Locking In With My Life System

Chapter 32: High Time

Aiden and Casper had revealed their side hustles to the gang.

As a result, Clyde was reading the contents on Casper’s phone, an intrigued smile on his lips while Larry and Benjamin were currently swiping through Aiden’s business TweetTalk page, both of them slack-jawed.

Then, literally a minute after, they both turned their heads over slowly in sync, a cheeky, affiliative smile creeping up on their features.

Though Clyde noticed this--and was even aware of what the duo was up to--he simply remained quiet as he kept reading through Casper’s web novel.

As for the youths in question...

"Why Blue Dot?" Aiden asked of Casper, his fork lazily gesturing to his buddy.

"Funny story there," the blonde-haired youth chuckled lightly, and then expatiated;

"I actually inputted the username ’Blue’, ’cause well, blue’s my favorite color--"

"And let me guess. Someone already took it?" Aiden interjected with a knowing smile.

"Someone already freaking took it!" Casper confirmed, his eyes widening briefly in a mix of mild amusement and exasperation.

"So, I put a dot at the back, ’cause well, why not? It seemed like the logical thing to do, of course." he continued, to which Aiden amusedly rolled his eyes.

"But of course, someone else already had the same idea so... I added a few more dots, all to no avail." he gestured vaguely.

"Then I eventually settled on just writing out the darn punctuation mark itself in words and whaddaya know?!"

"Voila! Author name, secured." he chomped on his sandwich upon conclusion.

To that, Aiden let out a thin, relatable smile as he took another forkful of his steamed mushrooms. Afterall, he’d more or less encountered the exact same problem.

Thankfully, AidenDraws hadn’t being picked on the platform.

That said,

"Yes. Yes, you little shits. I’ll do it." Aiden didn’t even bother to look over at Benjamin and Larry who remarked in sync, genuine smiles of their features;

"We love you, bro."

Aiden’s fork halted mid-air, his mouth slightly open.

Then he slowly closed it, placed the fork down, and walked over to where Casper and Clyde were seated.

Without a break in between, he scooped up some water from his bottle and flicked it at the duo;

"Stay away from me."

To that, Clyde and Casper burst into laughter, as did the duo themselves.

What they were ’asking’ of Aiden without needing to be said, was to make them a digital illustration to all the cover arts of the songs they had made over the past two years.

Though all three had actually had plans to shore up some funds together to make it, they’d been putting it off for so long because... well... it was quite expensive.

Now that they had a buddy who seemed to have picked up the skill over the summer break and was clearly adept at doing it, why couldn’t they request of him to do it instead for free.

Still,

"How’d you get so good at it?" Casper then asked to which Aiden replied with a shrug;

"Beats me,"

"Pops did tell me my mum was really good at it, though. Said she stopped after I was born." he then said, with a warm smile on his lips as he added;

"Guess I’ve got a knack for it too."

In response to that, the gang quietly nodded in acknowledgement.

Considering they’d all gotten together on the first day of freshmen year, they were never chanced to meet Aiden’s mum like they had his dad.

Still, he often talked very fondly about her... enough for the quartet to know that he’d loved her dearly.

As they all ate in a shared, comfortable silence following that, Clarissa, alongside some of her clique of girls, and even Daisy and some of the girls on the football team, slipped into their free spots on their chairs.

Though the quartet were already pretty stunned by that, they were even more stunned when Clarissa suddenly popped the question while looking straight into Aiden’s eyes;

"Say, Aiden, wanna be my date to Homecoming?"

Aiden was just as bewildered by the scenario, especially since Clarissa had a track record of doing this to any guy she had locked in for the event.

It also didn’t help that more than half of the cafeteria had turned to face them.

Afterall, whereas Aiden and the gang had been having a mundane conversation of their own and sharing a moment, the rest of the cafeteria had noticed when she and her gang stood up from her chair to move to theirs.

Given her rep, it also didn’t take long for all the students--asides most of the freshers--to be aware of what was at play.

Still, Aiden refused to be put on the hot seat, his mind calming down considerably after the initial stupefaction.

Racking his brain, his gears turning at full speed at the sort of response that would let her down easy without embarrassing her, Aiden’s thoughts soon came to a headway.

