“Try to understand, he wasn’t some born monster. He was barely even evil. He was normal There is a great debate to be had, whether he was a boon or curse to the continent. If they stopped being insulted at his mention, then maybe that debate could progress.”

====================================================================

“Ready…GO!” John heard the gunshot, and burst into a run.

3 seconds, he glanced left and right, and saw his competitors keeping pace with him, all of them wearing the same track and field t-shirt that he was.

4 seconds, he was in the middle of the group and would finish 4th or 5th if he didn’t speed up.

6 seconds, he let his mind fade, letting his body take over, and with that, a kind of primal energy came from deep within him, the primitive part of him that screamed for him to compete like his very life depended on it, that he had to win to become the alpha of the pack.

8 seconds, he had gained a burst of speed and was swiftly passing his competitors, easily taking 2nd place, but barely falling behind.

9 seconds, he roared internally, finally pushing past 1st place

10.3 seconds, he crossed the finishing line almost a full second ahead of 2nd place.

He spent a dozen meters slowing down from his sprint, giving a roar of victory, as the primal energy slowly seeped back to where it came from, and his mind returned, basking in the energy's afterglow, he closed his eyes and took deep breaths to get his heart rate back down.

Wheezing breaths were heard all around him, his competitors and classmates.

“Bro, tell me your secret. Where does that burst of speed come from every time? You’re in the middle of the pack then BAM you’re first” Alex, who came second, paused to catch his breath, before he continued: “it’s actually cruel, giving us hope only to shoot them down a few seconds later.” Alex finished wryly.

John gave an apologetic smile instead of answering. It wasn’t on purpose. He couldn’t turn off his mind on command, only in the heat of the moment would his body take over.

Suddenly John heard a cheerful female voice behind him: “Here have a drink, our champion athlete deserves a nice cold bottle of water for that performance.”

Turning around, John saw it was a cheerleader. They usually took breaks when the track and field team competed to cheer them on, or at least, John assumed so based on the way her face was flushed.

“Thanks.” John smiled innocently and took the bottle that was handed to him, taking large gulps of water.

Other cheerleaders soon joined them, sharing water bottles with everyone.

John felt mildly uncomfortable, as he pretended not to notice the cheerleaders staring at him when his back was turned, not wanting to give them any ideas.

“Hey John, wanna have lunch together?” Sarah, the cheerleading captain, asked him point-blank.

“Sure, as long as Alex doesn’t mind, I promised him we’d hangout earlier.” John smoothly deflected with another innocent smile, not letting the girl be alone with him. He was well aware of what the girls thought of him, he wasn’t blind, nor an isekai harem protagonist, but he really wasn’t interested, he hoped they could just stay friends, as they were all fun to talk to, as they’d fortunately steer clear of homework as a chatting subject.

John knew that worked in his favour, as he’d somehow avoided being found out. They just assumed he was average in the STEM classes or didn’t care about homework.

They were quite wrong.

He spent almost as much time training as he did homework. He came home late every day, because he was in the library doing homework by himself or getting a helping hand from the teachers.

Whilst the school was very prestigious, the difficulty level was equally high, and some students struggled despite their genius.

John was one of those students.

He could confidently say that he was at least somewhat gifted in the physical department, but what he had in strength he lacked in intelligence, he wasn’t stupid, just average at worst, and this wasn’t a very average school, his IQ was tested upon admission to the school, and he got an average 107 points.

He walked to the locker room to change. Before one of the cheerleaders could gather enough courage to ask him out on a date, it almost seemed to be a competition between them.

John had his own pace, taking a quick shower whilst the other guys were chatting amongst themselves about some hot cheerleader or trying to climb the social hierarchy by putting up a front, all of it in good fun. He really didn’t need to pretend, he was at the very top without trying; he was the strongest or fastest in almost every sport, being unnaturally gifted, coupled with natural charisma, this primitive social structure gave him an unfair advantage, he was at the very top by just being himself.

Or that was the lie he liked to tell himself.

He only enjoyed the social structure because he understood it and was good at it, be strong, fast, confident and sexy. Easy and simple.

Having changed out of his track and field clothes, he walked slowly from the training field and gym towards the school grounds. He only had a T-shirt on as jackets made him too hot, and he could enjoy the nice fall breeze.

Alex caught up to him during the 10-minute walk to the campus.

“Hey John!” John turned around and waved to him.

