Chapter 22: #Rich Girl Problems (Hashtag Rich Girl Problems)

“Tennessee Rescue Mission?” I ask, reading the label on the dirty white sign above the rugged looked building before us.

“Yep, this is my brilliant idea for our project,” Conrad explains to me, parking his car near the front of the dirty looking building.

I mean, really, it looks like it’s covered in mold and moss. It just looks disgusting. Like, my family’s help had better homes than this and they were the help. Oh man, I miss the help. Lucy, especially. She was our gardener and she was super sweet. Spencer and I always had this little theory that she and dad had an affair though. Which I don’t think I would have minded because Lucy was way nicer than my actual mom is. Wow, that sounds bad.

“What even is this place?” I wonder, unbuckling my seatbelt and getting out, walking around the car to Conrad.

“It’s a homeless shelter,” He nonchalantly explains as we reach the front door and he pulls it open, motioning for me to go first.

“O…kay,” I slowly say, stepping over the threshold. “And this is gonna benefit the community how, exactly?”

“Well, basically we’re gonna serve them lunch and stuff and get their cots ready for them.” Conrad says, leading me down the hall.

“What’s a cot?” I query, crinkling my nose as a weird stench invades it while we walk deeper and deeper into the disgusting shelter.

“It’s like a bed, Steffy,” Conrad chuckles, then glances down at me briefly. “Why’re you doing that?”

“Doing what?” I ask him, nearly gagging at the awful smell. It’s like I’ve smelled it before, but I can’t exactly place it.

“Holding your nose like that,” He expounds. “You look like a guinea pig.”

“How would you know what a guinea pig looks like?” I ask him, rolling my eyes.

“Madison got one when we were twelve,” Conrad shrugs. “She overfeed it though and it died.”

“That’s very…erm, tragic.”

“Mhm, his name was Kangaroo.”

“Kangaroo?” I echo, with a small giggle. “Like the animal?”

“Like the animal.” He confirms. “There was a funeral and everything- worst thing ever.”

“I bet,” I chuckle. After a few more steps, Conrad walks forward to a pair of doors and slings one open. “After you,” He chimes.

“What’s that?” I ask, tentatively walking into the room. It doesn’t take me long to realize that it’s a kitchen. Like a kitchen where you cook stuff. I don’t cook. I can’t cook. I mean, I’m surprised that I can drive a car seeing as how Spencer and I got chauffeured around a lot. But cooking? No, that’s something I can’t do. I still haven’t even mastered the art of cooking Ramen Noodles.

“A kitchen,” Conrad answers, stepping into the room and letting the door close behind me. “Here, turn the camera on and record me putting on my apron,” He tells me, pushing Madison’s camera into my hands and turning around to a hook.

“You’re really, really weird,” I mumble, but turn the camera on nevertheless and point it towards him, pushing the record button.

“I’m not weird,” Conrad argues. “You’re weird.” Then, he takes a white-ish apron off of a hook and turns back around, pulling it on.

“Wow, that’s a very clean apron,” I sarcastically remark. “And did you say your apron? Do you come here very often?” I wonder.

“Ah, well, not all the time,” Conrad denies, shaking his head. “Only like, twice or thrice a week.”

“And you feed homeless people?”

“Well, I serve them.”

“The difference being?”

“I don’t know, but feed sounds worse than serve.”

“You are such a girl, Conrad Cartwright,” I scoff.

“Oh shut up,” Conrad counters, mocking my tone of voice. “Gimme the camera and get in an apron.”

“Pardon?” I blink a few times, furrowing my brow. “And Jesus fucking Christ what is that God awful smell?”

“I said, “gimme the camera and get in apron,” He repeats with a boyish grin. “And what are you smelling? I don’t smell it.”

“I don’t wanna wear a used apron,” I say, shaking my head. “That’s so unsanitary.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” Conrad tells me. “Please? Just put it on. Or you’re gonna ruin your clothes.” He warns.

“That wouldn’t be very good then, I guess,” I sigh. “Okay,” I hand him the camera and he focuses it on me as I pull an apron on.

“See? That’s not so bad, now is it?”

“Cartwright, what’re you doing here? I didn’t know you were doing lunch,” A gruff male voice says, entering the room.

“Oh, hey Sal,” Conrad retorts, and I follow his gaze to where the so-called Sal is standing. He’s very…large, like tall, I mean.

