However, before Gary could ask about that day, Marie surprised him with a question of her own.
“Are you an idiot?”
Now the high schooler was really confused. One moment, Marie had been thanking him, yet the very next she was insulting him?
“I’m sorry, that came out wrong. I just don’t get how you can not get scared in these situations. Back then, the black colour gang members seriously outnumbered you. There was also a good chance that everyone could have jumped you earlier as well.”
Now Gary understood a little more what she meant.
“Well, I guess I am a bit of an idiot, then. I dunno, but it just felt wrong to stand there and watch it happen. In the past, I guess I never acted when I saw it. Now, though, people around me are getting hurt, and no one is acting out about them.
“So I thought, what would happen if I became that person that instead of just watching, and wishing for help, started acting. Man, when I say this stuff out loud, it seriously sounds lame… Like those weird superhero film crap… only I’m far from being a superhero.
“I mean, for one, I’m not good-looking, scrawny and my personality sucks balls. Well, not actually balls, but you know what I mean…” Gary said as he was trailing off, and eventually looked towards Kai, Austin and Innu.
“When I look at them, they fit that role a lot better than me.”
Somehow, Gary’s talk only ended up depressing the teenager. He hadn’t had the time to talk about all the things going through him with anyone. Tom used to be the closest person he had.
A clack was heard in front of him and when he looked up, he could see a coke in a pint glass in front of him.
“It’s on the house… huh, I guess since you’re kinda the boss of this whole place it’s a given… Anyway, you deserve a free drink.” Marie said as she handed him the glass.
“Just remember what I said, you’re the boss, not them. Who’s to say when they look at you, they don’t think the same way? Did anyone else come forward before you did, Gary? No, they might have come forward, but you were the first one to act and that’s what makes you, you.
“And besides… you’re not that bad looking. In fact, you’re kinda cute.”
Gary was in the middle of drinking the coke, when Marie said that, and it nearly made him spill it out all over. Before the teenager could react, though, she had already run off to the far end of the bar to serve another customer.
‘I guess…she’s kinda cute herself…’ Gary thought, yet he wouldn’t dare to say that out loud.
——
After a successful ‘night’, it was time for them to count how much money they had made in a single night. Surprisingly, the place had managed to earn around three thousand after the cost of paying for the drinks and food had been subtracted. It was far more than any of them would have imagined in a single day.
It sounded like a huge amount, at least until Gary started to do the calculations.
‘Wait a second, ten percent of that is three hundred, and then that would need to be split between all of us…that means I hardly get anything… it’s far from being enough…’
“I can see that look on your face.” Kai said as he put a hand around his shoulder. “If it would be so easy to get rich, do you think anyone would remain poor? This was just the first day and the business will grow. We will be able to open for longer and possibly at night as well.
“Once that happens, we should easily be able to earn double this amount. Besides, this is just the first of many priorities, and most of that money needs to stay with Marie and her mother, so they can deal with all the bureaucratic stuff such an establishment requires.
“They are working the hardest out of all of us, after all. Eventually, we won’t even have to lift a finger and all of that income will turn to passive income.”
In the end, Kai pulled out a hundred and handed it to Gary. Part of it was from his share of the ten percent, the rest was from the bets he had won earlier.
“Making money can be quite quick, and it will be, but we can’t make it suddenly appear overnight. Trust me, we will get there. For the time being, just be glad that I can’t bear the thought of you making your cutie of a sister starve. You earned that, and good job standing up for one of our members back there. You’re becoming more of a leader every day.”
Gary instinctively grumbled a bit at the blonde teenager’s teasing, but he still thanked the other for the money, and he also appreciated the compliment at the end. He did trust Kai, so if he claimed this was a step in the right direction, he believed him.
Nevertheless, this meant that for now whenever an underground fight would take place, they would probably have to join it, unless something drastic were to change.
——
On Monday, Gary’s attempt at an omelette for Amy turned out far better than yesterday, even though the end result became scrambled eggs. With that done, the green haired teenager hurried to the gym to complete his Daily Quest.
Unfortunately, even after all that time, he had seen no more improvement to his stats, to the point he began wondering whether those 5 Exp were really worth the effort. The fact, that it would start to cost him money at some point didn’t make it any more appealing. After a quick bite to replenish his Energy, he checked his progress.
[Exp 982/1024]
‘Damn, I’m so close to Level 9… Argh, I will have to wait until Wednesday for it to naturally occur. System, why do you have to taunt me so much? Can’t you give me 2 extra Exp tomorrow? Please, just once, give me that small extra bit!’ Gary’s begging was met with the usual silence.
When he arrived at school, there were a few students already inside, one of them being Xin, who seemed to be staring at Tiffany for some reason. Gary wasn’t sure how to interact with the new girl. The teenager still somewhat fancied her, but given their last interaction, he didn’t know what to do.
On the other hand, things seemed to be back to normal with Tom after their little experiment. While Gary had been busy helping out at the pool club, his best friend had been busy trying to find out more information about Altered and Werewolves on Sunday.
When it was time for the lunch break, Gary excused himself by claiming he needed to go to the toilet, leaving both Innu and Tom to their own devices. However, the real reason for him being in a hurry was because he saw a certain someone walking through the hallway.
“Blake, wait, do you have a moment? I need to talk to you.” Gary said.
‘Oh crap!’ Blake thought. ‘I still haven’t processed everything I heard that day, and now he wants to speak to me? I could live with you being an Altered, Gary… but since the test was negative…if you’re not an Altered… are you a monster?’