30 Busted

When Justin received Alexa's email about the sale, his jaw dropped. That company actually bought Sink or Swim for two million dollars?! And she said she would be set for the rest of college. She would be set a lot longer than that if she spent wisely!

His brain short circuited when he realized half of that was his. Before this Justin had about half a million in assets. Now he was a millionaire at nineteen. No wonder Alexa wanted to celebrate!

Once the weekend came the two new millionaires met at an Italian restaurant. Alexa greeted him with an exuberant wave.

Her turquoise hair was curled and she wore a lacy dark purple dress with black combat boots. Justin felt underdressed in his red plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up and jeans. Sam would've had a hay day making fun of him if she knew.

"So…you like Italian?" Justin couldn't think of anything more intelligent to say.

He had never been good at small talk. This was the first time they were meeting up to talk about something other than the game.

Alexa nodded. "It's my favorite. My Nonna was Italian and she loved cooking for us until she got too sick."

Justin may have been dense in most social situations but he caught the 'was.' "I'm sorry for your loss."

She gave him a small smile. "Thanks. It was a long time ago but I still miss her."

"If you love someone they never really leave you," he said, trying to comfort her. "Like how you still love Italian food. That's like a gift from her that you get to keep."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "That's surprisingly deep. Didn't know you had it in you."

"I've been told I'm full of surprises." Emily was frequently surprised by things he said as RoboCat.

The conversation was halted briefly as the server sat them down and asked what they would like to drink. After ordering soda (Alexa) and water (Justin) Alexa turned to him with interest.

"So, Sam, what do you do when you're not freelancing?"

"Coding homework…" Justin's life really was boring.

She was skeptical. "That's it?! You don't have any hobbies or anything?"

"I'm on Blogr a lot, does that count?"

Alexa laughed. "I guess. I'm on there a lot myself. I posted something completely random about stickers on fruit that went viral a couple years ago and my follower count skyrocketed. Now it's like I'm on there just to appease my followers."

"I only have thirty followers so I can't relate."

"Why are you always on then? Do you follow a lot of blogs?" she asked.

"Not really," Justin said, uncomfortable with where this was heading. "I've made a couple online friends there. I spend most of my time chatting with them."

"So you spend all of your time on the computer then." Alexa mused. "No wonder you designed the game so well."

Justin breathed a secret sigh of relief. The conversation was steering back to where he was comfortable. "Yeah, I've been coding and building computers since I was eight."

"So young?"

"My elementary school had a robotics club, which led to robotics summer camps, which led to learning basic programming. It was all downhill from there. Code is my life."

Alexa laughed. "Nothing wrong with being singular but man, I can't imagine. I have to split my time so many different ways because I'm interested in too many things. Drawing web comics, painting, playing piano, fashion design."

"You sew? My cousin sews really well. She's planning on going into costume design," Justin said.

"Nah, I just like putting outfits together. I couldn't sew if my life depended on it."

"Must be nice having a lot of different interests. I've been stuck on computers so long that there's no way out at this point."

Alexa tilted her head. "Is that why you started your own freelancing business so young?"

"I guess, I—wait, what?"

"I knew it! You're Justin Costa, aren't you?" she exclaimed.

Justin was speechless. No one had ever connected him to his business before.

Then again, this was the first time he had personally made an appearance to anyone involved. Everything else had been over email and phone. What had given him away?

Alexa cackled. "You should see your face! Man, owning your own business at nineteen…I saw your website. It's been operating for years. And you have actual employees. Do they know their paychecks are coming from a teenager?"

Finding his voice, Justin managed to speak at last. "No."

"Wow, I'm the first to figure out your secret," she said, sounding impressed with herself.

"How DID you figure it out?"

"It wasn't that hard," she said, dismissively gesturing with her hand. "First, 'Mr. Costa' insisted on having all the materials sent to him. You didn't ever give me your email address, though you did give me your phone number. Mr. Costa's phone number isn't on the site. If you call the number listed it goes to the woman I initially contacted about my proposal."

"She's my second-in-command," Justin muttered.

Alexa continued. "I also questioned why my proposal got accepted in the first place. I'd sent it four other places and kept getting shot down for not paying up front.

That made me think the boss was different than the usual middle-aged business owner. And I thought it was odd that a freelancer from the internet would meet up with me in person. From what I've seen on your website, all communication is done either online or on the phone.

But the real clincher was when you thanked me for keeping you busy all summer. My proposal being accepted finally made sense. You were bored with your company's usual jobs and decided to give me a shot."

"I'm impressed," he admitted. "Not even Rachelle—the woman you spoke to—knows how old I am. I hired her when I was sixteen. She wouldn't have taken me seriously."

"If anyone should be impressed here it should be me. You started a business and hired people to work for you as a minor! How did you even get away with that?!"

His face turned red. "I'd rather not tell. Plausible deniability and all that."

She smiled. "Sure, I get it. You're an interesting guy, Justin. What other tricks do you have up your sleeve?"

"Um, I invest in startups. My stock portfolio is oddly thick for my age."

With this latest payout he would be able to invest in a lot more. He liked seeing good ideas take off and being part of the process of making that happen. He wasn't creative in the slightest but was all for supporting those who were.

Her mouth dropped open. "Man, you don't mess around. My first instinct with all this money is to blow it on clothes and art supplies after paying off my student loans."

He shrugged. "Investing is the smart thing to do when you have money. You should at least invest a portion of your million. It'll help you more later than spending it all now will."

"Thanks for the advice. Cheers!" She held up her soda glass and Justin knocked glasses with her.

After their toast Justin was a little fidgety. "Can you promise not to tell anyone I'm me?"

She seemed surprised. "Who would I tell?"

"I don't know…I just really prefer my anonymity. My cousin is the only other person who knows about my business and she's always making me buy her stuff.

I like a peaceful life. If people knew I'm a self-made millionaire at my age they'd want me to be a motivational speaker or something. I'd honestly rather die."

Alexa laughed. "Point taken. I certainly don't want people knowing I made Sink or Swim because then they'd never shut up about it. I won't tell anybody."

He smiled in relief. "Thanks, Alexa."

"No problem. Before I forget, what's your Blogr handle? I want to follow you."

"It's RoboCat with a capital R and capital C. No spaces. I already know yours. My…best friend on there is a huge fan of your blog. She freaked when I told her we collaborated."

She frowned. "Does she know who we are?"

"Don't worry, you're safe. I've been chatting with her for years and she doesn't even know my first name," Justin reassured her.

"Is this the girl you were trying to forget?"

"…yes. I'm not even going to ask how you guessed that. I've accepted that you're omniscient."

Alexa laughed so hard she snorted the soda she just drank out of her nose. "Justin, you're really something else."

He sighed. "I get that a lot."

"It's not a bad thing, promise," she said with a smile. "Friends?"

Aside from Emily, Justin hadn't made a new friend since middle school. He was surprised that this artistic, popular girl wanted anything to do with him. But having one more person in his corner, especially one that knew his secret, probably wouldn't hurt.

"Sure. Friends."