Modern Family: New Life-Chapter 117: Seize the moment

The party at Liam's house was still going strong.

The night was just right: not too chaotic, not too calm to be boring.

There were people laughing, background music playing, groups chatting in different corners, and an overall lighthearted vibe that made everyone forget, at least for a while, the pressure of school or upcoming games.

Andrew and Pippa were having a great time, even though they weren't exactly the biggest party lovers. They could talk without having to yell, which was already a big win for a teen party.

Since it was outdoors, the music wasn't deafening. The speakers were well-placed, and you could hold a normal conversation without losing your voice in the process.

There were no heavy smells like the ones that usually hang in the air at indoor parties, no stale sweat, no weird smoke, nothing like that. Just fresh air, the scent of grass, and the occasional aroma of pizza from the open boxes someone had brought.

There was no wild behavior either.

Just beer, which gave the whole thing an "adult but responsible" vibe. Sure, everyone knew getting alcohol as a minor wasn't that hard, but Liam had made it clear from the start he didn't want a wrecked party.

There was energy and yelling, students dancing, some couples kissing in the shadows, but nothing out of control.

After chatting with friends and other classmates, Andrew and Pippa found a small corner with two inflatable couches, where they sat down and started talking about a bunch of things. One of those topics: Flappy Bird and the next update.

"Sales dropped this month," said Andrew, glancing at his phone before placing it face down on his leg.

"How much?" asked Pippa.

"About a thousand dollars less than last month. But if you compare it to our best month, when we made fifteen grand, this one only brought in six," Andrew replied.

Three thousand dollars each wasn't bad, but during their best month, they had grossed seven thousand five hundred each.

Besides, Andrew knew Flappy Bird had way more potential, he had just released it too early.

"I read a survey the other day. A lot of people still don't even have a phone with a touchscreen. It's not totally crazy that sales are stalling," Pippa commented.

Andrew nodded. She was right.

Even though he'd launched the game in 2009 ahead of time (thanks to his advantage of being from the future), he knew the market wasn't fully ready.

Even spending real money on a mobile game still felt strange to many people.

The boom hadn't hit yet.

"We have to keep updating it to keep it alive," Andrew said, "until phones become like... I don't know, an extension of the human body."

"Doesn't that sound kind of apocalyptic?" Pippa joked.

'Believe me, it'll happen...' Andrew thought.

"Maybe... but it'll also be profitable for us," he said with a slight smile.

Pippa chuckled softly, but her tone turned more serious as she answered, "Still, what we've made so far is no small feat. I've already split my share, part went into a college fund, another part into liquid savings, and the rest into an investment in U.S. Treasury bonds."

"Whoa... you really have it all figured out. You're officially more mature and forward-thinking than 99% of Palisades students," Andrew joked, though there was genuine respect in his tone.

"I'm cautious..." Pippa replied with a slight smile, clearly pleased with Andrew's compliment.

"Speaking of investments," Andrew said, a faint mysterious smile on his lips.

"Oh? Got a hot tip for me, Wolf of Wall Street?" Pippa asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You could say so... Have you ever heard of something called... Bitcoin?" Andrew asked.

Pippa frowned. "Bit... what?"

"Bitcoin. It's a virtual currency. Like money, but... completely digital, no banks, decentralized. No one controls it. It's new. Technically it launched less than a year ago," Andrew explained.

"A virtual currency... Is that even legal?" asked Pippa.

"Yeah... although it's so new that there aren't really any laws that know how to deal with it yet. The idea is that it runs on a technology called blockchain, which records all transactions in a public and secure way. And yeah, right now it's very new, even suspicious to a lot of people... but I have a gut feeling it could be the future," Andrew said.

Pippa narrowed her eyes.

"Did you invest in it?" she asked.

"Something like that... it has potential," Andrew replied.

"You sound very confident. Where does all that confidence come from?" Pippa asked, curious about how he could be so sure about something that sounded like a shady pyramid scheme.

Andrew hesitated for a second. "I've been reading technical forums. I've followed its development since the idea came up... and I just have a feeling it's going to blow up."

Pippa crossed her arms, not entirely convinced. "I wouldn't invest in something that doesn't have a clear legal framework... What if it disappears tomorrow? What if it's all smoke and mirrors?"

Andrew sighed.

He couldn't exactly say: "Don't worry, in a few years it'll be worth thousands of dollars per unit and you'll be a millionaire."

"You're right to be skeptical... I'm not asking you to invest real money. You can mine bitcoin from your computer, literally with just a piece of software. We can look into it together. And if it convinces you, we just start mining, not literally digging, of course," Andrew explained.

