Logan was home by himself on Friday afternoon while Rory was in class. He sat around watching tv but couldn't contain his restlessness. He needed to get out, to do something. Sitting and waiting was torture when he didn't have the patience for it. But all he could do was wait. His future now depended on someone else, and they seemed slow about getting around to it.

He flipped through the channels and finally gave up, throwing the remote down on the couch. There had to be something he could do. For himself, for Rory to take his mind off of everything. Just as he was looking around debating what to do next the phone rang.

Logan hesitated then picked up the phone. "Hello this is Logan Huntzberger." he said. He had decided to stick with Huntzberger for now. It was his legal name after all and he sure as hell wasn't taking the name of some drunken loser.

"Hello Logan. This is Pat from Book Emporium." A friendly female voice chipped in. "I'm calling in regards to the application you put in."

Logan smiled. Finally a response. "Mr. Huntzberger I'm sorry but after running a background check we feel that you would not be a good fit at the Book Emporium. I wish you the best of luck in finding more suitable employment."

Logan could barely speak enough to respond.

"Thank you for your call." he said politely, then put down the phone. His first call, his first rejection. He hadn't considered his extensive criminal record when applying for jobs. It hadn't mattered before, he had been rich, but now his record did matter, could stop him from finding any work. Who would want to hire him? The thought had suddenly occurred to him. Suddenly it wasn't childish pranks anymore, it was criminal activity. He wasn't a bored rich kid anymore, he was a troublemaker. Nobody would want to risk hiring him.

Logan waited the rest of the afternoon as the calls came in. It was one rejection after another. He realized that as it was, no one would be giving him a job. There were so many more qualified applicants around, who didn't have a criminal record, who did have experience. Tears pushed at the back of Logan's eyes but he fought them with all his might. He wasn't a baby. All those pranks that he had done, all the stunts and the theft had seemed so innocent before but now he realized that it was a good chance that they would haunt him for the rest of his life. And worse than that he only had himself to blame.

He also felt overwhelming humiliation. He had gone into the jobs feeling like they were lucky to have him, like he was too good to work somewhere like that. And now they were the ones that were too good to hire someone like him.

Logan tried to come up with some alternate plan but nothing suggested himself. He had been so confident that he could find a job. That every store would want to offer him a job. He had attended Yale after all. He had grown up as a Huntzberger. He was intelligent. He needed it.

But no, all he got was a lot of calls saying that they weren't interested, try somewhere else.

He realized that he didn't even know how bad his criminal record was. He couldn't remember what he had been able to get out of, what he hadn't, what was on his record, how many things he had actually done.

To make it worse, Rory would be home soon, and he couldn't face her. Not right now, not in this mood. Quickly Logan grabbed his coat and retreated to the outside. He wandered downstairs, really noticing the building for the first time since moving in. Noticing how bad it looked, how old. He thought of Rory walking through that place every day. The thought was painful. She didn't belong in a place this bad, a place where she could get hurt. Paris could obviously take care of herself but what was Rory going to do. And now Logan had stranded her here, in this horrible place. He felt like an anchor that tied her down to everything bad. She had to live here because she couldn't afford anything else, especially now that she had to take care of him. But how was he supposed to earn any money if they wouldn't let him work? How was he supposed to get any skills if no one would give him a chance?

Logan hurried away from the building, wanting to be anywhere but where Rory would be. What would she say? Would she reconsider being with him?

He had a million questions but no answers.