The Genius

Chapter Twelve

"What's going on?" I asked, walking into the scene of Ava hugging Caleb in an almost death grip in the middle of the living room. My parents were sitting on the sofa, smiling at the scene in front of them. Candice was pacing around, chattering excitedly.

"Keep up Wyatt! The art institute dad's always talking about offered Caleb a scholarship," Candice said, clapping her hands as she said each word.

My eyes darted to Caleb who was now free from Ava's hug. He looked partly disinterested and stunned all at the same time.

"He's just a sophomore," I said, looking over to my parents.

"We know," my mother said, waving her hand at my statement. "He's obviously not leaving now. It's a pre-scholarship offer."

"Oh," I muttered, looking over at Caleb. "Err, I guess that's good news I guess."

"I guess," he shrugged, looking over at me and then towards the exit to the main hallway.

"You can leave. I have to call the family to tell them the good news," my mother said, directing her words to Caleb. He nodded, leaving the living room soon after. Ava and Candice soon followed suit, along with my mum who was already chatting on the phone.

I looked around the living room, wondering why I'd rushed downstairs in the first place.

My SD card. I remembered, heading over to the little cupboard in the TV stand. I'd dropped the card there earlier in the morning while rushing to school and I now needed it to transfer files from my phone to laptop.

A sigh left my lips in relief when I saw the small card within the cupboard among jumbled CDs and remotes. I took it before getting back on my feet. I turned, surprised to still find my father sitting on the couch.

He looked up from the paper, eyeing me through his thick glasses. "Are you looking for something?" he asked, turning his attention back to the small notepad on his lap. He was sketching on it, probably sorting out the starting point for a commission.

"No, I just came to get something," I stuttered, walking towards the door. My father and I haven't talked in a while if you exclude things like greetings and generic questions.

"Where are you in a hurry to? Come, let's talk for a bit."

I raised a brow at him. My hand was already on the living room's doorknob as I questioned his offer. He didn't seem bothered by my look. He just gave me a friendly smile, patting the space beside him.

Looking at him for a bit I decided to take him up on his offer. I walked over awkwardly, taking the seat beside him. His smile widened before he returned his attention back to his drawing pad. I watched him sketch for a while before his voice suddenly disturbed the silence.

"How's school?" he asked. I felt a small smile tug at my lips at that. It was such a generic question, but I hadn't heard it in a while.

"Good," I answered, shifting on the sofa as I cast my gaze on the earth colored carpet. "My tests are coming up soon, so there's that."

My father let out a low laugh, putting his sketch pad aside. I watched him clamp his lead stained hands together before grinning at me. "I really don't have an idea of how high schools work. Didn't you write a set of tests a month or two ago?"

It was now my turn to laugh. I chuckled, shaking my head. "It's every six weeks or so." I managed to explain through my chuckling.

"Do you even check our report cards?" I asked, watching my father shake his head.

"I leave all the school related things to your mother, to be honest. I'm not good at that."

I smiled at his answer, shaking my head. My father had been homeschooled throughout his life, and he had attended a polytechnic college from home. Polytechnics were usually practical based with very few exams and paperwork. Plus, he hadn't taken a course that needed much of any of that in the first place.

"Okay then," I started, spending the next few minutes trying to explain my school schedule to my father. The conversation was strained, but at least we were talking.

I left soon after, heading to my room before putting my laptop on and searching for videos related to the recent biology I had today. I was in the middle of a video when the open tab for my email made an odd noise. I paused the video, switching tabs the find out that both Aiyana and Ji-Hun were online.

A grin made its way to my face when I spotted the video call request from the both of them. It took a while, but we were all soon looking at each other through the Google Hangout video call.

"God, that took forever," Aiyana complained as Ji-un laughed. Aiyana was obviously sitting on her bed. The large brown teddy bear and green teal wallpaper in the background I could see was enough to give the room away. I couldn't tell were Ji-Hun was, but I could spot cushions in the background.

I sat up straight on my pillow, crossing my legs before placing my laptop on them. "The network was messy," I admitted.

"So, we were talking until Ji-Hun mentioned you were online." Aiyana grinned. "We're talking about youtubers; I'm trying to convert Ji-Hun. He's on the boring side of it with you. I watch Book Tubers too, but Ji-Hun's on a different level, that and education channels are all that's on his subscription list."

I rolled my eyes, moving my gaze to Ji-Hun's screen. He was going through his phone, but an amused smile was playing on his lips. "You're not actually going to listen to her, are you? Do you really want to be stuck on the side of vloggers and people doing pointless challenges or eating food?" I asked, making Ji-Hun lose his composure as he started laughing. Aiyana, cast a death glare to her screen, in which I suppose, was in Ji-Hun's direction before directing the same look to me when I started laughing.

"I can't believe you guys," she sighed as we quieted down.

"Anyway, let's change the topic since none of you are interested," Aiyana said, blowing hair strands that had escaped her flowery hair band away from her forehead. They didn't budge, so she just tucked them away with an irritated sigh.