"Hmm, it does sound interesting to study blockchain and what a decentralized currency is. But just that. I'm not putting in real money, and I hope my computer doesn't get hit with a virus," Pippa said with a slight smile.

Andrew laughed, "What? You don't want to be my partner in the global financial revolution?"

"Hmm... maybe I'll consider it after I've done some proper research," Pippa replied with a soft chuckle.

A familiar voice interrupted them.

"What are you two doing all the way over here?" asked Cara in a teasing tone, holding a bottle of soda. "Looking for privacy or waiting for the petal rain to start?"

Andrew and Pippa turned at the same time. Behind Cara were Leonard, Howard, and Zach.

"We were talking about the future, investments, and potential new financial technologies," Pippa replied without missing a beat.

Cara couldn't help but look at them with a strange expression. "Seriously? You two are such adorable weirdos."

"Oh, were you talking about Bitcoin?" asked Howard excitedly after hearing the words potential new financial technologies.

Pippa nodded, and Leonard jumped in, clearly thrilled. "Andrew explained it to us. It's a public decentralized network that verifies transactions through proof of work. It's brilliant, mathematically speaking."

"I downloaded the client a few days ago and I'm already close to 200 bitcoins!" he added with a smile.

"Ha, I already passed that," Howard said with a smug smile.

Andrew nodded, pleased that his friends had listened to him.

It was great that they were such nerds and, beyond any profit, were genuinely excited by the technology behind Bitcoin.

They were mining out of curiosity, for fun... completely unaware of the treasure they were digging up.

Back in October 2009, mining Bitcoin was ridiculously easy.

There was no competition, no massive server farms, no specialized GPUs. All you needed was a decent CPU and to keep your computer running.

Each mined block awarded 50 bitcoins, and a new block was generated every 10 minutes.

It was so simple that, with a decent laptop running for several hours a day, you could earn several bitcoins a day.

Andrew, who actually knew what those numbers would mean in the future, didn't let the opportunity slip by.

Luckily, he remembered in time.

In this new life, ever since he was five, he had been so focused on his family and football that it had completely slipped his mind.

Bitcoin had launched in November 2008... and for months, it had stayed off his radar.

But now, he was more than on time.

With part of the money, he had earned from his YouTube channel and the sales from Flappy Bird, he bought a second computer dedicated entirely to mining.

Two machines, mining for hours each day for the past two weeks.

At that time, he had already accumulated nearly 1,000 BTC.

He knew that in a few years, that amount would be nearly impossible to reach.

The difficulty would increase. Giant companies would emerge, specialized hardware would appear, ASICs designed solely for mining.

Server farms and industrial electricity would be required to do what he was doing now with an average PC of the time.

What now seemed like a harmless experiment...

In the future, it would be a miracle impossible to repeat.

Cara, who was standing there with one eyebrow raised, crossed her arms.

"Yeah, great, investments and all that..." she said, clearly unimpressed.

"Pippa, can we talk for a second?" she added, glancing at her best friend.

Pippa nodded, knowing exactly what it was about.

She gave Andrew a quick but clear look. He understood immediately.

Cara had asked Pippa a few days ago for help talking to Reggie.

Nothing complicated, just a little social assistance.

A set-me-up. And who better for that than her best friend, girlfriend of the quarterback, and friend of the guy in question.

"Sure, let's go," said Pippa, and the two walked off.

'She'll send me the message when Cara's ready...' thought Andrew.

Once he got the signal, he'd tell Reggie.

"You don't mind Cara going out with Reggie?" Andrew asked suddenly, looking at Howard, who had taken the seat Pippa left empty.

"Nah," said Howard with a wave of his hand. Since he'd crossed the line with Cara, that kiss in bathroom, it was over.

And Howard had let go of Cara quickly. It hadn't been hard.

Andrew chatted with his two nerdy friends, and at one point, got the signal from Pippa and told Reggie it was time.

He'd already mentioned something, and Reggie had shown interest in Cara.

About twenty minutes later, Reggie and Cara were in a corner, kissing.

'Another success for my cupid record,' thought Andrew, sipping his soda, though this time, it had been easy and required almost no effort.

...

Author's Note:

Hi everyone. I'm not an expert on Bitcoin, so I'm not 100% sure if the number I used (1000 BTC mined in October 2009 with two computers over two weeks) is entirely accurate or realistic. Based on what I researched, those numbers seem plausible for that time period. But if anyone reading this knows more about Bitcoin and realizes that the amount is incorrect, feel free to let me know and I'll gladly update it.

-------------------------------------------------

You can read 15 Chapters in advance on my patreon.

Link: https://[email protected]/Nathe07