“And who’s this pretty little lady you’ve got with you? Did you finally get a girlfriend?” Sal teases, looking at me.

“Shut up, Sal.” Conrad demands. “That’s Stephanie and she’s my partner for my English project. We have to help the community.”

“Steffy,” I correct, glaring at Conrad who just chuckles. “It’s just Steffy.”

“Well, Steffy Stephanie, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Salmon, but everyone calls me Sal.”

“Your name is…Salmon? Like the fish?”

“Like the fish, yes ma’am,” Sal says proudly, smiling widely at me.

“Well, that’s…a, erm…nice name.” I lie. Like, who does that? Who has a baby and names him Salmon? That’s almost as bad as Kim Kardashian and that disgusting thing called Kanye West naming their child North West. Like, I love the Kardashian’s, well, actually, no, I don’t. I love Kourtney Kardashian and Kendall Jenner, but still. That’s just a very, very unfortunate name for a kid.

“Why thank you very much- I think so.” He boasts. “So, you’re helping Conrad with this project?”

“I am, I guess.” I nod, nearly gagging at the smell that’s evident particularly in this room.

“Sal, do you smell anything weird? It’s like, killing Steffy,” Conrad asks the fish boy.

“Oh! Well, I wouldn’t call it weird but it’s just the janitor- he wasted a shitload of ammonia in here earlier.”

“And we’re just standing in here?” Conrad asks suspiciously, looking around. “Isn’t that like, dangerous?”

“Aye, well, YOLO.” Sal shrugs. Ew. That phrase.  He rubs his hands together and says, “Let’s feed some homeless people!”

“Your friend is very enthusiastic about this whole thing,” I observe as Conrad beckons for me to follow him with Salmon.

“Yeah, he is. He’s a really cool guy though, once you get to know them.”

“Yeah, I don’t plan on doing that,” I retort, pulling my fingers through my hair.

“That reminds me- you need to get a hairnet.”

“I will not wear a hairnet,” I firmly argue. “I just won’t do it.”

“Well, you can’t serve people if you don’t wear a hairnet.” Conrad explains.

“Well, I don’t wanna serve people. Why can’t I just hand out forks and napkins?” I pout.

“You look like a baby and that’s Leeann’s job,” He tells me, gesturing towards a girl sitting at a table of utensils and condiments.

“Fine,” I sigh, grabbing a hairnet from his outstretched hand and stretching it over my head, tucking my hair underneath.

“You’re really stubborn, you know that?”

“We totally could have just gone to like, Heifer Ranch or something.” I tell him, ignoring his remark.

“Well, if you really wanna go to Heifer Ranch, we can. I’m sure they can get a goat to milk,” He says. I can’t really tell if he’s joking or being totally serious.

“No thank you, this is fine.” I reply, shaking my head quickly.

“Thought so,” He chuckles, still recording with the camera. “Vaught is gonna love this,” He says, referring to our stupid teacher.

“I don’t think that Mr. Vaught is capable of feeling love towards anything except the cries of small children,” I reply, seriously.

“Steffy,” Conrad reprimands. “You do know that this’ll be on the video, right?”

“Well, edit it out. Leave it on. I don’t care.” I shrug. Suddenly a bell rings loudly, making my heart skip a beat- I don’t like loud noises.

“It’s time!” Sal cries, raising his ladle in the air happily.

“Time for what?” I wonder, looking at Conrad.

“Time for lunch,” Conrad replies, setting the camera on the counter and leaving it on. “You’re gonna serve the fries, okay?”

“Fries? Why do I have to serve fries? Why can’t I serve ice cream or something?”

“Because it’s lunch, not desert,” He explains, handing me a pair of tongs and a big spoon.

“Okay, so what I do?” I wonder as I notice people beginning to fill up the cafeteria, which is connected to the kitchen.

“They’re gonna start down there,” Conrad points to where Sal is. “Then they’ll move down the bar and when a person gets to you, all you gotta do is use the spoon or the tongs, scoop them up some fries and then put on the plate. Then say something endearing or something like that. Think you can handle that?”

“Erm, yeah, I guess I can try. But if I screw this up, you’re totally editing it, got it Cartwright?” I say, looking up at him.

“Yes ma’am,” Conrad confirms, stifling a grin.

