Chapter 8 – Cash Money

Vince was the first to get lunch and sat down at the usual table. Jessica arrived a few moments later and had a vibrant aura around her.

“Vince, I just finished a project I’ve been working on the past two weeks,” she said. 

“Alright, do you mind showing me what you’ve been up to?” he replied.

She sent a hyperlink to him via MMS and sat down to eat her food without further explanation. Vince clicked on the link and directed him to a nicely crafted and designed website with stock images.

[Jessica must have spent plenty of time learning about CSS to design a website that looks as good as this one. It even looks nice on mobile, which takes double the effort.] He thought. 

“This website is well thought out and functional. The stock images fit well, and the website itself is responsive.”, Vince commented.

“It’s hosted on GitHub pages right now as it’s only a prototype and mainly for practice, but I still have to learn how to deploy the website effectively when I do decide to publish.”, she stated.

“This is amazing work for the amount of time you’ve spent. I can give you something to work on for fair compensation if you’re interested.”, Vince proposed.

“You would be paying me to create a website?” she asked with an unbelieving look. 

“You might not believe me, but I signed a deal to create a company with a law firm that would represent my interests. My mother worked at Lewis-Jacobs as a secretary and connected me with one of the senior partners.

I’ll be offering the same thing to the others for the work they’ve put in Wingin’ Chicken, the first of many products that Future Technologies will create.” he declared.

“If that’s the case, then I’ll accept.”, she replied with excitement. 

The others arrived, and Vince mentioned the same offer to them. 

They were all surprised and decided to ask their parents for permission.

Tom arrived with his friends to thank Vince for the special access he was granted on Wingin’ Chicken and reminded him to stop by his family’s gym.

Vince returned home and immediately checked his satoshi wallet balance and found around 2.5 million BTC.

[It seems like a large portion of players decided to pay for premium access considering it cost only $2 or even less depending on listing prices,] he thought. He then checked the exchange chart out of curiosity and found that Bitcoin rose to $2 = 1 BTC.

The price of Bitcoin doubled overnight and looked to continue rising. 

[I should have expected a rise in Bitcoin prices, but I wouldn’t have been able to take advantage without liquid capital, anyways.] Vince pondered

He listed only 100,000 BTC to be sold on the exchange and quickly received $200,000 in his account. He notified Ms. Kemp regarding the newly acquired cash he wanted to withdraw.

Vince mentioned paying for the current billable hours the law firm spent setting up his business with the cash and kindly instructed for a smooth withdrawal from the business bank account. The law firm will have to deal with any procedures required to procure the cash.

Vince received a reply with the business bank account information an hour later. 

[Good thing school ends before typical work hours,] he thought.

He logged into the bank portal and found an available balance of $150,000. This law firm is expensive. It cost $50,000 already. A receipt showed bills from Lewis-Jacobs and the accounting firm that handles Vince’s accounts, the local Deloitte branch in Austin, Texas. 

Vince replied with a message of gratitude and mentioned his plans to employ his friends who have helped develop Wingin’ Chicken. 

Ms. Kemp’s secretary replied with a confirmation.

The paperwork was being prepared for signing. Vince ate dinner with Leah and talked about undergoing experimental treatment for her condition. He reassured her that cost would not be an issue in the future. Unfortunately, they cannot afford the entirety of the treatment right now, but Vince was confident they will eventually.

He could also sell some Bitcoin if they required more liquid cash.

“Thank you, my boy. I’ll be strong and endure the treatment to watch you grow up and achieve more success.”, she said lovingly. 

Vince spent the rest of the night doing homework and playing online games with his buddies. Further plans can wait until tomorrow.

[Today is a good day worthy of relaxation,] he thought.

Most of the student body knew who the mastermind of the new viral game was. Of course, Vince didn’t become super popular or anything, but he did gain the respect of his peers.

His homeroom teacher approached him before heading to his first class. “Vince, I heard you made that game everybody is playing. My 5-year old son loves it and shows me his top scores all the time.”, she said. 

“I’m glad your son likes it, Ms. Miller.”, he replied.

“My son means the world to me, and seeing him happy makes me happy.” she declared.

“Please give me your son’s account details, and I’ll grant him premium access and all the in-game items when you have the time.”, he said.

Ms. Miller happily accepted the friendly gesture. 

Her son used her account to play Wingin’ Chicken and gave him her email address. They parted ways, and Vince continued on his day. 

He discussed the employment proposal with his friends during their lunch break. Vince gave them Ms. Kemp’s office contact details for their parents.

He started formulating some short-term projects they would work on as soon as he got home. But, first, he ordered a complete set of production-grade computer components and peripherals like multiple displays to enhance his friends’ productivity.

He didn’t skimp on any of the components, including the latest Nvidia Quadro graphics cards. 

[Sarah and Rick will love this,] he thought. 

Vince waited until the end of the week for everything to be delivered to each of his friends’ houses.

He spent the entire weekend building and configuring each setup while taking the time to teach his friends his PC building process.

The following week, The school’s principal summoned Vince to discuss his recent success with the viral mobile game that people have recently been playing.

“Vince Dalton, you are needed at the principal’s office now.” the school speakers blurted twice.

Ms. Miller dismissed her student from class and allowed Vince to move towards the principal’s office.

“Good day, Principal Keaton. What can I do for you?” Vince stated after entering the room.

“Welcome, Vince. Please take a seat. I’ve heard from the teachers and students about your personal software project. I congratulate you for your early success, and our school is honored to have such a young, enterprising, and diligent student like yourself.” Keaton stated kindly.

“Thank you for the praise, Mr. Keaton,” Vince replied plainly, trying not to raise any suspicions.

“Though I do wonder how you were able to develop such a popular game like Wingin’ Chicken. You won’t be attending the computer science classes until next year if I recall.” Mr. Keaton said curiously.

Vince started sweating a little bit because of nervousness and thought of an excuse on the spot.

“That’s true, but I’ve been interested in technology development ever since I decided to buy my first computer. I spent hundreds of hours doing research and reading online about the things I could do if I had access to a computer.” Vince replied anxiously.

“Oh really? Could you share some of the resources you’ve learned from so that we could apply them to your peers here at South Main?” Mr. Keaton asked.

“What got me started with my advanced studies was a fascinating and information-heavy lecture series on YouTube called CS50, created by the Harvard Computer Science professors. It has everything a student needs to start their journeys in IT, such as general modern tech concepts and specific courses like Python and Java programming.” Vince explained.

“I didn’t know Harvard provided free classes online. I’ll do my research and check if CS50 would be a good addition to our curriculum.” Mr. Keaton stated.

“Their YouTube channel is very new and only started early this year. But, of course, I also read books and journals as complimentary sources for my studies.” Vince commented.

“I’m glad a student of ours has taken it upon themselves to improve in their areas of interest. I’ve been contemplating about having you speak in front of the student body about your early successes in mobile app development.” Mr. Keaton stated.

“I don’t think that’s necessary, Mr. Keaton. I believe that my peers who are interested in IT won’t need someone talking on stage to persuade them to learn. So instead, I suggest the school integrate the study resources I mentioned to allow those curious to dip their toes in Computer Science. That should be enough, in my opinion.” Vince explained.

“I can see why you’re successful at such a young age. Even the way you talk is much different than kids your age. You can go back to class now. Thank you for the recommendations, Vince.” Mr. Keaton stated before dismissing one of the best students of his school.

EDITED (+500 words)