Follow the dream to crush it (4)

During Liam’s last year in middle school

Liam along with his father and sister were sitting at the kitchen table waiting for his mom to dish out the food. It was daytime and all of them were wearing normal clothes, suggesting it was an off day.

Liam’s middle school appearance as described before was greatly different than his high school self, this also applied to his characteristics.

‘’Hey, dad!’’ While using his phone Liam called out to his father who was busy reading files on a tab.

The tablet was placed on the table in front of Jared in a standing position, supported by a plastic-made stand.

Jared, who was scrolling through the pages with the index finger of his right hand stopped and looked at Liam through the glasses he was wearing.

Jared’s eyes were tired, his face was older than a soon-to-turn 34yo man should have.

‘’Yes?’’

Liam moved his eyes towards Jared after hearing the reply. Putting his phone away, he focused solely on his father.

‘’I want to join a mixed high school.’’

Jared moved his eyes towards the screen again after hearing what Liam had to say. The water from his wet, black, combed back hair made its way towards his forehead, giving a false expression of nervousness.

‘’Not this again… no!’’

‘’What?’’ Liam was irritated by that answer, ‘’you have been neglecting my request for years. When will that ONE DAY you talked about, come?’’

Jared kept staring at the screen, ‘’what day?’’

‘’You know… back in elementary school…’’

As their conversation was continuing, Liam’s mother turned back, and his sister stopped watching anime on her phone to give what Jared and Liam had going their full attention.

‘’You said that one day I will go to a school that will have girls, and last I checked, after high school, there will be no concept of school for me.’’

Jared moved his eyes to the left, trying to think of something.

‘’Can’t remember, but still… after graduation, you can aim to be a teacher like your mother, so, what you just said isn’t accurate.’’

‘’Wha… what’s your problem with a mixed school anyways?’’ Liam yelled in anger, ‘’many of my friends went there in middle school.’’

Jared looked towards Sadie (Liam’s mother - age 33) giving her a signal to save him from this conversation, while Liam continued.

‘’Me I can understand to an extent,’’ Liam pointed at his sister who was sitting next to Jared, ‘’but Harper is in the same boat.’’

‘’Calm down.’’

Liam’s mother placed food on the table while nodding towards Jared, telling him that she will handle it.

‘Nice save.’ Jared blinked.

‘Don’t blink or he will notice.’ Sadie blinked back.

‘’You can go to a mixed school,’’ Sadie smiled.

-cough cough- ‘what kind of handling is this?’ Jared signaled

-sniff sniff- ‘let me finish.’ Sadie signaled back.

‘’If you change the way you look and speak.’’

‘’Done.’’

Liam answered without hesitation, he agreed to what his mother demanded. This wasn't something Sadie was expecting, this placed her in a corner, she was struck by a non-dodgeable verbal bullet in this argument.

‘It backfired, do something.’ Sadie moved her eyes towards Jared, hoping for him to step in and help her out.

However, Jared avoided eye contact signaling her that he was out for good. ‘You are on your own.’

Not having any backup, Sadie was left with no choice but to think of something herself, she couldn't think of anything but to tell Liam what he wanted to hear and close the talk with another condition.

"And we will pick the school you go to."

Liam muttered in frustration, "it's not like I was the one picking so far."

…

Summer, 2022 (Before the first day at high school)

"Mom! I can't find anything about the school you talked about on the net."

Liam, who looked similar to his high school self, approached his mother while holding his phone in his right hand. His mother was resting on the sofa with her eyes closed after all day of tiring work.

"Maybe the internet is slow or not working properly."

Sadie didn't open her eyes as she answered, the reason wasn't her tiredness, it was because she was hiding something from Liam. 'I had to block all keywords on the router, can't have him find out about the school before he starts studying there.'

"Hmm… yes! Maybe that's why whenever I type Y. C. S. C. It says 404 not found."

…

"Are you sure I don't need to go for admissions?"

Liam asked his parents who were ready to leave to get his admission done to his new school.

He was standing behind them, near the main door of the house.

His father, who was holding the doorknob, turned his head back and spoke in an emotionless state, "they don't hold entrance exams or need anything from you, so I don't see any point in you being there."

…

"Dad! Shouldn't there be a newcomer ceremony or something in that school before classes start?"

Standing near the door of his parent's room, Liam asked his father a question. Jared was laying on the bed with his laptop placed on his chest.

Hearing Liam's voice he stopped what he was doing, and moved his eyes up. He didn't close the laptop or placed it away, maybe he was doing something important and didn't want to lose track of it.

"They do have those."

Jared replied without thinking much which proved to be something he regretted within seconds. 'F*ck… my tongue slipped.'

"Oh great, when is it then?" Liam was excited.

"You see…" Jared moved his eyes down, trying to avoid eye contact with Liam, "they canceled it."

"What? Why?"

"Something about school repairs, don't remember it clearly."

"That's a letdown, was looking forward to it."

…

Back to Liam's room.

September 06, 2022, 2:30 pm.

'Excuses, they were making excuses all this time, they picked this school because they knew about the club.'