High School Dream ~ Youtuber Fanfiction ~

Chapter 4

SHELBY REGRETTED MISSING THE FOOTBALL GAME. Even though Beutoy had won, "by a landslide," as Adam had told her, she wished she could've been on the stands, cheering them on to victory with her friends.

But she had things to do. Homework, community service, and projects were just a few of them.

She also had to put food on the table, pay the rent that kept her and her sickly mother in the run-down apartment they stayed in, and work a half-time job that kept her from sleeping.

Shelby never knew her father. The man had left her mother heartbroken after he discovered she was pregnant with a child. Her mother proceeded to stay in bed and do absolutely nothing as Shelby entered high school. She never acknowledged her daughter, nor did she acknowledge her daughter struggling. She only ate the food that Shelby provided, drank the bottled water Shelby took from school, and slept for the majority of the day.

Shelby didn't detest her mother, but she wished desperately for her to change and finally help Shelby.

Her friends knew about her father, and how her family was quite poor, but they didn't know about Shelby's predicament with her schedule and her mother.

And Shelby wanted to keep it that way.

She sighed as the bell signalling the end of school rang, its shrill noise giving her a bigger headache. Shelby knew she was lacking sleep, which she also knew was very unhealthy, but she had no choice. With a shift that started approximately half an hour after school and only ended late at night, she had no choice but to complete her pile of homework sometime early in the morning, leaving her with only a few hours of sleep.

Shelby didn't enjoy her job too much, either. It involved standing in the cold, helping customers who didn't seem capable of reading, cleaning up after people who seemed to think the beach was their trash can, inspecting permits, and weighing fish. She often returned to her run-down apartment exhausted and wanting nothing more than sleep. But, unfortunately for her as a junior in high school, she had tons of homework that was due in class, the next day.

Shelby quickly stuffed her books into her bag, running out the door. She knew that at this point, Adam had given up on looking for her after school. They had their last class together which meant Shelby had to sprint out the door and reach her locker before Adam did, lest he try and talk to her and make her late for her job.

Shelby ran to her apartment, which was in a complex not too far from school, and changed into her uniform for work. As she changed, she thought about her situation. It wasn't ideal, but she was still lucky she had managed to find a decent-paying, stable job, even though the hours were long.

She thought back to lunch, when Adam had told them a game was coming up. Declining was only a simple, two-letter word. But every time Adam's hopeful eyes turned to her, she struggled to tell him that, yet again, she could not make it to the game.

"Busy," she would say, and it would be true.

It always played like a record. First would be the offer from Adam, then Shelby would decline, then disappointment would wash over her friends' faces, and Shelby would feel guilt wash over her own. But lately, to Shelby's horror, the guilt was disappearing and being replaced by more of a want, and a stinging behind her eyes.

Stop it, she would scold herself every time it happened. You're not a child, you're in high school, you're seventeen, for God's sake.

Shelby grabbed her keys off her bed, where she had thrown them in her rush to get home, and bid her mother an unheard goodbye. She stepped out onto the street, where the crowd of students returning home after school had noticeably diminished.

Good, Shelby thought as she made her way to work. No one that I know to see me and spread rumors through the whole school.

Shelby shivered as a sudden breeze hit her. She hated how the uniform only consisted of a T-Shirt, pants, and snapback. Nothing to protect her from the cold as winter hit the bay, where it was especially windy. Shelby, personally, could handle the cold. She could handle it when it was windy. What she couldn't handle was when it was both cold and windy.

She finally reached the docks, one of her co-workers acknowledging her with a simple greeting, which she returned politely.

Shelby grimaced as she stood near some of the fishing equipment and waited for customers to arrive. Then she remembered. Today's Friday.

Friday, where Shelby worked, meant a huge load of people wanting to relax with their families before work or school started again.

She groaned as she saw many cars parking and people walking towards the store. Today's going to be a long day.