Fraud Case

Marilyn loved ice skating, it relieved the pent-up tension caused by her hectic domestic life. The bitter chill in the rink was welcomed hungrily by her pale skin, and the whir of her skates slicing across the ice might as well have been jingle bells. This was the true meaning of the holidays for Marilyn; ice skating. As she glided across the ice, she reflected upon the time when she had taken Jack down to the rink. Being as clumsy and awkward as he was, it had taken him a while to get the hang of it. Marilyn, as hopelessly in love as any eleven-year-old girl could be, didn't grow weary or impatient with him. She found it sickeningly adorable every time he faceplanted into the ice.

Now, she wondered if she would still see it the same way. Of course, Jack wasn't the lanky seventh-grader that he had been back then. Maturation had toned his body, making his stature less awkward and more handsome. He had grown into his nose too, and the braces had come off. His old glasses, so flimsy and dorky, he'd traded in for a pair of tortured-artist hipster frames, much like Aaron Johnson in Nowhere Boy. He combed his hair to the side now, keeping it well-kept and short around his ears. It had gotten lighter somehow, less of a dirty blond and more of a light wheat hue. He was handsome now; he'd always been to Marilyn, but this was different. This was the kind of handsome that attracted girls at school. The kind of handsome that wouldn't go overlooked for much longer.