Francisco listens to the sound of flowing water coming from the speakers. The smell of incense is bothering his nose; despite meditating with Jackson for weeks, he still could not get used the smell of those damn incense sticks. Francisco opens one eye and notices his neighbor quietly focusing on his meditation, whereas he is struggling to get comfortable without having to worry about the pain caused by sitting down on the floor for over an hour.

"Francisco, try to empty your mind of all thoughts," Jackson says, as if sensing the younger man's distress.

That's easier said than done. Despite going through weeks of meditation with his neighbor in the early morning hours, he cannot get into the rhythm of it. He started this in hopes that he could calm his mind and heart from all the stress that he's been experiencing lately, but all he did was focus more and more on Caroline's words, Lynn, Elena, pain, snow, work and his parents.

Jackson opens his eyes and looks at his neighbor, who is clearly struggling with the meditation exercise, as beads of sweat begin to trickle down his forehead, his breathing quickens and his lips are quivering.

"The Tigers are looking good this year," he doesn't know much about sports, aside from what Francisco has told him, but he hopes that he could at least distract the younger man a bit.

"Um, I guess…" Francisco knows what Jackson was doing; never in the years that the two men have known each other, have they ever talked about sports, especially since the older man doesn't even own a television or many other modern electronics.

Jackson stands up and helps Francisco to his feet. The younger man leans against furniture in pain, he thinks about reaching for the medication in his pocket, when Jackson asks, "Would you like a massage to relieve your back?"

Francisco shakes his head. He is sure that the older man probably has some knowledge in message therapy or something of the sort, but at the moment, no matter what Jackson decides to try, Francisco knows that his body is going to ache worse than it is now.

"You know, when I backpacked through southeast Asia in my youth, I picked up some interesting techniques to relieve back pain."

Francisco smiles, "Was that when you were training with the monks? I swear, Jackson, what haven't you learned to do?"

From what Francisco could remember, his neighbor has traveled the world and seen and done all sorts of interesting things ranging from hunting with tribes, to racing against camels while on bike, and even spending time with monks in temples; if you asked Francisco, it was definitely a life well lived as both a teacher and a student of his surroundings.

"I don't think that I've ever been able to master the art juggling chainsaws," he tells the younger man.

Francisco shudders at the thought of trying to juggle such a prop, although he can imagine that his neighbor has made an attempt to do so…safely, he's sure.

Jackson leads Francisco to the kitchen. As the younger man sits down by the table, Jackson fills his tea kettle with water. This is the part that Francisco hates; he isn't a big tea drinker, but the older man insists that it will help after meditating.

An empty cup is placed in front of Francisco, and as Jackson waits for the water to come to a boil, he speaks up, "So what was distressing you today?"

He never asks Francisco that. Usually, the two would talk about their plans for the day, or sit in a comfortable silence, but today, Jackson is throwing him a curve ball and asking about what happened during meditation.

Francisco shakes his head; honestly, he wasn't too sure either. His thoughts were jumping all over the place, but he isn't sure what any of it meant; the last thing he remembered before Jackson started talking about the Tigers was snow, but he doesn't know why that popped up with everything else.

"I don't know…it was just…snow…"

Jackson nods, but doesn't pry anymore, knowing that Francisco does not enjoy going down his train of thought.

The two sit in silence as they wait for the kettle.


Lynn, Megan, and Bryton head towards the Good Time Charley's. Today is Megan's twenty-first birthday and the trio plans on celebrating at the bar. While Lynn isn't able to fully participate in the festivities, the group still plans on making it a fun night for the birthday girl with barrage of appetizers, bar food, and drinks.

The trio sits down and the two older members peruse the drink menu.

"Do you know what you want?" Bryton asks Megan.

She bites her lower lip as her eyes scan the menu, "I don't know. I've planning this for so long, and now I can't decide."

Lynn looks over her friend's shoulder and places her finger on the menu, "Close your eyes, and tell me when to stop," she suggests, as her finger goes up and down the drink menu.

