[Luke – 13 years] → begins around the start of Chapter 137.

"Hey, Seph!" I greet him when he answers the door.

It's not too cold this morning, so I don't have my scarf over my mouth, but it's in my backpack in case the weather drops. Tyler joked as we were getting ready to leave my place that I'm unusually sensitive to cold for someone whose whole thing is lightning, but that's unrelated.

Everyone else is just weird for being fine with the cold.

Seph's already dressed to head out, complete with backpack on his back, but also a case for carrying his bow and arrows. The three of us are heading out of the area by bike and hoverboard, but not for hunting. Bringing his bow and arrows is something he's doing for safety, and in case we come across small game he wants to catch for meat.

Since small game can be hunted all year long, even without a proper license, it's fine if he kills something like a rabbit if we encounter it while outside of town.

Though we're leaving town for something else. Someone from his church apparently let him know during their Youth Group meeting on Wednesday about a spot that might have stuff he can use to craft something with. His plan had been to go with some of the boys from there, but the Rift incident from yesterday has their parents a little nervous.

Seph's mom is, too, but considering that I was handling one of the stronger monsters there… she feels a lot more comfortable. Me letting her know that a Rift like that is extremely rare probably helped, too.

I'm still a little unsettled by what I saw yesterday, but at least I know the issue is gone and all of the monsters from that Rift are dead. While Tyler and I were talking about the Rift after I returned yesterday, Adrian King showed up at the house. He wanted to check on me and heal my arm the rest of the way, as thanks for handling the Rift.

Calling in anyone stronger than me apparently means calling in a King, which he'd rather avoid unless really necessary. The two invisible people I sensed yesterday are apparently a pair of twin Kings even younger than Greyson. They happen to live in that area, found out about what was going on… and thought it would be fun to fight the bears.

While holding back. They're apparently nearing Xander in strength, even if not too close. They could have handled the whole incident on their own if they had wanted to, they just didn't want to.

As for the mysterious entity which showed up and did all of the actual heavy lifting there… Adrian King let me know not to worry about it. While not a god, that being is some sort of force beyond my comprehension, apparently. And it somehow set a seal to prevent the world from having Rifts for around a month when it said "No".

It's apparently possible to do that, but not a good idea for some reason. Adrian King said he was leaving it up unless it started causing problems.

But it means that it's actually really safe now to go out, since there's zero chance of there being a Rift. The area we'll be going to has lower-strength creatures and probably no monsters, so even my low mana amount isn't an issue.

Though I probably could have drunk a mana potion… but oh, well. It's been more than half a day since then, so I've got plenty of mana back.

"Ready to go?" I ask.

"Yup," he looks at his mom, who's got a slight frown in her concern. "See ya later, Ma!"

"Don't worry, Ms. Lee," I tell her. "We'll make sure he's safe!"

"Thanks," she smiles, though it's a little tight.

"Come on, Seph!" I say. "Let's go!"

Seph says goodbye to his mom again, then the three of us leave. He's not using the same bike he takes to school – he has a second bike that's better for going off-road. That's the one he's using now, since we're leaving town entirely and going into the forest not too far from here.

It takes a little while for us to reach the forest and once we do, we park our bikes and hoverboard near the edge of the forest and secure them. For added security just in case someone else comes out here, Seph and Tyler use a bit of local brush to conceal them as well.

"So what is it we're going to be getting?" I ask after we've walked for a few minutes, most of the sound around us being nothing more than the leaves crunching beneath our feet and occasional bird chirps.

"There's a lake not far from here," Seph tells me. "I thought about going to it a few times but never did. Apparently, there's a magic snail species which lives there."

"Right," I say. "Xander and S.G. both wear a necklace made from snail shell fragments you made, right?"

"Right," he says. "Thomas said he wasn't sure if the snails at the lake were the right kind for that, but they're pretty numerous. He said he's collected their shells a few times to sell, since it can apparently be ground up to use in an antidote salve. Not very often, though. Collecting enough to make it worthwhile can be… tedious."

