The rest of the day felt like an eternity. I was restless. Even drawing, which usually was almost therapeutic for me, was frustrating me. The drawing should've only taken an hour or two, but here I was, almost six hours later, still working on the same fucking drawing. I just couldn't get it right. No matter what I did it looked weird. When I got the urge to throw something I decided enough was enough.

Maybe mom had something for me to do. I could hear her messing around in the kitchen. I could probably help.

"Hi, mom," I said when I entered.

"How are you sweety?" she asked without looking up from her dishes.

"Super bored. I feel like I could explode from boredom" I complained.

Mom chuckled.

"Tell you what. I'll give you some cash and you can go out to eat. Your dad and I have leftovers in the fridge"

Now that she mentioned food I was actually kind of hungry.

"Thanks, mom"

I changed into some semi-clean clothes and tried to smooth out the bird's nest that was my hair.

Mom handed me some money on the way out. Two $20 bills. That was a lot for food. I could buy like 40 cheeseburgers.

~~~

I had taken the subway into the city because that's where all the good restaurants were. And by good, I mean McDonald's, Burger King, Taco Bell, KFC, etc.

I couldn't really choose where I wanted to eat so I did the only logical thing. I called Wally.

"Hey dude" he answered almost immediately.

"Hey! I have a serious problem"

"What is it?" Wally asked, sounding a bit alarmed.

"I don't know if I should get Taco Bell, Burger King, or McDonald's"

There was complete silence on the other end.

"You still there?" I asked.

Wally burst out laughing.

"Oh my god! It's just fast food. You made it sound like someone was dying"

"Well, technically I'm slowly dying if I don't get anything to eat because I'll starve to death" I argued.

"Fine, you little drama queen. I'm thinking you should be fancy" Wally said.

"How does one be 'fancy' eating fast food?" I asked.

"Wendy's"

"Wendy's it is then. Thanks for the advice"

"No hay problema! Always happy to help with a food crisis," there was a pause, "well, see you tomorrow then" Wally said.

"Yeah. See you tomorrow" I replied, remembering the reason I was so restless in the first place.

As I made my way inside the restaurant and stood in line the boy in front of me got his card declined. They tried again and it got declined a second time. Then a third.

"Come on, kid. There's a line" the cashier said.

The boy looked like he was on the verge of tears and was about to leave.

"I'll pay for him. And add a Barbecue Cheeseburger" I said.

The boy was staring at me like I was his hero.

I got the food and sat down at a table by the window.

"Come on, kid. Let's eat"

The boy seemed a bit cautious at first, it'd be weird if he wasn't, until I put the food in front of him. Then he started devouring his burger like he hadn't eaten in a week.

"So, kid. What's your name?" I asked.

"You first" the boy replied, mouth full of food. Disgusting.

"I'm Robin"

I'd decided to go with the Robin thing. I actually kinda liked that name.

"Well, nice to meet you, Robin. I'm Jason. And just for your information, I'm not a kid. I'm eleven" the boy said.

"Nice to meet you too, Jason. Though since I'm fourteen you are definitely still a kid"

Jason huffed and glared at me.

We had soon eaten our food. Jason looked like he was in heaven.

"When was the last time you ate? Not counting right now of course" I asked.

Jason had been acting a bit weird this whole time, but he suddenly looked extremely uncomfortable.

"I, um, well, might've been like three days ago" he admitted.

"Don't your parents feed you?" I asked.

"Not really. I have no idea where mom is, dad is a fucking criminal, and Catherine, my stepmom, is a drug addict. Feeding me has never been their priority"

Dam, he had a shitty life. I felt really bad for him. I couldn't imagine what it must be like.

I got an idea.

"Do you have a phone?" I asked.

Jason nodded.

"Good. I want to give you my number, so in case you ever need help, you can call me. It doesn't matter if you just need company, or if you need food. Anything really. I'm kind of loaded"

I was a bit surprised with myself, to be honest. I usually wasn't all about that 'doing the right thing' kind of stuff, but apparently, Jason was an exception.

~~~

Jason and I parted ways soon after. He'd promised to call if he needed me, and in return, he'd made me promise not to tell anyone about his living conditions. That worked for me.

On my way to the subway station, the sky had darkened considerably, not that it was ever anything but dark, and the air felt heavy. Great. It was going to rain and shit. I'd better get home. Maybe Wally wanted to play something.

The subway ride was exactly as you would expect. Uneventful. A baby was crying somewhere on the train. The crying stopped eventually. There was some drunk guy a few seats away, talking loudly to the person next to him, a middle-aged man who looked extremely uncomfortable. Just the usual.

It was finally my stop and I rushed out. While I didn't hate taking the subway I very much preferred taking the bus.

When I got out into the open it had started raining. It wasn't too bad. Just bad enough to make all my clothes damp for the rest of the day.

I ran the last bit when the rain got worse, and by the time I reached the front door, I might as well had taken a shower.

"Welcome home Re-IS THAT YOUR WET SHOES ON MY CLEAN CARPET"

Mom was livid. I guess she had the right to be. She'd cleaned the house a few days ago and the carpet alone had taken almost an hour. Of course, I had completely forgotten about that.

"Sorry, mom" I yelled while running to my room.

I could deal with her wrath later.