Megan complies, once she is sure that Lynn has gone through the whole drink menu, she says, "Stop!"

Lynn closes the menu before Megan can see what she picked. She shows it to Bryton, and he nods to go get the drinks, "See! Easy!"

With their orders taken, the trio takes a seat nearby; the last time the group visited the establishment was back during Bryton's birthday, but like their previous visits, Lynn's eyes begin to glance over towards the television screens around them.

"Alright!" Bryton starts, "Twenty-one, are you excited?" he asks Megan.

"I guess, but did sort of want to do something a little more unique," she says.

Neither Lynn nor Bryton can blame her; getting drunk is such a stereotype, but without a car or a lot of money, the group settles on celebrating in one of the easiest ways they could.

"Hey Lynn-tin-tin, promise to be good and sober so that we can have a little more fun?" Bryton jokes.

"Ha ha," Lynn says sarcastically, as she rolls her eyes. Unfortunately due to still being underage, she can't join her friends and has to settle for looking at the pub menu and filling up on as much pop as she can stomach.

She gets up from her seat, "I'll be right back. I'm gonna go get something to get started." She walks up so that she can place in her order, "Can I get a large order of wings, nachos with meat, and a pitcher of orange pop."

Some frat boys at the counter, "They always make the little one the gopher," he jokes.

Lynn turns to them, "I'm no gopher! This is all for me," she tells them proudly.

"You're kinda small, are you seriously going to eat all that food you just ordered?"

"What you don't think that I can?"

"I bet that you can't," he smugly tells her.

"Oh yeah? You wanna put your money where mouth is? Hell I can eat even more!" she brags.

The boys each dig out some crumpled bills from their pockets. None of them can believe that she is so smug that she can eat so much for by herself.

"We can make it interesting. If you can eat everything you ordered and some loaded Monster Fries, we'll pay for your food and give you twenty bucks each, as long as you don't throw up," he offers.

"Deal!" Lynn happily accepts, and orders the loaded Monster Fries.

"Hey! We didn't tell you what'd you do if you lose," he tells her.

Lynn scoffs, "I'm not planning on losing on something as easy as this."

He steps back, "Alright, but you'll owe us twenty bucks each if you lose, don't forget."

She gets in his face, "I won't, 'cause I ain't no loser," she tells him, as she takes her tray of food back to the table with her friends.

"That's-That's a double negative, which means–"

"I get it!" she interrupts, "Geez! How many grammar police are on this campus?!"

"Your friends can't help you either!"

"I know!" she yells back.

Bryton looks at Lynn, who is presented with three large orders of food, "Is that all for you?" he asks, making an attempt at her fries.

Lynn slaps his hand and nods her head as she begins to bite down on a wing, "Those guys at the bar bet that a shrimp like me couldn't eat chili cheese Monster Fries, nachos, a large order of wings, and all this pop without throwing up, so I'm gonna prove them wrong!" she yells to the guys at the bar, who are looking over at their table.

Megan, who is also stunned, asks, "How much did they bet you?"

Lynn lets out a large burp, and "Twenty bucks each, and they're paying for the food too," she boasts.

"I can't believe that you agreed to that," Megan says.

"I can. Haven't you seen her at the dining hall?"

Megan nods, "You're right, I don't why I said that."

Usually, when the trio goes to the dining hall, Lynn is prone to making multiple trips to get overstuffed trays to satisfy her hunger, but she's still stunned that Lynn plans on eating sixteen wings, two pounds of fries, nachos topped with beans, cheeses, veggies, and jalapeños, and a pitcher of pop for a little one hundred dollars.

She turns to Bryton, "Can I stay with you tonight?"

He nods, knowing the suffering that Megan will endure if she stays in the same room as Lynn.

The group of guys take a seat near Lynn, and she turns around, "You guys wanted a better seat? You better have your wallets ready!"

