just welcome to the next part of Jamie's journey. It's been a long time coming lol.

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I woke up on the first day back at school without any particular emotion. Other than annoyance. Oh, and rage, of course, but that's a given.

Well, may as well impress my new loyal fans and intimidate the freshmen with my outfit today. Because I'm edgy as fuck, I got into painting my nails black (Loki dared me to and now we match) and I bought some ripped navy jeans because they were in the sale rack. That with my Black Sabbath tee, my hoodie and Doc Martens made me look the most fashionable I've ever been. I have the same backpack from last year and I've forgotten what exactly to put in it so I mostly put food in there. If my hair had been long enough I'd have tied it up to properly match the theme.

It doesn't bother me that my hair doesn't grow but it is undeniably weird. Especially since I had a conversation with Loki and learned his hair doesn't grow either. But, y'know, he's weirder than me.

I shrug it off at the bathroom mirror I'd been looking into and go into the the living room. Might as well head out now because there wasn't anything else to do. Maybe someone friendly would already be at school I could chat to.

To my surprise, MJ is right outside my apartment block and I nearly did a fucking backflip of surprise. She flicks her curly hair back like a sassy diva and puts her hands on her hips. "Finally, thought you were still asleep."

I stifled a yawn, which probably didn't help my case. "Morning to you too. I've been up half an hour, but I'm still tired from work last night."

That had been mine and Peter's last day at work and we'd worked for fourteen hours. I was almost glad to leave – it would've been a fun job if not for the boss... dude was a weirdo. I just know I'm going to smash Photography this year with all my experience. In total we've both earned like two hundred fifty dollars over the entire summer and I am never going to stop telling people how rich I am. OK, yes, I am going to need to find a new job now, since this was just for summer, but it's cool. I'll wait until my savings run out.

"Yuh huh," MJ said, rolling her eyes as we started working. "Meanwhile, I get to slave away making coffees at that diner near Bleecker Street for nineteen dollars a week. Yippee."

"Hey, ain't too bad," I said, nudging her. "That's like... sixty dollars a month."

She rolled her eyes again. The diner customers wouldn't like that, she was gonna have to cut it out. "Just under eighty, but sure. Anyway, can't you just get a job with your dad?"

"I'd feel bad," I shrugged. "Mr Zhao can barely afford to pay Dad. Though, we are better off now they've become stars on social media. A bit."

"Fair enough," MJ said. "Plus, school. I always forget how draining it is. And you've got your internship still. Work might just be enough to make you go crazy. Crazier."

"School is enough on its own," I sighed. Junior year meant I was officially over halfway through high school, and that meant I was actually gonna have to seriously consider the future. Big ew.

I hadn't even begun to think about my next steps, something all my friends had decided on since they were in elementary school – it was MJ, Peter and Ned's collective dream to go to MIT when we finish senior year. That's never been an option for me – even if I liked STEM subjects (which I didn't), I'm no good at them. It kinda weighs on me that my friends are gonna be together without me but I try not to think about it.

OK, no, it seriously does weigh on me. I've only got two years of school left to decide my life and I'm not even gonna do whatever it is with friends. They have a plan and they have each other. I don't have either. In 2016 the cost of living in the USA is fucking awful and there's no possible way I'm going to survive on a minimum wage – especially in Manhattan. I don't want to spend my entire life working and barely surviving – and fuck what the government says, that's not called being lazy and not wanting to work, all anyone wants is just to enjoy their time on planet Earth. It ain't too much to ask for.