Chapter 137: Stuck With Us

The gang had spent the latter half of the day goofing around and not much else.

Even when night came, they remained concerningly alert, a general air of high-spiritedness in the house as they played a game of Jenga.

At this point, it was Aiden’s turn to slip out a piece and his buddies were doing all in their power to get him to lose.

"C’mon Aiden. Yank it out!" Larry flexed his brows as the youth carefully reached for the piece.

"No, whip it out! Don’t be shy!" Benjamin added with a wide grin, clearly egging him on.

"Just think of it as uh, yeah..." Clyde raised his hand up then snapped his fingers, his smile knowing;

"Excalibur!"

"You don’t have to be afraid, mi hombre." Casper shamelessly joined in on the joke.

"Trust us. You’ll feel so much better if you just go for it!" Theo gave him an assuring thumbs-up.

In response, Aiden slowly turned his head towards all five, his eyes narrowing into thin slits and his gaze scrutinous as all hell.

Then, he put on his best Ugandan accent and called the entire gang out;

"Why are you gay?"

Richard had been watching from the doorway of the kitchen when he sputtered and choked on the homemade brandy, the man letting out a mixture of genuine laughter mixed with coughs.

The gang would’ve probably been laughing their asses of as well, if they hadn’t found themselves immediately turning their attention to the man in genuine concern.

Quickly, they rushed over to help him, guiding him towards his Leather Throne as they patted his back and offered him a bottle of water.

Once they’d stabilized him, they soon found themselves sharing in the man’s mirth at his son’s joke and their own shenanigans.

Unfortunately, in the process of handing his old man a bottle of water, Aiden had fallen the tower of wood.

"That doesn’t count!" he immediately defended.

Quickly, his eyes found Theo.

Naturally, he’d expected the curly-haired youth to back him up.

Instead, the youth actually looked away with a quiet whistle, and Aiden’s mouth hung agape.

Then he called him out, as well as the rest of the gang a moment after;

"You conniving, traitorous, backstabbers!"

"You keep telling yourself that, buddy." Casper patted him on the shoulder a few times, an unabashed gloat on his features.

"Doesn’t matter how it’s done as long as its done." Clyde shamelessly added while adjusting his glasses.

"You fells it, and ja lost da bet." Larry waved his finger with a haughty air.

"Now ja owes us, our first visit to any restaurant of our choosing in LA! Haha!" Benjamin declared with widespread arms and an unashamed grin.

"Better get your wallet ready, son! This panda has a bottomless pit for a tummy!" the chubby youth drummed against his slightly round stomach a few times, the action earning a good laughter from everyone else in the room.

Rolling his tongue within the confines of his mouth, Aiden bobbed his head a few times in realization as he let out;

"Yeah. Yeah. I gotta get new friends."

"Sure, sure." Richard humorously commented and the youth couldn’t help but look to the man with a gaze that signified;

Not you too! You’re supposed to have my back!

"Hear that? You’re stuck with us for life, cabrón!" Casper slung an arm around the youth’s shoulders with a shameless grin and the rest of the gang nodded in agreement.

Rolling his eyes in mock dismissal, Aiden and the gang soon pivoted to discussing more mundane things... most of which was geared what they intended to do in their freshmen year of college.

Before long, Richard retired into his room for the night. Largely because he and his son had somewhere to be very early tomorrow morning despite it being a weekend.

Roughly two hours later though--which already pretty late into the night--the youths soon found themselves feeling drowsy.

With how peppy they’d been all day, the fatigue of it all was finally catching up to them.

Not long after, they’d all found a nice spot to get some much-needed shut-eye... all except for Aiden who pulled up his system as he rested his palms against the main couch in the living room.

-

[Aiden North] – Life Points – [10.065]

?Stats

? Mind — S

? Strength — A-

? Stamina — A-

? Agility — A-

? Charm — A-

?Skills

? {Type Designing - A}, {Digital Illustration - A}, {Drawing - A}, {Cooking - A}, {Brewing - A}, {Singing - I}, {Dancing - I}, {Writing - I}, {Lettering - I}, {Driving - N}, {Programming - A}, {Riding - N}, {Video Editing - I}, {Directing - N}, {Web Designing - I}.

?Special Skills

? {Insight}, {Midas Touch}.

?Titles

? {Expand}

?Achievements

? {Expand}

?Shop

? Browse Catalogue.

?Daily Quests

? {Expand}

?Exclusive Quests

? {None}

?Time-limited Quests

? {Expand}

-

?FAQ?

-

A month had passed since Aiden had last used any of his Life Points.

It was also why he’d accumulated 7.5LPs, which in addition to his former 2.565LPs, tallied up to his current 10.065LPs.

