Money money money (open)

[Mortis Dauer]

Money is a funny thing. It makes the world go round, it makes people do all sorts of crazy things. The upper class, or the people with money have always dominated the poor. Why is that? Simple. Taking into consideration that money makes the world go around, the poor need to work for the rich to make an effect on society, less they be forgotten and discarded.

So I sat, alone at a table in the cafeteria, counting my spare change. Well... I lie, I don't carry change... ever.

"Twenty, forty, sixty, eighty... one hundred." I said aloud as I counted my money.

The school cafeteria only accepted tens... What kind of grubby place was this? I wouldn't be caught dead with a ten dollar bill.

[Sam Ballerino]

Sam walked down the rows of tables in the cafeteria. She was starving, and at this point would be willing to eat just about any kind of slop the lunch lady wanted to put on her plate. As long as it didn't give her any kind of incurable disease, she was perfectly all right with that.

She had decided to wear a skirt today, just because she felt like it. It was super short, almost to the middle of her thigh, and made of denim with a couple of decorative patches. And in case the wind (or anything else) happened to blow up the skirt a little bit, she also put on a pair of booty shorts underneath. Rhinestoned on the back of the shorts, invisible unless the skirt was pulled up, were the simple words STOP LOOKING. She wore them mostly out of amusement; the shorts had been a parting gift from a girl she danced with before she moved to San Fransisco. But if anyone happened to see them, well, there was their warning.

As she walked through the tables she caught a glimpse of a guy sitting on his own, counting something. When she got closer she realized it was money. Bills. Quite a few bills from the sound of it. Sam stopped when she got to him, and looked at him with concern across the table.

"You know, if you flaunt bills around like that, you're likely to get 'em stolen." It wasn't a threat of any fashion. Just a bit of advice.

[Mortis Dauer]

"You know, if you flaunt bills around like that, you're likely to get 'em stolen."

Damn... she is right.

This girl was smart, and very observant... I was being kind of dumb with my money, especially when considering just how filthy this place was. Surely one of these little rats could come up and take it from me at any second. That thought kind of scared me really... I would need to make sure I could protect my interests in this place.

"Good idea, Ms.?" I questioned while holding my hand out in front of me, offering her the seat across from me at the table.

[Sam Ballerino]

"Good idea, Ms.?"

"Ballerino. Sam Ballerino," she said with a smile, taking the offered seat. "And you are?"

She was glad the guy hadn't seen her comment as a threat to steal. She just didn't want him to get into trouble because of someone who thought he might be easy pickings. She didn't, though. He had an easygoing manner, but anyone who wore a business suit to a casual school day and flaunted $20s like pennies probably had either something else hidden up his sleeve or had the money to pay someone to hide up his sleeve.

But besides that, her fear of the school and it's reputation made her wary of every person she came across. Normally she tried not to be judgemental, but here she couldn't help but think that everyone she walked by had a short fuse and a long arm. His genial manner soothed her a bit, though, and so she set her tray down, and dug into what she was told was macaroni and cheese, though it looked more like grey clay, peppered with small rocks. Suprisingly, it didn't taste half bad. At least it was edible.