“Okay… that was pretty intense. I can totally see why you are all about… this.” Andrea motioned with her hand towards the holoscreen while she cuddled up with Pepper in his hammock.
He smiled and took a deep breath as the hammock swayed slightly. “That was epic.” He chuckled. “One day… one day I’ll be there.”
“I have no doubt.” Andrea gave him a slight squeeze and then looked at her holodex. “Crap, I need to go. I have to go check in on Dad and make sure he took his meds.” She started clamber out of the hammock.
“Do you need me to pick you up tomorrow for the ceremony?” Pepper asked, following suit and getting to his feet.
“No, I should be good. Besides, our car is already set up for Dad’s motorized chair. It will just be easier in the long run to go separately. Thanks, though.” She gave him a playful wink and smiled as she walked out of the workshop.
Before Pepper could follow her, Meg butted in. “You can drive me to the ceremony tomorrow.”
Pepper chuckled, leaned down and grabbed hold of her, and started to swoop her up into his arms. Amprage, who had been in hibernation mode, was caught off guard and immediately began to portray himself as a protective dog. “Wait! Put the royal princess down, you buffoon! I’ll have you know I am trained in seven different forms of martial arts and I will— Oh, Pepper… it’s you.” Amprage recognized his bonded through a quick essence scan and immediately reversed course.
“He’s funny,” Meg said, giggling in her brother’s arms.
“Really… really, Amp? Seven different forms of martial arts?”
“Intimidation is a key component of combat, Pepper.”
“Who or what exactly do you normally try to intimidate?” he asked, tilting his head curiously and pressing his lips together.
“Cats, mostly… that and every delivery man who comes near the house.”
Pepper shrugged. “Okay, that part makes sense.” He bounced Meg in his arms. “Well, we should probably go check on Mom and Dad. We have a big day tomorrow, and a certain royal princess will need all her beauty sleep so she doesn’t wake up a grouch monster.”
Meg’s entire face scrunched with sheer resentment and disapproval. “Do we have to?”
***
“Jeremy Wallace,” Vice Principal Joel Harvey’s monotonous voice called out over the speakers.
Pepper stood and watched as his fellow student walked across the stage directly towards Principal Stephens. His royal purple gown shone in the light as he went. Jeremy had only made it halfway across the stage when a loud bellowing cry rang out: “Heck, yeah, my dude! You did it!”
The crowd rippled with contained laughter, but it was still loud enough for Pepper to hear it. He looked out into the theater and saw a large burly man standing and cheering. It was Jeremy’s uncle. The thing that caught his attention and pulled on his heartstrings was the two cardboard cutouts the man was holding. Pepper knew Jeremy well enough to remember that his uncle was his guardian.
He assumed the two cardboard cutouts were of Jeremy’s parents, and he couldn’t help but appreciate the effort his uncle had made. There was a slight amount of embarrassment as well as some comic relief in the moment. Pepper’s eyes shifted; he could see his parents and Meg a few rows down.
His dad had a smile on his face while his mom seemed completely devoid of emotion. If Pepper hadn’t known any better, he could easily have guessed that she was at a funeral rather than a graduation ceremony. He shifted his eyes again and saw Andrea standing next to her dad, who sat in his motorized chair beside the aisle. She stuck her tongue out and crossed her eyes at him. The comical expression made him laugh under his breath, but a split second later, he heard a voice.
“Pepper Walker.”
He turned his gaze to the principal and started walking across the stage. His heart pounded in his chest and his nerves warned him he was going to trip at any second. Stumble down the stairs on the way to his family. Fart so loudly, the entire county would hear it. But then he had arrived and was standing before Principal Stephens, who greeted him with a firm handshake and a warm smile.
The principal locked eyes with him and Pepper could hear the sincerity in his voice. “I’m so proud of you, Pepper. You’ve had some ups and downs, but you haven’t given up. You’re now a graduate—now go get promoted into the Golem League. Golem Master or bust!” The principal ended with a firm pat on his shoulder.
Pepper took two more steps and Mr. Harvey stepped out from behind the podium and reached for his hand in congratulations. Pepper reached out and shook the vice principal’s hand. He smiled and gave the man a nod, but when he went to let go and continue, he felt the vice principal squeeze a little more and lean in close to him. “Remember, Pepper… I’ll be watching…”
There was a quiet pause, and Pepper felt an eerie sensation wash over him. “Um, okay.”
