"Frick" Jeffrey thought to himself.
Jeffrey started climbing the stairs to his first class, History with Mr. Co.
The classroom 208 sounds less menacing than it is, and not just because of the subject matter and stern teacher. the 200 classrooms could not be further away from the courtyard plaza of the school that they funnel the middle school students at.
After going up 2 flights of stairs up a small hill and another set to the only second story building of the whole school, would a student finally arrive at the right classroom. Usually the trip is difficult enough as it is, however having to carry an extra 2-3 pounds of liquid slime made it a challenge for the unathletic Jeffrey.
*Skrrr*
the sound of the wheels dragging along the ground could be heard. In high school there might be briefcases, lockers and folders that other students would carry. In middle school however, fancy shoes, Zuca bags, and lunch boxes were the fashion trends that students would display.
(An era before smartphones and digital wristwatches)
Jeffrey was dragging a rolling backpack that was clearly taking a lot of abuse from the weight of the contents inside the bag. History textbooks, math assignments, The Slime Factory (TSF) jars made the handle of the backpack bow and flex downward.
"Phew", Jeffrey took a sigh of relief.
He arrived in class moments before the bell rang.
*Bong*
"Hello everyone and welcome to class", Mr. Co started teaching on the history of the Americas.
As always Samantha Watts sat in the front of class diligently taking notes. While Jeffrey was at his desk scribbling up plans and doodling occasionally waiting for class to end.
Eventually the school day continued and it was finally lunch. Jeffrey found a couple friends of his huddled to together Ian Blakely, Gavin Goddard, Steven Harris with Ryan Castanon.
Jeffrey decided to approach the group of boys talking at the plastic mesh lunch tables. All of them were eating different foods. A school cafeteria burrito, Turkey sandwiches, spaghetti pasta, macaroni and cheese, and bags of chips.
Ryan noticed Jeffrey walking towards them.
"Hey Jeffrey", Ryan waved at him.
"Hey Ryan", Jeffrey nodded toward Ryan.
"How are you guys doing?", Jeffrey asked the group of kids.
"Eh, nothing much just eating lunch", Ian replied.
Gavin Goddard and Steven Harris were in the background planning out homework and project assignments. Gavin had a soccer club after school while Steven had to stay with his sister later on in the week.
Jeffrey went for his backpack and pulled out two nicely packaged slime jars.
"Hey guys, look at what I found!", Jeffrey said pulling out the jars.
The slime was a bright green with the Gear logo taped with clear masking tape. Opening one of the jars, Jeffrey grabbed a paper plate and started to demonstrate what he had made.
"This here is a non-newtonian fluid. That means it acts quite differently from water or most liquids."
Jeffrey started squeezing it in his hand.
"It's something I've been researching for my science fair project and I thought it would be cool to make.", Jeffrey explained himself.
"I added some special chemicals so that it'll glow in the dark!", Jeffrey added.
He placed the jar inside his backpack and it started glowing light green, another jar was glowing bright red.
"To be honest these were quite expensive to make, it took me around $18-20 dollars. Due to the special colors, packaging, figuring out the recipe and more. So if you guys want any I can't give them out for free."
Gavin and Ian looked at Jeffrey with a hint of suspicion. It was as if they were saying, "Is this kid for real?"
All the kids had a basic sense of money, but because it was being made and sold by another kid instead of on TV or on store shelves they didn't take Jeffrey to seriously or the work being made.
Jeffrey tried to build a meagre sort of rapport and explain how difficult and time consuming the process was, but Jeffrey didn't necessarily have the most popular reputation or a sense of awe for the difficulty.
"So what you're saying is it costs $20 for a jar of that slime", Gavin countered Jeffrey's offer.
"Yeah, it took me all weekend. Each of these jars took like 2 hours to make. I only have these 2", Jeffrey explained
"Too expensive, I don't have $20", Ian declared to his friends.
"Ryan, Steven, what do you guys think?", Jeffrey asked the other two silent ones.
Steven was quiet but said, "I'll have to think about it."
Ryan agreed, "It's a cool idea, but I'll think about it later."
They knew Jeffrey to some extent, weird kid that read books from the library. They had a few classes with Jeffrey, however they had never bought anything from him. So there was no sense of trust or awe for what he was selling.
Jeffrey experienced selling magazines for the school fundraiser, his introverted nature made him extremely sensitive to being rejected. His elementary school sold an event experience, the jog-a-thon to raise money. One of the principal's did great ideological work to made it a community event and support, like school raffles (They called them "Silent Auctions" for tax purposes).
Some of his siblings tried to sell chocolate, many of the kids used relationships with their relatives to sell overpriced chocolate for school funds. However few knew that the same sense of sales that worked for these fundraisers was the same thing sales people did for real estate, health products, medical companies and equipment representatives, and product managers at various companies.
Jeffrey smiled remembering the time his youngest sister Saoirse sold him a lollipop.
"Big brother Jeffrey, Do you want a lollipop?", Saoirse said to him
"I'd love a lollipop, thanks Saoirse.", Jeffrey responded taking the lollipop.
"That would be 1 dollar Jeffrey", Saoirse smiled innocently
"1 dollar!", Jeffrey exclaimed.
Jeffrey didn't have a sense of money, in a sense he prioritized his own personal interest over his sisters.
"I guess I don't want the lollipop then", Jeffrrey backed off.
"But Jeffrey you said you wanted one, it's only 1 dollar.", Saoirse complained and looked sad.
"Ok, ok... fine. I'll buy your lollipop for 1 dollar", Jeffrey tried to comfort Saoirse.
If his sister had difficulty selling him 1 lollipop, how much more difficult would it be for him to sell his slime to other students?
Jeffrey needed reputation and popularity, he needed to create an image that his slime was a cool idea, it was expensive, hard to make and rare.
Jeffrey needed marketing and this was something he wanted a group of friends to get in on, Preston Liu was a well liked fellow in Orchestra. Why not drag him in to suffer together?
He talked to a group of the popular kids, Gavin and his company, Orchestra and asian kids were next, then the artists group with Eric Shub and friends, and then he'd have to approach the girls section.
For that last one, Samantha Watts had the biggest reputation and the best one to use from an academic standpoint of a science fair project awards and merit, as well as propping it up as a non-newtonian fluid.
Now all Jeffrey needed was time, his direction was set and now it was time to get to work. For there was work to be done before Jeffrey could sell his first jar.
Jeffrey knew his slime recipes were the product of 12 years of marketing from 2021, but no one knew. Even if he had the best product, these ideas coming from far in the future, Jeffrey still needed to explain these ideas and concepts to others so that their money would come to his pockets.
Just like how silly bands and Rainbow loom bracelets once flooded the school campus. Jeffrey wanted to create The Slime Factory.