“I know you know the girls are literally competing to see who gets to sleep with you first, and for the life of me, I can only conclude that you’re gay since you haven’t picked a winner yet.” Alex said jokingly, as they both knew he wasn’t gay.

“Huh, maybe I should just pick several, and have like a foursome, then they can fight amongst themselves about who was the winner.” John said stoically before breaking out into a grin.

“I wonder how long they’ll try, before they think you’re gay too. I mean, how many have slept with me to get to you?” Alex said and laughed, before quickly looking around to see if anyone heard them. Luckily, they were completely alone. Then he added: “And you’d be the biggest stud in the school if you could get a foursome with 3 cheerleaders.”

John kind of enjoyed being the prize, especially since they couldn’t get him, even if they wanted. It was his way of pranking them. It was a wonder that they hadn’t given up. They’d tried almost the entire last school year.

“Exactly how many have slept with you to get to me?” John’s curiosity was peaked. How desperate were they? That just seemed ridiculous to him.

“…Three!” Alex smiled and said, holding up 3 fingers.

“What? Really? I don’t believe you; no one is that desperate. I don’t need a confidence boost that badly.” John said in disbelief.

“Hahaha, a sexy piece of meat like you? It would be like sleeping with Brad Pitt.” Alex insisted.

“Nope, don’t believe it, are you sure they didn’t just want to sleep with you? You’re still a muscular athlete. I refuse to believe that they didn’t just settle for you.” John fired back.

They went back and forth the entire walk until they arrived at the biology classroom, where John paused outside the door. He hated it, every time he didn’t fi-.

“Let’s go, don’t stand there like an idiot, you’ll get through it, I promise, it’s fine, no worries, don’t worry, be happy, adversity makes you stronger.” Alex fired off a machinegun of slogans, and gave him a shove into the classroom, and almost pushed him to his chair at the very front, smiling reassuringly.

It was almost as bad as he’d feared. Almost. Alex quietly helped him whenever he was stuck, or obviously didn’t understand what was being said. The subject was Zoology, one of his favourite subjects. He liked animals; they fascinated him. Although he couldn’t understand them, or the subject very well, he would like to work with animals in some capacity.

‘Now if only I could understand what my dog said, then maybe he’d stop barking at the dogs on the street. It’s driving certain family members crazy’

Still, he barely made it through every test, and was among the worst students academically, even with him zealously doing homework after school every day. Every essay, assignment, and report he made was only sent in after hours of work.

“See, that wasn’t as terrible as you made it out to be in your head. Our teacher is just bad.” Alex said comfortingly

John smiled. “I’d like to become a zoologist someday, or maybe a veterinarian, or just a dog sitter would be nice. All I know is I want to work with animals because there is a lot they can tell us, that we don’t know.” He whispered as they were walking towards the next class.

“And here all the girls think you’re gonna be the next NFL player making 20 million dollars a year.” Alex commented smoothly and continued, “Then again, not a single one of them actually knows you, although you don’t really let them.”

“Don’t girls like a bit of mystery? I’m the mystery man, the one that comes to school beats 2/3 of the track and fields records and disappears.” John said with a smirk.

“That’s true, if they knew you were just a gentle giant and not some genetically modified lab creature, they’d lose interest pretty quickly I think…Some of them would at least.” Alex answered back and glancing at John’s body up and down.

Above the door, a sign stated “Mathematics”, John’s most dreaded subject.

Alex had to, again, subtly physically push John through the door and to his seat, and John accepted the pushing with grace. He doubted he’d make it through the door in time for class that start, and having a helping(pushing) hand made his choice a lot easier.

Then something unusual happened. The teacher was late.

Mr. Robertson was never late, something he prided himself in, although he was a stern and strict teacher, he never lost his temper with earnest students, patiently explaining, clarifying and expounded whatever problem the student was having trouble with. Many times, he’d dragged John from despair, not giving up until he was sure John had understood it. Perhaps because of this, he’d never asked John a question in class because he was aware of his difficulties. John respected him tremendously.

Alex whispered to him from behind: “That’s weird, Mr. Robertson is late, supposedly he hasn’t been late or called in sick in 20 years. *gasp* do you think he’s dead?!” Alex joked loudly.

“I’m afraid not, I’m still kicking.” Alex jumped in his chair when he heard Mr. Robertson from the doorway, and John sighed in relief. He liked Mr. Robertson a lot, so he’d be miserable if something happened to him. He tensed up again, when he heard him continue:

“My apologies, I was clarifying some things to your new teacher.”

