Do We Get Paid? (Please Vote!)

Do We Get Paid? (Please Vote!)

County High School.

"We're famous. Completely famous!"

Emmett popped up out of nowhere and said excitedly.

"Really?"

Adam smiled slightly, not particularly bothered.

"Hey, why aren't you excited?"

Emmett gestured wildly for a while. Seeing how calm Adam was, he felt a little annoyed. Didn't that make him look inexperienced?

"What's there to be excited about?"

As Adam walked toward the classroom, he smiled. "Other than letting off some steam yesterday, what is there for me to get excited about?"

"Are you kidding?"

Emmett's distinctive rapid-fire tone came out again. "Did you see how popular we are today? Those girls are going crazy over us. All we have to do is crook a finger, and they'll..."

At that point, he saw Adam stop and look at him with a smile. He froze for a moment, then caught on and said with a dark expression, "Quit showing off! I know you never lacked girls chasing after you before, but there are definitely more of them now, and they're crazier too. Can you deny it?"

"I can't."

Adam nodded with a smile. "But I actually have face blindness. To me, there isn't much difference between girls' appearances, and I've never cared about that stuff."

Emmett could not listen any longer and immediately raised his middle finger.

"What a pity. If this song had been entirely your original work, that would've been great."

After the two exchanged a few more jabs, Emmett smacked his lips. "With a song of this quality, you might have been able to release a single right away. Then you'd get fame and fortune and never have to worry for the rest of your life."

"Sigh."

Adam sighed as well.

He had not been a music fanatic in his previous life. After racking his brains, he had only managed to remember this one song, and who knew it had been adapted from someone else's song? He was not the original creator, so the copyright had nothing to do with him.

In the United States, copyright protection was extremely strict. It was a huge incentive for original creators. Small singers often earned enough for financial freedom with just one or two songs.

Adam's reworked adaptation of someone else's song was fine for amateur fun without the original creator's consent, but if he tried to commercialize it, the original creator would definitely sue him.

Besides, he could not devote his main energy to it anyway, so there was no point dwelling on it.

Perhaps once his Wisdom Points reached a certain level, he could remember every detail of his life like the protagonist in Limitless after taking NZT-48. But by then, he would not need to make money by singing.

"Hi, Adam."

Another person suddenly appeared and blocked Adam's path, startling him.

"Hi."

Adam had been about to get angry, but when he looked up and saw a girl who looked positively righteous standing before him, his expression immediately softened into a brilliant smile.

"My name is Gretchen."

The girl appeared to be of mixed Latin American heritage. She was pretty, with a curvaceous figure and stylishly trimmed curly hair. The way she looked at Adam was bold and fiery.

"Are you free tonight?"

"Huh?"

Adam was stunned.

It was not as if girls had never asked him out before, but none had ever been this direct.

"Today is my birthday. My family is throwing me a birthday party."

Gretchen stared straight at Adam. "I'd like to invite you..."

"Ahem."

Emmett could not help coughing.

"...and your band to perform at it. Is that okay?"

Gretchen immediately changed her wording, much to Emmett's satisfaction. "Of course we'd be willing."

"Do we get paid?"

Adam asked instinctively.

Emmett's eyes went wide as he stared at Adam in disbelief, as if saying, A beauty at this level is inviting you to a party—people would beg for that chance—and you're actually asking her for money? How did a hopelessly single, steel-straight guy like you ever get girls before...?

But what happened next made Emmett's jaw drop.

"Of course!"

Gretchen was also taken aback, but the amusement in her eyes only deepened. "I guarantee you'll be satisfied~"

As the only daughter of one of the wealthiest local families, money meant nothing to her. Anything that could be solved with money was not a problem.

"I'll need to discuss it with my bandmates."

Adam was tempted, but he did not agree immediately.

"That's fine."

Gretchen smiled suggestively. "As long as you're willing to come, you don't even need accompaniment."

With that, she sashayed away with a model's stride under Emmett's drooling gaze.

"I'm definitely going!"

Emmett said urgently.

"Mm."

Adam nodded.

After Emmett calmed down a little, he looked at the composed Adam and said sourly like a Lemon Spirit, "What were you thinking? 'Do we get paid?' How could you even say that?"

"You don't care about money?"

Adam looked at Emmett in surprise. The guy did not look like an alien, so how could he have no concept of money?

"Then we won't give you your share when the time comes."

"No!"

Emmett immediately protested. "We're a team. Of course we share everything."

"Then why the hell are you hung up on it?"

Adam shot back. "Isn't money great?"

By income standards, Duncan's Home could barely be considered middle class. But because they were a "brave family that had four kids at once," their average standard of living did not reach the middle-class level.

If things followed the fate of the original timeline, Duncan's Home's income and expenses would remain balanced. But the Ivy League schools Adam was striving to get into were all top private schools.

Private schools were great, but they all had one drawback. One word: damn expensive!

Not to mention medical school after college graduation. That was truly a case of "the school gates open toward money; if you have talent but no cash, don't come in." Many new graduates waited until they had worked for several years before applying to medical school. Besides the extreme difficulty of admission, needing to work and save money was also a major reason.

Duncan's Home absolutely could not afford it.

Naturally, Adam would not put the entire burden on Duncan's Home. He had long intended to make money, though with four years left before college, the need was not yet urgent.

Now that he had a chance to make money, even if it was only pocket money, he would not pass it up.

Next year, once he got his driver's license, he could save up some gas money.

How could he drive without money for gas?

As for whether a pretty girl would look down on him for it?

What a joke. He was not lusting after her body!

Who cared?

After Juno and Little Sheldon arrived, Adam explained the situation.

"Gretchen Venus?"

The corner of Juno's mouth curved upward. "Sure."

Adam frowned. He only felt that Juno's smile was a little strange, but for the moment, he could not figure out what was strange about it.

"Sheldon, what about you?"

"A party? No, thank you!"

Little Sheldon shook his head repeatedly.

He even wore gloves when shaking hands with family members, much less went to a packed party where sweat and spit flew everywhere.

"That's fine."

Adam did not force him. As long as it did not affect the 0.005 Wisdom Points he provided every day, it was fine.

With Sheldon's personality, he had barely changed over the course of his life. Adam did not expect to change him either. Besides, would a changed Sheldon still be Sheldon?

P.S. Thanks to ~~Shidou Faqiang~~ for the tip!