MISFIT

CHAPTER TWELVE

"I can't take it anymore, I swear I can't, one more lesson, just one more and I'll go crazy"

Kuzo slammed the front door, dropped his skate board and walked in.

His mother appeared looking worried with oven gloves on.

"What happened?" Maia asked.

"Mom…..idioms and proverbs…he said with a poker face..that's what we learnt today, idioms, for crying out loud, in senior year?, that is a lesson for second graders in Geeces, I cannot and will not subject myself to this degrading torture"

Maia, gave a sigh of relief.

"Is that what this is about?" She walked back into the kitchen and her son followed.

"They don't even have the facts right in history"

"Well they are closer to history that we could ever be, you should be modest enough to learn"

Kuzo sighed.

"You would be fine Kuzo"

" I hate being in a class with no competition, quantum mechanics, biochemistry and tectonics are things an eighth grader has an idea of in our time, no one even knows what technetium is" Kuzo dropped into a chair in the kitchen and his mother poured him a glass of juice.

"Thanks mom"

"The greatest lessons in life come when you think you know everything, those are the lessons that you cherish, maybe this is an opportunity to study people for who they are, not technology not this world just people, you have seen most of the world but not most of its people, everything has a different idea of home, find out what makes this place their home"

"I wish dad were here, I miss our quizzes and his tests and experiments and building things with him"

"Did someone just talk about me?"

Kuzo looked to the door and found his father.

"Dad!" He rushed up to him and hugged him.

"How long have you been standing here?"

"Long enough" Essien replied.

"When did you get here?"

"Last night actually, you were asleep when I came in and I was when you were awake"

"I'm so glad you're here"

"So am I, go wash up so we could get the table ready for dinner okay"

"Sure…"He was half way out when he stopped.

"Erm mom…." He began to say then it hit him, if he asked anything suspicious about Summer, his mother may suggest they moved out. She had no room for suspicious things.

"What is it?"

"Nothing, I'm just so glad to have us all together again"

"Aww" She cooed. His father wrapped his arm across her back and drew her close.

"So are we son" Essien said and Kuzo walked out. They could hear him go up the steps.

"He's growing really fast, and I did see his mustache" Essien whispered to his wife.

"I told you" Maia said proudly.

***

This was not the first secret he was going to keep from his mother. He knew his mother was an Empath but having her around had thought him how to hide his feelings. When it got extreme she noticed sometimes but to Kuzo, that was just her motherly instincts kicking in.

He had not spoke to anyone about what happened in school with his hands when Tafo had attacked him.

His mother had groomed him up to know that anger was a consuming force and he'd taught himself well how to control it.

A knock came on his door.

"Hey you awake?"

"Yeah dad, come in"

Essien walked into his son's room and found him already dressed for bed in his black turtleneck body hugging sweater. He wasn’t yet quite comfortable with loose clothes, he felt naked in them, he only wore them to the beach. Unlike the other guys, Kuzo didn't fancy exposing his abs or muscles or his chest for that matter, he usually wore long sleeved shirts beneath his t shirts until it got extremely hot when he had no choice but he was decent and fly. Some guys often said he had a great fashion sense and had been used for the schools front cover on many occasions without his permission. Kuzo was sportive and played basketball, he loved to swim as well and was almost always on the beach during his free time. The ladies loved him but he had no time for them. He hated taking pictures because he didn't like the idea of leaving a piece of him in a world he did not belong in so he stayed away from cameras.

Till he met Summer.

"Your mother tells me you're having a hard time adjusting" Essien had asked.

"Yeah, but I'll be fine"

"How about you guys come over to New York for the next holidays"

"Really?, that would be great, I could get out of Baltimore for a while, so dad, how is work like, anything new you're working on?""Well like you I get bored too because the technology is slow but I try my best to fit in and not attract so much attention, it’s a dangerous era, make a few mistakes and forces would want to turn you into a weapon making machine after they make you a national treasure"

"This place is messed up"

"It is but its gonna be our home for a while so we'd better get used to it"

Essien said.

"I also got you this, your mother tells me you have a thing with water.

He handed him a swimming suit.

"What does it do?"

"It is powered by ocean salts and minerals so it wouldn’t work in a lake, I adjusted the speed limit in such a way that it moves at your hearts capacity.

"Wow, so I can move that fast under water?"

"Yes, it should help you in your quest as a life guard"

"You say that like I'm some super hero"

"It seems this world is obsessed with them, it wouldn’t be bad to give them one"

"I don't think that is a a good idea, that suit is going to attract attention if he goes off making people believe Aquaman was real, and I don't want NASA knocking on my door, you both are going nowhere with your crazy creations and you should know better than be giving him advanced stuff Essien, why didn't you ask me first" Maia appeared.

"Okay okay, fine you guys, thanks dad for the kind gesture but I think mom is right, this world doesn’t need any superheroes"

"Keep it, just in case"

"No way, I'll take that" Maia took the suit swiftly.

"Are you sure you are blind at all?"

"Go to bed, both of you!" She snapped.

"Yes ma" Both boys said and then they giggled.

Maia picked a golf ball from her son's desk and threw it at him. He caught it.

"Nice reflexes, lights out in three 'squint seconds" She said and walked towards the door.

"Science hasn’t discovered that bit of time yet mom"

"Well whatever" She walked out anyway, both boys giggled.

"She's a piece of work" Essien said about his wife.

"No one like her anywhere else on this planet and beyond"

"I know, ain't we both lucky and cursed" Kuzo chuckled.

"Don't let her hear you say that" Kuzo warned his father.

"I know right" He mouthed and then winked.

"Good night son" Essien said to his son.

"Night dad" Essien turned off the lights on his way out.