Elmwood

1| Welcome to Elmwood

My life went to hell when I decided to buy tea from Starbucks.

I didn't even like Starbucks to begin with. The prices were always so high, and while my family could afford Starbucks every day, I wasn't jumping up with excitement at the thought of wasting all of our money on it.

But, for some insane reason, my last two living brain cells decided to suggest getting a drink from Starbucks when Ellie said she was tired.

Maybe the forty dollars my parents gave me to go back-to-school shopping with Ellie was making me lose all sense, but for god's sake, it was only forty dollars. What would I do when I made a million? Buy out the entire Gucci store?

Anyways, we just got our order when Ellie whipped her brown hair over her shoulder and pointed at an art shop nearby.

"Maybe we should go check it out," she said, though it sounded more like a question.

I shook my head. "No. Save the art galleries for Paris. Besides your parents already have like a horde in their basement."

Almost as soon as the words left my mouth I realized my mistake. "...But they all burned in the fire. I'm, um, I'm an idiot."

"No, it's okay," Ellie smiled, though the way her brown eyes lacked emotion, I could tell it was not okay.

Did I say two brain cells earlier? Sorry, I meant zero.

"Yeah, well, how about we go and restock on that enormous collection?"

Ellie tilted her head. "You really want to spend your rare gifted money on art you never wanted?"

"I'm not spending any money. I'm just moral support for when you battle a cranky old lady for the last cat painting."

She laughed a little, but I could tell it wasn't real. None of her smiles had been real these past few months. She probably knows that I suspect she's not doing as well as she looks, but she didn't mention it.

As we made our way to the store, Ellie looked at me and said, "You know you have to spend those forty dollars somewhere, right?"

"It's only thirty-one dollars now since I bought us both some seriously overpriced Chai Tea Latte. By the way, why the hell did they keep it as "Chai Tea"? You would think after all the people saying that it's redundant... Whatever. At least it has a ring to it. Anyways, what was I saying?"

"What you're going to be spending your money on."

I snapped my fingers. "Right! Well, I'll spend the rest of my money on whatever I can resell."

"I'm pretty sure there are laws against that at all of these stores."

"That's why I'm saving it so that I can buy products on Alibaba and resell them on Amazon to some poor idiots."

Ellie shook her head. "I'll never understand you. You have everything you need right here."

"Precisely why I don't need to spend this money on anything but working towards my goal of having a six-figure bank account by the time I'm out of college."

"Whatever you say," she hummed to herself as she adjusted her sweater and walked into the store. I followed, right on her heels.

People milled about between the shelves docked with pottery and the walls covered in paintings. I almost yawned. I appreciated the time and effort put into art, especially since I could never achieve such talent as my own failed drawings would make a blind man die in agony, but I've always been more partial to literature and tv shows. I respected art as I did all other forms of creativity, but it just wasn't my style.