The guys nod at her first statement, they wanted to make sure that she doesn't cheat, but they also wanted a better view of the game showed on tv. Slowly, the group begins to focus more on the game than on the challenge that they initiated against Lynn. Every once in a while, they look down at their phones; either upset or happy, depending on what happened.

Lynn turns and hands them the empty tray that once contained her wings, "Just a little more," she boasts. She looks up at the game they are watching, "He's going to miss," she declares between a burp.

"How do you know?"

"He's a freshman, it's a big moment; he's going to freak out," she tells them before turning back to her food.

The boys look at the screen and as Lynn predicted; the player missed. They assume that she just made a lucky call, but when Lynn continues to predict calls correctly, they realize that they can probably gain some money from her predictions.

Bryton looks over that group, who are rapidly pressing on their phones, "What are you doing?"

The supposed leader of the group secretly shows them an app that they have been using to place bets using Lynn's predictions, "The little high school senior here, has made us a few hundred bucks each."

Lynn complains, "I'm not in high school! And what do you mean that I've been making you guys money?"

"It's this app - BetKings," he explains, "You can bet on anything; coin tosses, free throws, whether the coach is wearing a toupee. You," he ruffles her hair, "are a little good luck charm. So you got a SendMe account? We owe you some money for helping us out tonight."

A crowd roars at the television screen, and the group smiles as they earn more money. Lynn can see the amount that they earned; all from her knowledge of the game stats, "Yeah, just give me a minute to finish this last fry," she says smugly, as she sticks her hand out; wanting the money that they owed her for eating the large amount of food.


Francisco waits outside and looks at every car that passes in front of his house. He normally doesn't call on outside help, but after trying over and over again to fix Lynn's car, he decides that getting a professional to look at the vehicle and offer a more permanent solution.

A van pulls up to the driveway and he sees a familiar face step out, "Francisco? Dang, I thought that I'd never see you again. How're you doin?"

Francisco looks at the man, surprised to see Roy after over a year, "I'm doing fine. I was hoping to get someone to look at this car. It keeps stalling every few days, the headlights constantly need to be fixed, the brakes are becoming a problem, and there's probably some more, but I was hoping to get a professional to look at it," he tells him, immediately getting to the point.

Roy nods, and remembers Francisco's direct and distant attitude, "Alrighty, give me a minute and I'll get the tools out and see what we can do for this here car," he proudly taps on the trunk.

Francisco nods and silently waits. Roy returns and begins his quick inspection. Normally, he can use his diagnostic tool to figure everything out quickly, but Roy prefers to see things with his own eyes; he checks under the hood, the inside of the car, the tire pressure, and every basic thing that can cause issues. To Roy, it appears as though the car is in a careful balance to ensure that all of the problems don't hit at once. When the car is turned on, but he can see why Francisco would be concerned.

"Let me see if I can tighten this," Roy says, he pulls out a tool from his pocket.

The sound of a tool rolling out from under the car grabs the attention of both men and Francisco attempts to pick up the gage that slipped from Roy. The mechanic notices the man's struggle. He quickly finishes the small task to roll out so that he can pick up the gage, but Francisco grabs it and hands it over.

"Thanks," Roy rolls out from under Lynn's car, and wipes the sweat from his brow. In all of his years as a mechanic, he has never seen a car in such bad shape. Normally at this point, people have already gotten rid of such a car, but here he is, stunned that he's being called to work on one.

"So what do you think?" asked Francisco.

The mechanic takes a drink from his water bottle and sighs as he quenched his thirst, "It's a piece of crap. I've seen cars at the junkyard with more life than this here lemon."

Francisco sighs. He knew that Roy was going to say that, but he hoped that the man could have at least worked some sort of magic to make it easier for Lynn to drive around, especially with winter coming up.

"Are ya sure that you wanna fix this old car? You're probably better off getting a new one."

