We ran back down as fast as our feet carried us. We all settled down on the couch.

"He talked to her. He actually spoke sentences. Well, not clear. But progress." Rehan was shocked.

"Where's my food?" Kai walked in front of the couch awkwardly shifting his weight from one leg to the other.

"We left it on the dining room table." I said smiling.

Yes. Remi did it.

"Okay." He awkwardly gave me a nod and headed there.

We all followed him there and seated Remi next to him.

"So?" I urged her to speak. "Remi, did you get your homework done?"

"No..um. I guess I can do it later tonight." She answered.

"You can copy mine." He told her.

"Oh okay. Thank you. That would be helpful."

He smiled at her and then looked down at his food.

After taking a bite he looked at us three, watching them with heart eyes.

"What are you doing here?" He asked annoyed. "Didn't you eat?"

"Oh. I'm sorry." Ace waved his hands apologetically, getting up from his chair. "I didn't know you two wanted some privacy."

"Yes, why don't you say so Kai." I joined.

The color on Kai's face faded. "No. I..I didn't mean to chase you away."

"Oh no. We intruded." Ace continued.

Kai slammed his fork down. "Please sit!"

We sat back down amused.

"So why did you get into a fight?" Rehan asked.

We all turned towards him. We can not just ask him out of the blue.

Remi turned towards Kai. "Yeah what happened?"

He looked at her and then us. He hesitated for a bit.

Whatever happened must have been that hard.

He sighed. "I knew he would be mad, I just didn't know he would find out like this. I wanted to tell him with a plan. I had a plan."

"Tell him what?" I asked.

"What happened that made Fin mad?" Ace asked, equally interested.

"I'm thinking of going to Italy. Well just thinking at this point..." He answered.

"What when?" I asked.

"After high school. The principal recommended me to a university in Florence. They replied that they would gladly accept me and that I should apply for a scholarship there when the time comes." Kai said and then looked at us apologetically. "I didn't tell you because it's still early and I might change my mind million more times. But Fin found out since he got called to the principal's office and he said something to him."

He sighed. "Now Fin is mad at me because he thinks I wasn't going to tell him at all. Which is so stupid because if I was hundred procent sure I would go , I would have told him. I had a plan.But I'm not sure if i even want to go."

We were all shocked. Wow Italy? And he didn't even say anything to us. I mean . Italy..

"How long would you be there?" I asked.

"About a year. It's two semesters. Then they would send me to another university of my choice to finish the other three."

My head was going to explode.

"I know this might be very surprising. Don't think about it now. It might not even happen." He explained.

We all nodded and the rest of their dinner was spent in silence.

I leaned back and swung my arms back into a good stretch. I cracked my neck and fingers before looking at the time. I was with my head buried in the laptop for a good few hours, working in peace and quiet. Then I realized it was Tuesday. Tuesdays were never quiet.

I put the empty coffee mug in the sink and went back down to the working area. After school Ace had sent me off upstairs, to do my homework and work calls while he made some preparations. Considering the deal we made, I figured it was a good idea.

But why was it so quiet? Was there even anyone here?

I went into the computer area....shiiiiiit.

The room looked completely different. There were new desks and gamer chairs and the computers were not back to back to each other, giving space to all the players to play freely. They had new ipads and gaming systems. Around ten kids were playing quietly. I saw a separate section with two other computers and two armchairs where Ace was sitting working on something. When he saw me, he grinned and walked over.

"How do you like it?"

I was baffled. "Um.. was there a need for all of this?"

"Absolutely." He nodded.

"Where are the rest of the guys that usually come here?" I asked.

"Gone. Sent away. I made a separate plan for them. Now pay attention. " Ace pointed at the gamers. They each had different colored chairs.

