I was always the quiet, handsome, and built one among my friend groups. I like to be quiet, some people think I'm a selective mute because they see me talk to very few people. But, they're right, I choose who to socialize with depending on if I'm comfortable with them or not, and that's how this started..
I return home to my mother after school, I'm a sophomore, my mother is recently divorced and has legal guardianship of me, but we're struggling with finance, my father was the one who kept the bills paid, but as time passed, he became more and more distant, eventually all we received was hatred.
"Hey mom.." I say in a low, slightly downed tone. "Hey buddy..!" My mom says, ruffling my hair. "I have good news, and bad news." My mother stepped back as she said this, creating some distance. "The bad news is, you probably won't like it, but the good news is that we won't be struggling anymore." I look up to my mom, my face still expressionless. "You remember that girl that used to bully you?" My mother says. I nod to her question, an eyebrow raised.
Here comes the part he won't like, his mother thought.. "You're dating her now, as long as you do we'll be fine financially.." My mother said. "What?!" I shout as my eyes widened. "No! I'll date her, sure..-! But I won't do it for money!" I argue to her point, that's just who I am.. "I- Sorry for raising my voice at you, but.. you know me..- I would never use somebody for their money.." I say lowly.
"Yes buddy, of course I know that, but.. please, for both mine and your sake.. do it for the money.." She responded to me with this, which.. I nodded to. "What if.." I pause, not finishing that sentence. "N-Nevermind, forget that I was going to ask, I'll be in my room.." I say. Walking up to my room, and turning on my PC setup to spend some time with the squad.
"Yooo!! Wassup dude!!" All of the squad says simultaneously, their voices blending together perfectly. That let me determine who greeted me. "Hey guys.." I say, still feeling kind of low. "Yo dude, what's the matter? You seem down.. You're always so happy! Where's that bright smile?!" One of them say, trying to help the situation. "It's nothing guys.." I say, still in a low voice. "Okay bro, look.. we're not going to start playing the game until you talk to us about what's going on." They all say.
"I said it's nothing.. alright? Let's just.. play the game." He plugs in his mechanical keyboard, as they load up Valorant, and start playing normally, the entire squad is really good together. Together, we currently have a 97.3% win rate. "Let's go!! Good job boys!" They all say, before noticing that I had no kills or assists, and barely any damage. This never happens, both they and I knew, I mean.. I'm the best in the squad, always outshining my friends, which they never got sick of.
"WILLIAM!!!" My mom shouts across the house, calling me. "Oh yo, hold up boys, my moms calling me." I say, my headset being taken off and set on my desk. I unlocked my door, opening it and walking down the spiraling set of stairs to the bottom floor. "Hey mom. What's up? I heard you call my name?" I asked, sounding like I was happier. "You have a visitor." She said, simply.
