Chapter 2: 2 – Randy

"I'll give you a hundred dollars."

"No," Randy said firmly.

"Come on. Two hundred?"

"No." The young man stood his ground.

The woman was practically on her hands and knees at this point. "Five hundred. Five hundred dollars."

"I'm sorry, Coach Slater, but I'm just not doing it. I already told you this last time."

When he first stepped in to Lower Griffin High School, absolutely nobody expected Randy Martin would become one of the most popular kids in school. Mercilessly bullied in middle school and his first two years in high, he seemed like just another loser for everyone to laugh at and pick on. Skinny as a twig, totally short, pasty and pimply and just laughable in every way.

Then came the growth spurt. He went home at the end of sophomore year and came back looking like an entirely different person. In three short months, Randy had transformed from a vampire-pale, acne-infested bobbleheaded dork to a tall, slim young man who wouldn't look out of place in a mid-2000s boy band.

People called it the glow-up to end all glow-ups. But to Randy, all that had happened was that he grew a few inches and got really into skincare and swimming. It took him a while to realize anything had changed in other people's eyes. By then, he had already gotten the role as anchor of the school news show that was put on every Friday. His sense of humor that people previously found awkward and creepy was suddenly hilarious and endearing. Randy was swarming with new friends - even girls wanted to hang out with him now.

This woman wanted more than that, though. Randy didn't just do the school news show every Friday, he also did the announcements on Monday over the intercom. On his way to the school office, Coach Slater had ambushed him and dragged him into a dark, quiet side-room to discuss a business proposal. Well, to discuss it again.

"Listen, Randy, I really don't want to sound like I'm begging you here," Coach Slater said. "But I'm begging you here. I get it, you don't like my daughter. You think I never noticed how she treated you? But you're seriously my last option."

To say Randy "didn't like" Nikki Slater was the understatement of the century. He hated her. Sure, a lot of people had picked on him over the years, but Nikki, Nikki had some kind of obsession. And some of her pranks were just evil. Randy's mind drifted back, thinking of all the good days she ruined and all the bad days she made worse...

It must've been second or third grade. Randy and Nikki shared a classroom for the first time. First time he had ever been in her proximity, never even spoke to her - she threw a paper plane into his eye. And when he started crying, she laughed and laughed and laughed. Whenever she saw him after for the rest of elementary, she'd try to make that same shot again. 

Middle school, things got worse. One time, he was standing in line for lunch, waiting with a five dollar bill clutched in his hand. Just a tiny bit stuck past the end of his thumb. All of a sudden, a blur shot by, tearing the bill from his hand. It was Nikki Slater, of course. He took off after her, but the girl was much more athletic, and left him in the dust. No food for him that day. Or the next day. Or the next. Then he started brown-bagging, to avoid the issue. Of course, Nikki would sometimes just snatch his lunch from him anyways, either to toss it in the trash or eat it herself.

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Of course, there was also the pantsing incident, which was apparently part of  Oak Park Middle School lore to this day. Nikki only pulled down his jeans - his underwear stayed on, despite the common tellings saying otherwise. But that didn't make it any less humiliating.

And then it hardly slowed down in high school. Nikki was less physical, but she spread all kinds of rumors about him - she even said that he had sex with a poodle, but luckily that one didn't catch on. Most of them had faded away by now, thanks to his newfound good looks and status. But one that stuck with him was the myth Nikki had started that he was ga and had dated a number of guys in school. One time, she had stuck a Post-It Note on his butt that had "I LIKE IT UP THE ASS" written on it, which he regrettably didn't notice for three whole periods. Really clever stuff. No wonder a girl with such razor-sharp wit was flunking all her classes.

And of course, throughout all of this, she was nearly suspended or even expelled a few times. But she was always saved at the last minute, either by Principal Winthrop (who hated doling out punishments harsher than a light slap on the wrist) or the woman currently grovelling before Randy right now. Which honestly made it all the more satisfying watching her squirm.

"I'll give you anything. Gym off for the rest of the year. I'll write you a recommendation letter, I'll even say you participated in every extracurricular I've ever ran. Think about how that'll look on your college application. I just need someone who can salvage my... my idiot daughter's grades so we can get this stupid scholarship!"

"I can't be your only option," Randy said, rolling his eyes. "Go find someone else."

"I've asked all the Chinese kids and all the Indian kids and they all said no," Coach Slater snorted disdainfully. "And those tutoring services cost an arm and a leg... defeats the purpose of the scholarship. I'm not even sure if they could pull this off."

"And you think I can?"

"You've got a 4.0 and an A+ in every class.  You're one of the few students that performs that high in this entire school. Nikki needs those kinda grades on every assignment til the end of the year or she can kiss her basketball career goodbye."

Randy shrugged his shoulders. "Well, tell her to pucker up, I guess."

He turned to leave the room, but he heard Coach Slater let out a string of curses behind him.

"Oh, you wouldn't get it at all, you privileged little rich kid. You don't know what it's like being poor! Her basketball skills, her careeer she's been building for years... that was going to save us! And you can't put aside your petty grudge to help a poor single mother and her kid... you sicken me."

In that moment, Randy was appalled. Not just at Coach Slater, but at him himself. This woman was truly desperate... and he hadn't even thought to take advantage of this situation.

"Okay, tell you what," Randy said. "I'll do it. But only on a number of conditions..."

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