Chapter 125: Upturn

The theatre was rather lively as more than half of Silverlake High’s recent graduates came in to receive their yearbook a literal day after they’d announced it was up for collection.

As the new Student Council was in charge of distributing it, they’d smartly opted to use the theatre club’s fairly wide space once they’d found out that most of their former seniors would be coming in on the same day.

It was also why there was a sense of camaraderie in the air as friends whom hadn’t seen each other in a fairly brief while exchanged pleasantries, caught up and compared yearbook photos.

The gang however, were comparing yearbook quotes, all of them currently chuckling in clear amusement at Benjamin’s quote;

Pandas are everything. Pandas are life. Adopt a panda today.

"I doubt you’ll ever get over your fascination for pandas, Ben." Larry remarked a moment after.

"Does a panda shit in the woods?" Benjamin proudly declared in response, and this time, his buddies found themselves cackling with unrestrained mirth.

Soon enough, they moved to Theo’s;

I missed the photoshoot and I also don’t know what to say, so here’s a picture of a weeping angel from [Professor Who] :)

"You’re such a closet sadist, Theo!" Aiden alleged as he and the gang kept staring at the picture, unwilling to tear their gazes away from it lest fiction became reality and they turned into stone.

Quietly chuckling in response, the curly-haired youth replied with a casual shrug of his shoulders, his amber irises glinting in amused delight that the gang easily got the reference;

"Well, I doubt most people would get it, so they’re safe, I guess..."

Naturally, they found themselves moving to Casper’s a few seconds later.

DAISYYY!! Where. Is. MY SUPER SUIT?!

Right next to his name, was unsurprisingly, his girlfriend’s--Daisy Cameron--with the response;

I’M NOT TELLING YOU!

This time, the rest of the gang lost it as they all boisterously burst into laughter at the comicality of it all, Casper’s smile smug beyond reasonable measure.

Then he found his babe amidst the lively theatre and gave her a wink when he noticed she was searching for him as well, a gesture the lady reciprocated by flashing him a satisfied grin.

At the same time, her friends seemed to be laughing as well, one he presumably believed was due to the very same thing that was giving his buddies several years of good health.

Unsurprisingly, the gang soon moved on from it and landed on Clyde’s.

If toast always lands butter-side down, and cats always land on their feet, what happens if you strap toast on the back of a cat and drop it? You get a cattoastinator... or sum shit, IDK. Now are you gonna go or do I have to ask you to skedaddle before I use my three-hundred-word limit, pun

This time, the gang all looked to their bespectacled smartass of a friend who seemed evidently proud of himself, their lips twitching. Soon enough, a soft laugh escaped each of them.

"One of the many, many great mysteries of the world," Benjamin stroked his nonexistent beard a couple times like a sagely old cultivator, as he and the gang nodded as well whilst flipping over to the Aiden’s page.

Eagle me ten years from now. It’s gonna blow your mind.

"You, arrogant, little shit!" Casper grinned with a genuine sense of pride as he read the youth’s yearbook quote.

"Arrogant, maybe? Determined, definitely." Aiden snapped a finger at his buddy, while the rest of the gang shook their heads in amusement.

"You have to admit that it’s impressive though. It hasn’t even been up to a year and you’re already blowing people’s minds away." Clarissa remarked in clear amusement as she walked over...

...only for her to lean in and seductively add with a flutter of her eyes and a bite of her lips;

"You could blow my--"

"Don’t, finish that sentence, babe!" Aiden immediately stopped her, closing his eyes with his fingers raised lest she put him in a precarious spot as his face flushed a slight shade of red.

’The hell does this woman think I am? Some kind of Tibetan monk?’ the youth inwardly remarked as he tried to get his hormones under control.

Clearly delighted to have garnered that reaction from him though, the little vixen blew him a kiss then did the call gesture as she walked away whilst mouthing the words with a foxy wink;

"Call me."

Watching her meet up with her clique of girls, all of whom were animatedly discussing something, Aiden let out a resigned yet amused sigh.

Returning his attention to the gang, much to pursed lips of amusement from them as they flexed their brows, the youth immediately flipped another page of his yearbook;

"Moving on...!"

Considering Larry’s surname was Vance, it wasn’t surprising that his was the last of yearbook quotes.

Four years of high school and I still can’t knot a tie to save my life. SMH.

This time, the gang looked over to him in genuine surprise to which he deadpanned;

"I’m serious, guys."

"I could have the opportunity to save you all in hypothetical situation and you’d all die if they told me to knot a tie." he added to drive home the point.

"Hey!?" all five simultaneously rebuked, a reaction that earned a good laugh from the youth as well as the gang.

That said, Larry had in fact made it clear to them that he really couldn’t knot a tie, to which they all promised to give him a crash course one of these days.

Soon enough, the gang proceeded to head out of the theatre after alongside several others whom were already leaving the school grounds.

Flipping over to his girlfriend’s year book quote...

And they say Queen Bees are the meanest. Excuse... you! I’m as sweet as they come!

... Aiden couldn’t help but chuckle in amusement as he closed the book.

Considering he wanted to check in on Mrs. Rodriguez and Dr. Kowalski and also take the opportunity to see the general reaction to how his beverage was received, it didn’t take long before he split off from the crowd.

Soon, he found himself within the familiar halls of their school, much to several greetings from both his former juniors now turned seniors and the familiar staffs--both teaching and non-teaching.

At the same time, Aiden could already see several of them holding the bottles in their hands, which was clearly a good sign, more so when it was already time for lunch break and the halls were as rowdy as he often remembered it to be.

Upon reaching the cafeteria and seeing every single table housing a minimum of at least five bottles of Death Wish, Aiden nodded in satisfaction.

Naturally, his gaze drifted turned to the corner where the vending machine was, the space within empty.

Considering no one was restocking it at the moment, Aiden could only assume that they had in fact taken distributed everything.

And sure, one could argue that it was because it was all free, it didn’t detract from the youth’s actual plan.

Getting it into as many hands and possible. More than that, Aiden was already picking up general reviews from students and teachers alike, all of which seemed to be in the best light.

Though there was a bit of complaint about the lack of variations to it, the youth didn’t particularly pay it any mind as he’d planned ahead for it on purpose by only releasing the first flavor.

Unsurprisingly, the teens found the name rather cool, while the adults were a bit more ’eh’ about it.

Nonetheless, things were going according to plan for the youth.

Considering Aiden had also made sure that Principal Walters kept his anonymity, no one asides his immediate circle of family and friends and those he’d previously informed were aware that he’d made the drink.

It was also why one of his former juniors had even ended up walking up to him to ask if he’d tried it to which Aiden simply nodded as he made his way over to greet and check in on Mrs. Rodriguez.

Meanwhile, as Aiden got around to doing that, Death Wish was slowly flying off the shelves and vending machines of all the establishments he’d marketed it to.

Not at the level of a known brand, clearly, but impressive enough for a new brand of sparkling water that no one had ever even heard of.

It was also why, by the time the next couple days came, Aiden got more orders for his beverages at each select store he’d previously sold it too, all of which totaled to two thousand bottles yet again.

Only this time, all of it was for sale and none of it was for promotions.

Even then, that had been where it had plateaued at for the next few days, so much that Aiden only managed to sell six thousand bottles by the end of the week.

But when the next week came around... that was when the upturn in the sales of his product finally began.