The Rich and the Poor

"Uh... well... like..." Ethan shuffled uncomfortably, clearly not anticipating the question in his 'speech.' "So what do you think of Laurel Owens? She's the woman that's organizing this center. A real bitch if you ask me." he said, quickly trying to change the subject.
 
"I dunno... From what I've seen, she's pretty mean. I think she thinks all Poors are dumb." He said as he finished up his form. "You think all Riches are like that?" Derek raised an eyebrow as he looked up to Ethan. Considering the fact that he was going to probably be in one of their homes; he really wanted to know.
 
Penelope Pure, a six year old little girl, stood at the entrance of the center's shut doors, rocking back and forth in her bright red rain boots with a matching bow in her hazelnut colored hair. The name she had was always adored by the grown-ups she met; 'Pure Penelope' is what some of them would call her due to her timidness and sweet personality she had in public, but what's on the outside isn't always accurate. She was born into a Rich family well known for their donations to the center even though it might not have been needed. She waited impatiently for her Mother and Father to stop talking to someone they knew from the fancy parties she was never allowed to go to. They were suppose to bring in someone from the center, someone of her liking, to be her new playmate. She knew they were really going to be a nanny of hers to some degree and she didn't like it.
Bored of waiting and excited to pick out a playmate, Penelope pushed with all her weight against the door, squeezing her way through the crack she made. A grin shot across her small face at the sight of all of the people in there, green eyes sparkling with delight. She wasn't sure where to go so she walked in small circles and around people, the bottom of her boots loudly squeaking against the floor as she looked for the person in charge.
 
Ethan noticed a small, well-dressed girl patrolling the room, her eyes filled with curiosity. He raised an eyebrow at this before patting Derek on the back and pointing at the girl, ignoring his question. "Who's that?" he asked.
 
Laurel scoffed as Ethan seemed angry about the wait time. The dirty little creature was lucky it wasn't a week or longer. He should be grateful for the opportunity and yet he was just insolent. Next thing she knew he was riling up the crowd of Poors and they all began chanting. Well that wasn't good. But it was nothing Laurel Ownes could not handle. She grabbed the walkie talkie that was in her breast pocket and flicked it on. "Requesting armed security in the waiting room please. Thank you." She simply smiled at the crowd of Poor who's chanting had died down a bit at the mention of armed security. Of course they were not allowed to open fire but it would be enough to scare them into submission.
A group of ten armed men entered the room and began pushing the Poor's back to one side of the room threatening to arrest anyone who got out of line.
With order restored Laurel moved to address the group. "This program was put in place to give you ungrateful whelps a chance at a better life. Now you can either wait patiently and be paired up with a nice Rich family or you can follow that idiot boy to jail. The choice is yours." With that being said she motioned for the men to arrest Ethan. Granted he had not done anything wrong so they couldn't hold him but Laurel was going to have a little word with the trouble maker. "Bring him to my office." With that she left the room and headed to her office.
 
"Whoa." Ethan stammered as the men stormed towards her. "We can talk about th-" Ethan babbled before getting a punch to the face. He looked over at Derek with a brave but helpless face as he was dragged away from the room and into another room. He sat in a chair, one man on either side of him as he faced off Laurel Owens, glaring at her in the opposite seat, a desk between them.
 
After turning in his form, Derek blinked as the guards entered the room. He shared the same reaction as Ethan as the guards took him away. He wanted to yell in protest, but he knew he'd probably get in more trouble than he needed. His eyebrows narrowed as he balled his fists. He hoped Ethan would be fine.

It didn't take Derek long to notice the little girl circling the group of Poors. Her cuteness made him smile softly, causing him to inwardly voice, "D'awww."
 
Penelope had been oblivious to the chanting Poors, assuming their shouting was due to excitement like people at amusement parks did. It wasn't long before the crowd went silent and was suddenly rushing to one side of the room with her in the mix, stuck between the larger bodies. She didn't know what to do in this situation, so she stood still until hearing: "This program was put in place to give you ungrateful whelps a chance at a better life. Now you can either wait patiently and be paired up with a nice Rich family or you can follow that idiot boy to jail. The choice is yours." The voice was familiar to her, but she couldn't put a face to it.
Squirming and politely trying to squeeze through was difficult. "Excuse me." Not many of the Poors had heard her soft voice amongst quiet murmurs of their own, but the ones that did were nice enough to try and help her back out of the crowd. Penelope stood on her tiptoes attempting to see the person the voice belonged to, but everyone was just so much taller than her! Her bottom lip quivered. How was she going to find the person in charge this way?
 
Derek was one of the Poors who did hear her, considering that he was already looking at her. He looked to the girl who was beside him and asked her in the nicest tone he could muster. "Hi there, are... Are you lost?" He blinked and took note of the girl's appearance, she definitely wasn't a poor; so why was she in the group with them?
 
She tilted her head back to look at who was speaking to her. Mom always said to look at who you're speaking to, because it was deemed the polite thing to do. Penelope smiled, tiny fists grasping at her white dress that had a layer of lace overlapping the fabric. "No, I'm not lost." She wasn't, she knew exactly where she was, or at least she thought she did until the question was asked. Her small brows furrowed as she looked down at the stranger's feet. "I'm at the center... Right?" The child looked back up, confusion and a slight pout on her face. She didn't like feeling helpless in this situation and her parents were still nowhere in sight.
 
