"And that class is the way you generate the positive ions necessary for the growth of your bacteria colonies"droned Mr. Hendricks.
Zeke Jordan faded in between consciousness in his Biotech class as the teacher explained the finer details of bacteria colony cultivation, but truth be told his thoughts were elsewhere. It was May 3rd the day before his eighteenth birthday and exactly twenty-one days before he graduated high school. Zeke was on the fast track to a great life most teachers would say, he maintained a 5.0 GPA(grade point average)and was a sure-in for valedictorian his closest opposition sitting at a 4.3, that coupled with his perfect SAT score of 2400 pretty much guaranteed him a spot in an any college he decided to go to and he was already being recruited by top Ivy League schools and even some foreign university powerhouses(Oxford, Cambridge,etc.).
Most students however didn't know of Zeke's accomplishments. He was decidedly a loner at his school. He was quiet and unobtrusive enough to maintain a low profile, that and his athletic body and handsome features had stopped him from slipping into the nerd column. At 6'3" he was fairly tall with shoulder length brown hair; his skin was tan from many hours of running and exercising in the sun. At a young age he had developed an interest in martial arts, specifically karate and judo(he blamed Jet Li) and still practiced with his instructors. Along the years he had developed an interest in boxing and Muay Thai and had added that to his repertoire. No one except his parents and masters knew about his extra-curricular hobbies, and he doubted putting any of that information in a college application would help his chances to get in so it was a well-kept secret.
Zeke was largely friendless at school but it was by choice. His only friend was an Asian girl named Lin Katao, they were friends more out of common circumstance than anything else but they had a good friendship and related to one another well. Lin was the only student in the school who truly knew just how smart Zeke was; she held the second highest GPA in the school (4.2) and like Zeke was considered to attractive and outgoing to be classified as a nerd. She wasn't very tall she was barely 5 feet(5'2")and it was a running gag among the popular kids that she and Zeke were seeing each other. Most students thought that Zeke only hung out with her to get help with his studies and that Lin didn't know any better not to get involved with him.
Lin who was sitting next to Zeke leaned over to him to ask if he could come over later to help her with her AP Calculus homework, a class he had aced in his freshman year. "I'll see what I can do,"he replied,"I have a few errands to run after school and then have to be getting home for my birthday dinner because my folks won't be in town tomorrow, my dad has to go to a business conference in L.A. and my mom thought it would be a good time for them to take a vacation, but if I have the time I'll stop by."
Mr. Hendricks heard the two chattering but declined to interrupt them knowing that Zeke and by association Lin didn't really need to pay attention to understand what was going on. Zeke had displayed privately to him earlier in the semester that he had a complete grasp of the concepts of the course. Mr.Hendricks was sure that Zeke was a genius but he never took the test for certification stating that it would give him unnecessary exposure and attention, he also cited these two reasons for him keeping his GPA a secret and refusing to let the College Board publish his perfect SAT score.
Zeke turned his attention back to the lecture at hand while he thought about his schedule for the rest of the day. After school he had both his Muay Thai and Judo classes to attend, he was testing for his final red belt today and was determined to get it out of the way before going to college. After that he needed to stop by the Boxing gym and help one of the other fighters who had an upcoming match and needed a sparring partner. After that he would probably head to Lin's place to help her with her homework and hang out a bit before heading home.
The bell rung signaling the end of first period and Zeke and Lin made their way to their lockers. On the way out they passed by Caroline Brooks the head cheerleader who look at the two and sneered. "I really don't understand why you geeks always travel in groups"commented the blonde before going on to ask,"Hey Lin how much does he pay you to do his homework, or does he just fuck you for it?"
Seeing that she wasn't getting a response at all from Zeke and only a glare from Lin, Carol made her way down the hall with a haughty laugh. The only reason she took the class was to help her GPA, she had a decent chance at a cheerleading scholarship but needed to get higher grades. She was a B student and figured that she could at least pull of one in Biotech which would be seen as an A using the super scale associated with the higher rigor classes , at worst she could get a C which would bump up to a B, which would keep her GPA where it was for the most part.
Lin watched Carol walk off and turned to Zeke. "Why do you take that from her... and everyone else for that matter? You could easily show them how smart you are."she asked. Zeke grunted and shrugged his shoulder in reply and proceeded to grab his and Lin's books out of the locker. They shared lockers because Lin's was far from her classes and she wouldn't have enough time to grab her things and make it to class otherwise, so Zeke kept their books in his locker and Lin kept their book bags and jackets in her locker.
Zeke and Lin breezed through their shared 2nd period and parted ways for 3rd. Zeke had a free period which he spent in the computer lab. The teacher Coach Beinke(he was the track coach)let him come in during free periods and work on different things. Today Zeke decided to work on a device that he was building which would help to decrease the effects of greenhouse gasses. The device would attach to car exhaust and trap the CO2 while introducing another molecule of oxygen turning the compound to CO3 the main component of our ozone layer which would slowly over time rebuild the ozone while reducing carbon effects. The machine would also have the added effect of eliminating heat signature which would make any vehicle outfitted with it undetectable by heat and thermo scans providing a nice added bonus for military use. Zeke was working on the patent for the blueprint but was holding off because he wanted to create a prototype that he could patent alongside of it.
