SUPREME VISION SYSTEM

"What..what exactly is going on?"

Ivory broke his stance as he turned to look around and said.

"Noth...nothing mom. I..was just checking a mole."

Cole stuttered and eyed his mother and Mr. Evans who were eyeing him too for a brief second then not saying anything, trying to process what he just spoke out.

Ivory nodded her head and said, "Eat your breakfast and Mr. Evans would drop you at school."

And to the utmost surprise, Cole shook his head in approval and headed towards the dining hall to grab his breakfast.

Ivory shared a look with Rafael thinking why he did not protest with the ride thing which they expected he would do like he did the other time. They surely did not think that he would accept it right away at least.

"Mom. I m done and I m getting late too. Mr. Evans common we got to go."

Cole yelled out from the dining room, walking out with the Sandwich in his hand shocking his mother and Rafael at the same time.

They just did not know what was going on but suddenly their stubborn teenage young man seemed to be just ...happy in direct words that he did not want to be bothered by all the usual things that he protested about before and ruin his mood.

"What is up with him?"

Ivory questioned to herself as she eyed her son getting inside Mr. Evans's car quietly after waving his mother goodbye.

"He.he just seems happy."

Rafael answered as he too saw how the brood, egoistic guy who denied to go out with him was now getting inside his car willingly.

What actually was going on? What happened to her son?

Ivory could not help herself as those questions evolved inside her head on their own. She never saw Cole be so carefree and relaxing.

Maybe..maybe he was finally coming to terms with his present and trying to be happy with what he had and follow the path of never-ending hope.

In the end, she was just glad to see her son like that. It had been ages since she ever saw him smile or be carefree like that. It felt like his kid soul was back inside the frame of his body. She was content for the very first time after this long.

"I think I should just go and not make him wait anymore. Don't want him to be pissed at me again."

Rafael spoke out as he started walking towards the car after hugging Ivory. She stood ideal on the patio as she behold the SUV driving away from the front yard.

Cole waved at her like a silly kid and she could not be happier to wave back at him.

For God's sake, everything was finally falling onto its place.

Mr. Evans SUV stopped right in front of Cole's school as he parked it where all the other cars were parked.

He looked over at Cole who was just ideally getting ready to step out of the car. He could see that the boy genuinely seemed happy. He had no idea why but he just could see the aura of happiness gleaming from him.

"Thank you for the ride, Mr. Evans."

Cole said pulling Mr. Evans out of his reverie who just nodded his head towards Cole.

"Mention not. I have nothing to do pretty much in the morning so...." Mr. Evans dragged.

Cole did not wait for the middle-aged guy to complete whatever he was saying and got out of the car but before closing the door, he voiced out something that caught Mr. Evans off guard totally as if he was not expecting Cole to say that anytime soon.

" Oh by the way, can I call you Rafael instead?"

After a brief silence, Mr. Evans shook his head positive. He needed a moment to let that sink into him. He could not believe that he could make the boy address him by his first name anytime soon.

He was just so closed up and seemed like the person who could not be amused easily so he thought that it would take a pretty long time to get into that kind of position but here they were.

"Yeah...I mean...yes...".

" See you later then Rafael."

Mr. Evans was left stuttering to himself as Cole walked away like a kid in a jolly good, holding his duffle bag after closing the car door in a thud sound.

What did just happen? Was it real? Was the boy kind of high or something? Who suddenly injected a handful of happy hormones inside his strong-headed mind?

Regardless, Mr. Evans was finally happy encountering the progress in their relationship. It was needed because by now it was obvious that he liked the kid's mother and it was a major part for everything to work out for Cole to at least like him if not love to be around him.

Cole waved his hand at Rafael as he started the engine and drove away. A hand on his shoulder made him turn back and see who it was although he knew it could be no one other than Vin.

"Where the hell have you been the entire day yesterday?"

Vin shouted could not being able to hold himself anymore. He had to leave for home by eight from Cole's house when his mother started ringing his phone repeatedly but the entire night he had been worried until he got the text from Ivory that he had arrived home late in the night.

Somewhere in the middle, he was afraid what if the game had sucked in Cole too just like Tekla aka Sikara.

There was no news about his whereabouts yet and his parents were going crazy over it. The police had been continuing their search but could not come across any evidence or point yet.

"I...I just went out to clear my head. And forgot to keep track of time."

Cole started but stopped himself from saying about what exactly happened for he recalled the words of the woman in the middle of those fields in the dim light, how she asked him to keep it a secret.

So he covered it up and applied brakes on his mouth right away before he ended up blurting out everything to Vin for he always told him about each and everything.

Vin eyed him with seriousness trying to analyze if he was telling the truth. If it would have been other times, the act of not being about to match eyes with him would make him know that Cole was lying.

But this..this time he could not figure out anything for the lenses had come back online from being updated and it covered up everything even unknown to Cole.

'SYSTEM ONLINE! '

'SYSTEM READY TO PROCESS!'

'NEW UPDATE DISABLES VISIBILITY OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE!'

'SYSTEM READY TO USE!'

As all those voices echo inside Cole's head, he turned to look around trying to see who was setting their robot up on the board daylight.

"Did you hear those voices?"

He asked Vin who just gave him a weird look, shrugging his shoulders off telling him that he did not hear a damn thing.

But before they could implore much on it, the school bell rang and all the students ran towards their allotted classrooms across the corridor, shutting their lockers down.

Cole, as usual, was about to take a seat on the last bench but it was already taken by some other students so he huffed in annoyance and made his way towards the third row empty spot and sat there.

Soon after, Miss Willson entered the class and the students stood up to greet the teacher. She asked them to take their respective seats and started the class right after completing their attendances.

Periods after periods passed by and Cole groaned in tiredness. He stretched his hands. He was getting bored for there was no Vin to whom he could talk to.

Vin had gone for soccer practice and would not return until the fifty periods. And when it was time for the fifth period, Vin entered the classroom.

Cole waved his hand pointing him to the seat by him. Vin gave him an eye for not being able to book their usual place in the last. They have not used to seating in the front...seating in the third row was too much closer to the teacher's podium.

"Man...why the third place?"

Vin groaned keeping his bag under the desk and sitting down.

"First, you stink and it was already taken."

Cole answered taking his math book out. It was the time for AP math class, the subject that Cole distasted the most.

"The coach made us run around the field like a damn stallion, man."

Vin snorted and stood up when the teacher, Mr. Miles entered the classroom. They could not wait for this class to get over and get ready for lunchtime.

___________________________________________