Derek blinked and chuckled softly, "Uh... Yeah." He looked around and tried to see if there was someone who was looking for the girl. So far, there wasn't. "Where are your parents?" He asked calmly as he looked back down to the girl, crouching slightly to meet her eye level. Derek had never been the one to interact with children, but he was trying his best. A little girl alone in a place like this didn't seem too normal, and he'd hate for something to happen to the sweet little thing. "Better yet, do they know you're here?"
 
"Outside." She didn't want to tell him that she had left them out there due to her impatience, so she skipped over the second question as if she hadn't heard it. Penelope knew it wasn't good to talk to strangers, but this one was nice enough to ask about her parents. The child didn't have any siblings, nor friends that she liked to talk with. Her time was focused on things her parents pushed her into; learning violin or a second language, things to 'build character'. She studied the strange man's face. This was the most she's ever spoken with a Poor considering her age and social circle, but the mean things she heard about them didn't seem to be so truthful after all.
"Will you please help me find the... the..." She paused, unsure what to call the person in charge. "The boss?" The word didn't really seem to fit, but it would have to do.
 
"Uh, sure..." Derek stood up completely and looked around. It didn't take him long to remember where Laurel had gone, and when he did, he held his hand toward the young girl. "Come on, I'd hate for you to get lost in this crowd again." He smiled warmly and added on, "By the way, my name's Derek."
 
The child lifted her arms up, grabbing hold of the man's hand with both of hers as another smile momentarily brightened her face. "Hi Derek, I'm Penelope! Why don't you have shoes?" She asked the question in such a nonchalant manner that it was almost comical. Penelope liked talking to the Poor, maybe her parents would let her have this one as a playmate. He needed shoes though. And a bath. Why was his hair in such a disarray?
He looked a lot different than the grown-ups she met, all the Poors here did and it confused her.
 
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Ethan looked around the office, a fresh smell in the air. It wasn't small but it wasn't huge either. Paperwork stacked in neat piles on the desk between him and Laurel and various decorations were behind her. He glared at Laurel. "Come on then. Why'd you call me in here?" he growled, defying this woman bravely.
 
Derek chuckled softly at the question until he realized it was serious. Walking the girl out of the crowd, he tried to explain in the nicest way he could, "Well... I don't have a lot of money to buy them." He smiled softly at the girl's curiosity; it was nice that her parents hadn't taught her to hate Poors yet. As Derek made it out of the crowd with Penelope, he looked to one of the guards and kindly questioned, "Hey, uh... Where's the lady in charge here?"

"She's busy." The one guard said with an annoyed tone. It was obvious he didn't want to be here.

Softly sighing, Derek looked down to Penelope and gave his kindest smile. "Hey, we're going to have to wait a sec for the lady, okay?" Though he didn't like the fact he offered his freedom to a Rich, he thought he'd like to at least go with Penelope; it would be... Fun, probably.
 
Zendaya walked through town. Her hands were tucked into her worn denim skinny jeans as her feet tapped against the pavement. Her sky blue eyes looked up at the gray sky. It was raining again and the only thing keeping it from falling onto Zendaya's caramel colored skin was a worn grey sweater she'd managed to find at a second hand shop.
Her inky black hair was braided to the side and lay over her shoulder ending just below her chest.
Zendaya was a wanderer, one of the poor who didn't have a home, or in her case got kicked out. Her parents wanted her to get into the program the government set up to get the poor off the streets. Zendaya downright refused to be someone's slave and the result was this, walking along the soggy sidewalks of the city as rain drizzled dismally onto her weathered clothes. Totally living the life.
Zendaya shivered in the cool breeze that flew through the air. Her teeth chattered and Zendaya glanced around. The closest thing around that would even give her an ounce of a chance to stay would be the new community center. Zenday dipped in to find it full of people. She wondered why only to realize it was poor signing up for that program. She sighed immediately wanting to turn the hell around and leave but it was warm in here and they had couches. Her feet were aching and the rain was only getting worse. Zendaya settled into a couch and looked around. Why were there so many people willing to just sign their lives away. Shitty lives but at least they were theirs.
 
Penelope listened to the explanation with her head tilted to the right. Not enough money for shoes? "What do you get then if you don't buy shoes with your money?" She swung their hands forward and back again until they reached one of the guards. After he answered Derek's question, she raised one hand and waved to him though it was doubtful she was seen. The child turned her face back up to the nice man helping her and nodded once. "Can we play while we wait? Pretty please?" Her eyes were hopeful as she bounced in her still-squeaky boots, her hair and skirt following the motion. "I promise to be really good and really quiet." She whispered the last sentence to emphasize her words. Her parents never let her play when she was taken along to big places like this one.
 
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Derek took note of the newcomer, causing him too look over to the couch. It was Zendaya, an acquaintance of his he saw around the city. They didn't talk much, but he knew her enough to call her "friend". He also knew her position on the program for the Poors. Why was she here, then?

Looking back down to Penelope, Derek raised an eyebrow, trying to figure out which question to answer first. He decided to answer her most recently asked one. "Uhm... What do you wanna play?" Then, the question was asked in his own head. What could they play?
 
Penelope tried to follow Derek's gaze by standing on her toes, using his hand for support. What was over there that she couldn't see? "What's that?" She asks, falling on the flats of her feet again. A child's curiosity was a never ending cycle that only grew with age, but luckily for him, her attention span was a short one. She'd forgotten the question she asked about money, and was now interested in something at the other side of the room that she had no clue existed. She still wanted to see the person in charge, but she was just as happy with her new acquaintance and the possibility of playing a game together. "Can we play Hide and Seek?"
 
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