“I’m always watching,” Mr. Harvey said again and then slowly faded back to his podium to read off the next name. But he continued to creep Pepper out, as the man’s gaze remained locked onto him.
Pepper turned and walked down the steps, and he looked down at the piece of paper he was holding. The purple and black Status Academy logo was embossed in the center. The words printed on the well-designed page declared that he had graduated, yet it all seemed like a blur. His mind raced, cycling through moments from the past couple of years.
The good days, the bad days, the moments spent traveling the long hallways and crowded corridors. His mind sped through the moments like a space opera movie that traveled across time and space in the blink of an eye. He questioned whether or not it was real, and when he looked back up at his family, he still didn’t believe it.
Pepper’s heart seemed to skip a beat. A mixture of excitement and anxiety clashed within him. He was so ready for what came next, but just as that thought entered his mind, the counterargument rushed in. How are you going to get there? What are you going to do to sustain yourself? You think you can survive on your own; you can’t even do your own laundry without messing it up!
The mental spiral came to a quick stop when he felt a nudge on his shoulder and saw Brent standing beside him. His best friend started to guide him over to his family. The whirlwind of emotions seemed to fade away as he saw the glimmer of hope in Brent’s eyes.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Pepper motioned towards his family. “You wanna join us? We’re going back to the house with Andrea and her dad. You’re welcome to come.”
Brent smiled, making Pepper believe he wanted to join them. But then he brushed the invitation off like it was no big deal. “Dude, it’s all good, man. That would be cool, but I think I’m just going to spend the day with my aunt. I’ve been quite the menace to her for four years; I think it would be best if I spend at least one day helping her out.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, man. Besides, I picked up another shift at Rocket Burger. So we’ll catch up later.” Brent gave him a slight shove on the shoulder and the two laughed at each other.
Pepper reached his family and was given a kiss by Andrea, a warm hug by his dad and Meg, and a simple congratulations from his mom. Courtney seemed to be focused more on entertaining Meg than on Pepper’s accomplishment, and he was completely fine with that. He turned to see Andrea’s dad. He had a weathered face that reminded Pepper of the veterans he had seen at GolemCon.
“Pepper, this is my dad, Austin. Dad, this is Pepper,” Andrea said with a wide smile. She squeezed Pepper’s hand and then let go of it so he could shake her dad’s.
The veteran looked up at Pepper and started to tremble slightly as his head tilted back. Austin’s ball cap covered his eyes for a second before he was able to tilt his head back far enough to see Pepper standing before him. Pepper could see that Austin’s eyes had once been a rich brown, but they had faded to a gray color. Faint lines of purple and black could just be seen along the edges—a sign of the rift poisoning getting into its final stages and normally an indication that death was just around the corner.
Austin’s trembling hand reached out, and there was a slight grimace on his face. Pepper quickly shook his hand and even took a knee to help ease his suffering. “Hey, Mr. Brewer. It’s nice to meet you finally.”
“Bullcrap, kid. Ain’t nobody likes meeting a cripple who is trapped in a sluggish motor cart that gets in everybody’s way.”
Pepper’s eyes widened in shock, and he was completely speechless. Thankfully Andrea came to his rescue and tapped her graduation cap against the side of her dad’s mobile cart. “Not funny, Dad! He’s being nice and making an effort.”
A low rumbling chuckle came over Austin until he started to cough aggressively. “Oh, hush. I barely gave him a hard time. Besides, you’ve been keeping him away this entire time and I haven’t had a chance to bust his balls until now. Heck, Trent will know all about that when Megan brings her first boyfriend around.”
Trent overheard the comment and intruded. “And I am just fine with putting that off as long as possible.” He shifted his pants waistband and tilted his head before making his way past them into the aisle. “Okay, I think we’re going to head for the house and get the burgers going. Everything should be ready when y’all get home.” He leaned over to see Austin better. “Sarge, you going to come over, right?”
The rough, gritty voice chuckled. “Well, Andrea helped me put on my Sunday best, so I guess I may as well put them to good use.”
Trent laughed and smiled. “Sounds good, Sarge.” He turned to Pepper and patted him on the back. “Tami Miller and Jackson are also going to come over. I made sure to send them the invite and thought they’d like to come hang out now that Summer is off at college.”
“Okay, sounds good,” Pepper replied.
His family slowly walked out and began to make their way towards the car. Andrea was still saying congratulations to a few classmates and teachers. She held on to her dad’s hand as the three of them slowly headed towards the exit.
