One-eighty on the 401, matte white and the top downHe was thirty, I was seventeen, and we finally got outNo meetings, no favours, no phone call at nineShe found a new man to look after her—we cutFirst quiet house either of us ever lived inSmoked in the living room 'cause nobody could sayDid whatever we wanted, which was the whole problemHe still had to work. Big job, big plans, late nights.I had a bedroom, a laptop and a dreamThe dream was a kids' game. Say it plain, it sounds small.Roblox. Build a world in it, sell it, get rich.Rich in the game and rich out here, same wordAnd I could've. That's the part I need you to hear.Seventeen, teaching myself, up till fourNobody taught me. Nobody paid me. I just did it.I had the head for it. Still do.Same hands.Same head.Same week.I WAS GONNA BUILD THE GAME (BUILD IT)Built the thing that robs the game (ROB IT)Thirteen in the wallet, thirteen coins goneTHIRTEEN COINS (THIRTEEN)I WAS GONNA BUILD THE GAME (BUILD IT)Built the thing that robs the game (ROB IT)One of them's a company. One's a charge.THIRTEEN COINS (THIRTEEN)Made a site instead. Login page, looked real.Kids typed their names in. Kids always do.Took the hats off their accounts—digital hatsSay it out loud: I robbed children of hatsAnd it paid. That's the ugly bit. It really paid.Told myself it's pixels, it's a game, it's nothingSame code, same nights, same skill, same brainOne version of that ships. One version's a file with my nameCoke came next 'cause the site money moved slowHe handled it better—small, steady, safe, boringI wanted the big one. Whole weight, one drop.Got robbed. Waited three months. Did it again.Got robbed again.Meanwhile he's up at four working sales callsBumps to stay sharp, sharp to stay workingWorking for a car payment neither of us neededTwo thousand a month on an SL, matte white, drop topHe signed for it—I couldn't have without himBoth names on it. I put in what I had.Nowhere near half. Drove it way past half.Never once did that sum out loud.Same hands.Same head.Same week.I WAS GONNA BUILD THE GAME (BUILD IT)Built the thing that robs the game (ROB IT)Thirteen in the wallet, thirteen coins goneTHIRTEEN COINS (THIRTEEN)I WAS GONNA BUILD THE GAME (BUILD IT)Built the thing that robs the game (ROB IT)One of them's a company. One's a charge.THIRTEEN COINS (THIRTEEN)Thirteen coins. That's what it was. Thirteen.Didn't feel like money. Felt like score.Put it on a number the way you'd put down a controller.You know what thirteen is now.I'm not going to say the figure. You already did the math.That's a house. That's two houses.That's a whole life, sitting in a wallet, in a bedroom,belonging to a kid who thought he'd get more.Flew to Cali for a girl who was lying the whole timeShipped the car out. Couldn't cover the storage.Flew home. No car. Still paying for the car.That basement on Lawrence stopped being a place we livedStarted being a place people came toAnd everything we had on in there was made by somebodywho never got past the age we were playing atChain in every frame. Chain in the last one too.Twenty-one. Spring. Same city as us.Same song, same room, both of us—I heard the chain.He heard the date.He got clean first. Say that part too.That's the only reason we ever left that basement.Downtown, new lease, new city, new himYear later he met her, and that was that.He took the boring ending.I WAS GONNA BUILD THE GAME (BUILD IT)Built the thing that robs the game (ROB IT)Thirteen in the wallet, thirteen coins goneTHIRTEEN COINS (THIRTEEN)I WAS GONNA BUILD THE GAME (BUILD IT)Built the thing that robs the game (ROB IT)One of them's a company. One's a charge.THIRTEEN COINS (THIRTEEN)Still got the account. Still log in sometimes.Still building something. It's coming.I got the head for it. That was never the problem.Thirteen coins.Thirteen coins and the head to make thirteen more.Next one's the one.
