Short Story Idea Help?

There’s this contest in school for which we have to write a short story. The problem is is that it has to be a realistic fiction story, and I’ve only ever written horror/fantasy stories before. I find fiction stories extremely hard for me to write, because I find them excruciatingly boring… However, my English teacher said that she thinks that being one of the many winners of this contest, when she was younger, was a major factor in her getting accepted into Brown University. Even though I’m only thirteen, I’ve always wanted to go to Brown for an English degree, so if this is the type of stuff they look at, I really want to do well.
Anyways, I’ve already got the extremely general plot line down. It’s about a man who leaves everything behind to make his fortune, but finds a friend instead. (I’m trying to bring the crappy economy into play here.) Can somebody build off this, maybe give me a few ideas? As in, how does he meet his friend, or expect to make his fortune. I’m probably going to use the SCAMPER tool to build off of these, or change them around. I just need help brainstorming. Thanks so much!