Synthetic stepped both onto the East Cost and across the ocean. The company expanded building a skyscraper in the City for itself. Barney’s family moved to a luxurious district of the city and now it was there where friends came partying. Barney could have also changed the lyceum but he didn’t want to mingle with the same children of the rich who managed to hit the big time. He enjoyed his superiority among his old friends with which the memory of Jacob was little by little fading away. Sometimes guys would remember about him on their own during holidays but no one spoke his name when Barney was around. Nicole became Barney’s girlfriend and those five that once attacked the arrogant newcomer now became his best friends. Jacob was still loved at school and on the street but now it was Barney who became a role-model for everyone.
One evening Jacob was coming home from his part-time job and suddenly met Nicole. He was so astonished by the girl’s beauty that he couldn’t take his eyes from her.
«Hi, how are you?» the guy smiled, «You look just like a Hollywood star.»
Nicole smiled to him at first but then lowered her eyes. She felt herself a traitor and deep in her heart she understood that she had betrayed her childhood friend, her first love. She didn’t even have enough time to realise how that happened: Jacob suddenly disappeared from her life and Barney took his place. He was a generous one but Nicole felt that he was simply buying everything around just as he had bought his muscles. And wouldn’t she turn out to be for him just the same purchase as well? Jacob was different but he wasn’t nearby for such a long time…