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The world was full of easy people that were practically meant to be exploited, Jasper knew that very well. It’s not like he felt guilty for his little stunt earlier. Guilt was the last thing he felt whenever he wanted to scam someone. After all, he had killer marketing skills, if it can even be called that. All he can think about is how he can rinse and repeat the same cycle.
He found it hard to admit that most of his schemes were complete failures. But from the moment Trevor ran his mouth, he knew this new one was going to explode in their faces.
Said latest scheme led him and his friends to be tied at stake and had their own putrid creations thrown at them. If Ash didn’t step in when he heard their desperate screams, they would’ve been injured way worse (and smell more like soil and chocolate syrup). Jasper should thank him for that.
But despite their hardships, the dollars that they made were stolen by that prick Axle and his gang.
The moment they crashed into their newly shared dorm, Ryan and Trevor immediately devised a plan to get their money back from the Gravewalkers, with futile efforts to argue against each other as the smell of syrup and dirt encapsulated the room. At this point, everyone was tired, dirty, and didn’t want to hear their spiteful remarks.
“Can you two just shut up?” Kendrick groaned, putting an end to Ryan and Trevor’s feud as he leaned against the wall next to the two people. The two glared at each other before Ryan sat on the floor, gripping his hair tightly. “Screaming at each other isn’t helping our case. We’re in much more of a pickle than we were before and now the entire campus thinks we're scammers!” Kendrick continued.
“Jasper’s the only scammer here.” Trevor said bluntly. He couldn’t deny it, honestly. Trevor’s ears suddenly perked up as he looked around the room. “Wait, where’s Ash?”
“Ugh. Why are those stupid bikers even bothering us to this extent?” Ryan griped as he changed the topic, his ears slowly drooping down. He buried his face in his knees. “I hate them so much- especially Axle. God, if it wasn’t for his ass, we would’ve still had the money right now.”
But Axle wasn’t the one who made everyone believe that our gooey chewies were dirty gristlies, if that’s even a word, Jasper thought, crossing his arms as he leaned against the wall facing Ryan and Trevor.
“Wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t encourage a certain someone to pull through with his godawful plan!” Trevor gritted his teeth, shifting his gaze to Jasper. Said individual immediately shrugged.
“You have to admit it was foolproof though!” he said, holding back a laugh simmering in the back of his throat.
“Almost…” Kendrick added sheepishly. “I can still taste it…” he continued as he retched.
Trevor’s eyes squinted harder towards Jasper, but he didn’t say anything more that warranted an ugly response. “Kendrick, can I borrow your towel? I need to shower, I smell like I was digging in a chocolate factory.” he said instead. The other rabbit complied, scurrying to find said towel.
The room was filled with dead air until Ryan finally spoke, his voice hoarse as he pulled his head away from his knees. “What are we going to do now, guys?”
“Ask yourself.” Trevor said, grabbing the towel from Kendrick as he slipped in the shower and slammed the door shut.
Coincidentally, the dorm’s main door was opened. Everyone’s eyes darted towards the noise, revealing the presumed missing member, Ash, still as nonchalant as they last saw him. His eyes widened when he saw the situation going on in the dorm. “Uh, hi guys. Did I miss anything?” he asked, before catching a whiff of the current smell of the dorm. “Geez, you all need a bath.”
“Dude! Where were you? Ryan and Trevor were just arguing.” Jasper snickered, earning an anxious look from Kendrick.
Ryan stood up from his pathetic stance, acting like the subtle tears in his eyes weren’t fully wiped. “Ash! Where have you been? What happened…” his voice trailed off when he noticed what was in Ash’s hand, tightly gripped like it was solid gold. “Is that our-“ Ryan said as he approached Ash with feigning hope.
Jasper pushed Ryan aside, causing him to slam against the wall with a thud of pain. He was genuinely surprised at the coincidence. “It’s the money!” he shouted. Ash gave him a nod of approval before changing it with confusion. Jasper hastily took it from his hands and counted the money. His eyes were surely fooling him. “Not a single dollar has been spent, either.”
“Dude, how did you pry the money from Axle and his gang?” Kendrick asked with bewilderment as he approached his two friends. “How did you even know?”
Ash kept a disconcerted expression as he entered the room, “Well, I saw the Gravewalkers drop this and I decided to take it and ask you guys about it, like if we could use it to buy our new equipment.”
“Pffft!” Ryan’s voice echoed through the room, directing everyone’s attention to him as he stood up from his fall. “What a bunch of idiots! They can’t even steal properly from us!” he laughed heartily, taking the money from Jasper, which earned a “hey!” from him. “Now we are a few thousand dollars away from buying new equipment! I’m so happy!”
