Chapter 3

"I'm telling you the truth, man. She really did ask me out to have dinner at her house. See? She wrote her address on this napkin." Matt shoved the napkin up to Joe's face. "Can I write that good? Nooo."

Joe examined the napkin.

"Man, that girl has got nice handwriting. I know it's not you who wrote it 'cause you can barely write your own name."

"Shut up," Matt said good-naturedly.

"Was she pretty?" Joe asked, leaning against the wall of a building that was covered with graffiti, you couldn't even see the base color.

"She was… she was… well, she was so pretty that my stomach got this butterflies and I couldn't talk right around her."

"But what's she like?" Joe pushed for details.

"Well her father owns a company and-"

"Wai- wai- wait!" Joe interrupted, "Did you just say her dad owns a company?"

Matt nodded.

"Matt, she's a Richie. She's not our kind. You can't go out with her. That would totally go against our rules."

"What rules?" Matt asked, skeptically.

"Well, the unwritten rules of our kind. JD's don't mix with richies. It just doesn't work that way." Joe said.

"But-" Matt started.

"There's no way around it, man. I'm sorry." Joe felt bad for his friend, but there really was no mixing of JD's and richies.

"Well, it's not exactly a date. She said her dad could maybe help me get a job so I can get a place of my own. So we're not really mixing. It's just that she felt bad for me when I tld her I don't have a real home."

"Oh, well…. Well maybe it's okay… as long as you're not thinking of going out with her…" Joe trailed off.

Matt ended the awkward silence by lighting a cigarette and handing one to Joe. A cigarette always ended awkward silences or calmed them down. They both had been smoking since they were very young; Joe when he was eleven and Matt when he was eight. They knew it couldn't be healthy but they didn't care.