Knowing fully well that he was at least going to need this much if he was intent on upping his friends’ stats to a satisfactory degree, Aiden soon began pulling up their panels one after the other.

’Let’s start with Larry.’

-

[Larry Vance]

?Stats

? Mind — C+

? Strength — C-

? Stamina — C-

? Agility — C+

? Charm — C+

?Skills

? {Singing - I}, {Dancing - N}, {Song Writing - I}, {Music Composition - N}, {Guitar Mastery - I}, {Driving - N}.

-

Mulling over things briefly, Aiden decided to invest into the youth’s Charm, as well as bumping his {Music Composition} skill to Intermediate grade... all of which had cost him 2.5LPs.

Given how dead-set Larry was on making something of Hi-Fi Radio, and perhaps a solo career on the side, Aiden believed that to be a very fitting choice for his buddy.

If there was anything people loved more than a good musician, it was a good musician who physically looked just as good, and Aiden knew better than to underestimate the kind of opportunities a good face card could bring.

’Now, Benjamin,’ Aiden muttered to himself as he pulled up the chubby youth’s stats.

-

[Benjamin Beaumont]

?Stats

? Mind — C+

? Strength — B-

? Stamina — D+

? Agility — C-

? Charm — C+

?Skills

? {Judo - I}, {Cooking - A}, {Singing - N}, {Song Writing - N}, {Music Composition - N}, {Drum Mastery - I}, {Driving - I}.

-

Generally, people often thought Benjamin was kidding when he said he was playfully imitating the fighting techniques of a certain panda.

But, for the gang who knew that he literally began taking classes after watching the movie... well they knew better than to take his words at face value.

In any case, Aiden really wasn’t sure which of the youth’s skill actually needed upgrades. The only one he would have upgraded--his cooking skill--was already in the highest grade.

To that effect, he took to focusing on his actual attributes, hence why he proceeded to dump one Life Point into his Stamina, and another into his Charm.

Benjamin was already a pretty good-looking dude. In fact, if he lost a bit more weight and went for a leaner build as opposed to his current, slightly chubby frame, he would look even better.

Still, Aiden had decided that if he was going to be in a band, he might as well spruce that aspect even more.

’As for Clyde...’ Aiden mused as the bespectacled youth’s panel phased into his field of view.

-

[Clyde MacAuley]

?Stats

? Mind — B-

? Strength — C-

? Stamina — C+

? Agility — C

? Charm — C+

?Skills

? {Disc Jockeying - I}, {Song Writing - I}, {Music Composition - I}, {Guitar Mastery - I}, {Piano Mastery - I}, {Programming - N}, {Driving - N}.

-

’Do I really want to make him more of a smartass?’ Aiden couldn’t help but ask himself with a light chuckle as his gaze was immediately drawn to Clyde’s Mind stat.

Nonetheless, he went ahead with it.

At the same time...

’Third time’s the charm, eh?’ Aiden joked as he pushed the youth’s Charm into the next grade.

With how levelled the Clyde’s skill was across the board, Aiden was pretty certain that his upgraded Mind stat would go a long way in dragging those skills to the next level in due time.

That, exactly, was why he’d gone for it first. The reasoning behind upgrading his Charm stat as well however, went without saying.

’Last but certainly not the least, Theo.’ Aiden settled on the curly-haired youth’s panel.

-

[Theo Brooks]

?Stats

? Mind — A-

? Strength — D

? Stamina — C-

? Agility — D

? Charm — B+

?Skills

? {Software Engineering - I}, {Programming - I}, {Full-stack Development - I}, {Web Designing - A}.

-

Theo had a case of aphantasia.

That much he’d established over the course of the time he and the gang had spent together.

Clearly, it didn’t stop his memory from being top-notch however.

It was also why Aiden couldn’t help but shake his head as he stared at the panel with a clearly impressed look.

Honestly, the more Aiden thought about it, the more he realized that Theo would’ve probably gone far in life, even without his influence.

Might’ve taken him more time maybe, but he’d have definitely gotten there.

Realizing that he couldn’t exactly upgrade any of his other stats as they were literally LP gulpers, Aiden settled for improving his Mind, Strength and Agility attributes.

Left with 0.565LPs, Aiden nodded in satisfaction to himself as he dismissed the panel.

Though he had plans to upgrade his girlfriend’s stats as well, he’d already planned to give this much to his buddies ahead of today.

That said, he very much intended to improve some of her stats as well... though that meant he would have to accumulate a new batch of Life Points before he could do much on her front.

In any case, Aiden let out a tired yawn and proceeded to head to his room upstairs.

Now he could finally head to bed in peace, and in preparation for tomorrow’s planned visit as well.