1 1 THE NEWS

"Why can't I go to Jaslyn's birthday party?" Vera spits out angrily at her parents. She's never experienced this obviously because her parents had always allowed her to do whatever she wanted. What was so different now? She wondered. Her parents both sighed in annoyance obvious that they were both not in the mood. "That right now is the last thing on the list we'd want to do," her father mumbles quietly under his breath but Vera had caught that. "What?! What do you mean?' She frowns still fuming with anger. She wanted to go to Jaslyn's party and she wanted to do that now. She didn't want anything stopping her- even if it meant she had to sneak out too.

"Look, we didn't explain this sooner or later but our family company is going bankrupt!" her mother yells throughout the room causing echoes. She was rubbing her head looking tired. And in that moment, Vera felt like everything in her world was dissolving slowly. She searched her parents expressions frantically thinking it was just an excuse for her to not go out. "W-what? W-what are you talking about?!" she looked at her parents, glancing from her father to her mother. "T-that can't be t-true," she was now a stuttering mess. She thought quickly about how she always got everything she wanted- from designer clothes to expensive cars. That couldn't be true! She always got so many things, it seemed like her parents had endless amount of money!

Now, Vera was on the verge of tears. They were threatening to fall down from her teary eyes. Footsteps then were heard, coming into the living room. Vera and her parents had turned around to see who it was. The older brother of the family, James. James glanced at everyone, noticing that Vera looked like she was about to cry and he knew that Vera never cried.

"What's going on here?" he frowned in confusion. Why did everyone act so upset? He wondered. "Look," their mother began with a deep breath. "Our company is going bankrupt. All of our employers had already left. They shut down our bank accounts. W-we don't have any m-money left," she stuttered and began to cry. Her husband put an arm around her, hugging her close to his chest. And that's when Vera's tears began falling down too. She was too overwhelmed.

"That-that can't be," James exclaimed in disbelief. But his expression was shown clearly on his face, he was worried.

* * *

Today was the day that they were going to move. Not a different state nor country. Just different neighborhoods. One that was a bit poor. Vera stood in front of her new home in disbelief. She looked utterly disgusted by the condition of the house. And she was also trudging along at least four suitcases of her clothes. Her family had already sold most of their things to keep them stable. While Vera only wanted to sell a few of her Chanel purses and clothes, which earned her a few thousand dollars. She didn't think that this was enough. It probably wasn't. While her parents and brother had sold half their things, earning them in the twenty thousands. Their stuff that they brought was definitely not cheap that was why they had earned so much money. Including selling two of their cars which earned them only half the price they bought the car for, another twenty thousand. But the money wasn't going to help support them for the rest of their lives.

When Vera tried to settle in, she wanted the bedroom that looked the biggest and nicest. But unfortunately, all the rooms were about the same size. It was more than half the size less than her actual bedroom size. Again, Vera shuddered in disgust. She tried looking in the bright side of things. Maybe things aren't so bad, Vera thought. Even though there was nothing in the room but the bed in the middle and a window on the side of the room, it was in good condition. At least there was no paint peeling off, she thought.

She placed her suitcases in the room and went back into the kitchen where her parents and brother was.

Before she could even greet her parents, they already cut her off. "You both need to find a job," her mother looks at Vera and James.

James shrugs but Vera frowned. Job?! She thought. She's never had a job before, didn't even need to work. "You are kidding me right?" Vera scoffs.

"No we are not kidding you. We can't support you both for the rest of your lives. Money will run out sooner or later," her mother reassured both of them. But Vera was acting selfish and stomped away into her room like a little kid. In the car ride before, her parents just told her that she would be transferred to a public school while her brother would still stay in the same college. She thought of public school and almost wanted to gag. She thought of the dirty toilets, the unclean desks, the disgusting lockers. How would she even survive in this condition? She wondered.

* * *

Vera has skipped dinner that night and woke up bright and early in the morning to get ready. She thought how first impressions were always best.

She brushed off all the bad thoughts and smiled brightly at herself in the mirror. She chose her designer skinny black jeans which was worth almost two hundred dollars and paired it with a beige sweater which wasn't short but a bit cropped. Then she chose her white new sneakers she bought almost a month ago-which she never wore. Lastly, she took her black tote bag and headed into the kitchen where her family was.

"Good morning!" She chirped. Everyone just stared at her. They thought how she could be in a good mood when everything in her life is changing. And no one replied back. She grabbed an apple and asked, "How will I get to school?"

Finally, her father answered, "You can take the car. Me and your mother will return home late tonight. James is sleeping over at a friends house," he grumbles. But Vera mentally rolled her eyes at her fathers attitude. She grabbed the car keys out of the counter and headed out.

She couldn't believe it, she was going to a public school!