AS THE STORY GOES

Part 1: Chapter 1

"You have to keep choosing happiness until it's no longer a choice—it's your nature" – Justin McKenna

Chapter 1

Justin felt frustrated as he ran the numbers just one more time. Finances had stressed him since the moment he started receiving money on his own. Not that he didn't have enough of it—not making enough was simply not an answer—but the careful planning for each step of the future made it stressful. It was September and he and his little brother were about to finally hit their first major milestone—they were ready to buy a house. Justin had over ten-percent downpayment for a mortgage of $200,000 or less—that's what he could afford. With his job at Cooper Hospital in their billing department and his second job working security, along with his near-perfect credit score, he knew he would be set when it was time to shop for that house.

But that was just the beginning. That upcoming January he would be going into the New Jersey State Police Academy. Justin was in peak physical condition and he kept a nearly perfect GPA throughout both high school and college. There was no way he wouldn't be a New Jersey State Trooper by that summer—it was all he had ever visualized for himself. It wasn't so much about the idea of being a cop for any reasons other than the pay being great, the benefits were amazing, and he was built for it at 6'4" and 250-pounds of thick muscle, with a love for his community. Camden was where he had his heart set on serving. It was the perfect job for a twenty-four year old who was the legal guardian of a thirteen-year-old kid who needed all the stability Justin could provide.

Justin and Jon had been a team since Justin turned eighteen and Jon was almost-eight. The two had been separated through the system years earlier when their mother was arrested. Baby Jonathan went to a long-term foster family while twelve-year-old Justin went into a newly-established group home. Six years later, Justin was granted guardianship of the brother who had been just a baby the last time the two had lived together under the same roof.

"Why are you still up?" Jon stepped into the doorway of Justin's bedroom. He was small for his age—he had always been—but with a surprisingly bass voice for his size. He was last measured at five-foot-even and ninety-pounds, but Justin had a feeling Jon would be hitting a growth spurt soon. The school sneakers Justin got on sale in June to put away until September were already getting tight on Jon's feet—the first sign of growing in a kid.

"Why am I still up?" Justin asked, glancing at the clock to see it was already after midnight. Justin turned to watch Jon walk over to where Justin sat in front of his small desk. Jon was tan skinned with dark, curly hair, and he wore dark-framed glasses. Justin had always made sure that, despite always being the smallest kid in the class, he'd be the freshest—on a budget, of course. Justin quickly taught Jon how to buy clothes in order to optimize the amount of outfits made from a small amount of clothing. Careful shopping coupled with schools that required uniforms made Justin's life much easier in his role as a provider. But even with a uniform, Justin insisted Jon's sneakers be clean and fresh, his khakis were never too short or too tight, and he had enough school polos to keep from repeating a shirt more than once a week.

Justin himself followed the same philosophy. He owned six work shirts which he bought at Macy's and had his girlfriend, at that time, help him find six ties that would match with multiple shirts. He owned three pairs of slacks and one black and one brown pair of the same leather work shoes. All of this was a huge improvement from the days when he and Jon's case worker bought Justin's work shirts and pants from Foreman Mills. They had never fit right—the pants were a touch too short for 6'4" Justin and the shirts were too tight on his wide shoulders, but he wore them for two years until he met Brittany, who took him to a mall to upgrade his work wardrobe.

It wasn't that Justin didn't care about his appearance, because it was obvious he did, with his insistent need for he and Jon to never miss a haircut or for Jon to be the freshest middle schooler in Camden. The issue was that even from the early days of Justin caring for Jon, buying a house had always been a high-priority—enough to be content with ill-fitting, but functional work clothes for two years.