School Preparations

The flight home was as awful as Aiden thought it would be. All of them were sitting in first class and Lyla would just not stop talking. At first, she was complaining about her mistreatment on the first flight. Then, she started complaining about all the things she didn't get to do since the vacation was only two weeks. After that, there were complaints about seating arrangements, the attitudes of the flight attendants, the food tasting bad, and the bathroom being too small. The complaints never ended.

When they were all finally back at the house, Aiden heaved a sigh of relief when Lyla disappeared upstairs saying she needed to catch up on her beauty sleep. He held back from telling her that no matter how long she slept it wouldn't help her. Spencer and Becca also headed up to their rooms. The flight got in around 11pm and by the time they got their bags and drove home, it was a little after 1am. It made sense that everyone wanted to rest.

Aiden was about to grab his second suitcase but Derek picked it up first and started walking up the stairs before Aiden could stop him. Knowing it would be useless to argue, Aiden just sighed and quickly followed after him. When Derek reached the door to Aiden's room, he set down the suitcase.

"Goodnight and thanks," Aiden said as he too set down the suitcase he was carrying. Derek nodded.

"Mhm. Goodnight." After that, he disappeared down the other end of the hallway. Aiden opened his bedroom door and dragged his suitcases in. He decided he would unpack them when he woke up so he changed his clothes and slept.

The next morning, Aiden took a shower and got dressed before going downstairs for breakfast. When Mrs. Hudson saw him, she rushed over and gave him a hug.

"Welcome home, dear. I hope you had a fun trip. Breakfast will be ready in just a bit. Did you sleep well? I heard from Derek that you all got in rather late."

"I slept great and the trip was awesome. Although the food couldn't compare to yours."

"Oh, you! I'm glad you had a good time. Now, go sit and I'll bring you your tea." Mrs. Hudson shooed him into the dining room. Derek was, once again, already at the table drinking his coffee.

"Good morning," Aiden greeted him when he sat down. Derek replied between sips of coffee.

"Morning." He then handed a large yellow envelope to him. "This arrived from the school while we were away."

"Oh! Thanks." Aiden took the envelope and opened it up just as Mrs. Hudson brought out his tea. "Thanks Mrs. Hudson."

"You're welcome dear." Then, she went back to the kitchen to finish cooking. Aiden started sifting through the paperwork that the school sent. There was his class schedule, a map of the school grounds, a welcome letter, his test results from the exams, a class trip permission slip, and a handbook outlining the school rules. He picked up the class permission slip first.

"Huh, it looks like there's a three day ski trip in February. Neat." After that, Aiden checked his exam results. He passed the language tests as well as the placement exam with top scores. Next, he read through the welcome letter and his class schedule. According to what was written, the first day of school would be the upcoming Monday so he had five days to go. He was also pleased to learn that, unlike most expensive academies, there was no school uniform. Students were allowed to wear whatever they wanted, within reason of course.

While the school was rather laid back in that aspect, when it came to academics they were incredibly strict. If your grades fell below a certain point you could be expelled. Students were also required to participate in extracurricular activities and a daily physical fitness course.

When the only thing left to look over was the student handbook, Mrs. Hudson came in with breakfast. Aiden gathered the papers and put them back in the envelope before setting it aside. Mrs. Hudson set down a plate of chocolate chip pancakes with fresh berries on top in front of Aiden and a plate of toast, eggs, bacon, and fresh fruit in front of Derek.

"Alright, there you go. Enjoy!" Aiden quickly took a bite.

"Mm! It's so good. I really missed your food Mrs. Hudson."

"I'm thrilled you like it so much." She patted Aiden's shoulder and smiled warmly at him before heading back to the kitchen. It didn't take long for Aiden to finish his meal and drink the rest of his tea. Just as he finished the last sip from the cup, Derek spoke up.

"Do you have everything you need for school?"

"Basically." Aiden nodded. "I'll go out later to pick up a few extra things but I've got the necessities."

"Take this." Derek held out a credit card but Aiden shook his head.

"No thanks. I can handle it."

"You're still a minor. You shouldn't have to pay for your own school supplies."

"It's fine, really. I like being able to provide for myself without relying on others." Derek sighed and put the card away.

"Fine. If you say it like that I can't argue but just remember, relying on others isn't a bad thing. I get why you wouldn't want to rely on Lyla, no one would want to do that. But I wouldn't mind if you relied on me." Aiden blushed slightly and looked away.

"...I'll keep that in mind."

"That's all I ask."

"Ahem." Aiden cleared his throat and picked up the envelope off the table as he stood up. "Well, I should get going now. Have a good day at work."

"Mhm." Derek chuckled quietly watching Aiden flee the room. Then he finished his coffee and prepared to leave for work. He'd been away for a while and there was no doubt that there would be lots to do.

At the same time, Aiden rushed to his room, closed the door, and slid to the floor while covering his face.

"How could he say something like that with a straight face?" Aiden mumbled to himself. If anyone else had said something like 'rely on me', Aiden would think nothing of it. However, because it was Derek, it was an entirely different story. Was he the only one who remembered that they've slept together before? You can't say something like that to someone you've done it with without it being totally misleading. Aiden grumbled, "No. The fact that he said it so nonchalantly means he didn't think it had any special meaning in the first place."

He heaved a sigh and stood up. He told himself before to just let it go and here he was being emotionally swayed by just a few words. If things kept going like this it wouldn't end well.

Deciding the best course of action for the moment was to distract himself, Aiden walked over to his computer desk and sat down. He powered up the tower and monitor and got to work. He still needed to punish Becca for the tea incident after all. He knew just how to do it too.

For the next two hours, Aiden hacked into every single one of Becca's social networking accounts and deleted everything. Then, he hacked Lyla's phone plan and dropped Becca's coverage. That girl was addicted to her phone and her online presence. She was bound to lose her mind if even a single day passed without her being able to use her phone or post something for her followers.

He knew his small revenge had succeeded when he heard Becca screaming at Lyla on their way down the stairs.

"Hurry up and call them! What happened?! If you didn't pay the bill then all of our phones wouldn't work. Why is it just mine?!"

"Stop yelling at me! I'll call them after breakfast so just use your laptop."

"But mom! None of my accounts are working! They keep saying they don't exist!"

"So just make another one."

"You don't understand! Do you have any idea how long it took me to get that many followers? What about all of my posts and the likes? How do I get that back?!" Their voices trailed off the further away they got and Aiden smirked. Served her right.

A little bit later, Aiden gathered his things and went out shopping. He got some things for school and some new clothes. It had been a while since he got anything new and he actually liked shopping. Not enough to do it for fun but at least enough to have fun when he needed to shop. When he was done, he decided to hit the gym for a bit.

Across town, Spencer was meeting up with a few rather sketchy looking individuals.

"Boss, this guy's just a kid! Do we really gotta work for kids now?" A bald man with a missing front tooth and a huge scar on his face complained to a tall burly man with tattoos on his face.

"Shut up! As long as they got money, it don't matter who they are!" The man motioned to Spencer. "Money up front. Then we'll get the kid."

"You know what to do, right?" Spencer asked while handing a heavy envelope to the guy.

"It ain't rocket science! We just gotta beat this kid in the picture."

"Yeah. A broken bone or two wouldn't be bad either."

"We got it so get on outta here, boy!" Spencer frowned but did as he was told. When he left, he called Becca on the phone but it didn't go through. He clicked his tongue and hung up.

"Tch! She kept nagging me to call her after but now she won't pick up? Shit!" Spencer spit on the sidewalk and stormed off.