Stella smirked atop her pile of plush pillows in her little gang hideaway. She was very happy in her new life... Sure her parents were away and trapped probably in some other game system, but she had managed fine. She just bumped up her Charisma and min-maxed the hell out of it. Each additional level up and increase to her Charisma she found had made the 10 year old all the more adorable. Technically she had been a beggar, but all the NPCs were smitten with her. A lot of PCs also had a type of infatuation with her, but when they figured out she was trying to con them they'd walk away. Still it was more than enough to get herself "adopted" by some rich NPCs... Who she then robbed blind and convinced a bunch of Strength NPC's to be her body guards in her own little Syndicate she founded. With her Charisma she at first had to pay the NPC's a salary of sorts, but with each level that salary went lower and lower till her NPC henchman were top tier and were paying her to work for her.
Then she came into contact with Stewart. She was getting a pizza herself as it seemed like her henchman would always get the order wrong, and then some nerdy kid guy in front of her paid for his food... and then fired some sort of beam or whatever and then his pizza was immediately ready. That was the day Stewart was coerced into joining her Syndicate as their Smarts based member who was able to outfit the henchman with all sorts of cool equipment and doodads. Over time other kids around their age joined offering mostly their Strength or Dex skills as better muscle than Stella's standard Henchmen. There were even one or two other nerds who worked under Stewart, but Stella had a soft spot for her first hire. It also seemed to Stella that most other Charisma min-maxers tended to lead their own syndicates as well so she didn't have much Charisma competition in her own. However thanks to Stewart the kids in her syndicate learned that you in fact could go to school, and that there were some benefits to going. A large chunk of xp for minimal risk, and the chance to get a few unique perks. Stella ended up getting more xp by leading her Syndicate so she didn't end up going, but now it was getting more and more boring when most everyone else in the Syndicate were going to school... Now that she thought about it... It had been awhile since she saw most of her other Syndicate members... She was mostly just giving orders and hiring through NPCs...
Looking through her contacts Stewart was a year or two older than her and went to... that nearby high school. She still was technically adopted, and with her Charisma skill she was easily able to enroll on the spot and skip a few years. She was also able to go through the registry and was able to find which classes Stewart went to... It didn't matter to her that she'd probably fail everything she just wanted to see what her good friend was up to. Walking through the court yard Stella was getting the feeling she may be a little young. It seemed like everyone was at least a foot taller than her or more... They were teens. Entering the classroom she spotted Stewart sitting next to some NPC. A quick pair of puppy dog eyes and the NPC gave Stella his spot and his lunch money. Stella stared up at her friend who had gotten a growth spurt or two through that age gate. Once you hit a certain age your body would adapt itself to the new age type. Since Stewart was on the other side of 13 he was now a teenager and now was a bit of a scrawny high school teenager.
Stewart smiled at his small friend and said "Hi Stella, been a little while. Decided to come to school?"
"Was curious what you and some of the other Syndicate members were up to here."
"Well I'm just doing some Senior level course work before graduating to college level work. Should help get the right perks, but I'm not sure you'll be getting much since you should be in middle school right?"
"Come on Stew... You'll let me cheat off you right? The NPC teachers shouldn't mind." The door to the classroom opened again revealing some curvy girl in a mini skirt and tank top.
She strolled up to Stewart and said "Hey Stewie! How's my favorite cheat sheet doing? and whose your wittle fwiend?" she said condescendingly
Stewart said "Hi Vanessa. Vanessa this is my syndicate leader Stella, and Stella this is the syndicate leader of Alpha Gamma Alpha. Currently here as an actual Senior." Stella could tell Stewart was trying to avert his eyes from Vanessa's cleavage despite them calling to him.
Vanessa grinned as said "As you can see I'm a Charisma type like yourself. From what I hear you might become curvier than myself when you hit teenhood."
"Huh?" Stella asked "What do you mean curvy... I've got plenty of adorable cuteness perks! I can't lose those!"
Vanessa raised her eyebrows "Those get adapted into sexiness." Stella was silent for a bit and then Vanessa asked "you didn't know that's how it worked for Charisma girls?"
Stewart said "To be fair, she's not surrounded by female PCs with high charisma that are about to go through puberty."
"Stew!" Stella panicked "Please tell me you have some weird thingamabob that can stop that?!?!"
Vanessa asked "Is growing boobs really that scary to you? It's not bad at all, and with the right perks and equipment they can be even more effective than adorableness."
"I don't want to Fuck people for my charisma to be effective though!"
Stewart thought and said "I may be able to make something in a month or two." Stella groaned in her adorable way so Stewart asked "and when's your birthday again?"
"In a week..." Stella moaned.
Vanessa smiled a little and said "Hey it's only thanks to your Syndicate buddy that I'm able to pass this class. I'd be happy helping your through this transition."
Stella had a grim look on her face and just walked out of class, and just went her way back to her hideaway. She then just shoved herself into her pillow pile as she let her upcoming puberty go through her mind. She just wanted to be cute and adorable. It was the perfect way for her to use her Charisma thanks to perks like "Adorable Aura" which let other objects or characters use her Charisma for cute things or "Wonderous Innocence" which essentially let her off the hook for anything she did as long as she passed a Charisma check. She could tell those would go away after she developed sexiness... Along with her not feeling comfortable doing anything sex involved like that. She also enjoyed wearing her adorable and soft clothes instead of showing off as much skin as possible... Maybe it was also a little bit of apprehension of growing up. However for the next few days she mostly just spent time in her bed allowing her henchmen to get her food and whatever as they passively earned her income.