Roy doesn't normally make a habit of telling his customers such things, but it's the truth; the car has spots of rust, the seats need to be reupholstered, the gages aren't even moving, and if he takes in what Francisco said, there's still a large list of demands just to make the car more efficient, not including the car's aesthetics.

"I know, but sentimental value and whatnot." Francisco doesn't know the real reason that Lynn refuses to get rid of the car, but any time that he brings it up, she would shut him down; eventually he just learned to not say a thing anymore and just fix it whenever there was a problem.

"I never pictured ole Coach Lynn to be attached to a clunker," Roy said as he pulls out a laptop and, what Francisco assumes to be, a diagnostic scan tool to attach to the car.

Francisco stays quiet. He didn't mention who the car's owner was, and it is parked in his driveway after he offered to get it looked at, so it stuns him to know that he could figure out the truth.

Roy notices the look on the other man's face, and spoke up, "I recognized it from the parking lot when the Coach was still with my boy's little league team."

Francisco raises an eyebrow, "Did she change teams or something?"

Roy shakes his head, "Nope. Last I heard, she quit or something. Such a shame too, the kids seemed to like her."

Francisco didn't say a thing and wondered when and why Lynn quit a job centered on one of her favorite things. Then he remembered that Lynn did make some complaints about the parents and higher-ups making work more tedious, so he can understand why she would leave, but he's surprised that she never mentioned it to him.

"Can you do me a favor and attach this?" Roy asks as he hands him the diagnostic scan tool.

Francisco nods and places it in the car, before he turned it on, per Roy's instructions. He feels uncomfortable in the sunken seat, and tries to shift around, but he keeps feeling the sponge of the seat scrape against his pants.

Roy shakes his head with a grin on his face; Francisco doesn't need to be seated in the car for him to have run the test, but he can't blame the man for wanting to rest, especially after struggling to reach a tire pressure gage that he dropped on the ground.

"Alright I'm done. You can turn off the car."

Francisco does as he is told, and shifts around in the seat to get to the scanning tool. The cell phone in his pocket bothers him as he shifts around, so he takes it out and sets it down so that he could better reach the scanner. He hands the machine to Roy, who hooks it up to his laptop.

The laptop beeps and Roy lets out a whistle, stunned by the extent of the damage.

He looks at Francisco, "You're gonna be wanting to get cozy with the dealerships right about now."

Francisco looks over at the laptop and is stunned by how much is needed to get the car in tiptop shape. He sighs, and wishes that Lynn would just get a new car, but he knows that she won't do such a thing.

"How much?"

Roy can't believe it; Francisco honestly wants to go through with the repairs. Sure, this job would definitely give him a steady flow of money, but he can't ethically bring himself to do such a thing.

"Are you sure? It's gonna set you back way more than you think."

Francisco sighs. This was originally going to be a nice gesture that he planned on to repay Lynn's kindness, or rather her deception; he knows that she has been taking on his financial responsibilities and he refuses to not return the favor, but the cost is much higher than he anticipated. He recently got his job back with Lisa and he knows that he doesn't have a lot of money saved up at the moment, but he isn't going to keep sitting back watching Lynn drive around in the death trap on wheels.

"Just do what you can today to keep it from stalling out and we can talk about the rest some other day; it's a bit of a surprise."


Over the last couple of weeks, Lynn has spent her free time at Good Time Charley's gambling on the outcomes of various sports games with other patrons and on the app. At first, she just observed, but eventually got the nerve to try her hand at an actual bet. Now, the patrons begin to take note of her incredible winning streak and want to see the magic for themselves.

Lynn checks her pockets for some money. She's hungry and hasn't eaten since morning, and while she can get as much food as she wants at the dining hall, there isn't much money to be earned there, or a crowd to cheer her on when she wins.

She walks in, and is immediately greeted by the staff, "Lynn!"

With her increasing 'fame', business has been going up as students begin to leech off of her or watch in wonder as she once again predicts a winner.

