Business And Hopelessness

CHAPTER ONE: Desperate

It all began on the fateful day Valentina Barron decided to steal a smartphone from one of her wealthiest classmates. Her reasoning was that she needed the money and that her classmate didn't need a third phone anyways, as this was already a present from one of her admirers, a phone she didn't need.

Valentina had been stressed all day as she watched the girl, Odette Wraith, play around with the phone, almost dropping it a painful number of times. It wasn't because the girl was clumsy no, she just didn't value the present as much as a normal person would have. When you were too rich, money lost its value. And Odette's family had power not many other families had, and just with the snap of their finger, Valentina could be put on the missing people list in only one night.

Only if she was caught though. And if she managed to steal the rollerblades – that her parents took away for hurting herself too much with them and refusing to quit – every second night from her parents' room for years, she had to be successful with this too. Except, this was much more complicated than a pair of rollerblades. She could get in much more trouble for stealing a phone, potentially being suspended, or even expelled from the school.

And if that happened, her parents would be so disappointed in her, that she would live the rest of her life in her room, grounded. That wasn't the most heartbreaking punishment though. Wasting her scholarship for such a desperate yet horrible reason would crush her parents, especially her mother, who was actually the sole reason behind the cause why Valentina got that scholarship in the first place.

But as with all things, this came back to money as well. She needed to pay the rent of their apartment somehow, pay all those hospital bills they had been receiving monthly. They were already dancing on dangerously thin ice, not having paid at least two months' worth of checks. With this money, Valentina could finally help her father, finally, get her family out of debt for at least a small time. Because even if it wasn't for long, it was still significant. No doubt that phone was expensive, costing more than the cramped flat they were living in. She had to get it...

So, in the afternoon, Valentina walked into her P.E. class with a pounding heart and a task for herself, full of determination. She planned her move all day, watching Odette from afar and noting each of her actions to herself. Valentina saw where she put that phone, how she basically never zipped her bag, and that she barely paid attention to her belongings because there surely wouldn't be theft at such a prestigious school as Silver High.

Valentina also had knowledge of where she put her bags in the locker rooms. She knew which locker was hers and which shelf she always placed her bag on. She knew that from attending the same P.E. class with her since she transferred.

When everyone was completely dressed in their P.E. uniforms, the girls began filtering out of the room. All of Valentina's movements were painfully slow, from changing her clothes to putting her hair up into a high ponytail and pinning her curtain bangs back so they weren't in the way. Odette and her friends walked out at last, and Valentina listened to their footsteps go further and further until they couldn't be heard anymore.

Collecting all her courage, she stepped up to Odette's locker with a hammering heart, her trembling hands hastily opening it up. Everything she needed was in front of her, even her current phone was out on the shelf without any protection along with her wallet. How stupid was Odette to leave these things out in the open?

But no, she couldn't get off track. All she needed was the phone she got as a present. If she was lucky, Odette wouldn't even notice that it was gone. After all, she was an airhead...right?

Valentina reached into the unzipped bag, grabbing the phone gently as she lifted it out. It was perfect, with no scratches, and no damage done to it, meaning that it could be worth the original price. All the checks she could pay with the money captured her thoughts as if she was done and dusted.