"But you don't find it tedious?"

"He hunts magic beasts," Seph says. "He can earn several hundred bucks from a single hunt. Maybe even a full grand, if he's lucky. Spending hours looking for shells just to earn a hundred ain't much. But for me? That's quite a lot."

It's just the three of us hanging out, which is probably why he's comfortable saying this. If Parker had been here, we also wouldn't have met Seph at his house but on the way here.

Parker still doesn't know Seph is poor, and Seph wants to keep it that way. He thinks Parker's an okay guy, but doesn't trust him enough to not worry about his reaction. I've reminded him that Parker let people think he's poor, but Seph doesn't accept that. I don't get it, Parker hung out with regular people for years. There's no way he'd be a jerk about Seph's family's situation.

"Alright," I say, then think for a few minutes as we continue walking. "Hey, Seph?"

"Yeah?"

"I was told not to ask you about it," I say. "But I really want to know about the deal that got you into the academy. I've never heard of something like that before, and it seems really weird. And my parents were firm I wasn't to ask you about it at all."

"And you're doing it anyway?" Tyler asks.

"Well, that just makes me want to know more," I say. "It really is strange. Makes me kind of feel that whatever you have to do for it isn't good."

Seph goes quiet for a few minutes, and he looks uncomfortable. Maybe I shouldn't have given in and asked, but the curiosity was too strong. Tyler gives me a light shove with a "good going" expression.

"Sorry, Seph," I say. "But it really does make me concerned. Especially since there's secrecy around it."

If there's something illegal or immoral about the contract, I can't imagine why my parents wouldn't have done something about it. At the same time, however, it doesn't make sense why it's such a big secret that they know about it yet told me not to ask.

"It's fine," his voice is quiet. "I really don't want to talk about it, okay? So can you drop it? Please?"

I start to respond, but Tyler pinches me on the cheek. Hard. What's wrong with being concerned about my friend?

The rest of the walk to the lake is quiet and when we arrive, I'm greeted with an insanely beautiful sight.

Sunlight sparkles on the gently-rippling surface of the slightly-murky waters, and the forest grows right up to the edge everywhere I can see. The lake itself isn't fully in view due to its organic shape. Some parts dip out of view, and I can see short drops from the ground into the water at a few points. In others, tree roots seem exposed, stretching out into the water.

"Whoa."

"If it were warmer out," Seph says. "I'd probably go swimming in it. Thomas said he and some others swim in it all the time when it's warm out."

"Today's a bit chilly for that," Tyler stretches a little. "We'd freeze our butts off."

"Yeah," Seph nods.

"Swimming… in a lake?" I ask. "Just out in the wilderness? Not private property?"

"Yeah," Seph gives me an amused look. "It's something we common folk do. Since no one owns it, that makes it fair game."

The common folk comment is a bit weird… he must really be upset about me asking about the contract for his sponsorship.

"How do you know if it's safe?" I ask. "If it's not on private property, you can't be sure of that, right? Others can say it is, but you never know. I mean, I'm not concerned about my own safety, not with how close to town we are, but… you aren't as sturdy as me. Or resilient. You'd be more likely to get sick, right? Or killed, if something nasty takes up residence."

Which can happen, considering we're in wilderness. We might be near town, but this is still wilderness, here.

It's different from when Dad and I go camping at the end of summer. That's at least not actually wilderness, even if it's in a forest. The land is within the bounds of society and the chance of something dangerous popping up is basically nonexistent.

"Please," Seph rolls his eyes. "See over there? That's a stream flowing out of it. The lake's water is pretty much always moving. That reduces the odds of bacteria breeding in it. And others go swimming in it all the time when it's warm out, so it's safe."

"Aren't the snails you're looking for venomous?"

"They have to sting you," he says. "And just stepping on their shell won't do that… screw it."

Seph quickly strips down and charges into the lake, shouting a little from the cold.

"Did he seriously just jump into a frigid lake in his underwear?"