That’s when another bell goes off and suddenly all the people walking into the cafeteria start making their way up to us. It goes pretty easily for the first few minutes. There’s a lot of children and I guess their mothers, which is really, really sad, I think. I make it through the first few fifteen minutes pretty easily until hoards of people start pouring in. I really cannot handle too many people at one time. I mean, I’m not crazy or anything, but when there’s too much going on around me at one time, I literally cannot handle it.

“Have a nice evening,” I say, shaking off the thought as I dump a heaping of fries on a teenage girl’s tray. I think I give her way too much, but I mean, she’s like, skin and bones. She needs them. I think that she’s really pretty, the girl, aside from the lack of weight thing. She has big blue eyes and stingy brown hair that falls in soft waves down her back. I think they’re probably natural- well, they have to be if she’s homeless, I guess. I watch in observation as the girl walks away from the food bar and goes over to a table near the back corner and sits down all by herself and picks up one of her fries, beginning to nibble on it. She’s wearing a ratty grey t-shirt and a pair of shorts that stop a few inches above her knees and a pair of flip flops. I wonder why she’s homeless. Like, she’s alone and most of the people here that I’ve served have at least one more person with them.

“Uh hello, lady.” A male voice snarls, making me look away from the girl.

“What?” I ask, looking back at him, slightly taken aback by his tone of voice.

“I need some French Fries and I’m starving so hurry it up.” The man demands.

“Your mother obviously didn’t teach you anything about manners.” I murmur.

“She didn’t teach me anything because all of my life, she’s been in jail, so shut up and give me fries.”

“You’re kinda like, super rude.” I tell him, rolling my eyes and giving him some fries, but not as much as I give the others.

He doesn’t even say thank you- just walks off. Rude. “Conrad?” I randomly asks since he’s standing about two feet from me.

“Yep?” He retorts, looking over at me.

“Do you know what Ben is doing in two weeks?”

“Two weeks?” Conrad retorts. “That’s really specific. I don’t know what he’s doing though. Why do you ask?”

Well, it was two weeks ago when Wesley and I made out in his room meaning it’s been two weeks since Benjamin asked me if I’d be busy in four weeks from that day. So now it’s in two weeks, whatever it is he was talking about. I haven’t really seen him around school too much, so I really haven’t had the chance to ask him.

“Ben asked me to do something with him but he won’t tell me what,” I retort, putting fries on the next person’s plate.

“Oooh, yeah, he’s probably talking about Prom.”

“Prom?” I echo, raising an eyebrow. “What about Prom?”

“Well, I’m not a senior, so I’m not sure, but I think their Prom is in two weeks.”

Benjamin isn’t planning on asking me to his Prom, is he? I mean, I guess he could be, but I just really don’t think that he likes me. Like that anyway. He probably just wants back in my pants or something which is probably not gonna happen. Like he’s super attractive and everything but I don’t think us having sex again would be the greatest idea.

“Oh,” I reply lamely, swallowing the lump in my throat.

“Not the answer you were expecting?” Conrad guesses.

“Not at all,” I murmur, shaking my head. “I was thinking it was like, a movie or something.”

“Well, maybe it is. I just think the Prom is pretty close though. But if he does ask you, you gonna go?”

“I dunno,” I whine, glancing down at the camera- which is still on and recording according to the light that’s on.

“I thought that Madison was whiny,” Conrad chuckles. “Speaking of my sister, you need to talk to her, I think.” He explains.

“I always talk to her,” I remind him. “What’re you talking about?”

“Like, I think that she likes your brother or something.”

“That’s probably the most disgusting I’ve ever heard in my life.” I say, shuddering.

“That’s so hypocritical,” Conrad laughs. “You like Carly’s brother- how is that any different than Madison liking yours?”

“It’s very different, actually,” I say matter-of-factly. “My brother isn’t attractive, Carly’s is,” I explain to him slowly.

“You’re ridiculous,” He tells me, shaking his head and laughing lightly.

“It’s true,” I reply in a sing-song voice.

Luckily, lunch doesn’t take too long to serve. Once I’m done though, I’m exhausted- I guess I better never get a job at McDonalds. Because serving French fries is boring and tiring. When we’re done though, only forty-five minutes have passed. The fish boy leaves to go and wash some dishes or something like that and Conrad turns the camera off.

“Okay, so we don’t have to do the cots now if you don’t wanna, we can do it once they’re done eating.” He informs me.

“Uh, actually, yeah, let’s do that. Once they’re done. I’m gonna go and talk to that girl,” I explain, yanking my hair net off.

“What girl?” Conrad wonders, raising an eyebrow at me.

