Stop That Hacker! (2020)

Chapter 31

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.

Lucy's p.o.v

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."