Locking In With My Life System

Aiden had every reason to be cautious.

He also didn’t need to think twice before he knew whom the call was from.

Afterall, it wasn’t the first time it had happened... with the very first being the time Casper had come over to his home late into the night in sophomore year.

Though [Crashout: Sin City] had gotten he and his buddies into the news, it wasn’t as if it was a widespread affair.

Even in the gaming community, there were very few game journaling outlets that had covered the news, all of whom happened to be indie startups that were just gaining foot.

It was cool to hear six teens made a hit mobile game that made well over a million dollars in a single week.

It just wasn’t all that interesting to follow up on it in comparison to bigger and juicier scoops that were happening in the industry.

As a result, things had naturally fizzled out after the second week of their game’s release, their achievement buried under layers and upon layers of other news.

It was their five seconds of fame, essentially.

One the gang hadn’t been bothered by as they knew it would be ephemeral.

Locally though, the news was still making its rounds, several of their peers and a good number of their instructors and other parents curious to know how they’d split the money amongst themselves.

Granted the gang had been smart enough to not disclose it, they did make an exception for their respective parents whom had equally been wise enough to also keep their mouths shut.

All, except Casper who didn’t tell his father duck shit.

Staring at his phone’s screen for a little while longer, Aiden decided to pick it up.

”Good morning. May I presume I’m speaking to Aiden North?” a lady’s polite voice came from the other end of the line.

”That’s right.” Aiden reciprocated, his tone equally respectful.

”That’s great to hear. Mr. Callaghan would like to speak to you.” she replied, clearly not expecting no for an answer as she politely added;

”Please hold on a minute while I pass the phone to him.”

Aiden simply remained quiet, his gait still very much relaxed as he kept walking down the street.

A few seconds after, a different voice--cool, casual and almost condescending, came from the other end of the line;

”I’ve been made aware that my son was involved in a rather... lucrative venture with you and your friends, yes?”

”Yes.” Aiden simply replied, matching the man’s disrespect with a phlegmatic tone.

”And I assume he was compensated well for it?” the man followed up.

”Your son’s quite the philanthropist, you see. Did it for the love of the game and not much else.” Aiden replied without missing a beat, not the slightest hint of emotion in his tone.

And though Aiden wasn’t certain of it, he was inclined to believe Casper’s father hadn’t been expecting such response from him considering the brief pause that came from the other end of the line.

Then,

”You mean to say he got nothing out of it?” the man asked, the condescension shifting to something colder.

”Pretty much.” Aiden replied, his apathy on full-display.

”And you expect me to believe that?” Osborne demanded, the cold edge seeping deeper into his voice.

”Well, it’s the truth, so...” Aiden kept up the act, clearly unintimidated by the man’s switch-up.

For a while, nothing came from the other end of the line, save for the almost imperceptible static that quietly hummed into his ear.

Then, Osborne spoke;

”Alright.”

The line immediately hung up after that and Aiden simply tucked his phone into his pocket as he continued his walk.

Though he could’ve called Casper directly, or at least dropped a message into his DM, he wasn’t going to risk taking any chances right now.

If Osborne was already onto his son’s deception, the best thing he could do for Casper was leave no receipts or trails of evidence that would incriminate him right now.

Whatever discussions they wanted or needed to have, they’d have to do it in person.

Inwardly praying that his buddy wasn’t found out just yet though, Aiden continued his walk.

Even now, he was just wandering aimlessly, flipping open his sketchbook from time to time to sketch anything that was of interest to him.

A sleek convertible. A weirdly shaped tree branch. A cat napping lazily on a bench. A pigeon pecking at the ground. A funny-shaped cloud in the sky.

Aiden simply kept drawing everything he came across, his photographic memory feeding into his drawing skills with such flawless detail, he soon found himself getting more and more into it.

For the next two hours, that was all he did as he strolled through the neighborhood, the first page of the book already filling up with miniature sketches of everything he’d found interesting thus far.

At some point through sketching yet another thing that had caught his interest, his system suddenly pinged into his field of view.

-

[Ding!]

[Skills Updated!]

-

Surprised to see the notification, a light smile soon touched Aiden’s lips, the youth certain of the skill that had advanced to the next grade without even having to pull up the system’s interface.