Austin tilted his head slightly towards Pepper. “So, Andrea tells me you’re a pretty good crafter, making things for your golem and all.”
“Yeah, I guess so. I don’t give much thought to it. I guess it just comes natural to me. Soldering circuit boards together and just trying out a bunch of stuff to see what works and what doesn’t,” he replied. He was just able to see out of the corner of his eye that Andrea was smiling at him.
“Good. I’m gonna need you to modify this scooter. This piece of crap is slower than a turtle.”
Pepper laughed. “I mean, I guess I could always look for the technical manual online and see if any other users have modified theirs.”
He had barely finished his sentence when Andrea butted in. “You will absolutely not do anything of that nature.” Pepper dashed a glance over at her to see she was not amused by the idea. “I remember clear as day all the stories of your youth and your time in the military. The last thing I need is you and your other military buddies doing Mario Kart around the neighborhood.” She pointed a finger straight at Pepper. “That is a warning for you too, Mister. If I find out you helped modify his cart, I’ll have your hide pinned to the dining room wall.”
“See, kid, you need to be more worried about her than you do me.” Austin chuckled and started another round of coughing.
“Well, well, well, Mr. Walker. Congratulations to you on finally finishing,” Mr. Dean said as he approached near the exit doors. Pepper happily clasped his outstretched hand and smiled.
“I’ll catch up,” he told Andrea and Austin.
“Take your time—this thing requires more safety straps than a space rocket rolling down the street,” Austin replied, and Andrea rolled her eyes as they exited the theater.
Pepper turned back to his favorite teacher. “Thanks, Mr. Dean. I really appreciate that.” He hesitated, but then couldn’t resist the question that was itching away at him. “Did you really have to give me a C on my final, though?”
The teacher furrowed his brow and shot a stern look back at him. “Hey, I told you I am a totally different critic when it comes to your final assignments. I warn every student, every year, that they better be prepared for a harsh reality if they choose me. So don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Mr. Dean adjusted his glasses. He then placed his hands in his pockets while rolling up on his toes and shifting his weight around. “To be honest, Pepper, you barely passed that final. I should have failed you and chose not to.”
The statement rattled Pepper, and he took a second to let it truly sink in. “Fail me? What are you talking about? I put a ton of effort into that entire presentation.”
Mr. Dean chuckled. “You show me what business model operates off hopes and dreams.” The teacher paused and shifted his eyes around. “Okay, besides video game streamers—many of them operate off hopes and dreams and somehow they get lucky. Especially in today’s environment. But what you chose certainly required a lot more thought process to go into it then what you did.”
Pepper extended his hand in defense. “I’ve been working at Rhino’s long enough now to see how the point of sales works, balancing out the receipts with the supply orders, calculating the hours needed for coverage in the store.”
Mr. Dean shook his head and sighed. “Did you even read my evaluation on your presentation?”
Pepper chuckled and snapped his fingers, ending with both of his index fingers pointed towards his teacher. “Nope… come to think of it.”
Mr. Dean brought his hands up and formed claws pointing towards the sky. “Gahhhhh! I sometimes regret my decisions.” He started to chuckle, shook his head and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Look, there is far more to business than the simple things. Granted, starting a business is easy. It is a few clicks and a few typed-out things and you’re up and running. However, you can’t just say ‘I’ll pay a finance guy to do the taxes for the business.’ You actually need to plot out those costs to know exactly where your margins are going to be.
“You need to calculate all your licensing fees. How much it will cost you to renew those licenses every year. You didn’t even have a marketing budget. How will you market your store? What will you do to bring in new customers? How much are your utilities and internet costs? How will you cover your own personal bills while investing everything into this endeavor?”
“Oh… you wanted all that?” Pepper asked nonchalantly. He reached up and massaged the back of his neck.
Mr. Dean started to chuckle, not out of humor but more out of shock, it appeared. “Yes! Yes, I wanted all of that.”
“You know what… we’ll just chalk this up as an academic oopsie.”
“That’s not a thing, Pepper. There are no such things as academic oopsies!” the teacher said. Pepper thought it was the first time he’d ever seen his teacher showing signs of stress.
“You’re right, there isn’t academic oopsies—not in my circumstances at least, because I got a C.” Pepper lifted his hand and waited for a high five. “Up top.”
Mr. Dean shook his head and started to walk off, leaving him hanging in the air. But the teacher turned around after a few steps. “Hey, Pepper.”
“Yeah, Mr. Dean?”
“The Golem League… when you get there, give them hell.”