New Life: A Second Chance

For the next two weeks, Kyle was quite busy with school.

He had to organise the Student Council, prepare the reports of Sage Class for Principal Godric and the report of the Subsidiary Company for his father. He had delegated the Student Council details to Beatrice and Sam, while he handled the Sage Class reports.

As he finally laid down the completed reports on his table, he let out a huge whoop of joy.

"DONE DONE DONE!" Kyle said as he slammed the last report in the pile then stood up and pointed to all of them.

"You guys gave me so much work! I'm only 13! Prime of my life!" Kyle said as he put a foot up on his chair.

The reports Kyle was doing was part of the responsibilities Kyle had undertaken with Principal Godric before Sage Class was established. Kyle can still remember how Principal Godric kept opening and closing his mouth like a fish, unable to ask yet thinking it was possible until Kyle assured him he could. Even now, the memory made him grin.

Each file was a detailed report on the progress of the Sage Class students, him included. Although it was only two months, one could see the sort of work that the Sage Class members had done. It listed the research and progress of the research, and the future plans of the Sage Class members. That part had been done by the Sage Class members themselves.

Kyle's duty was to analyse all of the details and reports, and give recommendations as to what could be done to further the research. Identify potential problem areas and suggest whatever equipment or internship needed to help them along. This was a report Kyle would need to do every 6 months, though this time it was only 2.

"Who asked you to be the Top Student anyway? Doing those reports are just part of the job description," Sam replied without any pity.

"I never asked to be. This awesomeness is too powerful to be contained," Kyle said with a raised eyebrow.

He dodged a flying scrunched up paper on his left, then his right. He caught one that came from behind.

"Pah. Ametuers! Can't hit me even if I closed my eyes," Kyle said dramatically, flipping his fringe with a flick of his head.

"Really? You're going there?" Ali said with a grin. Then he looked at Sam and Xing Han, "Shall we?"

Xing Han was the first to stand up, rubbing his hands together, "We shall."

Sam didn't move - he wasn't stupid. Getting Kyle when he wasn't prepared is fine but not right now when he's aware. He went back to his work. Ali and Xing Han weren't upset but continued towards Kyle together.

Kyle glared at the two of them as they approached, "You think that move will always work?" He knew what they were up to.

"Of course," Ali said with a grin as he got closer, "It's a wonderful weakness."

Kyle got in a defensive stance, raised an eyebrow at Ali. Putting one hand up, then raising his index up, he waved it left and right as he shook his head, he then asked, "You dare?"

Ali mirrored Kyle's defensive stance, adopted the 'Bruce Lee' facial expression (eyebrows raised, mouth in an 'O' position), flicked his nose with his thumb and replied, "Why wouldn't I dare?"

Kyle and Ali proceeded to fight, but instead of some fancy martial arts move, they were comically smacking their hands together in front of them ala a Three Stooges* fight. Pure physical slapstick comedy.

Sam and Beatrice were basically ignoring the slapstick duo, doing the work that Kyle had assigned to them. Since they didn't have any classwork to do, it only made sense to use all the time they had to complete the Student Council work.

"How do you ever get used to all of that?" Beatrice asked as she watched the two laughing idiots. Her eye was twitching at the moment, but she did realise that its frequency was less. Was she becoming used to these sort of stupid things?

Sam hardly raised his head as he studied the documents in front of him. He had already taken the file from the Student Council regarding the New School Year Events and was reading the materials itself.

He said dismissively, "Get used to what? The fact that they play around? The noise?"

"The sillyness," Beatrice said with a frown.

"What's to get used to?" Sam asked seriously, "If they were silly 24/7 and stupid, I wouldn't even be friends with them. Since they're not, I just ignore it whenever they start - unless I want to join in, of course."

Beatrice's eyes widened at that and stared at Sam.

"What? You didn't think it's possible?" Sam asked with a smile, turning to look at her.