I look at Tyler, but my boyfriend's stripping down, too. It's in the forties and they're seriously swimming in the lake?

As much as I'd like to swim with them, there's no way I'm going into frigid waters and then coming out to the frigid air. The pool at my house is heated, and we have magitech heaters for the area around it so we won't get cold after getting out. That's where I'll swim while it's cold.

They'll probably be grateful for a fire after they finish freezing their butts off. I gather up some stones to make a fire ring with, then clear out a spot to actually build it. That's mostly just removing fallen leaves and branches, though I do need to make sure there's nothing which can easily catch fire within eight feet of the fire pit itself.

Once I've cleared that space out, I set up a fire ring, then gather some wood. Tyler and Seph are splashing each other and really seem like they're having fun. How can they have so much fun when they're freezing their butts off in the water?

"Jeez!" I let out a small shout as I turn around to face the two electrical signals which suddenly appeared right behind me.

There's no one there… that I can see. There are two signals here, though. They're roughly the same size/shape as the two from the fight yesterday.

"So you can sense us," the kids the two signals belong to suddenly become visible. "But not see us… so you don't have magical perspicacity."

It's a pair of twins who look around nine, maybe ten years old. They have platinum-blond hair, and the one on the left has sky-blue eyes while the one on the right has lake-blue eyes. They're dressed in blue and grey long-sleeved shirts, jeans, and outdoors boots.

Considering they showed up when I was far enough away from Tyler and Seph, they're definitely not wanting extra attention. They also somehow knew when I was away from my friends without being within my sensing range and knew exactly where to go to teleport right to me.

In a forest.

That's actually kind of frightening.

"I can sense electricity," I say. "Magical perspicacity isn't exactly normal. Adrian King said you two are King boys, too?"

"Yeah," the one on the left says. "I'm Colt."

"And I'm Noll," the one on the right says. "And we have magical perspicacity. Well, that's a given. Anyone who's at least one-quarter dragon will have it to some degree."

"You're a quarter dragon?"

"Yeah," Colt says. "Our dad's half-dragon and our grandma's a whole dragon."

"She still has all her body parts," Noll grins.

"Anyway!" Colt says. "We just wanted to see if you really could sense us even when we're invisible!"

"And now that we know how you do it," Noll says. "We'll try to figure out how to modify our spell so that even that can't be detected."

"You know that invisibility's illegal, right?" I ask. "Same with perception-altering magics."

"We're one-quarter dragon," Colt snorts.

"You think we care about that?" Noll rolls his eyes.

"Anyway!" They say in unison. "See ya!"

The twins vanish. That was… strange. There's no way Adrian King doesn't know about them, though, considering he told me about them after the battle. Them using illegal magics must not be an issue.

I continue gathering more wood and once I have a sufficient amount, I build a fire. A few sparks from me ignites the twigs I put in as kindling, then I use fire magic to encourage it to grow and spread to other pieces.

Seph and Tyler are still horsing around in the water. They're insane for doing that and I'm starting to suspect they're doing it just to mess with me. Sheer stubbornness to prove the lake is safe, that's all it is.

Though it does look fun… but I'm not going to expose myself to even more cold.

While they goof off, I pull out my phone and review some stuff. My generator might be on the market now, but that doesn't mean I'm done working. There's other stuff I help out with for the company and it's a good idea to keep on top of that even with school being in session now.

Since I've got some time, I pick up where I left off on a recent magitech article that came out. It discusses a hybrid theory relating to the potential for improving the efficiency of enchantment matrices which connect unrelated magics together. Most magitech utilizes that, so any new advancements in how to make said connections more efficient is always welcome.

Though we never know when it might ignore the enchantments… but that's just the nature of magic. We can get it to imitate science, but it'll ultimately occasionally ignore what the setup says at times. Magic is ultimately a strange force which ignores and overrides the laws of nature and science.

Though it looks like someone's figured out a formation which helps smooth out the transition between different magic types better, for the times where magic follows it. We'll probably still often need to remake a piece or enchantment despite that, but increasing efficiency on the effect itself is always good.

