Locking In With My Life System

Three weeks later, the day of the academic decathlon had arrived.

School emblem boldly inscribed on its side, a minibus remained parked at Silverlake’s High parking lot, Mr. Lazlow, alongside Mrs. Delacroix engaged in a mundane discussion.

As for the students, a few of them had arrived, some already seated in the bus, while the others lingered outside as they reviewed their notes and some of the study materials.

Megan and Damian were amongst the former and latter respectively, and they were all dressed in neatly pressed shirts, form-fitting school blazers, along with formal skirts for the ladies and sleek pants for the guys.

It also happened to land on a Monday, and it really didn’t take long before the other students in the team began arriving as well.

Even then, it was still an hour earlier than the usual time school hours kicked off. 8:00 am, to be exact.

Twenty minutes later, all twelve students had arrived, with the sole exception of one.

"Aiden lives around these parts, right?" one of the students curiously asked of Theo who simply nodded, his expression a bit concerned as he sat inside the bus.

At the same time, Mr. Lazlow and Mrs. Delacroix had begun checking their wrist watches, wondering if they should try calling the youth’s number.

Though there was still a quite a bit of time left on the clock for him to arrive, it would do them a whole lot of good if they could leave as early as possible.

That way, they could avoid most of the traffic, get to the venue earlier than planned, settle down a bit and get their bearings without having to slip right into rush hour upon arrival.

Just as they decided on doing just that five minutes later, the youth walked through the gates.

"Speak of the devil--" Damian remarked, only for his eyes to narrow a bit when he saw how Aiden looked.

The same could be said for Megan who adjusted her red-rimmed glasses whilst squinting and Theo whose expression shifted into worry.

Aiden wasn’t looking haggard or disheveled, no.

Far from that, he was dressed just as sharply as they were in fact.

The only difference... he looked very tired.

Like someone who hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep overnight.

Even then, his expression remained relaxed as he walked up to them and greeted;

"Morning everyone."

"Morning, Aiden. Are you... okay?" Mr. Lazlow immediately asked, his tone one of genuine concern.

"Did you not get enough sleep last night?" Mrs. Delacroix equally added, her brows furrowing.

Considering how exceptionally well he’d been performing in all their practices tests, they doubted it was because of the academic decathlon.

Clearly, he’d been up to something else.

"Yep. Had something pretty important I needed to sort out." Aiden, on the other hand, simply replied as he made his way into the bus and settled into one of the free seats near the window.

"But don’t worry. I’m fine."

"I just... yawn..." he covered his mouth, finishing the words a moment after;

"Need a power nap."

Before anyone could manage to ask anything, he leaned back into the chair, looked over to Theo, gave him a thumbs-up with a light smile, then immediately logged off like a robot a few seconds after.

To say they were all baffled to see it happen in real time was an understatement.

Was it that easy to flip off your switch, or was Aiden far more tired than he was letting on?

Whatever the case might’ve been, the youth was here.

And if his recent track record was anything to go by, they could at least trust that despite how he looked, he was more than prepared for the event.

Promptly, both teachers got into the vehicle, Mr. Lazlow taking the driver’s seat while Mrs. Delacroix took the passenger’s seat.

A few seconds after, the mini-bus pulled out of the parking lot and they were on their way to the Javits Convention Center in Manhattan.

Through it all, Theo had pulled out his phone from his bag.

To everyone else, Aiden’s gesture might’ve seemed like a friendly exchange between friends.

To him, he knew it meant far more.

His instincts had also proven right as the very first notification he saw on his screen was an e-mail, informing him that their game had successfully gone live on Portal, the biggest and most popular PC gaming online storefront in the world.

If Theo hadn’t known Aiden, he’d have assumed the youth had uploaded the buggy mess nonetheless.

However, he was a hundred percent certain that he would never do anything of such if he wasn’t comfortable with the quality of it.

Which was why he immediately retrieved his laptop, his actions drawing a lot of eyes to him in the bus as his expression looked more and more flabbergasted by the minute.

