IN THE PIC IS NATHAN WILSON (Zac Efron)>>>

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CHAPTERSIX_ATHLETIC SUPERHUMANS

September 14, 2032

  It’s now Monday, and it was lunch time at Kingsbury Academy. Nathan walked up to Declan, and sat across from him. Declan looked up from his food and his latest iPad. He asked, “What is it?”

 Nathan replied, “Okay, I know I’m new and all, but I need help.”

 Declan raised his eyebrow as he asked, “Help on what?”

 “Well, your dad is one of the founders of the Gen-Mods, right?”

 Declan looked around. Then he grabbed Nathan, and took him into the school library. He walked Nathan to an isolated corner, and told him sternly, “You can’t talk about that openly! Everyone will question if we’re actually Gen-Mods! They already have suspicions on us.”

 Nathan said, “Jeez, sorry! Anyway, so it’s true that your dad created the Gen-Mods?”

 “Eh, kind of. He was one of many founders that created us. Why are you asking about this?”

 Nathan looked on the floor as he muttered, “How do Gen-Mods react around someone they really, really like?”

 Declan raised an eyebrow, and said, “You like Rachel Dexter. You were protective of her, and lusting after her, but you didn’t know why.”

 Nathan looked at him with shock. He asked, “How did you know about that?”

 Declan shrugged, and said, “I can deduce people. Anyway, I know why you were acting like towards Rachel. She’s your mate.”

 That shocked Nathan even more. He asked, “Wait! I’m a werewolf? I can shift? What?”

 Declan shook his head as he replied, “No, Nathan. You’re very much human. It’s in your coding. My dad explained that Gen-Mods have the mate coding in our microchips. It’s to prevent cheating. It's to end serial dating in order to find the one person we want to be with. The Normals do this, but we Gen-Mods don’t have to do that. We hardly experience any heartbreak, unless our mates hurt us.”

 Nathan stared at him, and said flatly, “You make me sound like I’m a cyborg werewolf.”

 “Well, it’s in our coding, like it or not.”

 Nathan sighed, and asked, “So the reason why I acted…that way on Saturday was because Rachel is my…mate?”

 “Yup. And you need her, or else you’ll die.”

 With that, Nathan’s eyes widen. The only response he gave was “Shit.” Declan nodded his head, and said, “Yeah, it’s that serious. I told my dad that my mate was a Normal, he was actually glad. He explained that now Ellie can give birth to half- Gen-Mod babies, but I told him that we just started as a couple, and to slow down. He said he wasn’t sure if female Gen-Mods can get pregnant, so yeah.”

 Nathan exclaimed, “Now I have to get Rachel pregnant?! We’re only 16! In fucking high school!”

 “Nathan! Relax! You’re not going to do anything. Just do the usual Normal stuff like dating, and you’ll be fine. That’s what I’m going to do with Ellie.”

 Nathan sighed, “Sounds like a much better plan than starting a family as teenagers.”

 It’s now the last class of the day. Nathan and Rachel were in the same class. He told her, “Today, I’m going to try out for all the sport teams this school has to offer.”

 Rachel asked, “Are you sure? That’s a lot.”

 “Yeah, but why not? What about you?”

 “I have to sit through a cheer tryout. Me and Cheryl are the captains and the choreographers, so we’re in charge of the tryouts. I’m pretty sure everyone is gonna suck.”

 Then there was an awkward silence…until Nathan asked, “Um…wanna go out on…a date…this Friday?”

 Rachel widen her eyes, and then she smiled. She said, “Of course! Why wouldn’t I…oh.”

 Nathan noticed her deflated expression, so he asked, “What’s wrong?”

 She sighed, and said, “It’s my dad. He…he, and my mum, are very strict with me. They expect their daughter to be this perfect little angel. They don’t want me having boys over. At this rate, I’ll never have a boyfriend until I move to uni.”

 Nathan sighed, and said, “It’s okay. I don’t want you to get in trouble with you parents.”

 Rachel thought for a moment, and said, “You know what? Screw my parents. I’ll just tell them I’m hanging out with my besties. They don’t even know that Aria is…well, you know.”

 Nathan raised an eyebrow, and before he had a chance to talk, the teacher quieted everyone.

 It was now time for cheer tryouts. As Cheryl and Rachel sat down, Rachel told her, “The girls better be good. This year is gonna suck without our Year 13 stars.”

 Cheryl said, “Well, since we now know that…those people exist, maybe they’ll shine.”

