This is set during Welcome to Latnok
It's amazing how one small thing can change your entire life. For example in one beautiful morning a concerned Jessi came to Nicole and she caught Kyle just as he was about to make a very stupid phone call. After he threw a tantrum worthy of a twelve year old girl and refused to even consider the possibility of not helping, Nicole finally decided to change tactics and use common sense
"Kyle I understand you want to help but there are other ways then to go to Latnok"
" But Nicole they are the only way we can get the money.." Kyle wanted to go another guilty conscience rant but Nicole interrupted him
"Kyle not everything in life needs to be magically solved in a few days. We have three months to pay this bill. If you want to help I'll let you but I am sure that with your intellect and our combined efforts we can find a way to gather seventy thousand dollars without getting involved with a shady secret society"
Kyle sat stunned for a moment wondering why never thought of that. Then with his usual big grin he happily said:
"We can do it together"
Soon enough everybody was in the effort. Once the kids actually got around to looking at the problem instead of merely being shocked at the large number they found out that there are a variety of payment plans, extensions and so on. The problem was still quite serious but it wasn't really life or death. The healthcare industry may be quite heartless at times but it was a business and as any successful business it was giving people a chance.
And so each of them started working towards the goal. Lori also got a minimum wage job, Josh took more shifts at The Rack and occasionally teamed up with Jessi to win all kinds of rewards on radios, TV and whatever else they found, Kyle and Jessi also teamed up working various computer programming jobs and researching different loans. All and all it was actually going quite well. They had gathered close to five thousand dollars in just two weeks and with the steady income coming it looked more and more like they wouldn't even need to get loans or extensions
And so it came as quite a surprise to them when one day Jessi casually strolled in the kitchen and put a bag with money on the table.
"Hey everybody "said a beaming Jessi " I've managed to get fifty thousand dollars"
Everybody sat for a moment looking rather stunned at the money. It wasn't that much to look per se but in modern days with credit cards, bank transactions and so on one rarely got to see so much cash in one place. Finally Nicole asked the question that was on everybody's mind
"Jessi how did you get so much money?" well the question on everybody's mind was actually" Jessi you didn't rob a bank right?" but it was close enough
"Oh I won a competition" said a still beaming Jessi
"In what exactly?" asked a very suspicious Lori
"Aesthetic representation through image capturing devices" said quickly Jessi "So should I go and put this in the bank?"
"Sure. I'll drive you" said Stepehen who while slightly surprised was still proud of the accomplishment of his new daughter. He guessed he should have expected something like that with his two genius children
A few moments after they left everybody turned to Kyle and Nicole reluctantly said"
'This means visual arts right?" said a slightly embarrassed in Nicole. While it was a pride for every parent when they kids outshined them it was still a bit awkward to have kids so much smarter then you
"Yes" said Kyle with his permanent smile" This brings us a lot of closer to our goals. Do you want to go and look over the numbers again? This time it might be more pleasant"
And so they were off. Leaving Josh and Lori who at the moment were thinking the same thing
"Do you actually believe that crap about aestheto something?" asked Josh with a sarcastic smirk
"Of course no. Jessi is up to something. And we got to find out what" responded Lori in a satisfied manner. Although she had come to accept Jessi as part of the family digging dirt on other family members was part of the old Trager sibling policy. And this was going to be good.
And seeing this as their best shot since Jessi was out of the house and Kyle was preoccupied they quickly sneaked into Jessi's room
"Let operation "Busting Jessi" commence" said Lori and prepared to start digging through the room
"Wait wait"said quickly Josh remembering Jessi's skills." There is no way we can pull this off without Jessi noticing. What's our cover?"
"We will say that I was looking for my T-shirt. Thank god for Jessi's "borrowing" habits"
And so they started digging. They weren't actually sure what they were supposed to find. Vague idea of bank plans and other movie stuff went through their minds. After spending a few minutes looking under the bed, under the carpet and in other weird and obscure places Lori finally decided to try the wardrobe. And there it was. A mysterious blue duffel bag she had never seen before
"Jackpot" said a happy Lori" I think we got our mystery bag"
Quickly they put it on the bed and then they both got a surprise as they opened it. This was not what they expected. Lori couldn't help but stare and Josh was getting a bit dizzy with the blood rushing out of his brain quite quickly
"Ok this is not normal" said Lori trying to come to terms with what she was seeing" Most girls have a bit of sexy lingerie somewhere in their wardrobe but this is worthy of a pussycat doll. What the hell is going on here? Josh? Earth to Josh?"
"Oh yeah, strange yeah strange" muttered Josh while still staring intently at the bag. He didn't even know the name of most of these pieces of well clothes for a lack of a better word but he could easily imagine them on Jessi. It was a nice image. Very nice. And thinking of the devil……
When Jessi entered her room she was rather surprised to see both Lori and Josh rummaging through her clothes
"What are you guys doing here?"
"Searching for answers" said Lori in her bitchy voice" Mind explaining what these are?"
"Well that's a bra over there, then we have a garter belt a…."
