Chapter 43: Perfect Score
"Did you and your buddies have anything to do with the scavenger hunt prank?" Megan asked of Aiden as he carried an amp into the school gym.
"That came out of nowhere," Aiden replied as he walked across the court, the lady trailing behind him as they made for the center.
At the same time, a couple of his fellow volunteers were hauling two rather large PA speakers behind them, to which Aiden and Megan parted asides the curtain to let them pass through easily.
Tomorrow was the talent show and the entire area was bustling with students moving about as they decorated the space, their lively chatters filling up the ambience.
Stretched across the walls adjacent to the curtains they’d set up were two eye-catching banners designed in the glitz and glam of something reminiscent of the early 80’s to 90’s.
Obviously, it was Aiden’s handiwork and it did a great job of also selling tomorrow’s theme perfectly.
Decades Day.
Placing the speakers on the spot the caramel-haired lady had designated, Aiden then asked, his brows arching curiously as the lady ticked off the task on her clipboard;
"Why’d you ask?"
"’Cause I’m curious... and also because Principal Walter’s already suspecting you lot--"
Megan hadn’t even finished her sentence when she spotted a familiar sealed nylon sticking out slightly from the bass reflex ports of one of said amps.
"Ooh! Another one!" she snatched the little thing, tore it open and popped a few into her mouth, her forest green irises glinting in satisfaction and her cheeks slightly puffy.
To that, Aiden blinked, his mouth slightly agape as he watched the lady continue to stuff her mouth.
"That’s one of the silver-taped ones..." he soon pointed out, a rather baffled expression on his features.
Megan blinked.
Then she looked at the pack, her eyes studying it for a bit... only for her pupils to dilate in real time.
"Oh... no," she defeatedly remarked, her expression morphing from relaxed to rueful in a matter of seconds.
"I have made a catastrophic financial mistake." she gloomily added.
Naturally, Aiden soon found himself chuckling at her predicament, the lady still staring dejectedly at the opened pack.
As that was happening though, one of the committee members of the student council walked behind the curtains and asked one of his peers backstage whom had dropped a particular equipment nearby;
"Are you guys sure the fog machine’s in optimal condition?"
"Yeah. We had this bad boy fixed up. Good as new." the senior, Eddy, whom was set to perform in the talent show nodded, patting the electronic gently with pride in his eyes as he said.
"Good. We wouldn’t want a repeat of what happened last year." the committee member replied in a cautioning tone to which Eddy replied assuredly;
"Trust me, man. Everything’s gonna be alright."
...
...
...
Aiden’s follower count had ballooned to over 10,000+.
Naturally, this was as a result of ’Tues Your Adventure’. At the moment, the youth was currently reading through the first few comments, an amused smile on his lips.
-
MustProtecc: Rock survives! Rock is about to evolve! We must protecc rock with our choices!
Dommy_Mommy: Bwahahaha! This one also got a good chuckle from me!
TheThing: Evolve, little one! Become big and strong! Like me!
ObiWanCanBlowMe: ’You stupidly chose to throw hands despite having none’. Say... why do I feel like you’re insulting us, @AidenDraws?
Wrestling_Fanatic: Yes! Yes! Yes! Evolve! Evolve! Evolve!
Tony_Stonks: ROCK STOCKS ARE UP 47%. FRACTURED EVOLUTION IS BULLISH!
LuffyAteMyLunch: And there it is, the start of OPness! This verse is so f-ing cooked!
LetMeSoloHim: Haha! This rock has the mentality of every Souls-like player.
Rock_Geologist: Bro! This is the hardest origin story I’ve ever witnessed!
Professor X-Box: This series has somehow convinced 7,000+ adults to debate the optimal build for a rock every Tuesday.
-
Chuckling to himself, Aiden simply minimized the tab and then, stared at the new post he’d drafted out prior to checking the old post.
-
TUES YOUR ADVENTURE
Scattered across the roadside, every tiny fragment of your broken body begins to tremble.
Then, one fragment shifts, every grain of dust slowly pulling towards the others as though drawn together by an invisible force.
Tik...
Tik...
Tik...
Yet before the last fragments return...
Drip!
... something warm lands upon you.
Drip!
A thick metallic scent fills the air as crimson fluid seeps into you and slowly soaks your fractured body.
However, above you, those same thunderous footsteps stop and lean down...
...only to pick up the man whose suit is torn beyond recognition and lying beside you by the neck.
"Pathetic." a thick, cold voice booms and echoes.
"I expected more from the 25th hero on the rankings."
WOOSH!
Suddenly, the air crackles with a sonic boom, a powerful gust left in its wake as both parties vanish.
Yet, the fluid has long seeped into every crevice of your body, coagulating your being and holding you together.
You don’t know what blood is, clearly. But the System does.
-------------------------------
{SYSTEM UPDATE}
Foreign Biological Material and Genetic Echo Detected.
Analyzing...
Due to Fractured Evolution, foreign biological information and genetic echo may be integrated during reconstruction.
Evolving...
-------------------------------
Your evolution has begun!