It didn’t take long after that.

Theo found the latest build of [Crashout: Sin City]’s PC port on their repository and launched it.

Watching the game load without any buggy glitches, he played it for the next ten minutes without stumbling on the slightest bumps.

Testing out some of the newer game modes like the addictive, action-arcade rogue-lite mode where the player character had to keep road raging to keep getting power-ups to rack up high scores and survive for as long as they possibly could, to some of the newer story mode missions, to driving around the new map and getting access to build new criminal ventures...

...all of it provided a seamless experience devoid of any hiccups or issues, it was hard to believe it was the very same port he’d seen three weeks ago.

It was also why, Theo slowly closed the lid of his laptop and looked over to the sleeping Aiden, staring at him like a phenomenon he couldn’t quite wrap his head around.

Considering he’d promised him he would dedicate all his time to prepping for the decathlon, he’d stuck to it without compromise.

Besides, Aiden had been right.

There was no way he could effectively juggle both the decathlon and crunching codes on the side at 100% with a deadline on his head without one having to give for the other.

It was why he hadn’t even bothered to check the repository as he’d assumed Aiden would probably be at his wits end if he worked alone on it as well.

Added to that, the youth had been so active in all their practice sessions for the event much like he himself had, it was hard to believe, much less imagine that he had been fixing the game by himself on the side.

For a brief while, Theo felt lightheaded.

Then his awe morphed into a much deeper sense of respect for Aiden.

For so long, he’d believed himself a capable multitasker if the need arose for it. However, with what he’d seen today... he couldn’t help but feel like he paled in comparison to Aiden.

Whatever the heck it was that was fueling his doggedness, it was certainly miles above his.

Returning his gadgets into his bag, Theo resumed reviewing his notes and the study materials.

Now, he was even more fired up, his gaze burning with a fiery determination.

If his close friend had done that much amidst preparations for the decathlon, it would seriously be a disservice to his efforts if he himself didn’t stomp out the competition today.

The ride continued on, the journey smooth--save for the occasional traffic that they managed to get through quickly as it was still pretty early in the morning.

Soon enough, Mr. Lazlow pulled into the parking lot of the convention center at exactly 8:13 am.

A couple other schools had arrived as well, their buses idling as their students lingered around it, opting not to stray too far away, a couple of them engaging in mundane discussions.

At the same time, a couple parents whom had brought their kids on their own had their cars equally parked, their kids seated in the vehicle as they reviewed their notes and study materials.

Alongside them were varsity buses, implying that the high-school decathlon was just one part of the whole event.

With the event set to begin by 9:30 am prompt, the convention center itself was set to open by 8:30 am to allow every school involved to get their bearings before the competition began.

That said, no sooner had the students of Silverlake High began alighting from the bus to stretch their limbs, students from other schools naturally locked their eyes onto them.

If Aiden wasn’t napping away in his little corner, his lips would’ve probably twitched at the sight of things.

If Theo wasn’t so hyper-focused on mentally reviewing every single thing he’d assimilated over the past couple months, he’d have probably scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

But even then, the rest of the team were just as aware of what the cause was.

Silverlake High had managed to rank either second or third every blessed time they’d partaken in the decathlon for the past five years now.

Which meant they hadn’t ever managed to actually secure numero uno.

Yet, it also meant that they were one of the biggest ops to most schools here today.

It also didn’t help that they’d all heard the news about how six teens from said school had managed to make a hit game that had now made over two million dollars, two of whom they’d identified to be partaking in today’s very same decathlon.

Safe to say, the name Aiden North and Theo Brooks had managed to wiggle its way into a couple of their conversations, a natural inclination to meet the very youths palpably evident in the moment.

At the same time, they also wanted to challenge them and see how good they were for themselves.

And the biggest school in the region whom had happened to be itching the most to do just that, arrived at the parking lot, their bus pulling over a couple meters away and parallel to theirs.

Midtown High.

Silverlake High’s biggest ops and also, five-time winning champion of the academic decathlon.

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