Locking In With My Life System

Maybe it was because they’d refused to admit they were the culprits.

Maybe it was because it had been a harmless prank in the grand scheme of things.

Maybe it was because Walter had way too much shit to deal with on the first day of resumption...

Whatever the case may have been, Aiden and his buddies got off the hook, completely scot-free.

Exiting the Principal’s office, their expressions remained clipped as the secretary trained her gaze on them with a pointed look.

Quietly, they gave the middle-aged lady a curt nod as they exited the door one after the other.

Stepping into the busy, bustling hallways though, the door closing shut behind them, they kept their expressions much the same till they rounded the corner... far from the earshot of the office.

Only, and only after then did their façade crack, all five letting out suppressed, silent guffaws.

”I can’t... can’t believe you had the galls... to plead the fifth?!” Casper said in between silent bursts to Aiden whose eyes were quite misty from equally laughing just as hard.

Larry, Clyde and Benjamin were much the same, hands covering their mouths as they moved down the staircase to reach the ground floor.

”I have rights and I’m allowed to use ’em.” Aiden soon replied in smug pride, his finger wiping a tear away as he added;

”Besides, what was I supposed to do? Admit to it and get detention? If I can help it, I’d rather not.”

”They also have no proof we actually did it so there’s that,” Clyde commented, removing his glasses to wipe the tiny smudges of tears with a fiber cloth.

”Yeah. It’d have been absolutely dumb to admit to it,” Larry remarked, his tone notably jocular to which Benjamin clasped his palms and said;

”Well, all’s well that ends well.”

No sooner had he said that, they arrived at their floor, everywhere buzzing with the usual hustle and bustle of students aimlessly wandering through the halls as they typically did on the first day.

Upon noticing their clique though, one student after the other walked up to them at intervals, greeting and high-fiving them.

Afterall, not only was the prank harmless, it had also been well-executed.

Most of all, it was bound to be a memorable incident for every student to look back on, especially the freshers and their fellow seniors.

Safe to say, all five had earned some serious street-cred for their ’services’ across all grades.

”Shit, you guys didn’t get detention? That’s crazy.” Kevin soon walked up to them, engaging in a brief convo as he offered each of them fist bumps which they reciprocated in kind.

”Got it all on video, guys! I’mma upload it to my TicToc channel later!” one of their juniors whom was rather popular flicked a finger off his head in a salute as he walked by.

”Hey, you guys coming to the Last-First day photoshoot we’re organizing?” Clarissa, their school’s reigning queen bee soon stopped before them with her clique of equally attractive girls and asked.

”Hmmm. Interesting,” Aiden muttered to himself to which he then said, his voice quiet;

”First I’ve heard of that,”

In response, Casper and his buddies slowly turned to face him, a resigned, long-suffering sigh escaping their lips as they folded their arms across their chest.

”You didn’t read the messages on our class group, did you?” Casper rhetorically asked.

”The hell am I supposed to do?” Aiden folded his arms in defense, his tone relaxed and unapologetic.

”You guys pump out over a thousand messages per day on that group. I had no other choice but to archive the darn thing.” he admitted.

”Besides,” Aiden casually tilted his head, loose strands of his bangs effortlessly shifting with the motion.

”I was very busy over the summer and you guys know it.” he added, the subtlety of his actions exuding an effortlessly cool demeanor.

”Oh, it definitely shows...” Clarissa casually remarked with a subtle bite of her lip, her hazel-irises maintaining eye-contact with Aiden’s olive-greens... one he remained markedly unperturbed by.

”Well, now you do,” she then said in a rather sweet and inviting tone, her hands brushing off a speck of ’wool’ off his shoulders as she informed him.

”Less than an hour from now. On the field, by the bleachers.”

”See you later.” she winked at him as she and her girls left, her actions leaving his buddies quite stunned.

Aiden himself was just as stunned. Yet, he was the quickest of them to recover, a light smile on his features;

”Well,”

”That happened.”

”Ref!” Larry suddenly called out to no one in particular, the gesture earning a genuine chuckle from the quartet.

”Calm your ass down,” Aiden then said to which he added;

”I’m not interested.”

