Handling a Crisis

Chapter Eleven: The Borderline Date Part 1

(what the frick how did this jump 200 reads the flip-?)

I am done AP testing! So, to celebrate, here's a chapter that I wrote in five hours and got checked by Ali!

America sat down at his desk and looked at his paycheck disappointedly. Every country near the end of each month received one based off of how much money their country's people made the previous month. Everyone knew that they were going to be receiving some pay cuts due to the pandemic. They all knew what to expect.

They just didn't know what exactly that meant.

America hoped that it meant they'd be taking off a little, but who was he kidding? His pay had been cut drastically. Because of people being shut indoors and not being able to work, they haven't been able to make money. A lot of people can't even pay for bare necessities because of the pandemic. He should've expected his paycheck to have been cut down by so much.

The paycut scared him. If the pandemic didn't happen, then America would have enough money to pay all the bills, buy groceries, and still have some money left over for him to save and spend. This paycheck barely left him enough money to pay the bills and groceries. If he kept getting such low payments, he would have to start dipping into his savings by the end of the year if nothing bad happened. However, knowing his luck, he'd have to start dipping into his saving near the end of the summer.

Oh God, summer.

Summer meant that his states were going to be slammed with hurricanes, tornadoes, and wildfires. That meant he'd have to spend money on any repairs that needed to be made to the house because his states have combusted into flames or they've slammed into something due to the lack of control they have of their bodies because of tornadoes, not to mention he'd have to buy even more gatorade for when his kids start throwing up randomly and uncontrollably due to hurricanes. Oh, then there's the fact that his kids are going to be spiking fevers on abnormally hot days. And on top of that, his kids were still sick.

Yeah... summers weren't exactly the best in America's household.

America slammed his head down on his desk, groaning with annoyance. The next few months were gonna suck; he already knew it. As the thought taunted him over and over again in his mind, America repeatedly slammed his head on his desk.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, he thought, hitting his head on his desk with each word. Why. Did. You. Think. Things. Would. Be. Fine. You. God. Damn. Idiot.

"Kuya, wag na gagawin (Older brother, don't do that)," America heard a voice say softly. He looked up and saw Philippa and Canada standing at his doorway.

"I let them in, Dad!" Indiana yelled from down the hall. "Don't worry, nobody else was outside!"

Philippa and Canada walked in and stood in front of his desk. "Ame, what's wrong?" Canada asked.

America lifted his head just enough to see Philippa and Canada's expressions. "My goddamned paycheck is what's wrong," he grumbled. "I can't believe my country's doing this badly. If my people are doing badly, we're gonna be suffering worse than we did during the Great Depression within a matter of months. Weeks if things start really going downhill." He slammed his head onto the table again.

"Ay, sus, masasaktan ka sa ulo mamaya (Jesus, you'll get a headache later)," Philippa chided him. She gently lifted America's head off his desk and gently pushed backwards so he was slouching against the backrest of his chair, looking up at her and Canada. "Derrre, dat's slightly betterrr."

"Ame, remember, we've got your back," Canada reminded him. "We both made a promise to help you and the kids when we found out. If you need any money—"