”If I had a nickel for every time my skills updated, I’d have two... which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice.” he joked.

Chuckling to himself, he then remarked inwardly as he looked around the relatively quiet neighborhood;

’Well, I guess it’s time I head back home.’

Staring at the opened page he’d been sketching in for a while though, Aiden proceeded to write the day’s date in the lower-right corner, alongside the words;

’You’re right, Pops. A dash of color every now and then’s good for the soul.’

Then he underlined it with a stylish yet beautiful, cursive stroke.

Nodding to himself in satisfaction, Aiden flipped the book shut and pulled out his little pocket watch to check the time.

Seeing that he only had half an hour before noon struck, he briskly made his way back.

Yet, even as he did, he felt himself feeling re-energized, having subconsciously picked up on a new hobby without even realizing it.

Sketchbook journaling.

Now, the idea of staring at a screen and crunching codes for the next couple weeks, didn’t seem too bad.

In fact, right now, it just seemed like yet another stepping stone he had to get through to be where he wanted to be.

*

Aiden arrived at school the next day, he and his buddies exchanging pleasantries as usual.

Prom preparations also happened to be in full-swing, with several of the juniors in the student committee taking up the mantle as their seniors were busier than ever with preparations for their AP and final year exams and could only pitch in every now and then.

As all six went through their schedules, they naturally converged at the computer room later in the day.

Right now, Casper was massaging his temples a bit as not only Aiden, but the rest of the gang equally relayed to him that his father had contacted them.

Thankfully, they’d had the discussion prior, hence why they were all able to line up their responses in similar fashion.

”Haa~,” the blonde-haired youth let out a deep, resigned sigh as he remarked;

”I’d be lying if I said I’m surprised,”

”But I’m not. That’s just the control freak he’s always been.” he added whilst dragging a palm down his face as he said to his buddies;

”Still, thank you so much. Should be able to keep up the façade till after graduation, I hope.”

”Don’t sweat it, man.” Larry waved it off, as did Benjamin, Clyde and Theo, to which Aiden said;

”It’s the least we could do.”

Following that, the gang’s conversation shifted to more mundane things, nothing particularly noteworthy of them to discuss asides the wack PC port Aiden and Theo were trying to get functioning.

It was also why, as they finally proceeded to head home for the day, the coal-haired youth pulled the curly-haired youth to the side and said;

”I need you to focus on the decathlon,”

”And by focus, I mean sidelining the PC port of the game and spending more time studying and memorizing all the required material for the event.” Aiden pointed at him, his tone serious.

”But what about the release date? I thought we planned to have the port drop on the same day as the newer content--”

”Listen to me, Theo,” Aiden cut him off and said, a hand placed on his shoulder;

”You have to be at your very best for the decathlon, because even if things are gelling well for you right now, your mum still wouldn’t want you attending an expensive college unless it’s on a scholarship.”

”Besides, would you be comfortable knowing you lost out on a potential opportunity to get into one of the most prestigious colleges, just ’cause you were crunching codes we could always delay to another time if need be?” he asked of him, his gaze razor sharp.

To that, the curly-haired youth scratched the back of his head in realization, to which Aiden then said, the answer crystal and clear;

”Exactly.”

”Now, promise me you’ll focus solely on the decathlon?” Aiden asked of him again to which Theo replied a moment after with a curt bob of assurance;

”I promise.”

”Good. I’ll do the same too, so be rest assured that I won’t be half-assing it either.” Aiden nodded in satisfaction, an assured smile equally tracing his lips as they both shook on it.

Obviously, Theo trusted Aiden’s words so he agreed without reading into it.

Yet, as opposed to Theo whom he’d essentially reset his compass for the meantime, Aiden himself had no intentions of backing down from getting the PC port working before the release date.

Hypocritical, he knew. But he could afford to be just that.

Afterall, he was the one with a photographic memory and an extraordinarily high assimilation rate.

That alone would grant him the avenue to not just prepare for the decathlon as best as he could, but also do a whole lot of code crunching on the side leading up to the DLC release.

The only downside,

’It’s gonna be a long three weeks...’ Aiden inwardly remarked, heaving a determined breath as he waved Theo goodbye and proceeded to head home immediately after.