So, as everyone seemed to watch with bated breath, he began, his expression relaxed as he offered her a genuine smile;

"Clarissa, you’re an absolute firework,"

"And trust me, I meant that in all the best, beautiful ways," he continued steadily, his eyes holding hers.

"But unfortunately, no. I won’t be your date to homecoming," he finally gave her an answer, then added for good measure;

"Or anyone else’s for that matter."

No sooner had he said that, his words travelling across the dead silent cafeteria, Clarissa remained completely still, a furious blush creeping up her neck.

Then, Daisy broke the silence with a resigned sigh, her hands gesturing;

"See. I told you he wasn’t interested."

No sooner had she said that, the floodgates of murmurs and mutters echoed through the area.

Yet, very few were actually making fun of Clarissa for being rejected. Rather, the conversation was completely skewed towards why Aiden wasn’t going to the dance with anyone in the first place.

And though one may have expected his buddies to have been surprised that he even managed to reject their school’s queen bee, they were surprisingly, the most chill about it as they shook their heads in resignation.

Afterall, Aiden had mentioned previously that he really wasn’t interested in Clarissa, or going to the homecoming dance with anyone.

But for the queen bee herself, her furious blush wasn’t as a result of her being embarrassed that Aiden had rejected her as all of the girls around the table or most in the cafeteria had believed.

Rather, it was as a result of something else entirely;

’An absolute firework... in all the best, beautiful ways...’ Aiden’s words continuously ringed within the confines of her skull as she kept staring at him in a bit of a stunned daze.

Then,

"That’s the most beautiful compliment I’ve ever gotten..." she quietly let out, her visage still stunned, much to everyone else’s surprise and Aiden’s relief.

Honestly, with the way she had kept staring at him, he’d wondered if he’d broken something within her.

Thankfully, that didn’t seem to be the case.

Instead, a genuine, cherubic smile bloomed on her features as she gently tapped his chest with a finger, her hazel irises bright with interest;

"I’ll have you know, I’m very obstinate, so I won’t be giving up that easy."

"Try as you may. I won’t be backing down anytime soon." Aiden folded his arms across his chest, his gaze resolute and his expression relaxed.

To that interaction, everyone else around the table watched on... unsure of what to make of its outcome.

*

The next couple days went by rather swiftly.

Through it all, Aiden’s follower count on TweetTalk had increased by an extra five hundred by the week’s end, one that tallied up his total followers to 2600+ and growing.

As a result, by the time the Tuesday of the next week came around, Aiden dropped the next ’Tues Your Adventure’ post.

-

TUES YOUR ADVENTURE!

You focus.

At first, the buzzing is distant and unclear.

Then, it grows louder, closer and faster!

All of a sudden...

WHOOSH!!

A blur of crimson and gold blitzes across the sky... only for a deafening shockwave to rattle every pebble around you and flip you over to your side.

You remain much the same.

A sentient, unmoving rock.

Yet,

-------------------------------

{SYSTEM UPDATE}

New Sense Unlocked!

◈ Vibration Detection (Lv. 1)

You have learned to interpret disturbances traveling through matter.

-------------------------------

The buzzing from before has faded way and the silence has returned.

That is until you sense... heavy footsteps coming for you.

What do you do?

└ A] Stay perfectly still and get crushed.

└ B] Try to roll to the side and evade the stomp.

└ C] Tatakae!!!

(Voting ends in 24 hours. Next post comes up next week.)

-

As Aiden watched the post go live, people already voting and pouring into its comment section, he tucked his phone into his pockets.

Walking through the school gates and greeting his buddies, his gaze soon caught sight of a messy mop of brown quietly walking across the bustling lawns.

Given how much Aiden’s relationship with online Theo had progressed over the past six days, Aiden believed it was high time he revealed himself to the reclusive youth.

As a result, when the bell for the fourth period of the day rung and the seniors were informed by their homeroom teachers that their chemistry instructor had called in sick with a fever so there would be no lab practical, they rejoiced at the opportunity of a free period before lunch break.

As for Theo, he promptly got off his chair and slipped out the door, clearly on his way to the computer room.

Without the slightest hesitation, Aiden quietly followed.