Zeke looked up to hear the Coach telling him that the class was leaving for lunch and would be back in thirty minutes. Zeke used this time to work on his new hobby. In the past month Zeke had gotten interested in computer hacking and was quickly becoming proficient in the art. Just last week he had hacked into the Pentagon and the CIA databases without a hitch, he had downloaded several promising schematics and information regarding nanites and weapons that he knew he could improve upon. He was ready now for most of the work but was lacking the necessary funding to explore these avenues.
He decided early on that he would never steal money or resources using his hacking skills. Besides his dad had told him long ago ''There are plenty of perfectly legal ways of making money and only lesser people resort to crime" This, like everything his dad said Zeke took to heart, his dad being a prominent lawyer had a large dislike of criminal activity and would probably not approve of Zeke's hacking but he reasoned that his hacking didn't really hurt anyone.
The door opened and the Coach walked back in and was soon followed by students as the bell rung signaling the end of C lunch, Zeke withdrew from the system and wiped the hard drive clean after sending all relevant data and changes to his home computer. He had to meet Lin upstairs, she had D lunch and Zeke had not eaten yet so he figured they could go grab a bite to eat before her fourth period started. Zeke met Lin upstairs and they made their way to his car after they checked themselves out, technically Zeke couldn't check himself out because he was under eighteen but the faculty let it slide knowing that Zeke and Lin were the last two people who would get into any kind of trouble.
Zeke settled into the driver side of his blue Honda Accord and looked over at Lin and cracked a smile. It was time for their daily rock-paper-scissors match to decide where they would eat. It was merely a formality because Zeke always let her win, he always chose rock and she always chose paper, it was a running gag between the two that had evolved into a daily tradition. Lin with her 109th consecutive victory under her belt directed Zeke to go to The Varsity, a burger joint downtown.
Arriving at the Varsity they both ordered a cheeseburger with fries and milkshakes. Over lunch they talked about a variety of things ranging from Lin's secondary education plans to what Zeke planned on doing the next day for his birthday."Let me be the first to welcome you into the world of adults."Lin joked. Her being a couple months older than Zeke she had told him that once you turned eighteen the whole world seemed to change, but Zeke wasn't worried, besides he didn't believe anything would change at all. Finishing their food and Zeke paying, much to the chagrin of Lin they headed back to school where Lin had her fourth period Calc. class and Zeke had another free period.
Zeke made his way to the gym to change into his workout clothes and went to the empty softball field to practice his martial arts. Zeke's schedule for this afternoon was boxing and Judo so he would do karate and Muay Thai in his free period. After practicing for the last hour and a half of the school day Zeke made his way to the showers and then to his/Lin's locker.
He met Lin at the locker and they both collected their stuff and started towards the parking lot. They both climbed in their cars and bid each other goodbyes for the time being, while Lin expressed that she still wanted him to come over to help her with her Calc work.
Zeke headed home to drop off his things and pick up a few items. Both his parents were out, his dad at work and his mom out shopping, so Zeke ate a light snack and headed back out. Zeke first made his stop to his Judo class, while it was a large dojo; early on Zeke had begun personal tutelage with Master Kain, the dojo owner's father. Master Kain was about sixty years old and had been teaching him personally since Zeke was five and now on the cusp of turning eighteen Kain was confident that his secret skills were safe with Zeke. Kain had taught the boy things that not even his own son knew and today Zeke was coming in for his final demonstration, he'd have to last in a five minute round with a tenth Dan red belt, without submitting.
Kain wasn't worried in the least bit however because he knew Zeke was ready. Pulling Zeke to the side before the demonstration he told him solemnly," You have forty-five seconds, a second longer and I'll be very disappointed." Zeke took this to heart, his masters had been integral parts of his life since a young age and he dreaded the thought of disappointing any of them. "All right, I can do this."he thought making his way to the mat. The referee introduced the two combatants, they shook hands and went to their respective sides, and the bell was rung signifying the beginning of the match.
Zeke adversary decided to throw the first blow going with a high roundhouse kick to Zeke's upper torso. Zeke however saw it coming, ducked underneath the kick, dashed forward and secured the leg by clasping the knee with both hands. He brought the leg on top of his shoulder holding his opponent in place before sweeping the man of his feet and twisting him so he landed on his back. Zeke brought the leg forward and bent it back, and then he lay on the man's back securing the leg under him and grabbed the man's arm. Locking the arm behind the man's back Zeke put pressure on the shoulder joint, nearly enough to break it. The man was in extreme pain and seeing no way to get out he quickly tapped before passing out from the intense pain. Zeke had finished the match in less than twenty seconds.
