Toss the Cake

Listen, Trebor gets it. Who knows what that homeless guy is like. For all he knows, he might be an ex-con or something. Suddenly the words of family members concerning the homeless come to mind at once:

“They need to get off their lazy butts and get jobs.”

“Let’s cross the street so that we don’t have to walk past them.”

“Don’t give them money. They’ll use it for drugs and alcohol.”

“Be careful, they’re probably crazy.”

“They smell.”

“If they’re that desperate, they’d live in a shelter.” 

“They chose that lifestyle.”

Something tells Trebor to ignore those thoughts but he looks at the time on his phone and convinces himself otherwise. Maybe the man isn’t homeless at all and begs for beer money. Or worse, what if he’s a kidnapper? Too risky. It’s potentially life-threatening. 

But carrying this big ‘ole cake on a bus full of peers is risky as well. It’s potentially reputation-threatening. Trebor’s got so much going against him that he decides not to give bullies such low-hanging fruit as a freshman carrying a cake around. He didn’t want to be known as Cakeboy or Duncan Hines or whatever. Trebor finds the nearest garbage can and throws it away.

He heads towards the bus stop and is surprised to find that his fellow schoolmates have all but dispersed. They probably caught the bus right away. Trebor is about to cross the street when he sees a small group of huge dudes hanging out at the bus stop. 

These guys all tower over him and look like they’re up to no good. Maybe I should walk down a few blocks and catch the bus at the next stop, he thinks. He instantly feels bad for stereotyping them. They might the nicest guys on earth that just like to scowl at passing cars. 

There’s no way to do this without making it obvious that he’s just trying to avoid them. But should he avoid them? Is he possibly missing out on an opportunity to make new best friends? On the other hand, this could result in ridicule or possibly becoming a future target of theirs. If he doesn’t cross the street and wait at that stop, he’s going to look like a huge wimp.

What should he do?

(Choose below)