Ryan sat in the backseat of his mom’s black SUV while listening to music on his tablet. George sat in the front seat beside Heather; seeing that his school was on the way between Ryan’s and their home, they dropped George off at his high school first.

Ryan was glad that his mom and dad agreed to let him sit in the car without a car seat. He didn’t lack in height when it came to kids his age. Being 4’ 6” and with George’s help, he convinced his parents to let him ride without a car seat.

Being the baby of the family and the fact that he almost died when he was a baby made them very overprotective in a way that Ryan didn’t like sometimes.

Reaching George’s school, Heather pulled over in front. Just as George was getting out of the car, a girl his age approached. “Good morning Miss Heather,” the girl said, smiling.
“Good morning Nancy. How are you today, honey?” Heather asked the girl.

Heather loved Nancy and considered her the daughter she never had. Both her and George were friends, and both families were close. Close enough to frequently go out for dinner together or have dinner in one of their homes.

“I am fine,” Nancy said, looking at the backseat where she saw Ryan. He was so busy doing something on his tablet that he didn’t notice her.
Walking over to the back of the car just as Heather lowered the window beside Ryan, Nancy leaned in and kissed Ryan on his cheek. “Hi, cutie,” Nancy said, smiling at him.

She was always an only child; before her cousin came to live with her, she lived alone with her parents. She spent a lot of time with Ryan at his house or hers. Ryan was the cute little brother she had always wanted to have for her.

Surprised by the kiss Ryan looked up to see Nancy smiling at him, and he smiled back at her. “Hi, Nancy,” Ryan replied. He always enjoyed being around Nancy; she played video games with him and George.

Across from them, Nancy’s mom seemed to have trouble starting her car. “Honey, why don’t you tell your mom to ride with us? We can drop Ryan and Oli at their school, and then we can go home,” Heather suggested.

With a smile, Nancy nodded and headed over to her mom. Oliver, a shy 10-year-old boy who was Ryan’s classmate and friend, was Nancy’s cousin. After his parents died in an accident, he went to live with his uncle and Nancy. Nancy was happy with the idea, and so was her mom.

Nancy told her mom what Heather suggested, and she was more than happy to accept the offer. “Thank you, Heather, you saved us,” Nancy’s mom said, getting into the front seat. Oliver had just got in the backseat beside Ryan.

“Not at all. We’re heading to the same place,” Heather said, smiling and pulled out of the parking lot of the school.

“It’s nice to see you again, Oli. How are you?” Heather asked while looking in the mirror to see Oliver, who had already become hooked on an online game he was playing with Ryan.

“I’m fine, Mrs. Houston,” Oliver replied shyly. Oliver had always been a shy boy before he moved to live with Nancy and didn’t have any friends. It was a different story in his new school because Ryan introduced Oliver to his friends, and he could now hang out with Ryan’s group. While Oliver doesn’t understand it yet, he has developed a deep crush on Ryan.

Arriving at school, Ryan and Oliver left the car and headed inside. They could brag about having lockers even if they were in an elementary school, though they were lockers without locks. Talented Youth Academy or T. Y. A. is a school for all grades, starting from kindergarten and ending at high school.

Getting accepted to the school can be tricky since they only consider students who passed their rigorous entrance exam. Once the students were enrolled, the school’s main focus was on uncovering the children’s talents and helping them reach their potential.

The school is one large building with four entrances: one for primary school, one for middle school, one for high school, and one for school administration and kindergarten. Each part was separate from the other.

Entering the building, both Ryan and Oliver headed straight to their lockers. Ryan took off his backpack and his long leather coat, putting them in his locker. Closing the locker door, Ryan was surprised when a girl came up from behind and blew in his ear.

This action startled Ryan and made him jump. It took him a second to calm down. He turned around to look at the person that almost gave him a heart attack.

“Seriously, Dakota? You nearly gave me a heart attack.” Ryan said to the red-haired girl. Since kindergarten, she has been one of Ryan’s best friends and liked to play pranks, especially on Ryan. Dakota was a tomboy, very fond of Ryan, and enjoyed his company.

If Ryan didn’t like his uniform, he would say girls had it worse. The girl’s uniform was a white ruffle bib button-up blouse, a high waist black flared knee-length skirt, and a black blazer jacket with a ribbon wrapped neatly around the blouse’s collar.

Girls must always wear tights as a form of modesty, and they can choose between white, black, or beige-colored ones. They are also required to wear low heels and black Mary Jean shoes with ankle straps bought with the uniform.