The junior takes a seat near the back where she cannot be disturbed and looks at the screens. While she spends her week studying stats, the spread, and various sports reports; she has begun to neglect her schoolwork in favor of the information that has always come more easily. Classes have been getting harder for some time, and Lynn is struggling to keep up with what the teacher says. No matter how hard she tries, the information doesn't stick and sitting in class is becoming her own personal hell with each passing lecture; and that's not including her struggles on the softball team. Now, she spends her time with something that she does understand without wondering the definition of a word.

Lynn swallows, and looks at the drink menu; she doesn't want to keep drinking pop, but she is craving something sweet, "Kentucky'll be in the lead before half time," she whispers to herself; starting her rituals.

"You think?" asks a man sitting next to her.

"Yeah, I do. I haven't been wrong yet," she responds, offended by his lack of faith in her skills.

The man scoffs, "Whatever you say…"

Lynn calls out four more games correctly. This is part of her ritual; no food at least six hours before she starts, no liquids, except for the last game of the night, call five predictions correctly in a row before placing a bet, and only say three bets out loud once she starts wagering money; no more, no less.

As the night continues, groups of students begin to enter and sit around her, making conversation until Lynn begins to let out one of her three calls on the games. They all knew that she only lets out three, but regardless, it didn't stop them trying to get her to reveal a few more.

"So how do you do it?" asks a girl sitting nearby, who has taken notice of Lynn.

"Just luck," she proudly boasts.

The same man scoffs, "Luck! Yeah, right, you can't be that good without some studying. No one's that lucky."

The students begin to defend Lynn, mentioning some of her greater moments, and for a minute, she is reminded of home and her friends. She hasn't talked to a lot of her friends since freshman year, which she attributes to everyone's busy and conflicting schedules, but at least she can still call her family in whenever she wants to talk to somebody.

As the bar begins to get crowded with more patrons, Lynn begins to feel warm; she's thirsty and is regretting eating the Monster Fries.

The man next to her asks, "Do you want something to drink?"

Lynn shakes her head; she didn't want to leave until later, but she can't hold off on not drinking something anymore.

"Do you have some water?"

He offers her his glass and she quickly downs the beverage, "Why the hell did you eat all those fries without something to drink?"

"It's my good luck ritual," she says after finishing the glass.

"Good luck? What do you need luck for? Are you making bets?" he eyes her.

Lynn hands him back his glass, and turns towards the game, "Yeah, so what? It's easy."

He laughs, "Sure, and I bet that fancy phone game helps you win a lot of funny money too. Come back when you actually play with real money."

She scowls. He isn't worth it, but she doesn't want to let him get the last laugh, "You know what? Let's do it! You vs. me on whatever game you want!"

He points at a basketball game in progress, "I pick that one. I'll let you pick your team. Now tell me, do you really want to do this? I'll give you one last chance, I'd feel really guilty taking money from a poor little girl," he taunts.

Lynn gets up and takes a seat in front of him, "Yeah! Let me just check my pockets to see how much cash I got."

The man snorts, "Damn kids, no one carries cash anymore."

"Says the guy in a college bar," Lynn jokingly snaps. "You know what? I say Colorado wins, and I'm gonna help you download and setup a SendMe account, so you can send me my money whenever you lose against me through electronic magic, grandpa," she taunts.

"Fine! Lose all your money," he snaps back, confident that she's making foolish wager. "Don't come crying to me when you can't pay me."

Lynn scowls and stares at the screen. She doesn't know what just possessed her to take on such an insane challenge, especially since her team was down, but she's going to stick to her guns and say that Colorado is going to win. The two stare at the screen, the members of the audience who are invested in game cheer and boo accordingly. No one seems to be as invested in the game, but the two refuse to take their eyes of the screen; ready to see who is going to win.

The buzzer finally goes off with Colorado winning despite the odds being against them. Lynn begins to cheer and do her victory dance, "In your face!"

"DAMN IT!" yelled the man.

"Woo! I won! How do you like that? Huh?" Lynn proudly asks to the man.


