Sam walked down the darkened streets of Lima, Ohio. He'd take in a deep breath and say the stereotypical "it's good to be back" phrase, but the block was too crowded with smokers and other maladies to the nose that he thought it'd be better to keep his mouth as closed as possible.

Sam and his family had recently moved back into Ohio – recently being a few weeks ago. Basically, everyone in his family, including himself missed this stupid little town so much, that they decided to go back and deal with the consequences.

One of the consequences was that Sam needed to find a job. Over the past few weeks, Sam had applied as a waiter, a secretary, a cashier at a local store, and all of those other common part-time jobs, but all of those applications had been online – a place where he couldn't make an impression, and where he had no idea whether or not the place he was applying to was actually in need of a new employee. Therefore, Sam had set out onto the streets in an attempt to find out if there was actually any hope of him getting a job, but after he visited all of the places that he had applied to and more, he soon discovered that his situation was hopeless. There were hundreds of people scouring the streets for any job that they could find. Sam was just one more annoying kid begging for a job to fill the pockets that had been empty for so long.

He turned a corner onto an alleyway that he didn't exactly recognize, and began to immediately regret it. However, deciding that he'd look like an idiot if he just turned around, he decided to walk all of the way through. This alley was even more crowded that the street he had just come from. It was littered with people dressed in all kinds of crazy outfits – from women with obnoxiously large wigs and holding long cigarettes to men wearing a shirt that was buttoned down way too low than the temperature should permit. They glared at him, cigarettes perched precariously on their fingertips, and nearly smirked at Sam. He pulled his coat collar up a bit and tried to clear them out of his mind.

However, a large sign displayed in a window caught his interest, and he immediately stopped walking. "Help Wanted", it read, and that's all. He looked around to see if there was a sign for the entrance to the building, but he couldn't find one. It was an unmarked place, just like the Hollister in the mall where they just expect that everyone knows what store it is.

But, desperately needing a job more than anything at the moment and completely forgetting the don't-go-into-sketchy-buildings rule of life, Sam Evans made a decision. Sam Evans walked inside of that building.

Inside the room, it took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the weird florescent lighting being used. He heard a lot of noise, and saw many different colors. He felt a shoulder shove past him and an angry grunt to follow. He felt his heartbeat begin to increase, and his eyes settled on the scene in front of him.

On a small stage approximately two feet off of the ground were three half-naked men dancing to the tune that was being blasted from the speakers overhead. He looked at the audience to oddly find a mix of both women and men who were all staring at the dancers. As soon as he realized what kind of place he had gotten himself into, he wanted to leave. He turned, but found himself coming face-to-face with a tall skinny woman. She, however, wasn't dressed as, well, unusual as everyone else in the room. She had on dark wash jeans and a plain, low-cut black shirt. "You lost, sweetie?" She said kindly, but Sam knew this type of woman. He had seen and met and dealt with girls like her before – the kind who treat boys like himself as if they are some sort of pet that can just be fooled around with and cast away when they're not wanted anymore.

Sam tilted his head down. "No, I was just leaving." He wanted to take a step – a step that would reverse the stupid decision that he had made to enter this building, but he found a cold hand was now grasping his arm.

"You want a job here?" She asked. He stared at her. He had barely mumbled a few words to the woman, and he was being offered a job. Yes, he'll admit that the mere thought of a job was tempting, but he remembered where he was, and he shook his head. The lady sighed. "Oh, come on. You're really good-looking, you know. Here – I bet you could make a starting salary of, oh, at least twenty dollars an hour, and that's on a bad night." Now, Sam's heart stopped. Twenty dollars an hour? Hell, that be a hundred dollars if he worked five hours a day, and five hundred dollars a week if he worked daily after school… The numbers began adding up in Sam's clouded head, and he looked at the woman some more, who was now giving up that "come on, you know you want to" look. Although, he didn't want to. He completed despised this entire idea. He was self-conscious enough, and he didn't want people looking at his stupid body all of the time, constantly judging him and weighing the price of his sight in their minds – judging him.

But again, he thought of his younger brother and sister and of his family – how they really needed this money. He thought of how much food he'd be able to get them, and many even some new blankets and winter coats for the kids, because they would definitely need it in the upcoming weeks.

He looked down to where the woman's hand was extended in front of his own and before he could think for another moment, he felt her cold skin against his fingers as he grabbed her hand firmly in his own and heard the words "you're hired."