Sacrifices

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Okay do it. Chew my ass for not uploading in nearly a month. Really, I deserve it. The only excuse I have is summer homework. And I waited to the last minute to do it, so I guess that doesn't really count. But yeah, I'm ready for the worst insults you can give me. Maybe that'll make me upload faster. Here's your story you've waited so patiently for...

{ Jacob's POV }

Work. The word makes me want to puke. I don't wanna get a job. But I guess that's what I signed up for when I ran away. The longer I'm away from home, the more I start think about how stupid I was for not thinking about the cons of doing it.

Kimari woke me up around 6:30AM and told me she'll be home around 3. As soon as I heard the door close behind her, I went right back to sleep. I can't believe she has to be at work around that time when I usually don't wake up 'till like 1. It's now like 11AM and I'm fishing through the paper trying to find a job I like.

Burger King's janitor? The only way I'd apply for that job is if they give you get free burgers. But they don't, so no.

Truck driver? I don't have my license yet.

Taste tester at iHop? That seems interesting. Dang, you have to be over 25 years old to do that.

This is hopeless. I threw the newspaper on the floor and tried to watch TV. That didn't work. See, Kimari has that converter box and antenna thing since she doesn't have cable, and the antenna barely works so I couldn't get a lot of channels. The ones that I could get were boring. I don't understand how she can live like this. 

I threw the remote on the floor and curled up on the futon and went back sleep. It wasn't long before I heard a baby's soft cry. Did Kimari leave Leda here? I guess that was a stupid question. Who else could it be? I grogilly got up and went to her room. I looked down in the crib to find her with a runny nose and blowing snot bubbles. That shit's disgusting. 

I slowly picked her up and held her about 2 feet away from me. She was screaming so loud my ears were ringing. I wanted to make her stop, but I didn't know how. I went in the bathroom and wiped her nose with some toilet paper. She still cried. Maybe she needed to be changed? I sat her on the floor and pulled off her diaper. That made her cry even louder. I looked down and noticed that there were these flaps on the side of the diaper that I could have ripped off instead of yanking it down like I did. I'm such an idiot.

She stopped crying after I changed her diaper and put her back in the crib. I went back in the livingroom and looked through the paper one last time. The only job that looked okay was a McDonald's cashier. The address looked close. Maybe it was that one on the side of that other building I saw when I came here. I'd have to check to see though. I ripped it out and was almost out the door when I remembered I still had Leda. I guess she's going to have to come with me.

I walked in the back and dressed Leda in a yellow jumper. Or is it called a onezie? I don't know. I put her in the stroller and was gathering bottles, toys, Similac, all that baby stuff when she started crying again. Then I remembered. She was teething! I looked in the diaper bag and found the teething ring. I washed it off and was about to put it in her mouth when I thought about how disgusting that thing must taste. I mean, it's made of plastic! 

Then it hit me. Maybe I could smear something on it to make it taste better. Like caramel or something. I looked in the cabinets and found a jar of peanut butter. Close enough. I smeared a lot of peanut butter of the teething ring and stuck it in Leda's mouth. That should taste better. I guess I'm not such an idiot after all.

After that I got her diaper bag, put it in a stroller and we were out the door. I looked at all the addresses on the houses and saw that the McDonald's had to be the one that I saw on the way here. Walking around, I kinda got a feel of where everything was. If I squinted my eyes I could see a diner. Maybe that's where Kimari works. I'll have to go see later. 

After a bit of aimless walking, I finally came across a McDonald's. I walked in and told the cashier I saw an ad in the paper about a job opening. She was very pretty with her black tracks. At least I think they're tracks. She didn't look like the type of person who would be working in a ghetto fast food restaurant. " Oh that.", she went in the back and got a paper and a pen. " Here you go. Just fill this out."

" Thanks.", I said while taking the pen and paper and sitting at the closest table. I looked down at Leda to make sure she was okay. She looked liked she was sleep. As long as she was quiet, it was fine with me. I looked at the paper. It had a lot of average stuff. Name, DOB, address. What did I tell Taylor my name was again? It was either Jalen or Jaden. I can't remember so I just put Jaden. Everything else I put was the truth.

I got up and gave it to the pretty cashier. She smiled at me and I smiled back. " I'm Briella by the way.", she suddenly said.

"Oh I'm, uh...Jaden.", I need to remember that. She kept staring at me and it was getting kind of creepy. 

" You look like someone I know.", A wave of shock went through my body.

" Really...", my palms were getting sweaty.

" Yeah. Well not me. My sister listens to this band or whatever. I think they should be more of a dance group because there's like one singer and then they're all dancers...", I spaced out after she said that. How could I be so stupid! Of course people are going to recognize me! I'm Princeton from Mindless Behavior! I started to panic. I need to change the way I look. The way I talk. Everything! "... and his hair's like really really long. You know what I would do with hair like that?"

"  Call me if I get the job.", I said while getting Leda's stroller and leaving. I don't care how rude I was to her. I can apologize later. Right now, my priority needs to be on changing my look. How can I even do that? It's not like I could go to a store and change my skin color. I rubbed my fingers through my hair. This is going to be hard. I aimlessly looked around and glued my eyes on a barber shop. That's it. I think I'm going to have to cut my hair.

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