Swearing draws my attention and I look over to see Tyler and Seph hurrying over to the fire, now quite cold because they're wet and exposed to the air.

"You have towels in your backpacks?" I ask as they each pull one from their own.

While I know it's normal to have some stuff for fun in a play backpack one takes everywhere – even I have a few things for playing games in mine – a towel seems like an odd choice.

"Always good to have a towel," Seph hastily works on drying himself off. "Change of clothes, too. Never know what might happen, such as going swimming."

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"In a lake when it's in the mid-forties?" I ask. "You're both nuts, you know that, right?"

"Shush."

They both switch to dry underwear from their backpacks before dressing again, then they get close to the fire. Tyler huddles up against me and gives me a kiss, his hair dried from magic.

"Hey, Seph?" I ask.

"Yeah?"

"Want me to dry your hair?" I ask. "Tyler did it with his own magic, but I don't think you know that."

He didn't put on his beanie again, probably to keep it from getting wet.

"Sure," he says. "What do I-"

I gesture towards him and send some warm air at his head. This is more difficult when I'm not running my fingers through the hair I'm drying, but I'm not doing that to Seph. That's something I do for myself. It takes me a minute to do it this way, but I dry off all of his hair.

The moment I finish, Seph pulls his beanie on.

"Thanks," he says. "By the way, you seemed adept at building fires. You cleared the area and everything. Would've expected you to just… build one. Or not do as big of a clear zone."

"I go camping towards the end of every summer with my dad," I tell him. "Have for as long as I can remember, and learned safety with this from that. Even in a forest, embers can fly off, so you need to have an area at least eight to twelve feet around cleared of brush, debris, and stuff. More, if the fire's going to be a bigger one."

"So you'll go camping, but not swim in a lake?" He grins at me a little.

"A lake in the wilderness," I correct. "I've been swimming in a lake multiple times – always on private property. Same with a stream. This is different."

"If you say so!" He laughs.

The three of us make small talk until Seph's warmed up, then he goes hunting for snail shell fragments and abandoned shells. With it being cold, the snails themselves will be hiding, but the fragments he's looking for can be collected around the shore, where it's shallower.

It seems he does find the fragments he's looking for, since he gathers stuff up and puts them into a glass jar. He spends a few hours looking, while Tyler and I mostly keep watch in case there is a dangerous monster. Or we just talk and kiss.

This is Seph's thing and if we help him out, he'd feel obligated to pay us for the assistance. We don't offer because of that. He'll ask us if he wants help.

Once he declares his search finished, we put out the fire and make sure it's not going to return, then make our way back to the bikes and hoverboard.

"I don't know who he is," Seph says as we mount our rides.

"Huh?" I look at him.

"My sponsor," Seph says. "I don't know who they are. And it's not a contract – it's an academic scholarship. As long as I maintain the grades needed to enter that program next year, and stay in it, my tuition is covered. Ma and I were skeptical at first since they were remaining anonymous. We still don't know who it is, or why they picked me, or anything. That's why I don't want to talk about it, okay? It's just… weird. And I'm already uncomfortable enough being around rich people…"

"Oh," I say. "Sorry, Seph. That does sound weird, though."

"Yeah," he nods. "And it makes me feel like there's going to be some surprise at the end, like a 'I paid for you, so now you gotta do stuff'. But there's no contract, it's just an academic scholarship. Well, I guess being told I have to maintain grades and be in a specific program is a contract, but that's it."

"My parents were really firm that I shouldn't ask you about it," I say. "It was a few days after I went to your house for the first time. I hadn't mentioned your situation to them, so I knew they had to have looked into you in case you were a spy or something. If the scholarship was an issue, they probably would've done something to get you out of it from whoever it is. So it probably isn't anything to worry about."

I think. Or there could be, but my parents don't care enough to take care of it. That doesn't sound like them, though. They're pretty caring people who don't like people who take advantage of others.

"Maybe…" Seph seems to lean into the doubting side more than me.