Francisco searched all over the house, and despite his best effort over the last couple of hours, he hasn't been able to find his phone. He turned over his couch cushions, opened every drawer and cabinet, searched under furniture, but it did not appear. He has used his house phone to call it, but when he couldn't hear a thing, and despite the attempt earlier in the day, he tries again, but frustratingly sets the phone down and sighs when he doesn't hear the device.

"Where the hell is it? I just got that phone a couple of weeks ago and I already lost it?!"

After turning his house inside out, he gives in and opens his laptop to search for it. He knows that it's just going to tell him the general location, but he just want to be sure that the phone is still in the house or within his grasp. The location service tracks his phone, and Francisco sees where his phone is currently, "DieselCity Casino and Hotel? What the heck is my phone doing there?"

He writes down the address, and gets in his truck to go retrieve his phone; hoping that it will still be there by the time he arrives.

As he nears the casino, he wonders who has his phone and how it got to a casino, but the familiar sight of Lynn's blue car, put everything into place. He recalls taking his phone out of his pocket when Roy worked on her car, and that he didn't place it back in his pocket when Lynn picked up her car earlier in the day.

He finds a spot near her car, and with strained steps, walks towards Dutch, taking a seat on the trunk of her car, as he waits for her to show up. Francisco tries to get comfortable and keeps an eye his surroundings; hoping that she doesn't take long to exit so that he can get back to his car soon. He shifts around, stands up, but nothing is making his ailing muscles feel better.

"Don't jump to conclusions," he says as he slowly walks around the car.

Francisco isn't sure what to think, but it's easy to get carried when it comes to a building almost dedicated to games of chance. After Roy mentioned that Lynn was no longer a coach, she could have gotten a new job here, but a casino doesn't seem like something that she would be interested in.

A female's voice catches his attention, "Thanks a lot for the escort, Ken."

It's Lynn. Francisco walks closer towards the voice and looks at her and a security guard who is escorting her.

"Yeah, no problem," the guard tell her, "So what are your plans for your winnings?"

"You know what I'm gonna say. Why do you ask?"

Ken laughs, "Because I thought that maybe for once you'd spend your money on something fun, instead of bills. What about a Lions game? You've said that you've wanted to go to see one for a while."

"I know, but I've gotta be an adult and be responsible," she says with a bored tone, "One day, I promise."

Ken steps ahead of Lynn, and attempts to stay between her and the man that is sitting on her car, "Step back, Lynn."

Lynn looks at Francisco and she immediately had a look of guilt on her face. "Its okay, Ken. He's my boyfriend."

Ken keeps looking at Francisco suspiciously. Lynn mentioned a boyfriend before, but he is surprised that he is so serious looking and standing outside in a dimly lit parking lot, instead of going inside with her.

"We've arrived at your car, Ms. Loud," Ken says in a professional tone. He and Lynn have been friendly for a couple of years, so he is more casual with her, but Francisco's presence made him bring out the professionalism from his and her first meeting.

"Thank you," she says, surprised by the sudden change in the atmosphere. "Tell Emma I said hi."

"No problem," Kenneth tells her as he slowly walks away, while occasionally glancing over at the two.

"What are you doing here, Francisco?" asks Lynn, surprised that he came.

"I came because my phone is in your car."

"Why is it in my car?"

"Remember when I told you to leave Dutch, so that I can check under the hood, well, I sort of left my phone and forgot about it."

"Welcome to my world," Lynn opens the driver's side door and searches for his phone, which ended up under the passenger side seat. She hands him his phone, and sees him bite down a bit on his lower lip.

"What is it?"

Francisco looks at her, unaware that he is biting himself, and wondering what she is talking about.

She was hoping to keep this a secret for longer, but she knew that eventually the cat was going to come out of the bag.

"Go ahead and say it. Say that I'm an idiot for gambling or something like that."

He is tempted, but he shakes his head and just says, "I'll see you later."


