25 Chapter 25: Investments and Paige Swanson

As soon as we arrived home, we had dinner, and I went to my room. Once there, I let out a sigh of relief; being next to Sheldon and Meemaw is a bit much for me. I head to the workbench that I use as a desk, remove an object from the system, and reveal a notebook, to be more precise, a MacBook Pro (2023). With its sleek details and advanced CPU, it can be said to be the most advanced computer in the world.

This was a reward from the system, just like the reward I received for saving Missy with George. Being a high-quality reward, the system considered some advantages, such as providing internet access to the computer, making it difficult to trace. It's incredible for everyday hacking use; I can hack into any system without worrying about being tracked. So, I turn on the computer and immerse myself in investing in stocks with the money I received.

In a town near Texas

A couple was having their quarrels, and a young girl with short blonde hair and dark blue eyes silently listened to her parents' argument. A girl with long black hair and chubby cheeks stopped behind her and said, "See that? It's all your fault. Why did a weirdo like you have to be born? That's why our parents are like this; we don't have enough money to educate you," says the girl with black hair as she turns and heads to her room.

"I work hard all day to support this family, and you don't appreciate me," says the father.

"It's the least you can do as a father; you have two daughters and a wife to support, and furthermore, Paige, you know she has special needs," says the mother.

Peggy, who was witnessing her parents' fight, turned and went back to her room, lying on her bed. Paige silently cried so that no one would hear, but if you paid attention, you could hear a murmur, "I hate myself, I hate myself, I hate myself," and some "Why did I have to be born like this?" The girl cried with her face in the pillow.

Galveston, Texas, Cooper's House

"Man, this stuff is boring," Connor murmurs as his fingers incessantly move on the computer. Buying, studying the stock market, selling at the right time, investing in the right companies, and constant capital growth were all Connor did during this period.

With the capital he accumulated, he managed to raise about $100,000, thus completing the System's mission [HighTec Headphones]. I quickly become confused; what the hell is this HighTec headphone?

I then try to investigate; in appearance, it looks like a normal wireless headphone from (2024) with some small blue glowing stripes. As soon as I put this headphone on, I hear a mechanized voice.

[Identifying nearby devices]

Do you want to connect to the MacBook Pro device? WARNING: once connected, it cannot be disconnected.

I snap out of my momentary confusion and say, "Yes."

[Connecting]

Please confirm the connection to the device.

When the voice says this, I look at the notebook and see a window showing the details of the headphone and if I want to connect.

I quickly click [yes] and hear the voice again.

[Connected]

After that, I try to investigate the headphone, but besides listening to music, I don't see many advantages in using it. Having nothing else to investigate, I return to investing, as I don't need to make money so quickly, but a new thought arises: the more capital I have, the better it will be in the long run. And so, my frantic search for money continues.

1 week later (I'm skipping around in time quite a bit because I want to get to the plot)

I leave my room tired and head to the kitchen, where I see George reading a newspaper while having coffee.

"Hey big guy," I give a tired greeting to George, who is much thinner than in the original series and has some muscles but still has a beer belly. Due to my influence and George Jr.'s over the past few months, George has had an extra incentive to exercise with us, despite the fact that Mary has almost completely cut out his beer, only allowing him to have one per week.

"Hello," George responds a bit intrigued, seeing me, then says, "You've been like this since last week, are you sure you're okay? If it weren't for you coming for coffee every day, I'd think you disappeared," George says, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I'm fine, even better now that I've finished what I had to do. Now it's just waiting for the results," I say as I raise my hands while stretching excessively.

"Results?" George asks. "Yes, results. If everything goes well, I'll be swimming in money like Scrooge McDuck," I say, to which George responds with a look that shows he doesn't believe what I said.

I shrug at him and ask, "What's for breakfast?"

"Scrambled eggs with bacon," a voice intervenes behind me. I look at the voice and say, "Good morning to you too, Sheldon," and he responds with, "Good morning, Connor. Are you coming to Dr. Sturgis's lecture this afternoon?"

"Sure, why not?"

So, I have my breakfast with Missy and Sheldon, and then take advantage of them going to school to do some exercises.

When I return from my run, it's already 2:00 PM, and Sheldon has already come back from school and is getting ready to go to the university for Dr. Sturgis's lectures.

When it's time, Meemaw is dressed to meet her 'boyfriend' and take Sheldon and Connor to the university.

East Texas Tech

In a classroom, Sheldon enters with Connor following behind him, followed by Meemaw, who says goodbye to Sheldon and goes to the corridor to wait for Dr. Sturgis.

