Locking In With My Life System

The first week of March had finally arrived.

Kicking off the month was a busy Monday morning, the typical hum, buzz and chatter cascading across Silverlake High’s front lawns.

As usual, the gang had met up, all of them engaging in mundane discussions as usual.

With [Crashout: Sin City] having gone live since midnight, all six had jointly decided to stay off the internet till much later in the late afternoon.

Though they were dying to know how their game was performing, they figured it would do them a world of good if they weren’t constantly refreshing their feeds and getting distracted all day.

To that effect, they went about the rest of the day as they usually would, a growing sense of anticipation in their hearts.

Then, when the final bell rung and Aiden and Theo had rounded up their AP classes, they all converged to the computer lab and finally proceeded to check the metrics.

No sooner had the curly-haired youth pulled up AppSphere’s store page though, his alongside Aiden’s and the rest of the gang’s eyes widened so much, one would assume it was about to pop out of its sockets.

At the same time, a shell-shocked expression painted their visages, their mouths hanging slightly agape.

Though the rest of the gang had variedly expected a wishlist to paying customer conversion rate of 10% to 20%, Aiden himself had been expecting somewhere around 35%.

Given he had been handling the core marketing of the game, he was most in tune with their audience, so he wasn’t just going off on hopes and prayers.

But even he, in his wildest dreams, couldn’t have expected this.

"There’s no way that’s in the thirty to forty percent conversion rate..." he audibly muttered as he stared wide-eyes at the total download count, a bewildered expression on his features.

The rest of the gang couldn’t even react, much less remark to his statement.

But who could blame them, really?

380K+ downloads would do that to anyone.

Literally, what they were looking at, was nothing short of a 45% conversion rate!

One that was far above what they could’ve ever anticipated...

...though it would be more fitting to say that they had severely underestimated themselves.

Gulping audibly, Theo proceeded to navigate over to their publishing profile, a slight tremor to his hands as his finger swept across the trackpad.

Naturally, Aiden, Casper, Clyde, Larry and Benjamin watched with bated breaths, their hearts much like Theo’s, practically thumping in their chests.

Then, when the new page phased in and they saw the $1.9M+ in gross revenue, they almost thought it was joke and that they were dreaming.

At some point, Casper pinched himself... then the others, just to be certain.

Seeing their respective reactions, he concluded that it in fact, wasn’t a dream.

Without restraint, all six suddenly burst out in jubilatory cheers, Aiden and Casper infectiously declaring in sync, their joy on full display as they pumped their fists into the air;

"LET’S GO!!!"

Then they immediately embraced each other in a bro hug whilst sharing the same laughter!

"Hahaha! We’re rich! Rich, I tell you!" Larry exclaimed with gestured and widespread arms, his laughter infectious.

"Grandmama, I made it! I fucking made it!" Benjamin practically looked to the ceiling, his hands cupped in prayer... which was rather ironic considering his grandparents were still alive.

Even Clyde whom was usually more reserved in comparison to the rest of the gang equally declared, his tone reflecting his utter elation;

"I’m gonna go update my LinkedUp profile right freaking now!"

Theo on the other hand, despite equally cheering alongside everyone else, didn’t even know when his eyes had welled up with tears and they began trailing down his face.

Clearly, they were tears of joy.

Yet, before he could gather himself, more and more of it continued to spill down his face as he wiped his tears in between choked laughter whilst thinking to himself;

’Finally... my mom... my siblings... I can give them the sort of life they deserve...’

Though Aiden wasn’t a mind reader, he could immediately infer the cause of the youth’s teary reaction.

As a result, he placed an arm on his shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze and shake.

Looking up at the coal-haired youth behind him, Theo’s eyes said everything they needed to.

His appreciation, his gratefulness, his undying gratitude.

Likewise, Aiden reciprocated, his own gaze reflecting his assurance, warmth and respect.

Words didn’t need to be exchanged between them.

And neither did the rest of the gang have to think twice before they perfectly understood it as well.