”’Cause... perhaps... you’re scared to give it a shot?” Casper quietly asked, his tone a bit concerned and a worried expression on his features.

In sync, Clyde, Larry and Benjamin looked to him, a similar expression on their features.

Surprisingly, the usual pause of acknowledgement they’d known their buddy to typically respond with didn’t come.

Instead, they watched him reply almost instantaneously, his demeanor relaxed and unbothered as he shrugged;

”Nah. I’m just not interested.”

”Oh,” Benjamin remarked first, a rather surprised expression on his, Casper’s, Larry’s and Clyde’s features.

”Well then,” the chubby friend smoothed his shirt and adjusted his collar, a savvy smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

Then, as his buddies watched him clear his throat a few times, he suddenly exploded at Aiden with gestured palms;

”If you aren’t gonna play, pass the darn controller, bro!”

Once again, the group of friends burst into genuine laughter.

Having had their fill a couple seconds later though, Aiden began walking backwards as he said;

”I’ll meet you guys at the bleachers later. Gotta take care of some stuff at my locker.”

”Sure.” Clyde replied first, then gestured to the others;

”I think we all have to.”

Nodding in shared agreement, the group dispersed, Aiden flicking two fingers off his head in a light salute as he twirled around.

Nudging at the strap of his bag gently, he soon rounded a corner... only to collide head first into someone else.

Watching the dorky-looking teen fall butt first onto the floor, the contents of his bag spilling out into the air, Aiden noticed the slew of A4 papers filled with various drawings, each one more of a travesty to the art form than the other as they floated to the ground.

Cocking a curious brow, Aiden couldn’t help but mutter to himself after noticing something peculiar about the drawings;

’A map...?’

As for the teen with messy, curly brown hair, a panicked expression already took ahold of his features.

Quickly, he began to grab each paper as fast as he could, seemingly desperate to hide them.

And though Aiden didn’t know why he was so guarded about it, he respected his wishes.

Quickly, he joined in, helping the youth pick them up before the students marching the hallway ripped it underneath the sole of their shoes. In less than a minute, he’d gathered most of them.

”Hey, Theo. My bad,” Aiden then apologized as he handed over the stack of papers, his expression genuine;

”Here you go.”

Struggling to look him in the eye, their school’s reclusive resident nerd eventually managed to look up as he replied, his words quiet;

”Thank you, Aiden.”

Then he nodded in appreciation once more, stuffed the papers into his bag, and walked past.

Curiously watching his back recede down the hall, Aiden muttered, a thoughtful expression on his features;

”Interesting...”

Then he simply shrugged a few seconds later and went on his merry way.

Arriving by his locker, the combination lock making a satisfying click upon inputting the code, Aiden began placing his textbooks, notebooks and the likes in it, arranging it for easy convenience and accessibility later.

No sooner was he done, he opted to use the opportunity to pull up his panel to check the skills he had gained;

-

[Aiden North] – Life Points – [1.75]

⸢Stats

› Mind — C

› Strength — E

› Stamina — D-

› Agility — F+

› Charm — B-

⸢Skills

› {Type Designing - A}, {Digital Illustration - I}, {Drawing - I}, {Cooking - I}, {Brewing - I}, {Singing - N}, {Dancing - N}.

⸢Shop

› Browse Catalogue.

⸢Daily Quests

› {Expand}

⸢Exclusive Quests

› Pending Update.

⸢Time-limited Quests

› {Expand}

-

⸢FAQ⸥

-

’Figured as much.’ Aiden inwardly remarked upon laying eyes on the new skills.

That said, he doubted he’d ever bother upgrading either of them.

A career in music wasn’t all that fanimorous to him.

Still, it was nice to see them added to his repertoire. More skills certainly didn’t hurt.

In any case, there was something more pressing he needed to sort out;

-

⸢Time-limited Quests

› Am I cooked chat?

└ Achieve a 3.5 GPA before graduation – [1 LP]

-

Staring at the quest, Aiden nodded curtly to himself.

To that effect, he gently closed the door of the locker, his mind already primed to head over to his guidance counsellor’s office.

However, just as door clicked shut, a familiar figure was already leaning on the locker next to his, an unmistakable pout adorning her features as she stared up at him.