 “Yeah, let’s hope so.”

 The first person came up to them. She was extremely beautiful, and was wearing glasses. She flashed her perfectly white perfect teeth, and stood with bubbly confidence.

 The girl chirped, “I’m Kimmy Stone! I’m 16. In Year 11. And I’m here to join the Berry Cheer!”

 Cheryl told her in a bored tone, “You seem awfully cheery.”

 Kimmy said, “Well, yeah! I also hope to become the new cheer captain!”

 That made Cheryl angry, so she told her off, “Oy! You’re just here to tryout! I don’t care if you’re really good, but just because you’re a Gen-Mod doesn’t give you the right to take our positions!”

 Rachel laughed nervously, and told a stunned Kimmy, “Okay! Kimmy, please forgive Cheryl here. She’s, erm, hadn’t had her PSL fix today. Show us what you have to offer.”

 Kimmy was still stunned, but showed off her impressive moves. Afterwards, she asked, “So Gen-Mods are real?”

 Cheryl stammered, but Rachel told her, “Meet us at Starbucks after the tryouts, then we’ll talk.”

 It’s the next day. Nathan walked up to Rachel, Cheryl, and Kimmy. He noticed Kimmy’s deflated expression, so he asked, “Is your friend okay?”

 Rachel explained, “We told her that she’s…yeah. She’ll be fine.”

 Kimmy shook her head, and said, “No, I’m not going to be fine because I lived a lie my entire life!”

 With that, she stormed off. Then Rachel shrugged, and asked Nathan, “So what’s up?”

 He replied, “I got into the rugby team. I was, apparently, too strong for all the other teams, but good enough for Rugby.”

 Rachel smiled, and said, “Really? That’s great! Well, I can’t wait to cheer for you this Friday.”

 Nathan smirked, and said, “It’s gonna be a fun night.”

 With that, the two kissed.

 It was now late afternoon. Nathan walked into the guys’ locker room. They guys stared at him as he changed into his shorts and shirt from his uniform. Nathan felt the stares burning on him. So he turned to face the guys, and asked, “Can I help you?”

 One of them, Matt, told him, “Yeah, we heard you kicked some serious arse yesterday during all the sport tryouts.”

 “Okay…and?”

 “What makes you think you’ll kick arse in rugby? What if I kick your arse?”

 Nathan started to feel uncomfortable, so he said, “Okay, I’m just gonna go out to the field now.”

 As Nathan was about to walk away, Matt blocked him. He told him, “I know what you are, Nathan. You’re one of those Gen-Mods on the telly.”

 Nathan glared at him, and said, “You don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not a Gen-Mod. I’m a regular human.”

 “Really? Then why are did your pupils take over your true eye color? I got you mad, didn’t I?”

 With that, Nathan realized he didn’t have his glasses on. He got scared. So he ran out of the locker room, and onto the rugby/track/soccer field.

 It’s a few hours later. Nathan saw Rachel sitting at the school steps. He sat next to her. He asked, “Waiting for your parents to pick you up?”

 She replied, “Yeah. My mum. My dad is at his production company. The only thing I know he’s doing is working on finalizing deals for some big-budget film project. How was rugby?”

 He sighed, “I did great. There’s this dude named Matt, and he was the fly-half. But the coach gave it to me instead. Oh, and he figured out that I’m a…thing.”

 She told him, “You’re not a ‘thing,’ Nate. You’re a person. So how did Matt find out you’re a…an advanced human?”

 “I didn’t have my glasses on. He was pissing me off, and apparently my eyes darkened. Plus, he and the team heard how I kicked ass yesterday during the tryouts.”

 “Ah.”

 “How was cheer practice?”

 Rachel sighed, and said, “We got two more Advanced Human girls. Kimmy is in the squad, but she’s not really willing to talk to me and Cheryl after we dropped the bomb on her.”

 “Well, let it sink in. It was hard for me to find out that a Gen-Mod, but I’m learning. Slowly. But yeah.”

 Just then, two cars pulled up. Nathan got in one car, which was his dad’s car, while Rachel got picked up by her dad. As soon as she got in her dad’s car, he asked her, “Rachel, who was that boy you were talking to?”

 Rachel told him, “Dad, relax. He’s just a friend of mine. He just got out of rugby practice. He didn’t try anything on me.”

 Her father groaned, and muttered, “He’d better not.”

 With that, he drove off.