17 The Makings of A Genius
I straightened my uniform tie and stared at my reflection but my mind was elsewhere.
Why would the creator of Aurora and Echo want to talk to me specifically?
While I was at school, I was going to send Sebastian to set things up, as I still needed to make my debut as a genius.
I got a breakfast of Greek yogurt and granola, to boost my brain's processing, eating it slowly while I was on the way to school.
As we pulled up to the school, I slapped the sides of my face slightly.
I had to focus on the task at hand before worrying about Dr. Liao.
Stepping out of the car, I head immediately to my first class which is English.
Walking in the classroom I see my teacher, Mrs. Doris Tatum getting ready for her school day to start.
Seeing me enter her class, she raises an eyebrow and continues to straighten out her papers.
"Breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day Mr. Rose, better not skip out on it." She says.
"I've had my breakfast already, I've come to discuss something with you before class starts." I respond.
She motions for me to have a seat at a nearby desk.
"I've decided that the work presented before me isn't challenging enough and I'm here requesting work that's more on my level." I explain as I sit.
Without looking away from what she was doing, she responds, "It is true that you excel in each subject and each of us as teachers and in agreement that you deserve more challenging work.
Her tone makes it sound like that's the end of the conversation and I was dismissed.
I was getting the vibe that she felt like I was overconfident in my own abilities and was going to be humbled once I saw how more complicated it was.
Knowing that, I push harder.
"I don't think you understand what I mean Mrs. Tatum. I'm referring to subjects at a college level."
She pauses what shes doing , trying hard to hide the disbelief on her face as shes turns towards me.
She starts to respond, then stops as she turns towards her computer, typing something.
She prints out three pages which she passes over to me, skepticism clear on her face.
As I gaze over each page, a smile forms on my face.
As an English teacher, shes given me some excerpts from Shakespeare's, "Macbeth".
There were some questions asking about his work.
For example, there was a question that asked me to analyze the use of symbolism and imagery such as the recurring motifs of light and darkness or the natural world. I was also asked to explain how those elements enhanced the thematic and emotional impact of the works.
I go to explain how crucial each motif plays a part in representing various aspects of human experience.
Light is usually associated with truth, knowledge, and enlightenment while darkness symbolizes deception, ignorance, or moral ambiguity.
With Macbeth, light would signify the love and passion that he would have for Lady Macbeth and hers in him as she encouraged his actions to become a king.
The darkness would be represented by the guilt, the allure of evil, and even the magic of the witches as they could be the domino that first fell causing his descent to madness.
They go to add depth and resonance to the characters' conflicts and dilemmas, creating an immersive and captivating experience for the audience.
Basically pretty boring stuff as drama and poetry wasn't really my cup of tea. I was more interested in paintings and sculptures.
But since I had also already studied this course in college, I knew what answers a teacher would look for.
Handing the paper back, she puts on her reading glasses, prepared for meaningless answers, but as she continues to read my paper, I can see a shift in her posture as she intently reads my answers.
She looks up from the paper, "During your break, come by and see me."
Satisfied with my results, I head over to my seat and prepare for the start of class.
It seems like the break takes forever but it soon arrives.
Finishing with lunch, I head over to her classroom and find her waiting on me.
She exits the classroom, motioning for me to follow as she leads me to the Principal's office.
She slides the paper towards him, "Have a look at this Principal Mahomes."
He looks over the paper before setting it neatly down on his desk.
"I've only heard good things about you Mr.Rose.
You're the top student in all your classes so it's no surprise to find one of your teachers presenting me with work from you that's not respectful of someone that's in the third grade.
I will gladly contact the LEA and set up a meeting where they evaluate to see what your true apprehension level is."
I stand, shaking his hand as he beams at me with a professional smile.
The rest of the school day goes by in a blur as Sebastian pulls the car up and I hop in.
"Take me to the nearest barbershop."
We travel for 30 minutes as he takes me by a place where there are rows of apartments and I instantly question if this is the project that he's taken me to.
We pull up to a building that's slightly run down with the 'R' on the neon sign blinking out, which reads, "Barbeshop."
Looking at it, I can't help but think that is the right place.
Walking in, all heads turn towards me and I see that there's only three other dark skinned barbers in the shop so I head towards an open chair.
"You lost boy?" One of the barbers asked.
"You get haircuts here right?" I counter.
He looks among the other barbers before answering, "It is."
"Well then I want a number 8." I respond, nodding towards his chart of various haircuts.
He looks at the chart as the other barbers start chuckling.
He shrugs his shoulders as he prepares to cut my hair.
After a couple of minutes, one of the barbers sitting down starts talking about how his basketball team is doing with the draft this season.
His comments don't sit right with the barber who is currently cutting my hair and he starts a debate.
I'm amazed that he's clearly not paying attention to cutting my hair while talking, but is somehow not messing up.
As everyone else just listens to their banter, I had my own opinion by talking about my own team.
I talk about where each person should be drafted and the effect they'll have on each team.
Everyone listens intently on what I have to say and only starts asking questions once I finish.
Pretty soon, it takes 30 minutes for my haircut to finish and he's given me a low temp fade, and combed my gray and black hair forward.
Looking at it, I considered getting dreads to finalize the look.
Paying them, they wished me a good day and looked outside to see a group of four dark skinned teens around Sebastian who was standing at the car.
Walking to the car, one teen who was the tallest out the group steps in front of me.
"As I've been trying to tell Tin Man here, there's a fee for parking here." He says while arrogantly getting closer to me.
His group stands behind him as I have to look up to him.
Unfazed I responded, "And just how much is this fee?"
He smiles, "Well since you took so long, it was just $50 but due to inflation, you now owe $50,000."
"Leave him alone, Marquis. What if I told your grandmother about what you're doing?"
I turn to see the barbers have come out and the older one is speaking to the tall guy in front of me.
"Worry about your sign and not me Lyonel." Marquis says, never taking his gaze off of me.
"You should listen to him, Marquis and leave me alone." I caution, which makes Lyonel shake his head.
Marquis scowls for a second, then it disappears as the smile returns.
"Yeah, you're right, I don't want to upset my grandmother."
He turns to his left, preparing to walk away.
Suddenly he spins around, swinging his left fist towards my face.
I was expecting him to do something like this as he didn't seem like the type to give up so easily.
Holding my right arm up, it catches his arm and I step forward sweeping his feet out from under him.
As he falls to the ground, I keep his arm behind him.
His group starts to rush forward to help him, but I put pressure on his arm that I'm holding causing Marquis to scream in pain which makes them hesitate.
Lyonel and the other barbers slowly approach, holding their hands up.
"Alright you've made your point, don't hurt Marquis, I'll deal with him, just go."
The others in the group back up further as I put more pressure on Marquis arm which causes his face to turn red.
When the barbers form a line between me and the others from Marquis' group, I let his arm go.
Walking towards the car, I don't say anything and Marquis stays on the ground, breathing heavily.
Driving off, I look back to see Marquis look at the car in hatred before getting smacked in the back of the head by Lyonel.
Looking at my watch, I see I have a couple of hours until it's sunset which means I'm still on schedule.
"Take me to Omnica Corporation. I think it's time to meet with Dr. Liao."