“That one over there,” I explain, refraining from pointing at the blue eyed brunette.

“Oh that’s Amber, she’s always here. She doesn’t talk very much though.”

“Why not?” I wonder curiously.

“I don’t know. I don’t talk to her. She kinda scares me,” Conrad admits with a shrug.

“You’re such a wimp,” I tell him teasingly, rolling my eyes.

He mocks me, mimicking my voice and says, “Take the camera- a sob story will be good.”

I hit him in his arm, “I’m not gonna walk over there with a camera- that’s weird.” I tell him.

He sighs, “I guess that is a little weird. I’m gonna be in the back washing the dishes and stuff.”

I nod, walking through the door that connects the kitchen and cafeteria. “Yeah, yeah okay.”

✈✈✈✈

“That was the most depressing thing I’ve ever done in my life,”  I complain, climbing back into Conrad’s car.

“Yes, but I’m pretty sure it’ll get us at least a ‘C’ on our project.”

“A ‘C’?” I echo, looking over at him incredulously. “That was the hardest that I’ve ever worked at anything in my life- we need an ‘A’.”

“Hastag, rich girl problems,” Conrad murmurs under his voice with a slight chuckle.

“Excuse me?” I ask, raising an eyebrow at him suspiciously, even though I heard him.

“Nothing,” He laughs, turning the radio on as he pulls out of the parking lot.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought, Cartwright.” I retort, pulling my seatbelt on.

“You have the ferocity of cat,” Conrad informs me.

“I know,” I say with a pointed look. “Like, lions and tigers.” I add.

“No, like Wesley’s cat- Meredith.”

“I dunno, man, Meredith seems pretty ferocious.”  It’s true- his cat is kinda scary. Then again, I’m just not too fond of cats.

“You’re wrong.” Conrad says, shaking his head.

“Yeah, okay, whatever you say.” I retort, pulling my phone out of my pocket. “I’m calling Benjamin.”

“Why do you call him that?” He wonders.

“Why do I call who what?”

“You call Ben Benjamin- why?”

“Because that’s his name. I call him Ben sometimes though.” I explain, finding Ben’s contact and calling it.

“Hello?” He groggily answers on the third ring.

“Benjamin? You’re not still sleeping, are you?”

“Yes, yes I am.” Benjamin shamelessly admits.

“But it’s like 3 o’clock in the afternoon,” I remind him.

“You have your hobbies and I have mine. Now, what’s up?”

“Oh, you know that one thing you asked me about? Like you asked me if I was gonna be free or not?”

“I do recall, yes,” Benjamin confirms with a slight grunt like he’s getting out of his bed or something.

“Are you planning on asking me to your senior Prom?” I bluntly ask him.

“Uh,” He hesitates. “I-I dunno. Why? Would that be a good thing? Or a bad thing you think?”

“I think that you should go to Prom with a senior.”

“So, that’s a no?”

“You didn’t even ask me. But if you did. Then yes.”

“Yes, you would go with me- you know, if I asked you.” Benjamin asks, clearly confused.

“No, yes, I would be saying no if you asked me.”

“So, what you’re saying is that if I ask you to go with me to my Prom, you’re gonna say no?”

“Yes. I would say no.” I tell him, trying to be as polite about it as possible.

“Ah,” Ben says awkwardly. “Well, it’s a good thing I wasn’t planning on asking you,” He tells me, but I can tell that he’s lying.

“Like, it’s nothing personal. Just that there’s a lot of girls who’d probably chop off their right arm just to go to Prom with you.”

“And you’re not one of them,” He clarifies.

“I’m not one of them,” I confirm with a small laugh.

“I think I know what this is about. Why you really won’t go to Prom with me.”

“Oh?”

“Because of Wesley, right?”

“I’m not following,” I tell him slowly.

“I mean, it’s kinda obvious that you two like each other.”

“Is it really?” I ask, totally oblivious. “But I mean, I like you too, Ben, j--“

“Just not as much as you like Wesley. Yeah, I got it.”

“Are you mad?” I wonder, staring out of Conrad’s car window.

“I’m not mad,” He assures me.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure, Stephanie.”

“Okay,” I sigh, relieved.

“Well, I guess I’d better start searching for a girl to take to Prom,” Ben awkwardly says.

“Yes, I think that would be a good idea,” I retort, nodding my head and squeezing my eyes shut.

