Lucy's p.o.v

We sat down at a burger place and ordered some food.

Damn, I was starving.

"We need a good gamer. No, a great one. And trust me at these kinds of events, not everyone is willing to go through the trouble." I told Ace. "We can't use Sierra or any one of our game testers. That wouldn't be fair to them. We need to find someone with skills and we need them to be willing to do this."

"I still don't get why." Ace shoved a whole bunch of fries in his mouth.

"The rules are different." I took a bite of the burger and took the napkin and a pen to draw up a sketch of what the competition looked like. " Here is how the underground gaming system works. There are designated computers for each player and the games the gamers play are all new. They haven't played them before. The computers are all wired together like this, and there are two spare computers that are wired to this network."

"Why?"

"Because while the gamer is trying to win, two separate hackers have to gatekeep because hackers of another gamer's team might attack our network. That means the game can get shut off and you lose. That's how they check the hacker's skills."

"Shit." Ace dropped down a fry. "So that means we both have to assist the game player."

"Yep. But that's not the problem. There are also strategists. Not every team has them and honestly, I don't think we'll be able to get one, but the game strategists are very good at planning out attacks and defenses. They can also assist the gamers or agitate the other team. Some teams bring three, others have none. In either case, those are dangerous."

"We can always get Kai to help out with strategies." Ace suggested.

I shook my head. "Kai will get more agitated rather than agitate the other players. Like I said, it'll be hard to find one. But for now let's just focus on finding a gamer."

"I'm on it." Ace said and pulled out his phone. "I have connections everywhere."

***

Francys p.o.v

We were sitting in the living room and Dad was describing the country house while Remi and I took notes.

"So there are two bedrooms upstairs including a balcony connecting the two rooms and one bathroom with a shower and a washing machine. Downstairs there is a small bathroom just at the entrance, a kitchen, a living room and dining room and a separate room that is now used for hoarding old things. While you're at it you can clean that and see what we can take back home and what needs throwing out. There is a garden in the back, also a glass greenhouse but be careful it's been out of use for years it's not something you girls can clean. Don't touch that cause you can hurt yourself."

He didn't continue until we were nodding our heads vigorously.

"Now the place is well kept but I haven't been there in a while so it will require deep cleaning. Mopping floors, wiping windows, washing curtains and so on.. Can you handle that?

"Yes." I saluted him. "We took into consideration all of it and we prepared a list with all the cleaning products we could think of that would come in hand. Mom checked it."

"Okay." He smiled. He was entertained by all of this.

"The sheets there are washed and tucked away neatly, but they are old. You can go and buy new stuff." He kept explaining how everything was set and where we could find what. He also explained where the medical kit was and how we can use it.

"Now for the most important things." He pointed at our notes. "Make sure to write this down."

We got our red pens ready.

Dad laughed out ."Do you need to change color for that?"

"Of course." Remi smiled. "We're going to use these notes afterward for the presentation. We must know what the important part is."

"Right..Okay you know best.. Now." He focused on his point. "The houses around you are quite apart. It's really difficult to find anything around. There are no stores or anything like that. The town is an hour away by bike so I will get you two bikes..."

Before he could finish that sentence we started applauding. "Wow dad, you really thought of everything. I can see where I get my organizational skills from."

Dad smiled proudly. "Well..It is a talent of a sort. But.." he cleared his throat. "Back to the point. You'll have to use those bikes to get around. In the town, there is everything you might need. A clinic, stores, bakeries, grocery shops and so on. You can go there for fun as well. There are quite a few people there in the summer season since it's a hidden tourist destination people like going to. There will be events for young people and so on.."

My heart was beating in an exciting rhythm.

"The train station is there and is used frequently so you can get on the train to come back home any day you want."

"Perfect." Remi wrote that part down pretty quickly.

"Now for the part, you might not like.." Dad leaned on his elbow. "You're going to work too."

"What?" Remi and I both dropped our pens.

"What do you mean by working?" I started worrying. I was hoping to be able to work on the house 24/7.

He raised his hands. "Now don't go all panicking. It's only part-time. I talked to your mothers and they both agreed to this. Since you are living alone you might as well see what it's like to work and earn money. I'm also worried you two will go over budget in the first month." He rubbed the temples of his head.

"So you're going to be working Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays in the bakery my friend owns and then on Monday mornings you'll go delivering medicine with their daughter. There are many elderly that can't go to buy their own medicine and the local clinic always needs volunteers to deliver the medicine. It won't take more than an hour or two. ''

"I love it." Remi slammed her hand on the table. "It's humane, it's aesthetic and it will make a great addition to our presentation. We can make the theme aesthetic living. And we'll include all the ways we live aesthetically while we do this project. Francy, it's perfect."

"I don't know." I sighed with a heavy heart. "I mean I love the idea about helping the elderly but we'll we have enough time to get everything done in two months?"

"Of course." Remi waved her hand. "It's not gonna be an issue. This is just great. It's exactly what we needed to spice up the project."

"Okay then. Okay.." I nodded and turned at dad. "Anything else?"

"There is full electricity in the house but if anything ever goes out you can call my friend there. He'll come and help you with any problem you might have. He lives a few houses down so he'll be there in a second."

"Okay." I wrote everything down.

"That's it." Dad got up and grabbed an apple from the table. "Oh wait.. There's one more thing.." He took a bite out of the apple. "There's no wifi in the house."

Great. Just great. 

So... We're getting closer to my favorite chapters. This was just a warm-up.❤

I have many surprises for you. I will try to keep up updating the story every day, and will let you know if you have to wait more.

I hope you're enjoying it so far. I tried to keep up with the quality of the first one. I know sometimes sequels suck and are predictable so I hope this lives up to the expectations.❤