It had been days, and Frank still hadn't shown up to school. Katherine had even gone to his house, but whoever answered the door wouldn't let her in........
As a teacher, she was genuinely worried. On Saturday, she drove to Marcus's place to ask for help.
Marcus answered the door. "Ms. Katherine? What's up?"
"It's about Frank," she said. "I'm worried about him. He hasn't been to school since... well, since the screening. I tried visiting, but they wouldn't let me see him."
Marcus nodded. "Actually, I was planning to talk to him today. I think I've got something that'll help."
Katherine looked surprised. "Really?"
"Yeah. I just need to have a conversation with him. Trust me, I've got a plan."
Katherine studied him for a moment. This kid kept surprising her. "Can I come with you?"
"Sure. Let's go."
---
They took the bus to Toluca Lake. When they got off and walked to Frank's house, Katherine rang the doorbell.
A man in casual clothes answered—middle-aged, holding a broom. Probably house staff. He recognized Katherine immediately. "You again? I already told you—Frank doesn't want to see anyone."
"It's not her who wants to see him," Marcus said. "It's me."
The man looked Marcus up and down. "And you are?"
"I'm Frank's classmate. His friend, actually."
The man's expression shifted. He set the broom down. "Hold on." He disappeared inside.
Marcus and Katherine exchanged glances.
A minute later, the man returned and opened the gate. "Come in."
They followed him through the house—past the marble entryway, up the curved staircase, down a hallway lined with expensive art—until they reached Frank's room.
The man knocked. "Frank, your friend's here."
"Let them in," came a muffled voice from inside.
The door opened, and Marcus and Katherine stepped into what could only be described as a teenage dream room. Massive flat-screen TV mounted on the wall, a PlayBox 360 and a Nintari Wii hooked up beneath it, gaming chair, mini-fridge in the corner. The works.
Marcus nodded appreciatively. 'Nice setup.'
On the bed, buried under blankets, Frank groaned. "I thought you guys weren't gonna come after the whole... thing. I figured you'd all just ditch me—"
He pulled the blanket down and froze.
It wasn't his friends.
It was Marcus. And Ms. Katherine.
Frank's face went from confused to furious in about half a second. "What the hell are you doing here?!" He grabbed a pillow and hurled it at Marcus. "Did you come here to make fun of me?!"
Marcus caught the pillow. "Hey, hey! Relax, man. I'm not here to mess with you—"
"Then why are you here?!" Frank snapped.
"I swear, I come in peace," Marcus said, holding up his hands. "I'm not here to make fun of you."
Frank glared at him, then turned to Katherine. "And don't even try to convince me to come back to that school. I already talked to my dad. I'm transferring somewhere far away."
Katherine bit back what she'd been planning to say. At least he wasn't in a complete spiral. That was something.
"I'm not here for that either," Marcus said.
"Then what?!" Frank was losing patience.
"I'm here to make you an offer."
Frank blinked. "An offer?"
"Yeah. An offer."
"What kind of offer?"
Marcus cleared his throat. "I want to buy the licensing rights to your movie."
"I knew it!" Frank shot up in bed. "You're here to make fun of me!"
"No, man, I'm serious!" Marcus felt a headache coming on. "I actually want the rights."
"Rights? For what?" Frank's voice dripped with suspicion. "Why would you want that piece of crap?"
Marcus sighed. "Look, I'm starting a company—a streaming platform where people can watch movies and shows online. I need content, and I think your film could work."
Frank frowned. Streaming movies online? He'd never heard of that before.
But Marcus looked serious. Not like he was setting up a punchline.
"Who'd even watch it?" Frank said bitterly. "That movie humiliated me in front of the entire school. I can't even show my face there anymore."
"Humiliated?" Marcus shook his head. "Dude, your movie made you famous."
"Yeah, famous for being a joke."
"No! That's not—" Marcus stopped himself and tried a different angle. "Your film actually got more attention than mine. People are still talking about it."
Frank clenched his fists. "Because it was a disaster!"
Marcus could see this wasn't working. He needed a new approach.
"People have been asking about you," Marcus said carefully. "Especially girls."
Frank froze. "What?"
"Yeah. Girls from school. They've been asking where you've been."
Frank's expression shifted—hope fighting with skepticism. "They probably think I'm an idiot."
"Actually, no." Marcus leaned in. "They think your movie was hilarious. They loved it. You know what they're calling you? A comedian."
Frank's face darkened. "A comedian? So you are making fun of me—"
"Wait, hear me out!" Marcus said quickly. "That's not a bad thing. Comedy's way more popular with girls than horror anyway. And comedians? Dude, girls love funny guys. They'd rather date someone who makes them laugh than some boring pretty boy any day."
Frank stared at him.
Katherine watched this entire exchange in quiet amazement. Marcus was completely reframing Frank's failure into success—and it was actually working.
Frank stood up suddenly, grabbing Marcus by the collar. "Are you telling me the truth? Swear to God?"
"I swear," Marcus said. "Girls have been asking about you."
Frank released him, a genuine smile breaking across his face for the first time. His whole mood had lifted. "I'm a comedian," he repeated, testing the words. "People actually liked it?"
Marcus saw his opening. "So... what do you think? Will you license the film to me?"
Frank grinned. "Yeah, man. Absolutely."
"How much do you want for it?"
"How much?" Frank waved him off. "Nothing. It's free. Hell, you can have full rights if you want."
Now it was Marcus's turn to be shocked. "Wait—are you sure? You won't regret this?"
"Why would I?" Frank said, his confidence returning. "That's just gonna be one of my comedy masterpieces."