The parents liked the uniform for boys and girls, and there was never any objection from the adults. Ryan felt terrible for all the girls and couldn’t imagine being in their place.

“You whine like a girl,” Dakota teased Ryan with a giggle. Ryan was her best friend, and she knew he wouldn’t get mad at her. She likes to take every chance to call him a girl to tease him. One time she even told him he would look better than her in the girl’s uniform. Ryan just stuck out his tongue.

While Ryan sees her as his best friend, Dakota gets weird feelings around him. She doesn’t understand her emotions, but she knows she’s always happier when close to Ryan. More content than when she’s with any other friend.

Oliver just watched the whole situation while laughing. He was glad that Ryan refused to leave him alone, as every moment he spent with Ryan and his friends was always fun. In his last school, he was always alone, doing everything by himself, but now, he’s got many friends because of Ryan.

Dakota turned to Oliver with a grin on her face. It worried Oliver a bit; he never knew what Dakota might try to do. While her pranks were usually harmless, they were always unexpected.

“Ok, what are you planning now?” Oliver asked quizzically.

Dakota grabbed Oliver’s arm, sliding a green rubber band over his wrist. Dakota caught Oliver off guard as he stared at the rubber band.

“Now you have one too,” Dakota said, showing him her blue-colored rubber band. At the same time, Ryan showed him his orange rubber band.

“Shelby has a purple one, and Connor has a black one,” Ryan chirped happily. Ryan, Dakota, Shelby, Connor, and Oliver were close friends, and the whole primary school knew their group. The rubber wristband was like a symbol of their group. While Oliver didn’t have many other friends, that was not the case for the other four, especially Ryan.

“Now that I think about it, where’s Shelby and Connor?” Ryan asked, looking around and not seeing them anywhere.

“Late as always,” Dakota answered.

The three of them walked to their classroom. Oliver and Dakota took their seats while Ryan went to a group of boys showing them something on his tablet. The boys were so focused on what they were looking at that they didn’t see the teacher coming into the class.

“Alright, everyone, please, take your seats,” the teacher said, catching Ryan’s attention, and he returned to his desk. “First of all, glad to have you back, Ryan,” the teacher said as Ryan smiled, nodding. While all the kids in the school are brilliant, Ryan proved to be exceptionally smarter than other kids. Coming up with questions that needed his attention in tests was challenging for his teachers.

Regular quizzes are made weekly in every subject, challenging students’ abilities to help them identify their weak points. That’s why every student got a different test. Creating a test for Ryan proved to be a difficult challenge for his teachers. However, that’s why his teachers liked him so much and missed him when he was absent. They had never seen a child as bright and as smart as Ryan.

“I will be handing the grades of the last quiz, and then we will go to the gym where you will all take a blood test, a brief lecture after that, then the rest of the day will be a free day.”

Just as the teacher was taking out a stack of papers, there was a knock at the door.

“I bet it’s Shelby and Connor. Dakota leaned to whisper in Ryan’s ear. Ryan just smiled, shaking his head.

“I am not taking that bet; we all know it’s them. Seriously, Dakota, you need to find a better idea to get me to exchange uniforms with you,” Ryan said with a smirk teasing Dakota. He knew Dakota had tried more than once to get him to try on her uniform. It was a harmless joke from Dakota, but she was serious; she wanted to see Ryan wearing her uniform once.

Just as Ryan guessed, the teacher opened the door to find Shelby and Connor standing in front of her. She gave them a stern look. “Shelby and Connor, you’re late again. Care to explain yourselves?” the teacher asked sternly, eyeing the two of them.

“Sorry, Ms. Mackenzie, we were late getting out of our house,” both said simultaneously. Arriving late is like a habit for both of them as they rarely come in on time.

With a sigh, Ms. Mackenzie stepped aside for them. “Just take your seats and try not to be late again,” Ms. Mackenzie demanded.

Ms. Mackenzie returned to her desk and started again organizing the stack of papers. “Alright, let’s start with the highest score, Ryan. Please come and take your paper.”

As Ryan left his seat and went to Ms. Mackenzie’s desk, he could hear whispers. There were whispers like, “Perfect score again. I heard he doesn’t do anything else but study. How does he do it?”

It made Ryan blush as he walked to get his paper. “Good job Ryan, I made it harder, but you got the full mark again,” Ms. Mackenzie said, making Ryan blush even more.

Ryan took his seat as Ms. Mackenzie started to call other students. Oliver was the second, Shelby was fourth, Dakota was the fifth, and Conner was the sixth. They all got very high scores because they studied with Ryan in a group, and he was always a great help.