We ride back to his house and by the time we arrive, he's cheered back up and is joking with us again. Rather than Tyler and I leaving, we go inside with Seph and he shows us the shell fragments.

Not right away, though, as his mom has to make sure we all really made it back safe and unharmed. She gives him a stern look when the mention of swimming in the lake comes up, but he reassures her that we had a fire going and everything.

Then he shows Tyler and me the shell fragments.

"They're from snails with cone-shaped shells," he tells me. "This are the tips of them. As they tumble in the lake, they wear down. It eventually leaves a small piece with a hole in the center. That's what I use as a bead for necklaces. Depending on the snail variety, I can sell them for eighty or even a hundred bucks."

"What kind are they?" Tyler asks. "They're all brown, so an earth-magic variety?"

"Yeah," Seph says. "Thomas said they're called 'earthspike snails'. I looked them up, and that'll make an $80 necklace. Could do a bracelet, but necklaces are more worth it."

Seph shows us how he cleans the snail fragments as part of preparation, then he sorts them out into separate containers based on their thickness.

"I'll make the necklaces another time," he tells us. "What do y'all wanna do now?"

[Sig – 13 years]

"Jake?" Xander says as we reach the point in town where Jake is splitting off to head home.

"'Sup?"

"Clouds."

I try not to snort, but it comes out anyway. Xander knows what the question means, but it's like his brain just doesn't have it filed properly. It always results in a more literal answer from him. I bet he'd say "balloon" if there was one above him when asked.

"Uh… yeah?" Jake just looks confused. "What'd you want?"

"Oh," Xander says. "Sorry for not inviting you to the party. If I'd known you were one of Sig's good friends, I would've invited you, too, like I did with Ethan and Macy."

Xander's so sweet. He doesn't need to invite all of my friends to his own party, he should just invite his own friends.

"No worries!" Jake says. "Dad's had me super busy since I returned, anyway, so I probably wouldn't have been able to go. I'm only now having free time."

"Oh," Xander says. "Um. Weekend after next, I'm having another party. And then I'm having a Halloween celebration, too. If-if you wanted to come, you can."

"You are?" I ask.

"Yeah," Xander nods. "Oh. Um. I mixed things up again. I want to do Halloween celebrations, but I don't know what y'all do for them."

"We were going to plan them next week!" Connor tells me. "But we always go trick-or-treating the night of, and play games the other days."

With Halloween being a four-day holiday, school is out for the four days of it and there are festival stands set up at the park for the whole thing. Many more stands than get set up in the days leading up.

We also usually have some games of our own set up at Connor's house. Stuff we can find at the park, but with less of a crowd.

Not that it's just us four and the dads – we invite a bunch of friends to come. Jake's one of them. Or at least, that's how it's been with Connor and me the past few years. Sam moved into the area after Halloween last year, and Isaac moved into the area earlier this year. This will be the first time for both of them to attend, so I wasn't sure if the dads had plans or not.

Something we were going to ask about next week.

"You wanted to host it at your place?" I ask Xander.

"Yeah," he says. "We've got lots of space, and I remember some of the stuff they'd set up at the boys' home. I helped set them up. And I remember hearing about some of the stuff that the others would talk about, and also, I looked up stuff. And I've got more space, too. Dad already said I could, if y'all wanted to. Well, he also wanted to know if I was sure about doing the party and festival stuff… but I do."

"The Friday before Halloween?" Connor asks. "Is that when you want to do the party?"

"Yeah," Xander says. "But it's not for Halloween, it's just a party."

"Oh, right!" Sam says. "That's the Halloween Dance at school!"

"Oh," Xander looks down at his hands and starts doing something with his fingers.

Is it some type of counting?

"A lot of people have an after-dance party," Jake tells him. "But if I had to pick between a school dance and a party… I'd pick the party pretty much every time. There's more to do."

"There is?" Xander looks up at him, confused.

