Chapter 1
Ashley
“I need a bit more than a babysitting job, Denise. I need to pay my tuition and I don’t think a couple of dollars an hour is going to cut it.”
“It’s not like it used to be. You make good money doing it now. Especially if you go to that website I was telling you about. They are willing to pay more than you would think.”
That got my attention and I asked her if she had tried it before.
“Yeah, a couple of times. I always find a job there if I need a little extra money.
I wish I didn't have to worry about tuition so much. Denise had a full ride scholarship and she didn't quite get the stress of it. While she was talking about making a few dollars to go out a couple of times a week, I needed thousands of dollars pretty quickly. My parents were helping me with tuition, but they were having money troubles and they basically told me that I had to figure it out myself.
I had less than two months to come up with the tuition and I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to do it. I certainly didn't think I was going to be able to do it making money babysitting. The only good thing that I had going on at the moment was the fact that I didn't have classes because it was summer. But the last thing that I wanted to do was have to go home because I couldn't come up with the money. I had to figure out something out.
“You know that you can apply for scholarships and stuff. You get pretty good grades. I bet that you could figure something out.”
“Yeah, I am looking into that now. Now that I have my first two years behind me, I was hoping to find some sort of financial aid. If my parents didn't make as much as they do, then I would have to worry about it.”
I knew that Denise felt bad, but she was also worried about if I was going to come up with my part of the rent or not. I told her that I was, even though I didn't know how I was going to do it. Rent was due in two weeks, so I had to take care of that first. There was no way that I was going to live on campus in one of those tiny dorms, even if I did have the money to do it.
“I will check out that website and see what I can come up with. When I babysat before when I was a teenager, I think I made like twenty bucks for three or four hours. That isn't going to cut it.”
“You just have to be positive Ashley. That's all there is to it. Something is going to happen, I just know it.”
She was always so positive, and I wish that I felt the same way. At the moment, I did not have a bunch of positivity in me. All I was feeling at the moment was stressed, knowing that I was going to have to leave school. There was no way that I was going to be able to do anything with an accounting degree that was only an Associates. I needed at least a Bachelors if I wanted to get any kind of decent job. Really, I need a Masters.
Denise waved goodbye and went out for the night. I couldn't afford to go out and instead I stayed at home, searching through the ads in the newspaper. I circled a couple of the jobs, a few of them at a restaurant. I knew that none of them were going to pay what I really needed. I needed to make a lot of money, really fast.
After I fixed my resume, I printed out a couple of copies that I planned to take with me tomorrow when I went looking for a job. I finally got a moment to check out the website that she was talking about, so sure that there was no way it was going to help me. It just didn't seem like the kind of job that was going to pay that well, not to mention that the hours I would have to work we're not even possible. I wasn’t great at math, but it didn’t seem to add up.
When I got on the website, I was a little surprised at some of the hourly rates that they were offering. Some of them were up to $20 an hour and I couldn't believe it. I figured that it must be a typo, or it must be a family that had ten kids. It seems like a lot, but if it meant that I could get my tuition done and paid for before the new semester started, I was willing to watch the Addams family if I had to at this point.
A couple of the job postings were local, and I noticed that they were in the rich part of town. The college town that I lived in was broken up into two sides. One side was the college side, that had a lot of cheaper housing and a lot of clubs. The other side of town, on the other side of the railroad tracks, was more for the posh people. I certainly wasn't one of them, but I didn't mind working for one if it meant that I could stay in school.
I wrote down a couple of numbers and told myself that I would call in the morning. It was too late to do so tonight, and I went to bed with a little more hope than when I started. Maybe Denise was right. Maybe everything would work out.
I was just about to go to sleep, before I got a call from Duane. He was my boyfriend for the last year or so and he still have the worst timing ever.
“Hey Duane, what's up?”
“Nothing baby, I was just seeing what you were doing. I was hoping that you would come out tonight, but I see that you stayed in.”
I looked down in my pajamas and I kind of chuckled to myself. I was the worst college student ever. While everyone else was living their full life and going out to parties, drinking, having fun, I was the one that was in my room, going to bed at nine o'clock. It wasn't that I didn't like all of those things, but I was far more worried about my studies. I had taking extra classes the last couple of semesters so that I could get out of here sooner, because I really just didn't belong here. Sometimes I felt a little older than everybody else, or at least a little more mature.
“Yeah, I need to find a job. What are you doing?”
“You know that I will help you if you need it. All you have to do is ask, Ashley.”
I didn't even comment on that because he didn't seem to get it. Duane came from money, he was from the other side of the railroad tracks and to him, money was nothing. It certainly wasn’t that way for me and it was hard for me to hear him talk about it sometimes.
“I am fine Dwayne, really. You don't have to worry about it. Denise was telling me about a couple of places to check out tomorrow. “
“So, are you down for the night?”
He was asking me if he could come over. Duane wanted to be around me all the time, and I just didn't get it. I was more of an introvert and I liked a little bit of quiet. I needed space. Duane was loud and the opposite of that, most of the time, I didn't think tonight was one of those times.
“I think so. It is getting late.”
“It's only 9:30, Ashley. I'm starting to think that you don't want to see me.”
If that was what he was thinking, he would be right. I just wanted to stay in and chill out. It had been a long day and the last thing I wanted to do was stay up all night with him. But by the tone of his voice and the way he kept asking, I knew that it would just be easier to go along with it.
“Come on over for a while if you want Duane, but just know that I'm not staying up all night. I have to hit the streets early in the morning and try to find a job.”
“Alright Babe, I'll be there in a minute.”
When he said that he was going to be there in a minute, he wasn't lying. The next thing that I know, he is knocking on the door and I am getting up. I didn't get to brush my hair, put make-up on or anything. He always told me that he liked me natural. I hoped that it was true because that was what he was getting.
I answered the door for him and he immediately pulled me into his arms. His lips were on my mine, and I could feel the need bubbling up inside of him. It was rather clear what he wanted tonight, and I couldn't blame him because it had been a couple of days.
“Do you want to get something to drink?”
“No, all I want to do is get you in bed Ashley.”
It was as I thought it would be and I tried not to be too irked by it. I know that he was just trying to be nice, but at the end of the day, he was just horny. He had been partying all night and I could taste the liquor on his breath. That usually didn't bode well for a good night of pleasure. He got sloppy and it was happening more than usual. Too much for my taste.