"White is George, Blue is Mateo, Green is Petra, Grey is Leon, Pink is Amelie, Orange is Charlie, Black is Mio, Purple is Lena, Brown is Nicola and Gold is Sierra. Sierra is our best and fastest player. She goes through games faster than any other gamer and gives very detailed reports on the games. Out of all our gamer testers, she's the one who brings in the most profit. However she can't do it full time because she has violin lessons and helps the school charity program. I negotiated and managed to get her five days a week for a few hours, but we have to pay her a bit more. But also it's fine because we will cut a lot of losses with her. Petra and Leon are both on the school committee so we can't have them on Tuesdays and Fridays but they can come on weekends. The others have no obligations so they will come most of their days. Instead of six, I made the gaming hours from 2 till 7, with Friday off. On Fridays we can throw a mini party here, and have the others come and play and we get money from them like we used to do. I changed the lock on the front door and I gave everyone a key to this part of the house. Here is yours." He put the cord around my neck.

I blinked twice processing all he said. Before I could even say anything he walked over to his desk and grabbed a file.

He shoved it in my hands. "Take this and learn their names. It's only ten people."

"Fine." I said taking the folder. "But the chai..."

"Now moving on to the next business." Ace grabbed another file. "This is a financial report on our gains and losses. I managed to make this as detailed as possible, with food expenses and all of this equipment, paying the gamers and other things and I had my brother take a look at it. He did some calculations and he made a plan for us but he also suggested we get an accountant. Now, you are still a very low-profile business company, not on the radar with big gaming companies and not to mention in high school. I think getting a good accountant will be hard, so I suggest we hire my little brother Kai. You met him. He is really good with numbers and we can pay him a decent price before we grow more as a company. I also made sure we are covered from a legal point of view so I talked to our lawyer. We can get a manager after sometime while we go to university next year."

He handed me three different folders.

"Now lastly.." He took his phone. "I emailed you two meetings I scheduled this week and one for mid November."

"With who ?" I asked.

"With bigger game development companies. Two need beta testing companies and I suggested we'd be a great fit so they set up a meeting, and the later one is for that game you have been developing."

"Really?" I asked puting the folders down and trying to peek to see what company. "You actually got someone to meet with me? I've been pitching for months."

He smiled. "I told you, leave this stuff to me.Make sure you present your game well. Prep all you need and I'll get our games on it with their reports, so we can have extra testimonials."

"Ace this is amazing. How did you manage to do all of this?" I was completely shocked.

"I love this stuff. I want to take some business class as well. I really want one day to create a game on my own and market the shit out of it."

I waved my hands. "Ace this is unbelievable. This is just genius. Do you realize how much you did for me and this little fucking company I tried so hard to run."

"I want to be a part of this." He said smiling.

"You're in." I put a hand out. "Partner."

His face was in shock now , but he quickly came back to it, smiled and shook my hand. "Looking forward to it."

I looked down at those files. "Anything else I need a report on?"

Ace nodded. "Many things. I have the perfect idea. Come over this weekend at my place for dinner. We'll talk business and you can meet my family. We can also talk about getting my brother on board."

I stood there shocked. Meeting the family?!! Well fuck.

"Why not here.."

"Please this would mean a lot to me."

He looked at me pretty excited. I can't say no. Not after all he did.

"Great."

"Perfect." He smiled and went back to work.

What. did.I.just.do?

***

"I'm home." Ace walked into the living room. "What are you two doing?"

"Um playing lava ground level 36." I explained and made my next move.

With my legs in my shirt, tightly clenched together and one arm wrapped with a bandaid so it doesn't move, I successfully jumped from the armchair to the couch.

"I can see that." Ace left his backpack in the ground. "I'm asking why are you playing without me?"

"You weren't here." Dressed the same way I was, Rehan calculated his next move and scanned the pillow island on the floor. It was a bit far away , but it was a fifty fifty chance.

With full confidence he jumped aaaaaaaaaand. He made it.

Suddenly his leg slid on the pillows and whoop he was on his back staring at the ceiling. The leg that has slept, sock free, had lunged the said sock towards Ace.

He dodged it.

"Francy is the winner." Ace proclaimed taking the sock from the ground and giving it back to Rehan.

"Wohooo!!!" I jumped happily until I slipped as well and fell on the ouch.

ouch.

"Where is Kai?" He asked.

