Suddenly, his phone buzzed. A notification from his bank: Account Overdrawn.
He stepped out onto the quad, the autumn wind biting through his designer jacket—the one he’d bought to impress a girl who had already moved on to a guy with a real career. Kanye West - All Falls Down ft. Syleena Johnson
The irony hit him like a physical blow. He was wearing a thousand dollars of "confidence" while he couldn't afford a bus ticket home. He sat on a stone bench, watching the students rush by—everyone performing, everyone posing, everyone terrified that the person next to them would see through the brand name. Suddenly, his phone buzzed
"It all falls down," he whispered, the lyrics of the song he’d been looping all morning echoing in his head. The irony hit him like a physical blow
He walked past the campus fountain, watching a freshman girl struggle with a mountain of shopping bags from the high-end mall downtown. She looked exhausted, her face tight with the stress of maintaining an image that cost more than her meal plan. Marcus saw himself in her—the "sophisticated" mask, the desperate need to belong to a world that only valued what you could buy.