"I know what they are. I mean what are you doing with a bag full of them?" said an exasperated Lori. But Jessi was more worried about Josh. His eyes seems strangely glazed and not very focused
"They are clothes. What do you think they are for? Is something wrong with Josh?"
"Forget about Josh. I want know what you are involved in Jessi. Don't tell me you are…I mean you can't be.."
"What?" Jessi was confused. Lori was even more cryptic then usual
"Don't tell me you are hookin that's what!" said an angry Lori who never thought that she would have a "are you a hooker" talk with anybody
Jessi was confused. How did they get from talking about her clothes to talking about her using her abilities to land hook shots at the basketball court ? It was quite a difficult move especially at the distance she used and she made a nice amount of money on people betting she couldn't do it. How Lori found this from her clothes was a mystery to Jessi.
"Well yeah but I don't see what's the big deal about it. I only do it on the weekends" she just couldn't get a good crowd at the courts during the week.
"Big deal!? Where to start . How about that it's illegal?" asked a rather outraged Lori. She couldn't believe she actually had to explain
"Well yeah technically it is" conceded Jessi. She knew that betting on sports was not entirely legal but she still couldn't see the big deal" It's not like the cops care either. I play with at least a dozen of them and nobody ever mentioned anything. In fact I thought them a few moves" she said proudly. They were so going to defeat the fireman team this year.
"Oh god" said Lori while trying to suppress the images of Jessi "playing" with a dozen cops and teaching them new things. At least that explained the handcuffs …"Jessi you are selling yourself. That's just wrong"
Jessi was once again confused but then she understood. She remembered Declan complaining that basketball players sell themselves out nowadays and play for the money and not for the love of the game
"Oh look I admit it. Money is part of it but I also really enjoy it" she said trying to reassure Lori but it didn't seem to work
" But Jessi just think of what people will say. What about Kyle?" Lori tried using the "secret crush weapon". She knew that one of the few ways of getting to Jessi was by using Kyle
"Oh I thought about him bringing him on board too. And maybe Declan .We would be quite the threesome" she said while imagining how impressive the three of them would be on the court" Although most people prefer to be one on one. But I guess they can always watch" she did get the most money from people who prefer to watch instead of play basketball. The really good players could recognize the talent in Jessi
"What!??|" Jessi was beginning to wonder if she wasn't in the Twilight zone. Josh seemed to be completely in a world of his own. Although it looked like the latest mental images were disturbing him
Jessi was once again feeling uncomfortable with Lori's reaction. She couldn't understand why Lori was so upset …and then she finally got it
"Look Lori I am sorry ok. I wish I could take you and Josh as well but I just don't think you have the required skill. Declan has been at it longer then any of you and Kyle is probably as good as me. But you can still watch if you want" she said smiling hoping that this would raise their spirits. As much as she would enjoy playing a game with all of them they just weren't on a professional level. "Or we can try it our in our backyard. I think if we go at it really intensely I can teach you guys. Don't worry I'm a much better teacher then Declan" she said winking at Lori. Declan had told her of the disastrous time when he tried teaching Lori to play basketball. It ended with Lori falling and hurting her knee rather badly" and I can be gentle "
Lori was rather horrified at just how she was getting nowhere with Jessi. This really wasn't supposed to go this way. Jessi was supposed to be terrified at what Kyle would think and then thank Lori for all the help, maybe by giving her unlimited access to her apartment again. She wasn't supposed to be a crazy nympho and offer to "train" her and Josh. Speaking of Josh meanwhile he seemed to be almost choking. His teenage male brain was being completely overwhelmed. Seeing the handcuffs she decided to get out of here before Jessi elaborated on the training and before her brother's libido put him in a coma
"We gotta go" she said dragging Josh towards the door. But before she made it out to sweet freedom Jessi said one more terrifying thing.
"Guys I know you are mad but didn't you say yourself that we must do everything in our power to help Nicole and Stepehen?"
Looking at Jessi's wide eyes and completely innocent face both Lori and Josh realized they were royally screwed. They were going to get blamed for this. And so completely traumatized they both went to their rooms and tried really hard not to think about this
Meanwhile in another part of town Amanda was cleaning up the tables. She really hated how inconsiderate people were sometimes. They would even leave their papers and magazines here .Couldn't they at least clean up their own stuff.?
But just as she thought that she couldn't get more annoyed with the world she picked the magazine that the annoying college boy( who needed ten whole minutes to decide on a simple coffee) left and she squealed in terror. No way. This couldn't be. She was not seeing Jessi looking gorgeous on the cover of Sports Illustrated. As she went through the magazine finding several more pictures of a barely clothed Jessi and a centerfold proclaiming her the winner of best bikini model competition Amanda knew that things simply couldn't get worse.
And while Amanda was a very nice girl who would usually never use foul language she couldn't help but sum up the situation with:
"Fuck. How am I supposed to compete with something like that?"
A quick story inspired by
1) A very nice magazine
2) The silly way the original episode went
Hope you enjoyed it