Wrong Side of The Tracks

Part 1

Wrong Side of the Tracks

Noun

1. () The part of town that is not inhabited by the (from municipalities where the sections were divided by railway tracks). An area where the working class, poor or extremely poor live.

Tobin POV

"Tobin, turn off your fucking alarm and get your ass to school today; I'm not dealing with another call because you decided to skip. I'm going to work, I'll be home later."

Tobin, after turning the beeping off, lays in her bed debating the need for her to go to school on the day. In the end, not wanting to deal with her Mom's drunken ramblings if she doesn't, she decides to get up.

Standing up, she looks around at the current state of her bedroom, clothes, dishes and takeout containers everywhere. Making her way towards the bathroom, she trips over a pile of clothes on the floor and hits the floor hard, narrowly avoiding falling on her precious Tony Hawk skateboard. The Tony Hawk model was old and beaten up, but it was all that Tobin had left from her father aside from one picture she had managed to stash in her bottom drawer.

Laying on the floor, she stares at the leaky ceiling of their mobile home. It's not much, but it was all that they could afford after being run out of New Jersey 5 years ago.

Tobin's father, Jeff, had been a decorated New Jersey State Police Officer prior to being incriminated in a drug-smuggling ring. When he found out that Internal Affairs was closing in on him and his partners, he skipped town, leaving Tobin and her Mom with nothing. What they did have was all seized by agents as proceeds from illegal activities.

Tobin's mother, Cindy had been promised a job by an old friend in California and jumped on the opportunity to move her and the younger Heath across the country only to find out when they arrived that the job was working in the sex industry. As an added slap in the face, she was also told that she would have to audition for the part, to make sure she looked good on the screen.

Not wanting to compromise her values, Cindy turned down the offer and promptly began looking for a job that would allow them to move out of the mobile home into a real one. After searching for months with no success, Cindy was finally able to land a job as a cashier at a grocery store in the next county. Surprisingly, she's been able to hold on to the job for the last two years now.

Tobin continues to stare at the water-stained ceiling until she hears her phone beep. Realizing that she had left it on the bed, she slowly gets back up and carefully walks back over to collect it.

New Message

Harris: You planning on coming to school today? Two words -- Soccer tryouts!!

Tobin looks at the message and smiles, the only thing that could possibly get her to go to school aside from Taco Tuesday was soccer. She loved soccer, it was her escape, and she was really good at it.

Heath: Yeah, I'll see you there.

Harris: Good deal.

Looking at the time, Tobin realizing how late it was getting ran around her room to collect what she needed for soccer and also dug around for a set of reasonably clean clothes to wear to school. After scarfing down a bowl of dry cereal, she puts on her backpack and unchains her bicycle before starting the long ride to school.

After 15 minutes of pedalling Tobin rides into the schoolyard. Not wanting anyone to borrow her bicycle while she is in class, Tobin makes sure to hide it in the overgrown bushes alongside the school. Once she is satisfied, it's hidden, she walks inside the dreaded building.