When the third year began, it was starting to get ridiculous.
We never openly discussed about it, anyway.
We just, went on.
We wouldn't pretend anymore though- at least, not with each other.
We might not call ourselves a couple, but we were.
....
In that period, Theo always wore old, worn-out T-shirts, with some cartoons or images on them.
Everywhere.
To dinner, parties, to Uni tests.
People were sometimes making fun of him.
Other students would go wearing a shirt and jacket, but not Theo.
He was always in the same, old tees.
Was it because he liked them?
He said so.
And well, maybe partially, he did.
But I knew it was not the only reason.
His parents didn't give him any money: I knew that much.
I didn't know if they didn't have it, or didn't want to.
And before you say, why didn't we pick up a job: we studied up to 12 hours a day, 6 to 7 days a week, most weeks. Rarely, we studied only for 5 days, and we had a couple of days of holiday, but that's all.
Everything else we did, was squeezed into those free moments.
We were very dedicated to it- no one worked. It was like that... where I lived. I know it's different somewhere else.
We would not eat, if necessary. Turn off the lights, not to pay the bills.
But none of us ever worked, nor considered it feasible, through med school.
That's how it was, where I lived.
But then, coming back to Theo's closet:
He wasn't the smartest one in town, surely.
By the third year, people were starting gossiping behind his back, when he walked in for lessons.
I would have slapped them all.
Many of them had their parents buying every stupid thing they wanted. Without any struggle. They didn't even know what struggle meant.
But I knew. Theo knew. Jasmine knew.
I kept telling Theo that clothing didn't matter- nor any other materialistic thing.
But I realized, it was hitting a nerve for him.
Sometimes we couldn't even afford take away pizza: we boiled pasta- that's all we could afford.
I didn't care.
I felt like he wanted to, I don't know, to give me more. But really, I did not care.
Him, our mouldy home, a book and a flavourless pasta were all I wanted.
Anyway, I had started saving.
It was not easy: I had very, very little money. But you know, through the months.
I saved, and I finally went to buy him a present.
He didn't expect it when he was unwrapping it: I usually gifted him free things- like drawings I did, or stories I wrote. I made a lot of comic strips about us, as well.
Which he liked. He didn't expect another type of gift.
But there it was:
A shirt.
A brand-new shirt.
The first one he had ever owned.
When he saw it, he cried.
YOU ARE READING
Let's hope for the best
Non-Fiction... but prepare for the worst. When I was a kid, I thought that life was going to be like a Disney movie. Then, alas, life happened. And I found out, I was not ready for it.
