4: Big Money
1640 Words
It had been a couple of days since their exchange, and Max had completely immersed himself in Trae’s computer room after school; sometimes working until the evening. Max was mostly too engrossed in his work to explain what he had just done with the list of video games but promised Trae that he would teach him as soon as their secret project kicked off. By the skin of his teeth, he had finished the project and told Trae to wait until school started that week.
“Come tomorrow, we will be drowning in money,” Max said.
The next day came in the form of a busy Monday morning, as people rushed in swarms to get to both work and school. Max was now relaying the plan to Trae again as they walked to school, just to make sure that everything was clear and that they could cover everything up when the time came.
“Alright, so tell me the plan again,” Max said, carrying his normal school bag, which was filled to the brim with the contents of the project that he worked so hard on.
“I gotta get everyone in on it, except for the teachers and faculty. It’ll be done using a notes system and word of mouth. Before class starts, talk to one of my boys to pass around a note, with the list of games and prices,” Trae said, making sure to keep his voice hushed just in case people could hear.
“Right, then?”
“Everybody writes a secret codename using numbers and letters, only if they are sure buyers, as the note is passed around the room. Then I’m gonna make sure that it lands back in the hands of one of my friends again, that way if we are found out, it will not link back to you or me.”
“Alright. Continue.”
“Finally, everybody who ordered a game will come to the court after school. You will slip the money over to them while pretending to watch the basketball game. Once they have the game, I will wait by the gate of the court, and receive their money. I got baggy pants on, just to be able to keep more.”
Max nodded in satisfaction.
“Perfect!”
“Wait, wait hold on!” Trae said, remembering to hush down his voice at the gesture of Max. “Where’d you get the games?”
“I hacked them, and burned them into CDs that people can use.”
“Hacked?! Are you like a wizard or something?” Trae asked, admiring the skill of his newfound friend, and partner in crime. “But are you sure we won’t get caught?”
“Don’t worry, the security in this time period aren’t good,” Max said.
“In this time?” Trae asked.
Max jumped at the question and quickly covered it up.
“Y-yeah! I mean like! Police patrols are lax in the afternoon! So we will be fine.”
Trae looked at Max suspiciously but quickly shook it off.
“Alright man whatever you say.”
Max silently thanked the stars that Trae didn’t learn his secret. For the moment, he had dodged a bullet and could focus on the task at hand. All he had to do, was wait until class ended.
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Max and Trae sat in their final class, which was World History. As they listened to their middle-aged teacher ramble on about Greece and what a polis meant, they anxiously watched the clock tick down to the final bell. Max looked over at Trae, who gave him a really shocked facial expression. That could only mean that they had a lot of orders to take care of. The latter had already filled all the clients in with the protocol so that none of them would get caught. Meanwhile, during lunch, Max had already arranged the games, ranking them by popularity. Everything was finally set for them to make a preposterous amount of money on their first day.
Finally, the last bell rang. They rushed to clean up their stuff, and rant straight to the basketball court. The timing was perfect, as there was already a game with some other high school kids ongoing. This would serve as the perfect cover for them to finally get their plan going.
“Excuse me,” said this short Asian kid, as he walked up to Mx, who at this point was trying to blend in like normal players. “Are you the guy?”
Max nodded.
“Codename?” Max asked, looking around to see if anyone was watching them.
“Wizard01,” replied the kid, who at this point was looking over his shoulder as well.
Max stuck his hand into his bag and fished out two CDs. They were held together by rubber bands and wrapped in plastic, with a small shred of paper that had the same codename taped to it.
“Keep the money in your hand. When you leave the court, he is going to shake your hand or dap you up. Be cool. Slip him the money then,” Max said, gesturing discreetly to Trae, who stood just by the gate of the fence. He wore baggy cargo pants to be able to carry more money in his pockets.
With a nod, the kid rushed to the gate, slipped Trae the money, and biked away. The first sale of the day was done with. Max stood up and dribbled the ball that Trae had lent him as a signal to everyone watching that he was free for another customer. With that, another client walked over, and their business had finally gotten going.
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“Woo, man I am beat!” exclaimed Trae, as he sat on Max's couch after nearly an hour of dealing with clients. “Standin’ there all day and actin’ chummy with everybody was tirin’!”
Max didn’t answer as he sat at his desk and counted all the money.
“Jesus...” Max uttered under his breath.
Trae stood up, looking over at the desk.
“W-what’s up man?” Trae asked, slightly nervous.
Max turned in his chair and looked sternly at his friend. Suddenly, a smile crept up on his face.
“We just made one thousand two hundred dollars, cash!”
Trae’s eyes widened as if they were being filled with the dollar signs he was seeing in his head. He jumped up and threw his fist in the air with glee, as went over to hug his newfound friend and business partner.
“One grand?!” he asked, almost in disbelief.
“More than!” Max replied triumphantly as he playfully shoved Trae in the chest.
“I get six hunnit dollars?!”
“And so do I, my friend!”
Max took a pile of money and threw it over at Trae. His eyes looked at them so longingly, it was if he was begging to be pelted by wads of cash. It didn’t happen the way Trae had imagined it though, as the money separated in mid air and fluttered around the room like rain. The young boys grabbed piles of money and threw them into the air so that the money rain would never end. After a few minutes of celebrating, they both collapsed onto the floor, surrounded by green dollar bills. The boys tried to catch their breath, and stared right at the ceiling as if there were no problems in the world. Trae turned his head over to Max, who at this point had closed his eyes.
“Hey man, this is a lot of money. You gotta tell me how you did it. I gotta make money on the side too, you feel me?” he said, giving Max a playful nudge.
“Yeah man, I will teach you everything I know. After all, in college, it will be a completely different ball game.”
“You got plans to make money in college?”, Trae asked as he sat up.
“As a matter of fact, I do,” Max replied.
“You gonna let me in on that right?”
“You bet your ass I am.”
The two lay in their pile of money for a little while longer, before eventually cleaning up and stashing their individual piles in safe places in their houses. Tomorrow was another day, ripe for them to make a killing.
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The next day after Max had collected his share for the second day, he slid one thousand dollars into an envelope, which he had printed on a fake company name. Along with the money he had put in a fake letter addressed to his mother, Clio Burner. The letter said that she had won money in a lottery to buy a home computer for them to use, sponsored by the company. Max left the envelope onto the table for his mother to find. No longer than five minutes had passed when he heard a sudden shriek of joy come from downstairs. He smiled and turned back to the rest of the money that they had earned that day. He put it in the drawer of his desk and stacked a pile of notebooks on top of it. As soon as he did, the door flung open to reveal a crying Momma Clio, who rushed in to hug her child out of sheer joy.
“Honey! Guess what Momma’s gonna get you?” she asked, pressing her face right into Max’s shoulder.
Max played dumb and pretended to be surprised.
“W-what mom?! What is it?”
“We gon’ get you a brand new computer!”
He hugged Momma Clio as tight as he could and feigned a laugh of glee. Honestly, though he didn’t really fake that laugh, as the reaction of his mother was more than enough to make him happy. He looked out the window as he embraced his mother, and remembered the real Max. Under a hushed whisper, he spoke to the real Max, who was already somewhere he couldn’t see.
“As promised Max. I’ll make sure Momma Clio is taken care of.”
The next morning, Momma Clio rushed off to the nearest electronics store to get her hands on a brand new personal computer. Finally, Max could get some real work done.
- Writer