Ash tilted his head. “If you’re so happy, why do you look like you just finished crying?” he asked, causing Ryan to quickly wipe the dry streaks on his face and replace it with a smirk. “I did not- I am not crying! What are you talking about?” he said in between sniffs.
“He’s lying.” Trevor’s snarky, muffled voice said from the bathroom. Jasper tried to cover up his laugh while Ryan glared at him.
He grunted. “Oh, shut up Trevor! The important thing is we got our money back.”
“We can’t thank you enough, Ash.” Kendrick beamed, hugging the shorter man and patting his back. “You already saved our asses earlier, and then you do this? It’s not fair! What can we do to repay you?”
Ash hummed, “You can start by giving me 10 dollars.”
“Of course!” Ryan exclaimed, counting said money in his hand. “Then we’ll use the remaining money to buy new equipment!”
“The fuck do you mean “buy new equipment”? Don’t forget that we still need to refund everyone after that disaster of a bake sale!” Trevor shouted from the bathroom, annoyance in his voice.
Ryan rolled his eyes, pausing the counting process, “Oh yeah, that too.” he said begrudgingly. He then faced Kendrick and Jasper. “Did you guys really have to pick the room with no soundproofing?”
“I heard that!” Trevor retorted.
“No shit.” Ryan laughed, then put his hand on his chin in realization, his face turning blank. “How do we give everyone their money back when they practically hate us?”
“They only need their money, we don’t have to be quick.” Trevor suggested as the running water faded in the background.
“Well, the best we could do is give them their money back tomorrow so we can get this over with.” Jasper added. He danced around that idea as well, despite his tiny resentment towards the idea of the refund. “All of us should split up and-“
“Woah!” Ash interrupted and raised up both of his hands. “Don’t include me in your humiliation ritual. I wasn’t involved with any of that stuff.”
“Just take your uninvolment as our payment to you.” Ryan said, continuing to count the money in his hands like it was a trophy.
What a deal, Jasper thought to himself as he watched Ash’s face light up. “That’s good enough for me.”
“Seriously?” Kendrick sputtered as Ash walked to the nearest bed and laid down peacefully with no answer.
“Okay, who’s next? You all stink.” Trevor asked, finally stepping out of the shower with the towel around his lower half as the door creaked open.
“Dude, I thought you got changed in the bathroom!” Jasper said, gesturing at the pool forming below Trevor’s feet.
—
The next morning, the crew were giving out the long awaited refunds in the hallways of the campus. Ash was right about the whole thing being a humiliation ritual. Whispers and laughs were spread behind their back constantly, some didn’t even bother hiding it.
“It wasn’t just dirt,” some random whispered ironically loudly near the lockers. “It was mixed with cement.”
“Powdered cement,” another voice added, as if their little remark helped.
Not that Jasper seemed to care much, though.
“Is that all?” Briggs asked, his intense gaze on Jasper burned holes through his skin as he double checked the money in his hand. Good lord, the dude towering over him made Jasper shiver.
“Pretty sure it is.” Jasper answered, taking the separate money from his hand and gave it to Briggs, who snatched it without a second thought. “Toodles,” he said, while Briggs turned around and left without another word. Jasper sighed.
“Not even a thank you. Rude.” Why would he give us a thank you after what we have done? Jasper thought.
After Briggs was out of his view, he counted the remaining dollars. It was enough for one person.
Who could this be for? he asked himself, looking around the hallway to see if he missed anyone. He took out the note given to him by Trevor with the list of customers, crossing out Briggs name. The only name not highlighted in red ink was Kit’s.
Jasper pressed his lips into a thin line.
She was the first customer he sold the taste of their brownies under the guise of “brain food”. It was no secret that she was intelligent, yet she fell for a trick so credulous it made Jasper question if she was faking her lifestyle. But being a pseudo-intellectual didn’t fit her, no one would spend so much time scanning through textbooks and cramming notes just to present themselves as smart.
What was she doing at this time, anyway? Jasper could’ve sworn he passed by her in his attempt to chase after Leon. If he did find her, would he shoo him away without a second thought? Will she even care about getting her money back?
He tightly held the last bunch of money, silently wishing he could just run away with it and tell the crew that she didn’t want a refund anymore. It would be in character, he reassured himself. It’s not like she would care, not like it mattered if a few bucks were missing from her everyday allowance. It was comical at this point. He could spend it on one of the food trucks outside or skip class to drag his ass to the mall with the money in his hands.
Maybe I could just-
His thoughts were interrupted when he felt a hand grip his shoulder, startling him. He swiftly turned around to face the figure. “Dude! You scared me!” he gasped, taking a few steps back.
Kendrick jolted in shock, “Dude! You scared me!” he panted, then regained his composure. Though he was still jittery. “Anyways, are you done giving your share of the refunds?”
