Never Again
Jack awoke to the sound of Carly's voice. Even though her bedroom door was closed, he could clearly hear her yelling from outside. Irritated, he jumped out of bed. As he walked into the living room, he saw Carly sitting at her desk, talking on her phone. He stood in the hallway, watching as he waited for her to finish.
Carly was dressed in baggy gray sweatpants, black socks, and a black T-shirt. Her dark hair was up in a sloppy ponytail, and her glasses were back on again. He sighed. Wasn't it just yesterday that he told her there was no need for them? Then Carly sighed, turning off her phone and setting it down onto the desk table.
"Could you have talked any louder?" Jack asked, walking closer.
"Sorry," she said feebly.
"And what did I tell you about those glasses?" Jack crossed his arms over his chest.
She removed them from her face, shaking her head. "I'm sorry," she whispered. Jack let his arms dangle to his sides when he realized something was wrong.
"What is it? Are your eyes hurting again?" he asked, stepping forward. "Let me see-"
"No, it's not that,"Carly sighed. Jack fell onto the sofa.
"Well, if it's not that, what is it? Spit it out."
"I-I just got fired, Jack. Okay?" Carly wiped her eyes with her fingers.
For some strange reason, Jack didn't feel comfortable seeing Carly crying, but then again, would any boy be calm while a girl cried in front of them. Soon, Carly was hiccuping with tears. She pulled the collar of her shirt up and wiped them away. Jack waited until she calmed down a little before talking further.
"What happened?"
"M-my boss said that he didn't like what I p-put down in the newspaper on the Satellite." Carly picked up two newspapers from the stack on the coffee table and tossed one to Jack. "Page five, bottom right column. My boss said that I had been...slacking off ever since I joined, and that there was no room for me anymore. He called me baka."
Jack turned to the page and saw that the article had an overview picture of the Satellite. As he skimmed through the column, he saw that it wasn't bad at all.
"This is really good," he said honestly. Carly sniffed.
"You think so?" she asked.
"Would I lie?" he fired back. Jack scanned the page until he found another article, this one very sized up. It showed a picture of a blonde woman named Angela Raines, the author of the article. Unlike Carly's column, Angela had gotten a full page. At the top of the page were big, bright letters. That read Jack Atlas From The Satellite?
'Has he been lying to us this whole time?' was the first sentence. Jack slammed the newspaper down onto the coffee table. Carly jumped.
"What's up?" she asked, but Jack didn't have time for her. He entered Carly's bedroom, slamming the door behind him.
Carly slid into his seat on the couch, and looked at the article to see what had made him upset. "From the Satellite?" she said aloud. "Oh, Jack."
"IT'S NOT TRUE!" Jack yelled as she walked down the hallway to his room.
"I never said it was," Carly reminded softly, starting to knock on the door. "Jack, it's okay. I know no one's going to care, anyway-"
"You don't know anything, baka!" Jack seethed. Carly froze, her fist a few centimeters away from the door. That was the same thing her boss had called her.
Tears formed inside her eyes, as she brought her fist to her side. She didn't feel like consoling him anymore, even though it didn't matter to her that he was from the Satellite. She had been nothing but kind to him ever since she had met him - she gave up her bed for him, cooked for for him, but he never returned the favor. Instead he made her eyes hurt by forbidding her from wearing glasses and then he calls her baka.
Carly walked away from her door, feeling somewhat sick. She collapsed onto the sofa, burying her face into a pillow for it to soak her tears. Jack was a selfish, rude, impolite homeless guy who didn't know how to do anything apart from just being rich for all his life. Then it dawned on her: he hadn't been rich all his life. Jack Atlas had once lived in the Satellite.
Wanting to know more, Carly picked up the article and read Angela's report on him. Apparently, he had been best friends with Yusei Fudo, but stole his most valuable card to use in the Fortune Cup. Carly's mind went to work when she finished reading, and came to a conclusion. Jack was really a lost nobody who just wanted the attention he thought he deserved.
"Jack," Carly called, feeling nothing but pity for the lost nobody. She opened her room door. "Jack, I'm so-" but there was no one there.
Carly raced to the open window and looked down at the long fall. Had Jack jumped?
"Oh no! JACK!" she screamed. She ran outside into Domino City's crowded streets after grabbing his jacket from her bed.
Never again would she leave him alone with those thoughts he was thinking.