"We are not on speaking terms." Rehan replied trying to get up.

"Why? I thought we were going to ignore the Italy thing." Ace said worried.

"It's not that." I said, nervous just thinking about it. "It started this morning after you left us to go to the Devil's den. Remi and I were talking and... Kai came over. To talk."

"What?" Ace dropped on the ground. "And?"

"And nothing. Now Remi's got the Kai fever. She said hi, he said hi , she said hi he said hi and she was out. She avoided Kai."

"And when they got home..." Rehan took off the shirt from his legs. "He was so testy and irritated by everything that he got angry when we wanted to play this game instead of homework."

"And he called Rehan childlish." I said annoyed.

"He called Francy a pain in the ass." Rehan exhaled. "That boy is out of control I tell you."

"Relax. He will be fine. It's just a momentary feeling of rejection. He will be back to normal by tonight." Ace said and then pulled us both to sit on the couch next to him.

He put his arms around us and hugged us really tight.

"What's with the affectionate mood?" I asked suspiciously.

"I'm just so happy. Life is just.. you think god doesn't favor people, but I'm having a pretty good life."

"What made you so happy?" Rehan asked.

"I finally touched his heart." Ace wiped a fake tear. "He finally warmed up to me."

"Lucy." Me and Rehan said in sync nodding at each other.

"Babies, we are home and we are hungry." Mom yelled as she and dad walked in the living room.

"Awww..." She sighed and touched her chest happy when she saw us. And then she saw the mess. "Oh."

"We are gonna clean up." I quickly said.

"We swear." Rehan jumped on his feet getting the pillows off the ground.

"Mom...dad.." Ace walked forward and hugged them.

"Oh." Dad was confused but hugged him back.

Mom rubbed his back. "What is it honey?"

"I'm bringing over someone for dinner." He said.

Me and Rehan instantly gave each other a look.

"A girl?" Dad asked.

"Nope. My best friend. I think it's time for you to meet him."

"A friend? You're bringing over a friend?" Mom asked excitedly. She has been dying to meet Ace's friends and has been bothering him for all eternity.

She would always say, when you were young i knew all your friends.. but now..you don't need your mother any more..

The guilt-tripping never worked in Ace. However now she had her wish.

"Oh then I better cancel plans if we have any. When are you bringing him?" She asked.

"This weekend." He said excitedly and then turned towards dad. "You're gonna love him. We are building this great business that we are even going to run in college. I mean he started out but now he is.. oh dad. He is a genius. I can't wait to tell you everything."

Mom and dad were beaming.

Me and Rehan slowly backed away from the living room and straight to Kai's room.

We slammed the door open and closed it shut behind us.

"Excuse you?" Kai threw his headphones off and closed the math book. "If you're here for homew..."

We stopped him before he had time to finish his sentence.

"Ace is bringing Lucy over for dinner." Rehan whispered.

"And he told mom and dad and they are so happy about it." I added

Kai was in shock. "I know why.. Oh I know why. Shit."

We came closer to hear the reason.

"It might be my fault." He said with a guilty face.

"What?" We gasped.

"Ace told me to do some number check ups for Lucy's business. I mean he didn't tell me what it was but it's me, so i kind of knew what was going on. I did a pretty good job, if I might add. So i think Lucy was so impressed he befriended Ace."

"Oh my god." I tried to take a breath. "This means we have to like Lucy now. Mom and Dad will meet him and approve of him because it's the only friend Ace ever brought home. Ace will never forgive us if we fuck this up for him."

"That means I have to be normal." Rehan grabbed my shoulders. "How can I be normal?"

"What if he tried to spy on us and sell intel." I said worried. "What will you do if he finds out all your secrets?" I shook Rehan.

Rehan was full on panic mode now.

"Let's not jump to conclusions. From what I saw on those numbers his business is legit. I don't think he is a criminal. Numbers don't lie. I say we give him a chance." Kai said. "For Ace."

I let go of all my hesitation. He was right. This was for Ace. "For Ace."

Rehan whined but nodded "For Ace."

And once again the siblings had voted and reached a decision.