"A show that invests in businesses by young entrepreneurs who want to grow or boost their ventures?" Jimmy, during the family dinner, picked up a flyer announcing that some of today's big businesspeople would be the sharks of this program.
Hugh, who was holding a huge cherry pie, looked at his son with excitement and said, "Although the show is held in Atlanta, we could travel and be one of the selected."
"What do you think about that, Jimmy?" Judy didn't want to pressure her son in his attempt to create a company, but she knew he needed powerful investors if he wanted the capital to get started.
"Sounds good, I'll prepare a pitch letter and let's hope we get selected." Jimmy thought this opportunity was quite attractive, and besides, the chances of being chosen were pretty high.
Who wouldn't choose a kid entrepreneur for their new show?
Jimmy knew that, for the first time, he had an edge over the others simply for being a kid—something he had always hated.
He hoped his invention would be taken seriously. After all, he didn't believe he'd get another chance like this again.
His starting point had begun, and of course, he would take full advantage of it.
Judy looked at her son proudly. She had decided along with Hugh to support him in everything he needed to help him grow. As Jimmy had said, he needed to show the world how great he was so no one would ever again see him as just a troublemaking kid.
Without a doubt, her son would create amazing things—she was sure of it—and Hugh had believed in his son from the start.
After dinner, Jimmy, who had finished eating, went to his bed to lie down. When he laid down, he kept tossing and turning. He thought about many things he shouldn't be imagining at that moment—one of which was, what if he failed to convince the investors?
Jimmy was someone who disliked the idea of failure, although he accepted it as long as it taught him something important. But this time it was different—he needed the money to start building his company, and even though he was only thirteen, he didn't want to wait any longer.
In his current plans, he wanted to graduate from college as soon as possible, get an industrial engineering degree, and thus validate each of his inventions without needing numerous evaluations.
So, he was thinking it might be good to visit the University of Texas, the closest one to his home. After all, all he needed from them was the degree—there was nothing they could teach him.
His parents had used all their money to build his company, so he had to pay them back with interest and ease their lives for the rest of their days.
"I'll help them all..." Jimmy wanted to be recognized worldwide, for all his inventions to usher in a revolutionary era, and for his company to be seen by all interested investors.
…
Jimmy woke up in the morning and didn't forget to take his personal savings hidden under an action figure. It didn't seem like it, but he loved ice cream, especially mint-flavored ones.
He thought it might be great to go eat ice cream after school. After finishing an invention, what he used to do was play with his friends, have fun with them, and find happiness in the things they all liked.
But now, since he was alone, he would seek his happiness solo by eating ice cream.
Jimmy greeted his parents like any other morning and ate sugar-free cereal. Then he left the house riding his skateboard straight to school.
"I'm off to school!"
"Yes! Good luck, and remember that if you're going to be out longer than expected, at least give me a quick call to let me know you'll be late!" Judy said casually while sitting on the couch watching the news.
"Yes, I won't forget something that important." Jimmy left the house riding his skateboard.
Like any knowledgeable mother, Judy knew what her son would want to do today after finding out his invention was ready.
"Ice cream day…" After that, Jimmy enjoyed his ride to school. But as soon as he encountered other students on his path, his face turned neutral. The smile on his face vanished, his gaze turned cold, and his eyes stopped making eye contact.
Truth be told, he didn't want any trouble. He had read a lot about bullying and knew that if someone tried to mess with him, he could easily break a few bones.
He was still a kid, after all, among students who were about to turn eighteen—there was no comparison in age between a thirteen-year-old and them.
'I hope no student tries to pick me as a target to mess with. I don't want to get involved with anyone now that my homework system is starting to spread…' Jimmy thought as he took off his headphones.
But just as he thought that, a girl who looked about his age approached and nervously asked, "There are rumors at school that you'll be doing everyone's homework. Is that true?"
Jimmy turned around and looked at the girl, who seemed to be around fifteen. She didn't look much older, so out of curiosity, he said, "Yes, my system is being distributed, and the deliveries start this morning."
To make this easier, Jimmy had brought a camera that would analyze everything along with a printer connected to his smartwatch, which was equipped with an AI tool that would do all the work.
"I'd like you to help me with some homework just on Fridays. I'll pay you with this." She pulled out some homemade sweets, and Jimmy received them with some confusion.
"What's your name?"
"I'm Ally Andrews."
Jimmy thought for a bit about whether it would be good to get involved, but in the end, he said, "In the library. You can find me there at lunchtime to talk about what you need help with."
"Alright, Fridays. If I need you, I'll see you there."
When the girl left, Jimmy immediately thought: 'Attractive girls are the most dangerous. I'm not falling for anyone again—romance sucks.'
Like any first-timer in love, let's just say Jimmy didn't have a good experience before moving to Texas. That's why he was determined not to feel anything for anyone again, at least while he was working toward his degree—and that included the entire process.
He was very close to making a lot of money, so this extra cash didn't seem very tempting now after thinking he might rise to fame quickly.
On his way to class, Jimmy greeted the teachers passing by, and they responded with bright smiles. Unlike Sheldon, he didn't interrupt classes, which made life easier for the teachers who thought it would be hell having a new genius in class—but it wasn't.
Also, what he noticed was that people in class didn't pay much attention to him. Maybe they all shared the idea that Jimmy wasn't as weird as Sheldon.
"Hey, I heard you're selling homework to all the students in school who can afford it." Sheldon thought this would be a good way to report Jimmy, but for some reason, he stopped himself.
But Jimmy didn't care. After all, he was careful not to be found guilty, so he asked, "Wanna be a partner?"
"Me?"
"I'll pay you for it, you'd earn some extra cash." Jimmy would get a lot of help if Sheldon took care of delivering the homework along with his friend Tom.
But Sheldon, as a true defender of the school code, said, "I'm not interested, but as an apology for yesterday, I won't tell anyone."
"Okay…" Jimmy didn't know what Sheldon was referring to, but he didn't care. He turned around and began reviewing his personal math exercises.
"But I am interested in learning more about the math exercises you were doing in your workshop."
"Are you sure?" Jimmy didn't know how to explain those exercises to Sheldon. That was the new phase of a video game model that took people from the real world into the video game world.
It sounds silly, but Jimmy was doing all the math exercises so that, at the start of the game, there would be logic behind each of the characters' movements.
"I don't think it'll be that hard." Sheldon boasted whenever he had the chance—his competitive spirit had kicked in without him realizing it.