Jasper bit down on his teeth, staring at the remaining money in his hand. “Not yet… I haven’t seen Kit anywhere.”
“Really? She’s usually just sitting around here somewhere…” Kendrick asked in disbelief. He bit his lip before continuing. “I can help you look for her if-“
“No you- I mean, it’s fine, Kendrick. You can leave now. I’ll look for her myself.” Jasper cut in, a tinge of cheekiness in the tone of his voice. His companion was in enough disgrace already. He pushed Kendrick lightly to the side. “It’s best if you meet up with Ryan and Trevor.”
Kendrick’s eyebrows furrowed. “You sure?”
Jasper nodded, giving an assuring smile, causing Kendrick to let his guard down. “Whatever you say, man.” Kendrick replied, patting Jasper on the back as he went away to look for the rest of their friend group. “Thank God it didn’t take that long, I would’ve been beat up by…”
He sighed as he watched Kendrick talk to himself before he turned around on his heel, beginning to walk towards the other end of the school.
Where was she?
Was Kit so bitter from their stunt yesterday that she decided not to show up? How juvenile, Jasper thought. She was aware about the refund when Ryan shouted it during their time being tied up, or was she not paying attention and was only focused on tormenting them? A million ideas raced in Jasper’s mind as he kept walking.
As he was drowning in his own thoughts, he spotted a black haired figure sitting near one of the lockers. Due to this, he abruptly stopped in his tracks.
It was her. He couldn’t miss the familiar red textbook in her hands.
Jasper just stood there for a minute or two, hoping to receive even the most shallow acknowledgement from Kit. Before he just went up to her. It should be easy to hold a conversation despite what happened, right? He did it last time and it went flawlessly, or maybe he was just delusional. He cleared his throat and started. “Hey, here’s your-“
“Go away. I’m busy.” Kit said sternly, further covering herself in her textbook.
Jasper wasn’t surprised by her response, yet he was shocked that she didn’t even let him finish the sentence. “Huh? I still need to give you your-“
“I said go away! Is your brain too smooth for you to understand me?” Kit berated further, still not looking up from her book.
“Geez, just take your money back.” Jasper exclaimed, sliding the crumpled pile of money next to her.
Kit didn’t say anything, not even batting an eye. Jasper took this as a sign to leave, turning around so he will be able to meet his friends. As he was walking away, he felt something being thrown at him, like a crumpled piece of paper, which made him turn around again.
Did Kit just throw the money back at him? Why is he even asking that? Of course she did!
“Hey!” Jasper started as he stared at the ball of money before looking at the only other individual in the hallway. “What’s the deal? I just gave you a refund!” Was he going insane? The concept of someone rejecting anything involving money was foreign, especially someone who was getting refunded.
Kit still didn’t move from her position, keeping her impassive expression. “I don’t want it.” she simply stated.
No way.
“Why?” Jasper mustered.
“Just take the money and scram. I don’t want to see your stupid face right now.” Kit replied adamantly.
“Is it because you’re bitter from what happened yesterday?” he randomly blurted out before he realized what he had said. He noticed that Kit became visibly tense, her brows furrowing slightly. “Oh, uh, I didn’t-“
“Why wouldn’t I be? You and your friends made me munch on dirt!” she snapped, finally looking up and stared right at Jasper. He took a step back and raised his hands. “Scammers.” she whispered under her breath, unknowing that Jasper caught it.
“Hey, don’t do them like that. I was the one who came up with the idea.” And Ryan encouraged me, he knew to leave that part out. If they weren’t his oh so dearest friends, Jasper would be framing their asses.
Kit only seemed to look more irritated. “But they still sold it.” she countered. The grip on her textbook was deathly.
“They didn’t know…” Jasper replied back, sighing. “Well one of them knew- but- but the majority of them didn’t!” he continued as he waved his hands in haste.
“So you basically admitted to being a criminal?”
“For the time being!” And for the sake of my film career, he thought. “Believe me!”
Kit sighed, Jasper could sense she was sick of his presence. “Even if I did, that’s not what the whole campus believes.” she said somberly, her eyes slowly darting back to the textbook. Jasper could care less about people’s futile opinions on himself. Code word, himself. But he thought about what his friends would think about the news. “I’m here being innocent while you’re trying to persuade me to do something crazy.”
“Who are you calling innocent? You and the others were literally smothering us with brownies!” Jasper said irritably. He could still feel the stickiness and the dents on his skin despite showering.
“When you say brownies, you also mean the bug dude’s-“
“Ash.” Jasper corrected her. “And yes, I mean those too.”
“Yeah, Ash’s rock looking abominations.” Kit hummed. “It was funny seeing you guys get what you deserve.”