Lynn looks at the rusted blue car in front of her and then at the man, "Are you serious? What the heck am I supposed to do with this?"

She can't believe that she wins a bigger sum of cash on a college game, and now she's getting stiffed by someone who thought that she was a lucky fool. The car in front of her reminds her of Vanzilla; both old vehicles that are falling apart and have clearly seen better days.

He shrugs his shoulders, "I don't know, but I can't take out that much money without my wife knowing that I was gambling again," he says in a hushed tone, looking over his shoulder to see if anyone is looking over at them.

"And she isn't going to notice a missing car? I think a few hundred dollars is a lot less noticeable than, well, this."

"Look, I told my wife I was going to get rid of the car, so now we can both be winners. This is the only way I can pay you back, without getting into any trouble, and you get a new car. Do we have a deal?"

The junior isn't sure if the car is worth the amount that he owes her, but she has always wanted a car of her own; sharing Vanzilla growing up was a pain, especially when her older sisters didn't all move out until she did. Now, this is her opportunity to have a car of her own, and with Lana's help over the upcoming break, it can probably be transformed into an even better car.

"No strings attached, right? I'm not gonna get pulled over for driving this in a few minutes?"

He pulls out the car's title from the glove compartment and hands it to her, "Here, just sign and we call it a day…night, whatever."

Lynn complies and extends her hand to shake on the deal, but he ignores her. The man can't give her much and while she would have loved getting the money that she earned, she can at least be happy to have a car of her own.

He hands her the keys and walks away from her; muttering about the loss just a few minutes ago. Lynn hops inside of her new old car, "I can't wait to show you off," she tells it, as she rubs her hand on the dashboard. "Let me call Bryton and Megan, so I can tell them!"

Bryton and Megan each get a text letting them know to meet Lynn at the front of their building for a surprise. They aren't sure what to expect, but from the darkness, they can hear a loud sound approaching them at the bar. They turn to see a blue car slowly make its way towards them. A loud squeaking sound grabs their attention and the two see Lynn in the driver's seat of the car.

"What do you think?" she excitedly asks her friends.

Neither one says anything as Lynn presents them the car. They know that she was owed a lot of money, but they can't believe that she would be okay with the clunker in front of her.

"Well?" Lynn asks.

"Uhh…" they say in unison.

"I know it's not much, but I think that me and my sister can fix up old Dutch here and we can make it better."

Megan asks, "Dutch?"

"Better? Are you sure?" Bryton asks.

Lynn rolls her eyes, "Yes, I can make it better! And Dutch makes perfect sense – he's blue and silver like the Lions, I won because of the Colorado game, and how do you not know who Dutch Clark is?" Both friends just stare at her, "The Flying Dutchman? Old Master? Wow!" she shakes her head; surprised by her friends' lack of football knowledge. "I mean, I could've gone with some more recent names tied to the school like Benny, but I don't think that my sister is going to appreciate that, and then there's Oosterbaan, but same issue. Although I guess I could have gone with Gerald, but I think that we can both hear the jokes now, and Layne–"

Megan, with concern in her voice, interrupts, "Lynn, don't you think that you're going to spend a lot of money just to make this car operable?"

"It is operable! I drove from Good Time Charley's all the way here with this baby," that doesn't impress them, "And my sister has an in at the scrap yard back home, we can get parts cheap," Lynn confidently tells her.

Bryton chimes in, "So is that how you plan on fixing the headlights, the windshield and everything else that's wrong with this piece of crap?"

"Wow," Lynn says sarcastically, "when are you guys gonna stop praising my car? Hey, it runs; that's all that matters, and look," she opens the rear door, "it's so roomy in here."

The two watch as Lynn steps into the rear of the car and is able to lay down on the backseat like a bed. Neither one is impressed, but both decide to drop it considering that Lynn is overjoyed with the new vehicle and because she probably won't care about their concerns either. Rather than ask her a variety of other questions, like where she plans on parking it until winter break, or what she plans on telling her parents; the two just let her happily live in the moment.