As a result, a natural silence soon descended into the room, the ambience comforting and homely as they all returned their gazes to the screen.

Though they still had to pay publishing fees, which was about 20%--and was what made AppSphere the go-to app store for mobile devices as other platforms usually took 30%--they would still have well over 1.5M+ left in net revenue that was solely theirs.

Which then led to the question.

How did the gang plan to split the pay?

Surprisingly, Aiden hadn’t given it much thought.

Not because he didn’t want to, but rather because he didn’t feel the need to.

These were his buddies.

His day ones.

His homies.

As much as he could’ve opted to go down the pragmatic route and draft out all the reasons why he deserved a higher cut in comparison to all of them given how much effort he’d put into making the game a resounding success, his thoughts never went in that direction.

Not even once.

To him, this was a team effort, not a one-man army venture.

As such, he planned to have the funds split as a team would.

Unfortunately for him... or perhaps fortunately, he had friends whom would never allow it.

Friends whom had been certain of the way he would approach this aspect of things.

As a result, Casper spoke, one of his arms slinging over Aiden’s shoulder as he casually said;

"Twenty-two percent. That’s all yours man."

Naturally, Aiden frowned.

"What do you mean twenty-two percent. We all worked our asses off--"

"Just take it, man." Clyde, Benjamin and Larry simultaneously cut him off, knowing smiles on their respective lips.

"We knew you would say something along those lines so we’d already deliberated beforehand." Theo expatiated with a witting yet assuring smile.

If it was any other person, they might’ve found the gang’s gesture somewhat disrespectful as they’d essentially made a decision without including one of, if not the most important party in it.

However, in the case of Aiden whom was more than aware that they were doing it with his best interests at heart, he was more touched than anything else.

As a result, he simply lowered his head slowly, an affably pleasant smile touching his lips.

Then he spoke a moment after, the hint of gratitude in his tone unmistakable;

"Thank you, guys. You’re the best kind of friends a guy could have."

"Don’t you get all sappy on us now." Casper patted his shoulder with a light grin.

"Yeah. We’d like our copter back, thank you very much." Clyde casually chipped in and the gang burst into laughter.

"Fuck you guys!" Aiden cussed.

"Yes, yes. We love you too." Larry teased to which all four continued laughing.

With Aiden set to get 22% of the net profit of $1.5M+, he was on track to earning $330K+.

This was a lot of money, and a lot of capital in its own right just like he’d wanted. Unfortunately, it didn’t equal a completed quest.

Afterall, his system hadn’t updated just yet even despite earning more than triple of the required amount in net profit.

If Aiden was being honest, he also wasn’t surprised by this.

On the surface, he was essentially the CEO of Crashout Studio.

On paper however... well there was no paper so things were pretty self-explanatory from thereon.

That said, Aiden wasn’t the least bit bothered.

If this was just the first day of the game’s release and they’d accumulated this much in revenue, the next couple months were sure to bring in some more.

Sure, it might not be as much as the current numbers, but it was bound to rake in a few more greens nonetheless.

Enough that he’d be able to blast right through that quota before the end of his fiscal year in July.

Besides, with all the plans they had for post-launch support, Aiden was even more certain of it.

"Wait. What about you guys?" he then asked, his tone curious.

"Seventeen percent." Theo casually answered.

"Sixteen." Casper replied.

"Fifteen." Clyde, Larry and Benjamin simultaneously said.

"Ah. I see. Well, if you guys came to that decision, that’s cool then." Aiden bobbed his head in acknowledgement to which he then said;

"I’ll wire your cuts as soon as it drops."

Naturally, everyone nodded in satisfaction, a new wave of excitement coursing through their beings at the thought of having so much money to their names.

Even now, it still felt surreal to them, though they were more than aware it would fully sink in the moment it dropped into their accounts and they finally had access to it.

That said, Casper casually spoke a moment after, his tone serious;

"Say, Aiden. Could you hold onto my cut for me, please?"

Upon hearing that, the gang’s attention shifted to the blonde-haired youth, their gazes immediately morphing into one of genuine concern.

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