"So Wyatt was showing me how to use the competition platform," Ji-Hun said, changing the topic.

Aiyana raised a brow as a curious look played on her face. "What competition platform?"

I shifted in my sitting position at the question. I'd never gotten around to telling Ben or Aiyana that Ji-Hun was going to be taking part this year.

"The world education games..." Ji-Hun trailed, his voice coming out a tab surprised. Maybe he guessed that Aiyana should have known already.

"Are you serious?!" Aiyana screamed making me regret the fact I had my earpiece on. I winched, taking out an ear.

"So we're all going to be competing that day? Me, Ben, Wyatt, you..." she trailed, sprouting a happy grin. She stopped suddenly, staring down at something before letting out an excited squeal.

"Superfruit uploaded. I have to leave, bye guys," Aiyana said all at once until the side of her video screen went blank before it disappeared altogether.

Ji-Hun let out a laugh a few minutes later, shaking his head. I rolled my eyes, catching the hint that he was laughing because of Aiyana's reaction to the upload. He'd get used to it. Aiyana was just obsessed with those guys and it couldn't be helped.

"So, Ben and Aiyana are participating in the competition too?" Ji-Hun asked.

"Yeah, Ben for Mathematics, and Aiyana for English Literature," I answered, watching as he hummed in response.

"That makes sense," he finally spoke up. The conversation went silent for the next few minutes as we just stared at each other before he let out a low laugh.

"I'm sorry," he started, looking away from the screen. "This is awkward, should we end the video call?" Ji-Hun asked, turning to look at me with a small smile.

"Maybe in the next ten minutes..." I trailed, looking away from the screen to look about my room.

"My brother got a scholarship," I said trying to start a conversation. I looked back at my screen to find Ji-Hun's features in a puzzled expression.

"Isn't it too early for that?" he asked, mirroring my initial reaction to the news. I shook my head at him, going further to explain what it meant.

"It's not from a college per say. More like a prestigious art institute. He's not going through, and they're holding on the scholarship offer in case he still wants to go in the future," I explained, earning a nod from Ji-Hun.

"Are your parents happy?" he asked, making me chuckle. What kind of question was that? Of course, they're happy.

"Obviously," I answered, shrugging, "but they already set out a plan for him so that's why they ignored it. Well, not ignore it. You know what I mean."

Ji-Hun nodded. I suddenly heard a loud string of sentences coming from behind him. Ji-Hun turned, shouting back. I didn't understand what he was saying since it wasn't in English. After a while, the shouting died down and Ji-Hun turned back to me to apologize.

"Sorry, that was my sister," he said, rolling his eyes. "She was asking where I plugged in her computer."

I nodded at his answer, looking away from my screen to pick at my fingernails.

"So, how do you feel, are you happy about it?" Ji-Hun asked, making me look up at my computer screen. I looked straight into his dark eyes, trying to figure out if he was expecting a specific answer.

"I don't know," I started, feeling my eyebrows tug into a frown. "Of course I'm happy, but I don't know. I'm being confusing, aren't I?"

"Did you congratulate him?" Ji-Hun asked, ignoring my question. My frown deepened as I registered his question. Now that I think about it I never did- more like, I never do.

"I'm guessing the silence is a no," Ji-Hun said as a series of shouting came from behind him again. He muttered an apology, turning on his sit before shouting back with equal intensity.

"Okay, I have to leave my sister can't find it," Ji-Hun sighed when he turned back, "but do me a favor and congratulate your brother, okay? It's just the right thing to do," Ji-Hun said. I nodded, watching him mutter a 'goodbye' before ending the video call.

I sat on my bed, staring at the open email tab. Maybe Ji-Hun had a point. It wasn't thoughtful of me not to have congratulated Caleb. It didn't really matter if my sisters and parents had congratulated him over and over again.

I shut my laptop, unplugging and rolling up my earphones before getting up from my bed. I walked out into the hallway from my bedroom, feeling myself start to rethink my thoughts as I walked up to Caleb's room door.

Shaking my head, I tried to get the nervousness out of my system. I sighed, running a hand through my brown hair before knocking on his door. It took a few minutes for his door to creak open.

I watched as my brother's eyes widened in shock as he spotted me through the small gap he'd made from opening the door.

"Hey," I said, giving him a small smile. He full out frowned, opening the door a little wider so we were staring straight at each other.

"So, I wanted to say congrats about earlier... getting the scholarship that is..." I trailed, watching as Caleb's expression softened.

"Oh," he started, looking away from me and down to his n***d feet. "Thanks."

"Yeah..." I trailed, biting my lips. "So that's all I wanted to say," I muttered afterward, turning to leave.

"Wyatt!" I heard Caleb raise his voice when I started walking towards my room. I turned to find him grinning at me.

"Thanks," he said again as he ran a hand through his hair. I nodded at him before heading back to my room with a smile on my face. It only got wider when I remembered Caleb's reaction. He looked happy. I was happy. I was glad Ji-Hun asked me to do it. Simply congratulating Caleb made me feel a lot better, and helped settle an unease I didn't even know I had because of the news.