What do you hope to gain from it?
└ A] A new Sense.
└ B] A new Title.
└ C] A new Trait.
(Voting ends in 24 hours. Next post comes up next week.)
-
Looking it over once more and nodding to himself in satisfaction, Aiden then timed it to drop at the usual time tomorrow morning.
Having done that, he then navigated over to CodeHub, the platform Theo had informed him off to use for their private repository.
Reviewing their paid plans--Team and Enterprise, Aiden eventually settled for the lesser Team plan which would cost him about $5 monthly compared to the $21 the Enterprise plan would’ve cost him.
No sooner was he done setting the entire thing up, he then forwarded it to their shared group, handing everyone the login details.
Not bothering to await a response, he seamlessly slipped into another tab he’d previously opened--a website he’d picked up from one of the many videos he’d began watching in recent memory about the basics of coding and programming.
Given the Nimbus engine required at least some level of baseline technicality to understand, he’d opted to give the site a trial as many had recommended it.
Named CodeRPG.dev, it was an online, gamified learning platform built specifically to teach backend software engineering and computer science fundamentals.
It was also a platform that focused on hands-on coding rather than long video lectures by using an RPG-style leveling system to make progress rewarding.
And for Aiden whom had only recently started getting into the craft, it was a perfect segue into deepening his understanding and learning the basics of the basics, even if he did have to pay a monthly subscription of $59 for it.
Still, Aiden saw it as a worthwhile investment. One that would aid him in quickly chipping away at learning the skill till he could manually add it to his system for an upgrade.
It also helped that he’d managed to snag a promocode, one that had him whittle the price down by 25% from one of the lesser-known ViewTubers he’d been watching.
That said, after about an hour of focused learning, Aiden took a short break and went downstairs to spend some quality time with his Pops.
Roughly thirty minutes later, he was back to his room.
Just before he took a shower for the night though, he picked up his Chemistry notes and began reviewing them while quietly pacing around the room.
Considering how much disdain Aiden had for the subject, he refused to be complacent, even if he was certain he could ace the test they had tomorrow.
Then, after about twenty minutes of refreshing his memory on everything he’d learnt on his own and had been taught thus far in their classes, he finally flipped the book close, returned it to his bag, took a shower and hit the sack.
It didn’t even take a minute after. Aiden went straight to slumbertown.
*
Currently staring at their test scores from the maths test the day before, the students in Aiden’s class were having varied reactions.
Though some looked rather dejected, some unsatisfied, and some nonchalant about their scores, the rest of class whom wasn’t within that spectrum were clearly pleased.
Casper and Clyde had gotten their A- just as they’d expected. Theo was a straight A+ student so it wasn’t even surprising he snagged yet another.
As for the duo...
"Aw, yeah! I got a B-minus!" Larry exuberantly exclaimed to all and sundry, to which Benjamin shamelessly joined in;
"I got a B, straight up! I’m--repeat after me ladies and gentleman--awemazing!"
To that, a good chunk of the class chuckled, some even laughing.
And though Aiden, Casper and Clyde were doing much the same alongside Theo whom was quietly chuckling, only the trio understood why they were in such high spirits.
Afterall, the duo struggled quite a lot with mathematics, calculus and even physics, hence why their reactions were so vivacious.
"Thank you so much, Theo." Larry patted his chest with a fist twice and gave the youth a peace sign.
"I love you, bro." he casually added to which Benjamin raised both of his arms up in praise.
Clearly not expecting such genuine appreciation and gratitude from the duo--especially since they were in class and everyone was watching, the faintest shade of red touched the curly-haired youth’s cheek as he subconsciously scratched the back of his head, a warm smile touching his lips as he lowered his head.
As Aiden watched the youth’s reaction with a thin smile on his lips, it didn’t take long before the duo’s attention shifted to him.
Clearly, they wanted to know what he’d gotten.
Without so much as a flourish, he flipped over the script to them, the A+ on his sheet stunning not just the duo, but Casper and Clyde too.
Sure they’d known their buddy had started taking his academics seriously, they surely hadn’t expect this level of seriousness.
However, just before they could react, the bell rung.
Whatever questions or remarks his buddies had in mind suddenly vanished, replaced by another rush of exhilaration as they quickly rushed out alongside everyone else.
This was the moment not just the gang, but more than half of the school had been waiting for all day.
The Talent Show.
However, just as Aiden was about to file out alongside his buddies, he watched as Mr. Lazlow called Theo over and spoke to him briefly.
At the very same time, the man’s eyes found his, seemingly asking a question Aiden clearly didn’t want to answer.
Instead, he walked over, slung his arm over Theo’s shoulders and pretended he didn’t notice as he and the youth filed out alongside everyone else, his thoughts certain;
’There’s no way in hell I’m joining the Decathlon, teach. No way in hell!’
Yet, as his homeroom teacher watched his back recede disappear behind the doors, he couldn’t help but sigh in resignation.
There was no forcing a student who didn’t want to join the decathlon... even if that student had gotten not just an A+, but a perfect score on his test.