Gradual Change – Part 2

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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 was able to convince 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, taking a look at the backseat where she saw Ryan. He was so busy doing something on his tablet, 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, and 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. For her, Ryan was the cute little brother she always wanted to have.

Surprised a bit by the kiss Ryan looked up to see Nancy smiling at him, he smiled back at her. "Hi, Nancy," Ryan replied. He always enjoyed being around Nancy, she even 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 Oliver at school then we can go home," Heather suggested.

Nancy nodded and with a smile, she headed over to her mom. Oliver, a shy 10-year-old boy who was Ryan's classmate and friend was also Nancy's cousin. After his parents died, he went to live with his uncle and Nancy. Nancy was more than 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.

She 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 some kind of online game he was playing with Ryan.

"I'm fine," Oliver replied shyly. Oliver had always been a shy boy before he moved to live with Nancy, he didn't have any friends. It was a different story in his new school due to Ryan introducing Oliver to his friends, he now has friends he could hang out with. While Oliver doesn't understand it yet, he was developing a deep crush on Ryan.

Arriving at school both Ryan and Oliver left the car and headed into the school. Something they could brag about is having lockers even if they were just elementary school. 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, they only considered students who passed their rigorous entrance exam. Once accepted, the school's main focus was finding the children's gifts and help them grow their talents.

The school itself is one very large building with four entrances: one for primary school, one for middle school, one for high school, and one for school administration and kindergarten.

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 door of the locker 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. She was one of Ryan's friends since kindergarten and liked to play pranks, especially on Ryan.

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

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

The uniform for boys and girls is liked by almost all the parents so there was never any objection from the adults. Ryan felt bad for all the girls and he 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. Ryan just stuck out his tongue. She likes to take every chance to call him a girl just to tease him. One time she even told him he would look better than her in the girl's uniform.

While Ryan only sees her as his best friend, Dakota gets weird feelings around him. She doesn't understand the feelings, but she knows she's always happier when she's close to Ryan. Happier 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 alone but now because of Ryan, he's got many friends.

Dakota turned to Oliver with a grin on her face. It worried Oliver a bit, he didn't know what Dakota might try to do. While her pranks were mostly 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. Oliver was caught a bit 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 explained happily. Ryan, Dakota, Shelby, Connor, and now Oliver were very close friends and were known for it by the whole primary school. 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 not seeing them anywhere.

"Late as always." Was Dakota's answer.

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, take your seats, please," the teacher said catching Ryan's attention who went back 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 highly intelligent Ryan proved to be exceptionally smarter than other kids. Coming up with questions that needed his attention in tests was very challenging.

A regular quiz is made weekly in every subject. The quizzes are made to challenge a student's abilities and help them to identify their weak points. That's why every student got a different test. Making a test for Ryan proved to be a difficult challenge for his teachers. However, that's the reason his teachers like 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 be going to the gym where you will 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 try on your uniform," 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, both of them said at the same time. Being 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 walked back to her desk and started to organize the stack of papers again. "Alright first 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, as usual. Whispers like: Perfect score again. How does he do it? I heard he doesn't do anything else but study.

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. The reason they all got very high scores was that they study with Ryan in a group, he was always a great help.

The third name was a boy named Steven, 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 was done 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.  This was a fact only known to Ryan.

Following their teachers, all the students entered the gym. Each one of them was handed a tag with a number on it. Ryan's tag read 5/22. In the middle of the gym, a long table was placed with what looked like 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 green 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 brown silky hair and emerald green eyes.

"He said he's not feeling well," Ryan said trying to cover up for Oliver. Oliver's secret shouldn't be known to anyone 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 headed back to class and Oliver was nowhere to be seen. They had planned all this, two days ago, Oliver will pretend not to feel good, and Ryan will cover from him. He just had to tell his friends since their homeroom teacher already knows.

They were given a brief lecture on why the blood test was done and were told that the results would be sent to their homes after Christmas then they were released for the day. All of them 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, then I am going to meet coach Damien, I can't miss any more training days," Ryan said with a shrug. While it may sound tough, he didn't mind at all. He loved the water and enjoyed swimming more than anything else.

"I'm hungry, 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. They all decided to go to the cafeteria to have a snack after calling Oliver. They walked to the cafeteria where Oliver waited for them. Everyone ordered a snack and gathered around a table to eat.

"So how are you feeling now Oliver?" Shelby asked worriedly. From the moment Ryan introduced Oliver to them, they have been getting along very well.

Oliver looked at Ryan his expression showed how grateful he was for Ryan. "I am good now, thank you," Oliver said softly.

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

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

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

"Is he really that bad?" Oliver asked. He knows they complain a lot about their brother, but he didn't know how bad it actually 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 always introduced as his only son as if Oscar didn't exist.

"You guys can talk about this 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's 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 by luck, they couldn't even hire a babysitter, then one of the ladies in the neighborhood who adores Ryan would be glad to take care of him.  Mostly 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.