"Yeah," Jake says. "Well, most parties do. The dance is usually just pizza and soda for snacks and then everyone dancing in the gym or talking. It usually only lasts about an hour or so before people get bored and start leaving. What were you thinking, for the party's stuff?"

"Oh," Xander says. "I was thinking we could go pumpkin-picking to do a last jack-o-lantern before Halloween. I've never been pumpkin-picking before. And then, we carve the pumpkins so they ward off the pixies. Oh. Maybe it is Halloween-themed? But that was going to be the only stuff related to Halloween I had planned. There was also going to be dinner, dessert, and snacks. And… I was looking up some games we could do. Oh, and maybe something to craft, if people wanted to do that again. I know the four of you've got your magic lamps in your rooms."

Connor, Sam, and Isaac keep their magic lamps on display in their rooms, too. Xander hasn't been in any of their rooms since the party, but he's seen them in pictures in the group chat.

"I'd love to do another craft!" I tell him. "And… that does sound a lot better than a dance. And there's plenty of space to dance there, too."

"Oh!" Connor exclaims. "Would you have another maze tag thing set up?"

"I was thinking of not having maze tag set up two parties in a row," Xander tells him. "I was still trying to come up with what would get set up in there."

"Could always leave it plain so we could do basketball or something," Sam tells him. "If you're not able to think of anything else."

"Yeah," Xander says. "That was the backup plan."

I snicker a little at that.

"A party sounds fun," Jake tells him. "I gave you my number, right? Lemme know if you decide on one!"

"Okay," Xander says.

"Bye, guys!" Jake says, then looks at Sam and Isaac. "See you Monday!"

Connor and Jake hug really quickly, then Jake hops back on his bike and heads home. The rest of us make our way to where we split up to go to our own homes, though Xander heads to my house with me.

"Bye, Sig," Xander gives me a hug. "I'm gonna try to go home and take a nap now."

While we did eat lunch in Nine Springs (stew made from three rabbits he caught, plus a salad), we came back after that. Xander was looking really sleepy and Isaac suggested we return, probably so that Xander could take a nap. He didn't say that was the reason, but he did make the suggestion after Xander covered a yawn.

"Enjoy!" I return the hug "Dream of lots of delicious food!"

"I hope I do," he tells me. "Bye."

With our goodbyes given… he teleports away. I take my bike around to the back and put it away, then head into the basement. It takes him less than five minutes to send me the "going to bed" picture, back in his wolfkin form.

Aunt Rachel said she'd help me set up a budget today, so the first thing I do is check to see how much I actually earned. I was really tempted to do so before but I knew that once I saw however much I'd earned, I'd want to start spending it.

It was better to wait until I talked with Aunt Rachel about a budget, and I'm glad I did.

With the payments which hadn't finished going through yet from August, plus the ones which did go through last month… I earned so much money. I'm not sure how much came from August's earnings and how much were from September's, but the deposit was roughly $19,000. My creator tier did go up due to views and follows, but this is still higher than I expected it to be.

"That's insane."

I let Aunt Rachel know I'm ready for the budgeting session, and she has me come upstairs to the living room. She has some papers on the coffee table, along with some pencils for us.

"Alright," she smiles. "Normal budgeting for a teen would be done differently – the recommendation is fifty-thirty-twenty. Fifty percent for needs, thirty for wants, and twenty for savings. With how much you earned, however, half is quite high for needs. Especially with you not having bills. Half would be more than I earn in three months."

"How does it feel to have a nephew who earns more than six times as much as you?" I grin at her, and she reaches over the table to give me a light shove on the head.

"For this month," she says. "I would recommend at least half for savings. And to break up your wants into different groups. Do dollar amounts rather than wants. Anything leftover can get added to what's in savings."

"Okay," I say. "What about needs?"

"You don't really have those."

"There are a lot of needs," I say. "Like food, clo-"

"Sig," she says. "Needs would be things like a phone bill, or paying for gas for your car. Neither of which you have."

"Food's important," I tell her. "And so are clothes that fit and are good for the season."