---
After that visit, Marcus walked away with the licensing rights to Frank's movie—completely free.
And Frank? He canceled his transfer. He was coming back to NoHo High.
When Monday rolled around and Frank showed up at school, everyone was shocked. His friends couldn't believe he'd actually come back.
But Frank walked in with his head high, completely confident. When students brought up the movie, instead of getting defensive, he leaned into it. "Yeah, it's a comedy. People loved it."
The energy shifted immediately. No one made fun of him. Instead, they talked about the movie like it had been intentional all along—discussing their favorite absurd moments, quoting ridiculous lines.
The girls especially couldn't stop talking about it.
Just like that, Frank became one of the most popular guys in school. Right alongside Marcus.
Ironically, it worked out in Marcus's favor too. With Frank drawing attention, fewer people were constantly approaching Marcus. He actually had breathing room again, which Arya definitely appreciated.
"Honestly, I'm happy for him," Arya said during lunch. "That could've gone way worse."
Marcus nodded. He'd been genuinely worried. If things hadn't turned out this way, he would've felt terrible—he was the one who convinced Frank to come back.
Later that day, Marcus told Arya and Ryan about licensing Frank's movie for Netflicks.
They stared at him.
"Wait, you're actually putting that on your platform?" Ryan asked.
"Hell yeah. People love it." Marcus grinned. "You guys want copies for your families?"
"Absolutely," Arya said immediately.
"Same," Ryan agreed.
"Just one condition—don't let it get shared online until it's officially released on Netflicks. I need it to launch on the platform first."
"Got it. We won't leak it," Arya promised.
"Deal," Ryan added.
---
Months flew by. Before anyone realized it, May had arrived.
And Netflicks was ready to launch.
Everything was in place. The company was registered. The website was functional. Marcus had even invested heavily in DVDs—$50,000 for three thousand five hundred discs, with ten copies each of the most popular titles.
He'd done his research. He'd looked at piracy sites to see what movies people were downloading most, cross-referenced that with the top fifty movies of the year, and bought accordingly.
On top of that, he'd licensed and restored two hundred public domain films and shows. Restoring the classics alone had cost him $4,000.
Between taxes, development costs, DVDs, and everything else, his once-hefty payment from Summit had shrunk to around $112,000.
Still a lot of money. But it had gone fast.
Thanks to his Advanced Programming skill and Arya and Ryan's help, he'd kept labor costs low—he'd been paying them $300 a month each. He'd promised them equity and higher pay once the company took off.
Besides the public domain content, there was one other licensed film ready to go: Frank's movie.
But Marcus wasn't releasing it yet. He was waiting for Paranormal Activity to hit theaters first. Then he'd drop Frank's film as a parody—it would be even funnier once people recognized it as a shameless handycam ripoff.
"We're launching soon," Marcus told Arya and Ryan one afternoon. "Make sure you tell your families. Get the word out."
"I'll bring it up at dinner," Arya said.
"Same," Ryan agreed.
On May 10th, 2010, Netflicks went live.
Marcus had low expectations for traffic. It was day one. No one knew the site existed yet.
At school the next day, he casually mentioned it to classmates. "Hey, I launched a website where you can watch old movies and shows for free. It's called Netflicks."
Curiosity got the better of them. A few students pulled it up on their phones or checked it out after school.
They found that if they registered an account, they could stream classic films and TV shows—completely free.
But there was also a subscription tier. For $8.99 a month, they could rent DVDs by mail. Choose a movie online, get it shipped to their house, watch it, send it back, and rent another one. No late fees. No per-rental charges.
It was completely different from Blockbuster. At Blockbuster, you paid $4-5 per rental and got hit with late fees if you didn't return it on time.
Here? One flat monthly fee. Rent as much as you wanted.
Some students actually subscribed using QuickPay, the most popular online payment service.
By the end of the first week, Netflicks had fifty registered users.
Marcus checked the dashboard, grinning.
It was a start.
Soon enough, the first DVD orders started shipping out. Since most of the subscribers were students or their families in the NoHo area, delivery was pretty straightforward. Marcus had set up an account with USPS for bulk shipping—prepaid envelopes made returns easy. Customers would get their DVD in two to three days, watch it, then drop it back in the mail. Once Marcus received the return, he'd ship out their next selection.
Right now, with only fifty subscribers, it was manageable. Marcus could handle the packaging and shipping from his garage with Arya and Ryan's help a few hours a week.
But he knew this wouldn't scale. If demand grew—and he was counting on it growing—he'd drown in orders. He couldn't run a distribution center out of his house forever.
He needed to expand. Hire people. Maybe even open a small warehouse.
And that meant he needed capital.
Which is why he approached Nathan one evening after dinner.
"Dad, you interested in investing in Netflicks?"
Nathan looked up from his coffee. "Your little website?"
"It's not little. It's a company. A registered business."
Nathan sighed. "Kid, it launched a week ago and you've got, what, forty users? That's not exactly a success story."
"It's brand new," Marcus said patiently. "Give it time. It'll grow."
"Why don't you just focus on filmmaking?" Nathan leaned back in his chair. "You're good at it. School's almost out—sophomore year ends in a few weeks. You could spend the summer working on another film."
"I'll still make movies," Marcus said. "But this company's important too. Trust me."
Nathan studied his son, clearly unconvinced. "Alright. How about we reach out to Jefferson? See if he's interested?"
Marcus's eyes lit up. Jefferson—the independent investor who'd shown genuine interest in Paranormal Activity during the private screening. He had money and he understood the entertainment business.
"That's perfect. Can you set up a meeting?"
Nathan pulled out his phone. "I'll call him tomorrow."