Beatrice didn't expect him to turn and that smile of his made her knees weak. Why was it, whenever Kyle gave his smiles - even the Million-Dollar-Watt Smile, she wasn't as affected as that small smile of Sam's? Maybe because Kyle was annoying at most times with all his antics so she wasn't affected by him? And that she was affected by Sam right now because he was so close?

Beatrice became more determined. <Remember your decision. Get used to him. Hang out with him more. Then it'll be normal.>

She cleared her throat when she realised that Sam was waiting for an answer, "I ... just never thought of it, that's all."

"You should lighten up, Beatrice. Being all serious all the time can be taxing, don't you think?" Sam asked as he turned his attention back to the files.

<Lighten up? But this is how I am ... it's not a matter of 'lightening up' but rather ... being different? I don't think it's possible> Beatrice thought to herself, frowning a bit.

"Just go with the flow, Beatrice," Sam said softly, as if he could read her mind, "You don't have to keep on rejecting the idea. If it's fun, enjoy it. You don't have to force yourself but you shouldn't stop yourself either."

"I was like you, too," Sam continued saying but not looking at her. Even though Beatrice didn't say anything, it was as if Sam knew that she was listening intently. "I've always been a strange kid, the one left out or the one people avoid for some reason. With Kyle - and the rest - they accept me as I am. If I join them, they embrace me wholeheartedly but if I don't, they don't push me to do so."

Sam then turned to face her this time and said, "It's obvious that Kyle has taken you under his wing. He treats everyone the same: friendly but with a slight distance. However, to those that he acknowledges, he will go the extra mile to help. Sage Class members are all under his care but you ..."

Same took a deep breath as he looked at her contemplatively, thinking hard, "You hold a higher position than even the other Sage Class members. Perhaps it's because you're his side-kick at the Student Council and he trusts you. Just like Sarah has a higher position as she's Kay's best friend."

"Are you analysing me right now?" Beatrice asked with a frown. She knew that he liked to psychoanalyze people and that was one of his research projects. She felt like a guinea pig.

"No, not you directly," Sam said, "You were an incidental part of it. My main focus is Kyle."

"Kyle?!" Beatrice said with shock, "Why him? I thought he's your brother?"

"Yes, he is," Sam replied, "Why should that be a problem?"

"I mean, well ... isn't it weird to be analysing someone so close to you?"

"On the contrary," Sam said, "I find it more fascinating. Unless you want me to analyse you?"

Beatrice's eye twitched ... yet at the same time, the tips of her ears started going red.

Sam found her eye twitch reaction quite fascinating. Sam had deliberately said that to see her reaction and finally figured out why Kyle found it so fun to do. He had observed how Kyle deliberately pushed her buttons to get that twitch then smile the moment she turned away. It really did relieve the stress.

Sam didn't notice the fact that Beatrice blushed as her ears were covered by her hair. If he had seen it, he would have been shocked as Beatrice had always been the stoic type and the only reaction anyone could generally get from her was the involuntary eye twitch. Beatrice would have most likely been his next project if he had seen it.

"Just kidding!" Sam said, raising his hands up in surrender, "I know you didn't mean that. So don't give me that glare."

Beatrice wasn't really glaring at him. She was more embarrassed than anything yet her expression was stiff so it appeared as if she was angry. Just the thought that Sam would be observing her intently suddenly gave her a weird feeling inside and she felt her ears go red hot. Such a new and weird feeling.

Sam stopped teasing Beatrice, having found the plausible reason for Kyle's actions. He would continue to observe Kyle and make his conclusion later. At first, he had been worried that Kyle might not like it when he found out that he was the subject of his character analysis project.

However, instead of being weird about it, Kyle even suggested that Sam follow him around when he did his work for his father. Sam smiled at that thought, his face appearing warm and gentle. No matter what Sam did, Kyle had always been so supportive.

Beatrice caught this rare smile of Sam's and she felt a bit weird again. What was Sam thinking that would make him have that expression? Was it a girl? At that thought, Beatrice felt weird again but it wasn't the same as before. This time, it was a bit of a sharp pain in her chest.

She patted her chest, thinking she ought to go for a check-up. These strange feelings were making her worried.