“Yeah, me too.” Benjamin gawkily agrees. “Yeah. I’m gonna do that. So, I’ll talk to you later?”

“Yeah, I’ll see you at school. Goodbye Benjamin.”

“Bye Stephanie.” He softly says before I end the phone call.

I throw my head back on Conrad’s headrest and sigh loudly.

“So, I guess you made your choice?” Conrad wonders.

“Huh?”

“Between Ben and Wesley? You chose Wesley?”

“I don’t really think it was a choice,” I shrug. “There’s just something about Wesley, like he’s so--“

“I’m not gonna listen to you name all the stuff you love about my best friend,” Conrad warns me, turning the radio up louder.

“You’re an awful friend,” I huff, crossing my arms across my chest.

“I’ll take you over his house though, if you want. We’re pretty close.” Conrad offers

“Alright. I think I probably need to talk to him anyway.” I note as Conrad pulls into Wesley’s neighborhood and not long after, his house. Wesley’s car is in the driveway, but his mom’s isn’t. Unless she’s in the garage, but I don’t think that they really use the garage. “Thanks Conrad,” I say, unbuckling my seatbelt.

“No problem. Make good choices.” He tells me.

“Erm, yeah, okay,” I nod with a chuckle. “I’ll see you at school.”

“See you then,” He replies as I step out of his car and walk up to Wesley’s front door. Conrad honks once and the speeds off down the street. I nervously raise my hand to the door and knock on it twice before folding my hands behind my back and waiting. The door swings open a few seconds later, and I’m relieved that it’s not Wesley’s mother or one the twins.

“Hi,” I greet, my voice quiet.

“Hey,” Wesley responds. “We didn’t have plans today or anything, did we?”

“No, no we didn’t. But um, I just wanted to come over.” I say as he beckons for me to come in.

“Oh, okay.” Wesley relies, closing the door behind me. “The twins are here and we’re watching a movie, you can join us.”

“Hmm, well that depends; what movie are you guys watching?” I wonder.

“We’re watching Tangled,” Wesley explains with a cheeky grin.

“Mm, why am I not surprised?” I say jokingly.

“What are you trying to say, Miss Vandergeld?” He replies, raising an eyebrow.

Instead of replying to his question, I take a step forward to him and press my lips against his. Wesley seems surprised at first, but he quickly recovers, one of his hands going to the small of my back and the other to the back of my head. I wrap my arms around his neck, going up on my tip-toes. He’s not like a giant or anything and I’m not a dwarf, but there’s a slight height difference. Wesley’s tongue grazes across my lower lip and I immediately open my mouth to him.

“What was that for?” Wesley wonders, pulling away a few seconds later.

“Just that I know what I want now,” I say quietly so his brother and sister don’t hear me.

“Oh? And what’s that?” Wesley asks, placing both his hands on my waist as I tighten my grip around his eyes.

“You,” I whisper, chill bumps covering my arms as I involuntarily shiver.

“So, you talked to Ben?”

“I did and I realized that he really has nothing on you,” I explain, shrugging.

“So, are--“

“Will you shut up and just ask me already?” I snap, only kidding of course.

“Ask you what?” Wesley queries, a confused look etched across his face. I raise an eyebrow, smiling slightly and Wesley says, “Oooh! That. Okay.” He clears his throat. “Stephanie Vandergeld, will you be my girlfriend?” He offers with a smile, showcasing his perfect teeth.

“Well, if you insist,” I say with a careless shrug, fighting a smile.

“You, Steffy Vandergeld, are such a dork.” Wesley tells me, shaking his head before pulling me in for another kiss. 

Author's Note: Hey there, guys. I guess I didn't mention this earlier, but writerbug44 and I have a joint Twitter account where we rant about the problems of Wattpad- because I think we all know they are endless, but yeah, it'd be pretty cool if you followed us there, on Twitter. Our username is wattpad_probs. Oh and while I'lm at it, I'll just also say that we have a joint account here on Wattpad called RelentlessDreamer and we just started our second story together and it's called The Seaside Café.  So, yeah, that'd be cool if you checked that out. I think I've mentioned that, but I'm not really sure, so yeah. Also, this story isn't completely over yet, obviously, but there's not that much left to it. Like, less than fifteen but more than five, I think. Please notice the song and don't forget to comment and vote, por favor! Dedicated to TPayneRocksYourSocks because she's my best friend outside of Wattpad and a very hardcore Weffy shipper.