Lynn lays in her bed and looks at her phone; she hated the way that he found out about her gambling, but she doesn't have a reason to hide it, and he should be thankful that she's so good that she can spare some money to 'help' him when he was out of work.

She smiles and wonders if he actually had any idea that she would use her own money to pay his bills; probably, she assumes that he actually reads his bank statements and doesn't just ignore them.

"And that's a good enough reason to prove that I'm doing well with my money," she say out loud, tapping her lucky quarter. She pulls out the coin, "Why are you a 2004 coin?" She uses her phone and looks up the order of the state quarter releases, "What the hell kind of order is this? Why is Delaware first and why did Hawaii get released so late? You'd think that it would be one of the early ones! Wait…"she racks her brain and realizes, "Oh! It's the state order! Wait, so Michigan is…" she begins to count the list of the states on her phone's screen, "Twenty-sixth! Dang, took long enough." She presses on a link that shows her state fun facts, "Hey, I didn't know that Arkansas has a park to dig for diamonds! I oughta tell Lola…wait, you have to dig for them. I'll tell the Lana too, Lola gets a diamond and Lana gets to dig in the dirt for fun."

She continues to look through a variety of state facts, "Snake Alley? What the heck is that?" Lynn reads the information and learns that it's just a crooked street, "Well…take that San Francisco! Francisco!" she remembers.

She looks through the whole list and remembers that she needs to talk to Francisco. She looks at his name and begins to go over what she wants to say.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you…no, too cliché. Sorry, that I told Lisa about what was going on and that I was the reason that you were without work for a few weeks…maybe?" She groans; nothing sounds right.

She isn't the biggest fan of talking about this part of her life, but sometimes, she needs a little financial help. At first, she didn't mind going to her family, after all, you should always be able to count of your family in your time of need, however, that only works for a short time, and before you know it, you get the nasty reputation of being a mooch. Luckily, Lynn is the best at games, whether they be athletic or tabletop, which comes in real handy when you face a casino and all their bright and flashy games.

Lynn dials his number; she figures that she might as well get this over with. She knows that he's disappointed in her, but she figures that she can make it better if she just explains herself.

"Hello?"

"Look," she starts, "I know that you aren't too thrilled about me gambling, but I can explain."

Francisco didn't say a thing. He knows that Lynn is as lucky as a leprechaun wearing a coat of seven-leafed clovers and a necklace made of horseshoes when it came to games, but he also knows that luck doesn't last forever. His fear with her is that she will lose eventually, and in an effort to recoup her losses, she'd keep playing until there is nothing left to give.

He didn't notice that Lynn is still talking on the other line, and he interrupts her, "It's fine…do what you want…"

Hearing that makes Lynn's veins turn ice cold; the way he said that, makes her feel like he doesn't care, or that he's giving up. She knows that what she is doing isn't ideal, especially since she was hiding it, but it bothers her to hear him as quiet as he is on the matter.

"I'm sorry…" she apologizes.

He sighs, "Lynn, I don't care if you play. I just don't want you to go into a frenzy when things don't turn out well. Remember, how you used to tell me about these incidents growing up? I know that you're older and I'm sure you have some control, but forgive me for wanting to look out for you."

He knows that she's not the type to let things go, or quit easily without a fight, but gambling is a different beast, and he didn't want her to get caught up trying to right a mistake that doesn't need to be made in the first place.

Lynn scoffs, "I've got a system to keep that from happening."

Francisco doesn't believe her. There is no such thing as system that she could employ that would cause her to always be lucky every time that she played a casino game, and he doubts that she wouldn't have already taken advantage of her so-called lucky streak before.

"Sure, Lynn. Whatever you say," he says with a tired voice.

"I'm serious! Look, I'll come over and I can explain to you everything over dinner, my treat," she offers.

He smiles and decides to let her explain her reasoning, "Fine, but if we go out, I'm driving."