“Just curious. So tell me.”
She knew he knew yet still she chose to sidestep and that pissed him off even more. “He just thought it would be better for me to be home-schooled.”
He shifted on the bed and placed his elbows on his knees. “Really? So it has nothing to do with the fact that you were considered to be tooadvanced.” Sarcasm made his tone edgy. “Sorry, is that the wrong word? From the articles, it seems the right word ischild prodigy. Is that the one you’re more familiar with?”
Her eyes locked on his and for some reason, she seemed irritated that he knew this about her. “The term ‘child prodigy’ only lasts until you’re eighteen, so now I’m just a regular person.”
He gritted his teeth, becoming more frustrated that she was still playing it down like it was no big deal. “Actually, if you’re over eighteen, you’re classified as a genius. Can you tell that I did a bit of reading on this?” He gave her a smile dripping with disdain. “I’m a regular person and it takes me hours to understand the scientific principles you mastered at the age of ten.”
Her eyes lit up. “Oh, so you are in college? What are you studying?”
“Don’t change the subject,” he clipped curtly. “You are going to head up a major research department at nineteen without a college education. Not regular. You’ve been tasked with researching alternative sources of energy that’s supposedly going to change the face of the future. Definitely not regular.”
“Technicallywe—not I—are tasked with finding clean and renewable sources of energy,” she corrected using the same mocking tone he did. “And while I’m at it, I might also look into revolutionizing the whole sphere of biodegradable packing material. It’s disgusting how much we pollute the environment with things that can easily be recycled, so biodegradable is the way forward. Are you done with your questions now?”
Her cheeky retort instantly made his blood boil. His asshole side was beginning to surface.
Bob:You gotta hand it to her. She’s a sassy one.
Dan:Well, that sass is only making the situation worse. He’s about two seconds away from snapping.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked.
“I didn’t think you’d care.”
“I didn’t give a fuck about Rachel’s stupid party, but you couldn’t shut up about that. I had to find out over the internet that you’re a genius in math and science and biochemistry. Your tutors were some of the smartest university professors from around the world. And how did you pay for such tutors? Oh, let’s just throw in the fact that your dad’s a billionaire!”
“Why are you so upset about all this?”
Bob:I don’t think he even knows why he’s upset about this.
Dan:He’s grasping at straws. He’s looking for any excuse to push her away. He just found out she’s completely out of his league. The genius daughter of a billionaire? C’mon, Bob. You do the math. (Grins) Get it?
Bob:Yeah…that’s not funny.
“Because you should have told me!” he bit out.
Her eyebrows creased and she smirked, feigning amusement. “That’s extremely hypocritical, don’t you think? Almost everything I know about you I figured out on my own. You don’t tell me anything about your life, your family…yourself, so may I request that you get off your high horse and stop demanding the very thing you refuse to give me in return?”
Dan:(Bows head with respect) Touché.
Bob:I really like this girl, Dan.
Dan:That’s exactly the problem. You’re not the only one.
“Jazz, from day one you’ve been sharing every personal detail about yourself whether I wanted to know it or not, so I don’t get why this is some big secret.”
“It’s simple. I didn’t want you to know…I just…” She was struggling to find a way to explain it and it took a few tries before she eventually got the words out. “I wanted…I wanted you to think…I was cool.”
“Cool?” He was on the verge of losing his shit. “Cool, Jasmin? You wanted me to think you werecool?”
Bob:The more he says it, the less sense it makes.
His jaw tightened and his fingers curled into fists. “Are you kidding me right now? You downplay everything for the sake of being cool?”
She released a heavy sigh. “People…treat me differently once they found out…and not always in a good way. I’ve been teased and pranked and treated like a total outcast because of it. Some kids thought it was really fun to make thesmartkid look stupid. My point is that sometimes that’s all they see. The Brainiac. The human calculator. The…whatever. It’s only one aspect of me and I don’t want that to be what defines who I am. I don’t want to bedifferent. I just want to fit in and I want people to treat me the same way they treat everyone else.”
Kevin was quiet for a long while. In a weird way he understood her reasoning because he understoodher, and he couldn’t stay mad at her after that. “People are always going to treat you different,” he said softly, “because you are different. You shouldn’t hide it. It’s not about letting it define you, it’s about embracing every part of you. The wannabe big-dick rapper and the nerdy genius. The social outcast and the exceptionally horrible dancer. The environmental activist and the weirdo who loves spiders. That’s all you, Jazz. You shouldn’t try to fit in when there are so many things that make you stand out.”