"Sig," she says. "Before we get started, can you take a look at what we've got and let me know what you want to make for dinner?"

This is a weird ask, especially since we've got plenty of time before then and this shouldn't take that long.

"Uh… sure?"

I get up and head into the kitchen. Spaghetti's a possibility. Oh! She bought lasagna noodles when we went the other day! I apparently missed that. Spaghetti and lasagna are both easy enough dishes, though lasagna does take a little more time and effort.

Do we have stuff for garlic bread? No frozen garlic bread, or loaves good for it. I could bike to the store and get something for that, though. There are some frozen burger patties as well I could cook on the stove. They aren't as good as homemade, but they're in Aunt Rachel's budget and take less effort to make.

Although… maybe I could try making meatballs with cornbread? I've never done that before, but Aunt Rachel got some boxes of cornbread mix when we went shopping the other day and I do have meat I could thaw.

Any of my hunted meats would probably work for that, even if I'd have to adjust the seasonings a little. They still wouldn't be as good of matches as magic versions of them would be, but it's not really bad. I just need to make sure to adjust the amounts and what I'm using to account for that so it comes out tasting good.

Xander gave me some fresh vegetables from his greenhouse, which are in my pouch. I could do a salad with those for a side as well. He promised me that I won't have any weird magical effects from eating them. Sadly, he hasn't given me anymore of the berries since the first time.

I think I really scared him with that…

"Can I try to make meatballs?" I ask as I return to the coffee tables. "Big ones, not pasta ones. Haven't done them before! I think we've got all the stuff for them. And we can do cornbread and salad for the sides."

"Sure," she says. "We should have the stuff for that. We went shopping on Wednesday, right?"

"Yeah," I answer. "Though our fresh produce is a bit low. We should go again, but I'll use some of the stuff Xander gave me, his greenhouse is apparently producing a lot more than he expected. We all got some stuff from it before we parted ways."

"We can do that before we make dinner," she tells me. "But there's still plenty of food to hold us over until the next full shopping trip, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"And that's how it normally is here?"

"Yeah, why?"

"So why would you need to set aside a grocery budget?"

"In case you forget to go shopping."

Aunt Rachel stares at me for several long moments, then sighs.

"It'll take more than few months, I suppose," she says. "Alright. Let's split the food budget into three parts, okay? First is meal groceries, second is junk food and snacks, and third is fast food and restaurants and such.

"Let's start with the groceries part," she says. "I usually spend around $100 or so a week on groceries, including some fresh foods, and about $450 a month altogether with ordering in and eating out as well. Since I'm the one buying groceries, you don't need to spend nearly that much."

"But-"

"You're also setting aside a budget for ordering," she says. "I think $50 for just groceries would be enough."

"If I'm doing different for snacks and for eating out," I say. "Then fifty a week sounds good. Okay, so that's $200 for a month."

Aunt Rachel seems like she wants to say something, but ultimately decides not to so I guess it wasn't important.

"Write down each of the three categories on separate lines," she tells me. "Groceries, snacks, and restaurant. Put the grocery budget on the first one. Do a weekly amount rather than monthly."

"Okay," I do that.

"What do you think is reasonable for snacks?" She asks. "Not anything else, just snacks, like fruit, veggies, and junk food."

"Um…" I try to think. "A bag of chips usually lasts me a few days and that's $5. Baby carrots, less for longer unless I eat a bunch. How about… $25 a week? So $100 a month for that."

I factor in $35 a week or $140 a month for eating out and ordering in and stuff. After that, we add in a fourth line, for "other" food stuff. I do $25 a week for that even though Aunt Rachel suggests $15, just in case. This one's for if I decide to do something which doesn't fit into those other categories, or in case I go over those by a little bit.

"Why do it per-week, though?" I ask.

"When we're done here," she says. "We'll make a spreadsheet template for you with each of these. First column will be the category, second will be the budget, and third will be how much you spent on it. You'll copy the template to a new sheet each week. Another thing to do is to have a fourth column for logging what you spent it on."