Soon, Sheldon notices something strange; someone was sitting in his seat. This someone was a girl with short blonde hair and gray eyes who was taking materials out of her backpack and placing them on the table.

"Hello," says Sheldon, confused. The girl is surprised to see Sheldon and Connor, two people of almost the same age as her in a university classroom, and she responds, "Hi," with a smile on her face and puts her materials on the floor.

"Hi, I'm Paige; I like your bow tie," Paige says to Sheldon. "Thank you, you seem very young. Paige, are you with an adult? What are you doing in this class?" Sheldon asks.

"No, Dr. Sturgis heard about my research on Quantum Chromodynamics at high temperatures and invited me to audit his course," Paige says at a very fast pace, which could be a mini version of Eminem.

"Oh, really?" Sheldon asks, feeling challenged. "Yes, and he's been super nice," Paige says to Sheldon excitedly. Sheldon responds indignantly, "Well, interesting, just to be clear, he's my mentor, he's my grandma's boyfriend, and he ate spaghetti with hot dogs at my house," Sheldon says, starting to feel that he's not the only intelligent young person in the room.

And Paige asks in a sarcastic tone, "Spaghetti in hot dogs?" Paige asks, amused by Sheldon, and Sheldon responds with a furrowed brow and tries to change the subject. "No, do you realize that you're in a super-advanced class? We'll be discussing derivative nuclear physics by quarks," Sheldon says confidently because in his mind, she couldn't be smarter than him to be in this class.

And Paige, who has already noticed the situation, decides to play with Sheldon and says in a sarcastic tone, "Do you know if he's going to do a colored octet calculation with matrix manipulations?"

At that moment, Sheldon has an Amy moment and lets out an internal "Gaff," followed by a temple to think, and then responds, "I don't know." And Paige continues, seeing that her joke is working, "Do you know how to differentiate on the integral sign?" and then Sheldon responds, "No," dryly.

And Paige continues, "Well, then do you know anything?"

Soon, Sheldon feels something new emerging within him, and that something is called anger. That little girl named Paige managed to evoke this feeling within him, and he thought internally, 'I'm going to put her on the blacklist,' and then responded with the first thing that came to mind, "I know you're in my seat."

I quickly intervene, "Alright Sheldon, that's enough, you've shown off enough. Find another place to sit; a chair is something everyone has the right to sit on if it's unoccupied, and since you weren't in it, someone else can sit there. There's no need for you to throw a tantrum."

"But, but," Sheldon tries to explain, but according to Connor's logic, he was right. From now on, he decides internally to label all the seats he considers his.

"No 'buts,' find another place to sit," I say in a commanding tone. Soon, Sheldon sulks away to another chair. I turn to Paige and say, "Hello Paige, I'm sorry about that. He's a bit spoiled since no one tries to challenge him," I say, scratching my head, embarrassed by Sheldon's actions.

Paige responds, "Who are you?" and I reciprocate, a bit stunned to forget basic things like how to greet someone. I quickly extend my hand to Paige.

"I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier. My name is Connor, Connor Kenway. Nice to meet you, Paige?"

"Paige Swanson," Paige shakes my hand and says, "You can just call me Paige... So, Connor, what brings you here to the university?"

"Well, first, I have to make sure Sheldon doesn't get beaten up. You must have noticed how he is; we call him eccentric, but to everyone else, he might just be strange," Paige giggles, then asks, "And the second thing?" Paige asks.

"The second thing is to learn. Like Sheldon said, high school is boring, and to sum up Sheldon's words, there are just a bunch of horny monkeys there, so I came here to see if I can learn something." "Of course, there's nothing to do with me beating up a bunch of people and then getting suspended," I say jokingly.

"And by the way, the function x is called the integrand, and the symbol ∫ is called the integral sign. The constant C, on the second member, is called the integration constant; that's how you differentiate an integral," I say and then continue, "And the colored octet calculation with matrix manipulations, unfortunately, I can't tell you; could you explain it to me?"

Paige's eyes light up when she hears me speak, happy to have found a peer, and says, "I don't know either. Maybe Dr. Sturgis will come to explain it to us. Come sit next to me; let's watch the lecture together," Paige exclaims, patting the chair next to her excitedly.

"If you don't mind," I say, sitting next to her. "Of course not," Paige says, returning to her composed demeanor.

Meanwhile, Sheldon, in the distance, was muttering complaints when he saw Connor having a friendly conversation with Paige and sitting next to her. He quickly considered putting Connor on the blacklist but hesitated when he thought that everyone in his family respects and listens to Connor's opinion despite them being almost the same age. Soon, Dr. Sturgis enters the room, bidding farewell to Meemaw and preparing to give the lecture.