Jasper bit the inside of his cheek just remembering that situation. It could’ve gone well if it weren’t for Kendrick’s pesky sense of smell…
“Well-“ he huffed, “Still, why don’t you want your money back?” Jasper asked once more with more confusion than before. The ball of money sat near the sole of his shoe, with his eyes locked on it like a hawk.
“Still, why aren’t you leaving?” Kit retaliated, “Just let me study in peace. It’s not like you care if I get refunded or not.”
And that was true in Jasper’s small world. He could easily come up with some bullshit excuse, it was normal at this point. But he didn’t expect his shower thoughts to be true, especially not for a person like her. His fascination was the only thing stopping him from picking up the ball of money and leaving.
“I just want to ask why.” he insisted, walking closer to Kit. “It’s not like I'll tell on you.”
Kit raised a brow, looking up at Jasper. “How am I supposed to trust you?”
Jasper sighed, “We’re in enough indignity as it is, so no one on campus will believe me.” he continued, chuckling.
“So you will tell your friends?” Kit asked, catching Jasper off guard as he widened his eyes.
“No!” He simply shouted before calming down. “No I won’t. Just tell me and I'll leave you alone.”
“Weirdo.” Kit studied him for a moment, her expression flat and unimpressed. Then she let out a slow breath, putting down her textbook and crossing her arms. “You really don’t know when to stop, huh?”
Jasper grinned, turning his head to the side as he whistled, rocking back on his heels. “I’m waiting.”
“God, I could’ve spent this on studying…” Kit groaned, dragging her hand across her face.
“You could be studying right now if you tell me right now!” Jasper chuckled.
“Why are you curious in the first place?” Kit shot back, throwing daggers at the hypothetical response in Jasper’s head, causing him to fall blank. He couldn’t help but wonder why he felt any interest for someone like her, someone who went from being annoyed with him to despising him in a matter of minutes.
“Well, it’s money!” he replied as he leaned against the nearby locker. He didn’t even feel himself sliding down and eventually settling on the floor. He drew in his legs and placed his arms on his knees. “Who doesn’t want money? You can use it to buy anything! And if you wasted it on something, you can just get it back!”
Kit rolled her eyes. “I know how refunding works, come on now.”
“Sorry,” Jasper replied. “I really just don’t get why you don’t want a refund.”
Kit tilted her head slightly, eyes remaining uninterested despite the concerning topic. “I chose to be done with it,” she answered. “I’d rather lose a bit of money than a bit of my time.”
“Oh…” Jasper said even though he didn’t fully understand. He turned away, fixating his faze on the surprisingly empty hallway.
“Like what’s happening right now.” she added, her previously empty looking expression contorting into one of annoyance.
Jasper finally put the pieces together, ignoring her previous statement as he swung his head back to look at her. “So that’s it? You’re just too impatient to deal with any of this?”
“No. I just refuse to revisit something that i’ve already decided isn’t worth it.” she said, gripping the cover of her textbook. Maybe he was too dense to notice the tapping on her thigh as they talked, or the way she dug her nails onto the cover of the textbook until it left marks. He was surprised she didn’t angrily chase him away.
He felt bad.
That's new for him. Usually when time was wasted, people were overly upset and that made him laugh. But right now, it just made him feel like an asshole. Taking advantage of smart individuals who knew his business made him feel some type of uncomfortable itch.
Where’s the fun in that?
He stifled a laugh, replacing it with a long hum. “Sorry.”
“Huh?” Kit said, her mouth slightly agape as Jasper scratched the back of his neck. She rolled her eyes, opening the text.
“I…” he trailed off, eventually setting on saying nothing.
Kit groaned. “Whatever. Are you going to leave now? You got your answer.”
Jasper looked at her, his gaze softening as he stood up. “Yeah, whatever.” he said dryly, turning around and picking up the crumpled ball of money that was supposedly Kit’s. “Bye.”
“Wow, did I kill the mood?” Kit asked, leaning her head forward as she looked at Jasper, a slight chuckle releasing from her lips.
He didn’t even bother to look back.
“What an idiot.” he heard her say.
She was a genius, if it wasn’t obvious enough. She didn’t have to worry about trivial matters like this.
—
Questions about Kit were the only thing occupying his mind. Even as he entered the room at night to Ryan and Trevor arguing for the billionth time, he couldn’t bring himself to berate even one of them. Instead, he took the list of buyers out his pocket and placed it on the conveniently near bed before he collapsed.
“Dude, you okay?” Ash whispered as he scuffled to his side. He didn’t realize he was in his bed. This was their dorm room after all.
“I’m fine. I’m just thinking about a lot of things right now.” Jasper replied, looking back at his two bickering friends.
“I should’ve been the star of this fic!” Trevor shouted.
“Shut up!” Ryan screamed back.
Jasper only cared about snagging another moment with the academic achiever of the campus. He had more questions for her.