"That seems like so much work…"

"It is," she says. "But it'll help you keep track of what you're spending and on what. You can review that each month to know where you need to adjust the budget – increasing or decreasing. By tracking it per week, it'll be easier to manage the budget so you don't accidentally spend it all at the start of the pay period."

"Oh," I say. "I guess that makes sense."

The next thing we add to the budget is fun stuff like games. This gets split into a few sections, including games, equipment, and video games. Clothes receives their own section, and Aunt Rachel has me split that into two parts. First is for immediate purchases, things like shirts and pants. Second is for things I won't need immediately but might – such as if my shoes suddenly fall apart. The latter category is just money being set aside for it, just in case.

So those will go into a separate spreadsheet. Each week, that one's budget will get increased a little, treating some of the money in my savings as a separate savings for those things. There's something like that for gaming as well, for if I want something more expensive. This way, I have a smaller weekly gaming budget and a larger long-term gaming one.

As much as I think that's dumb, Aunt Rachel insists on it. I could just pull it from my savings without that since I've got so much, but she's firm I need to set aside a specific budget. This way, I don't just blow it all with a "but I have it" thing like I did this past month.

I reluctantly agree to try and abide by this.

Another budget I add on my own is crafts stuff. I like going to the store and buying stuff to make random things with. The cloud monsters I did with cotton balls was just a whim but it was really fun and I want to do more. Maybe not enchanting like Xander taught us with the magic lamps, but definitely more crafting stuff.

Another separate category I add in is just fun stuff, like when my friends and I buy spray hair paint. My budget for this is higher now, so I can definitely do it more often.

It was usually me having extra money from my various odd jobs that led to us doing those things, anyway.

There are two categories for activities. The first is smaller activities, which is things like a trip to the zoo or to play laser tag. The second is for "bigger" activities, like festivals and holidays.

"What's 'extra activities'?" Aunt Rachel asks as I write down the lines for activities.

"Like taking you to the spa!"

"You don't need to do that," she says.

"I know," I tell her. "But you also didn't need to take me in after realizing my parents were neglecting me, but you did anyway! I already checked, and they usually have Monday afternoons open, so we can go Monday, if you want!"

"Alright," she says. "But don't spend too much on stuff like that. Another category to include is expenditures for streaming. This one's a bit of an unknown for me, though, so I'd say it's okay to adjust that as you figure things out. Figure out how many times you might be able to rent an area to shoot your videos in a month, and how much that might cost. Try to think of other potential costs for it as well to include."

Xander's already agreed to let me rent his gym again for another video, once I figure out what I want to do. A lot of my viewers on the past two videos want to see more obstacle course runs and flips, but I want to have a wider variety on the physical stuff than that. Those can be done again after I've done some other stuff.

"Oh!" I say. "I wanted to buy another orb for it! That'll give me better shots, since I won't be limited to just one! Especially if I'm doing stuff with my friends. We could only get shots from one angle, rather than being able to get them from front and back or side and front or whatever, for the obstacle course one."

Xander's upgraded orbs aren't on the market, so I can't buy one of those for better coverage. Having one which can take pictures and produce recordings from any angle regardless of where it's at would be amazing.

"We can do that," she says. "I think you'll want to split the streaming into two categories – short-term and long-term. A set budget to spend as things come, and an increasing savings for bigger expenses. If other categories for that comes up, we can add those in as well."

"Alright," I say.

After we factor that in, we review the list, then head down to my room to make the template spreadsheet and then the first spreadsheet. There's an extra line for "discretionary", which is basically, if we determine that what was assigned to a category wasn't enough, it can be increased and pulled from that. The discretionary section is what's above what goes into savings but isn't put into an assigned category.

But I'm not to use it as an excuse to spend willy-nilly. It's effectively just an extension of the savings and is meant for if a budget that we weren't certain on turns out to be too low.

"There we go," Aunt Rachel ruffles my hair once we're done. "Now let's look up what we might be missing for meatballs, then head to the store and grab that and some more fruits and veggies."

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