The third name was a boy named Steven, and he was the only one that didn’t study with Ryan and still got a high score. He was one of Ryan’s friends even if they weren’t very close, and Ryan made sure to invite him to his birthday as Steven did the same.

Once the teacher finished giving papers to everyone and telling them her observations, she instructed them to follow her to the gym. Everyone left their seat and headed out of the classroom.

Oliver, however, stayed inside the classroom. He already took the test a year ago. Ryan knew this fact but kept it a secret.

Following their teachers, all the students entered the gym. They were all handed a tag with a number on it. Ryan’s tag read 5/22. In the middle of the gym were tables and chairs with doctors taking blood samples from all the students.

“Where’s Oliver?” Connor asked as they all sat down. Connor was a boy with jet black hair and hazel eyes. He was a bit shorter than Ryan, standing at 4’ 4”. Shelby was his stepsister, so it wasn’t surprising that they would look completely different with her silky brown hair and emerald green eyes.

“He said he’s not feeling well,” Ryan said, covering up for Oliver since Oliver entrusted him with that secret, he wouldn’t tell anyone.

All four of them chatted and made jokes until their turn came. The first one was Connor, followed by Dakota, then Ryan, and the last one was Shelby. They all returned to class, and Oliver was absent from the room. Ryan and Oliver had planned this two days ago, Oliver would pretend not to feel good, and Ryan will cover for him. He just had to tell his friends since their homeroom teacher already knew that Oliver previously had this test.

The class watched a brief video lecture about the blood test and the genetic disorder it tested. The teacher told them their parents would receive their results after Christmas, and they left school for the day. They all had the rest of the day to spend on whatever they wanted. That was how the school worked the day before winter break.
“So, what should we do? We have got the rest of the day free,” Dakota said as they left the class.

“Well, I have one hour of free time, and then I will meet coach Damien since I can’t miss any more training days,” Ryan said with a shrug. While it may sound harsh, he didn’t mind at all. He loved the water and enjoyed swimming more than anything else.

“I’m hungry. I need to go to the cafeteria. Does anyone want to get some snacks?” Connor said as everyone started to laugh.

“You’re always hungry, Connor,” Shelby said as Connor stuck out his tongue at her. After calling Oliver to wait for them, they all decided to go to the cafeteria to have a snack. Everyone ordered a snack and gathered around a table to eat.

“So, how are you feeling now, Oliver?” Shelby asked worriedly. Since Ryan introduced Oliver, they have been getting along very well.

Oliver looked at Ryan; his expression showed his gratitude for Ryan. “I am feeling much better now,” Oliver said softly.

“Oh, yeah, your brother is playing today, right?” Connor asked a bit excitedly. He sees Ryan’s brother as someone he wants to be. George is strong and famous in his school and their school as well. Yet, he is very caring to Ryan and treats him well. That was the opposite of Connor’s stepbrother, who couldn’t even treat his sister nicely. Both he and Shelby hate him so much.

“Yup, they have a game today,” Ryan said proudly. He was and is forever proud of his older brother. They have a lot in common, like video games and favorite movies, just like their dads. Both loved cars so much. He’s someone every boy looks up to, and he couldn’t blame them.

“I wish my brother were like yours. George is pretty cool, and Oscar is an A-hole,” Shelby said with a sigh. She didn’t even understand why Conner, her stepbrother, was much nicer than her brother. Even Dakota’s older brother, who wasn’t super cool like George, was very nice to Dakota.

“Is he that bad?” Oliver asked. He knows they complain a lot about their brother, but he doesn’t know how bad it was. He had never seen Oscar, not even once.

“Yes, it’s that bad,” Connor replied. He couldn’t understand why Oscar was such an asshole to everyone in his family. Connor had no problem with his stepdad and got along with him great. He had noticed that he was constantly introduced as his only son as if Oscar didn’t exist.

“You guys can talk about that A-hole as much as you want. I have a training schedule to catch up with,” Ryan said, getting up from his chair.

“Will you be, ok? Weren’t you still sick two days ago?” Dakota asked worriedly. Ryan’s biggest problem was that he was always sick in the winter. He spent most of last week in bed, not even leaving his bed for any reason.

If no one was home and Nancy’s mom was busy, which was rare since she worked online, they could hire a babysitter. If they couldn’t even hire a babysitter by luck, then one of the ladies in the neighborhood who adores Ryan would be glad to take care of him. That didn’t happen because his mom would rather stay beside her sick child than go to work.

“I will be fine,” Ryan answered rather confidently.