John’s eyes widened, and inadvertently exclaimed with a deep rumble: “A new teacher?!” He didn’t like the sound of that at all, what if this new teacher was bad, or didn’t help him, or perhaps asked him a question in class? Although he’d try his best to accept the humiliation with grace, he rarely had an answer to the questions Mr. Robertson asked the other students.

“Yes, although you mustn’t worry, I have the highest confidence that your new teacher will do well.” Mr. Robertson said with a smile, assuredly, soothing John’s fears a little if he was aware of them.

He turned to the rest of the class: “I must regretfully announce my retirement. Today, I will supervise your new teacher, and as of tomorrow she will be your new mathematics teacher.” He continued: “May I present, Mrs. Robertson, and yes, before you ask, she is indeed connected to me, please give a warm welcome to my daughter.”

In one smooth sentence, he’d dropped a bombshell on them. ‘Your own daughter is going to replace you?!’ is what went through the heads of every student.

A tall brunette walked through the doorway with confidence, her eyes taking in the classroom, briefly lingering on some students, John included.

Whilst John wasn’t very smart, he was adept at reading people and he could feel a bit of pity in her eyes.

‘So, she at least knows the class to some extent. She’s probably seen the recordings or been told what students are struggling and excelling by Mr. Robertson.’ John mused, as his eyes followed her to the podium, Mr. Robertson moved aside quietly to the corner, and Mrs. Robertson started a formal speech about how she would not disappoint and how the classes would carry on as usual, so that their learning wouldn’t be affected, because she was showed the recordings and had asked about each student individually and so on.

John had his doubts, but since Mr. Robertson trusted her, he would trust her too.

To her credit, she didn’t stumble very much, considering it was her first time teaching this class, although she’d probably taught a certain family member earlier today.

She spoke clearly and concisely, but wasn’t as adept at clarifying the thing she was talking about whenever a student asked her a question. That’s when Mr. Robertson helpfully quipped an explanation to the class.

John sat nervously in his chair, subtly twitching every time Mrs. Robertson asked a question to a student, hoping she wouldn’t pick him.

He inaudibly sighed in relief when the bell rang. Thankfully, she hadn’t picked him, and the class ended normally, when she, as Mr. Robertson normally did, assigned to homework to the students for the next class. John had expected as much, so he wasn’t surprised.

John wasn’t in any hurry as he put everything he’d used for the class away into his bag. Quietly made his way to the library to do his homework.

He was quite thankful that none of the popular kids he usually hung out with in recess went to the library. They were usually ahead of the class, and as such, rarely went to the library, especially after school was over.

The only people here were the less popular nerds and the other students that struggled. He’d make it a point to be as nice and humble as possible whenever he asked or received helped from the other students.

He’d only studied an hour before Mrs. Robertson gave a surprise visit to the library, and him specifically.

“Excuse me, your name was John, right?” John looked up when his name was called. She smiled and said: “Dad told me you’d be here.”

Then she politely offered her help in the homework assignments she’d given, which John accepted. He was surprised. She was almost as good as Mr. Robertson in her explanation, and exceeded him in some ways, such as when she used metaphors to make it easy for John to understand. Time passed quickly, and thanks to her help, John could finish his homework almost an hour faster than normal, because of her helpful hints, explanations and metaphors, without giving him the answer.

He thanked her for her help and bid her farewell and went on his way home.

He usually, due to his many time constraints, opted to run home whatever the weather, to at least get some training before dinner at 6, which was when he usually came home, including the 25 or so minute run home.

He covered his backpack with the inbuilt rain-cover because he could tell it was going to rain and went on his way.

Barely 5 minutes into the run, when it had started raining and a chilly wind blew, he noticed a figure when he went around a corner.

He recognized the figure instantly, a miserable sight, his summer jacket doing nothing to defend against the chilly wind that was bleeding heat from his small shivering frame.

John changed course immediately, quickly crossing the road with large strides. The small shivering figure might pass out from the cold if this went on. He needed to get inside quickly.

John walked closer. That’s when he heard Cary, his most precious brother, sobbing quietly.

He quietly walked up behind Cary and realized something.

The broad back that had once protected them when they were little.

He could finally protect his brother like his brother had protected him.

John put his hand on his brother’s shoulder.