"Jake. It's me your mom... Why didn't you pick-up your phone yesterday?" His mother's voice trailed off. "I was worried sick about you. Are you okay dear?"
"I'm sorry mom... I was pissed... and didn't think much. But I'm okay now." Jake said with a pain in his voice that only a mother could detect. It made her worries worst.
"Why. Is everything all right, dear?" His mother said with a concern in her voice.
"Uh... you could say that. Don't worry mom, I'm all right." Jake said trying to sound okay. "Besides I don't want to worry you in your vacation. By the way, how's your trip coming along? Having fun?"
"It's... uh... fun. I made a couple of friends here, and we are having well 'OKAY' time." His mother said focusing on the word OKAY.
"How come? Mom, you should be having fun. You've already done enough for me. Now stop worrying. I'm eighteen you know."
"Sure, I tried. But I was so worried when you didn't answer my calls yesterday." Jake's mom replied. "But now that I know my young man is perfect, so maybe I'll enjoy more."
"Okay, mom bye... And do have some fun. You deserve." Jake said with a smile. "And... don't forget to bring me a list of things that I gave you."
"Sure, honey." She said putting her phone down. There was no way that she'd forget that. After all, this vacation was her son's gift for her birthday.
Though Janice did not have such vast fortune, she had enough to put Jake through high school and get him (almost) everything he wanted. Once when Jake was thirteen, he asked his mom to buy him some computers to set up his own lab, a workstation from where he can do whatever he wanted -designing, programming, testing, gaming and all of the PC related things. After all Jake was a computer geek. Janice had someone examine the spare room and spoke about setting a five computer workstation for Jake. The initial cost the person predicted for getting everything set-up was around ten-thousand dollars, less than her budget of fifteen-thousand. But Jake cut the cost almost by half and got everything done at around sixty-five hundred dollars. He bought the parts he required and build five PCs -all by himself- during the Christmas holidays. This was the first of many signs he'd shown of his extraordinary intelligence.
Jake was a straight-A student. Fully committed towards his future. He knew what he wanted to be and what he needed to do in order to achieve that. She'd given him the rest of remaining thirty-five hundred dollars, knowing full well that he'd use it better than her. She saw the results when he extended his lab capacity by adding three laptops and a couple of other devices that Janice could not describe.
Jake was already planning for college when he was fifteen. He graduated from high-school with top marks and got an opportunity to join MIT on full merit. Jake even got some sizeable prize money over the years, from the different competitions he'd participated, and from his school for his performance. And, had kept all those donations in a savings account. And on Janice's birthday, he surprised her with a week's vacation in France. The cost of the trip and planned activities were around twenty-thousand, and he'd given her ten thousand dollars' worth traveling debit card. She did not want him to spend so much on her and told him that she would not spend money from the debit card, but when he gave her a list of things he wanted and explained the total cost of those to be around half of debit card, she reluctantly took the money.
The first semester of his College was about to end for Jake. He'd made some friends but mostly kept to himself. Except for his roommate Lisa. She was the one who he confined to. He also had Sam, but she showed her true colors yesterday. And he didn't want to even think about her. Jake desperately wanted to sit with Lisa and bitch about his life. But she'd gone to visit her cousin for two days. And he was all alone till she came back.
'Just how pathetic am I?' Jake thought. After constantly being bullied throughout his life. He'd been called names, beaten, bruised and made fun of by almost every one of those 'pathetic' popular kids. Those who played sports and dated cheerleaders. Just yesterday he was pushed-off by some guy named Jim, who, later tossed his book into the hall. Thank god it wasn't damaged or anything.
"Just forget about all of it, Olsen," Jake said to himself and started working on the project due next week. Jake always wanted to be prepared and always did some backup work -in case any 'mishap' happened. He spent the two days of the weekend finishing all the projects and homework due till the month after. And even made some progress on his side project designing the user interface.
"Hey, Jake. Long-time no see, girlfriend!!" Lisa said as she entered Jake's room. Only to find him half asleep beside his pile of books.
"Wakey-Wakey sleepy-head," Lisa said as she opened the curtains. "I have a surprise for you."
"Hey, Lisa," Jake mumbled. "When did you get here? I didn't hear anything."
"You were half asleep on your table," Lisa said. "And I didn't want to make a fuss of my welcome or anything."
"I missed you," Jake said and hugged Lisa. She heard a little sob.
"Hey, hey. Grown men don't cry." Lisa said trying to cheer him up. "I'll make you coffee and then explain what happened okay?" She said, not asking but demanding.
"Yes, mam," Jake said and got off the table.
Jake took a shower and went to the living room. Where Lisa was waiting for him with coffee.
"So" Lisa stared at him. "What happened?"
"Sam. She's what happened Lisa." Jake said with a pain in his voice.
Sam was not just some random girl. She was one of the very few friends Jake had, studied in the same high school, and Jake helped her in her studies. She was one of those glossy daughters of wealthy parents. As Lisa called 'All beauty no brains.' Jake helped her get straight A's in almost all subjects in high school. And, if it weren't for him she wouldn't be at MIT.
"I've always told you that I didn't like her. Jake. What happened? What did she do?" Lisa said with concern. Sam was one girl whom Jake had a thing for. Since high school, he had a crush on her and often did what she asked. Lisa warned Jake that she might be using him. But Jake shrugged it off saying she was one of his friends.
"I hadn't seen Sam for quite a while, but we still chatted on Facebook. And I wanted to catch up with her. So I suggested someplace to go for lunch." Jake trailed off. "She even agreed and told me she was looking forward to seeing me."
"But-" Jake trailed off.
"But what?"
"But it was all a set-up to humiliate me," Jake said with tears in his eyes. "She was there with many of her friends from cheerleader group and some football players. And there in front of everyone, she mocked me. Bashed me for thinking that she'd ever go out with a nerd like me. And told me she got friendly just so that I'd help her in her studies. And, now that she didn't need my help she wanted to get rid-off me from her life." Jake trailed off before finally saying "And worse of all they made a video about the whole thing and send it to as many students they knew."
"That BITCH" Lisa cursed angrily.
Lisa genuinely cared for Jake and was one of his real friends. He'd meet her on the first day of school in the cafeteria, and within one month both of them decided to share an apartment. They were friends above everything, but Lisa treated Jake no less than his lover. She looked after him and cared for him. The only thing that prevented them from being a couple was the lack of discussion and participation in the act intimacy.
"How pathetic am I, Lisa?" Jake asked her. "Like a nerd like me could have a shot with a girl like her. But still, it was nothing more than a friendly catch-up. And I just wanted to know how she was." Jake hung his head down in shame.
"I know Jake. You were just looking out for her." Lisa said calmly. "Some people just don't know how precious you are and mistreat you. And believe me, it's their loss. It's her loss."