By the time Kaya had suppressed his thoughts, the hologram questionnaire philosophy class had already ended and it had become time for the last period of that day, mathematics.

As the bell rang, conflicted emotions could immediately be heard as students stood up to walk to the next classroom. Some grunts from people who despised math while some students were just happy that the day was almost over.

Having sat down in the back of the math class, Kaya was quickly greeted by a high-pitched but gentle and happy “Hello.”

Kaya couldn’t help but smile back at her. Not because he truly felt joy from seeing the woman, but because he had to keep up appearances.

“Hello to you too Lucy.”

Kaya could see Lucy’s expression brighten up immediately. And not like his own, but genuinely. She opened her mouth to respond but was quickly cut off by a loud voice that slightly made her flinch back.

“The test results are out! And I don’t know how to feel about them… In all my life of teaching I have never -.” The math teacher said, his voice loud and disappointed.

What he said after though, Kaya had already filtered out. It was the usual speech of teachers as they came back with test results they were not happy with.

Kaya could see Lucy’s expression becoming worried, but Kaya’s wasn’t at all. Putting on a reassuring smile, Kaya put his hand on Lucy’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry, your score will be alright.”

Instantly, Lucy calmed down. She knew that Kaya wasn’t the one to joke about such things with her. But a question came with this as anticipation quickly began to form in her eyes.

“How do you know?”

Kaya didn’t answer though and just widened his smile. Kaya had looked at Lucy’s answers while she took the test after Kaya had already submitted his test paper, so he knew roughly what score she would get. Probably around a B.

This speech of the teacher was going to at least take a few minutes, so, Kaya opened his book to continue with a few math problems in the meantime. It wasn’t even directed towards him as he knew he would get a good score, so he wasn’t going to listen to this. It was a waste of time.

It was only 15 minutes later that the teacher finished his speech and began handing out the test results. Kaya was immediately distracted from his work as he heard the disappointment and frustration of the people who got handed a D or even an F.

Stretching out his body, Kaya slid his math book forward.

‘At least I was able to go ahead another few pages. I won’t have to worry about doing homework for a while.’

Another few minutes passed before the teacher got to Lucy and him as they sat in the back row of the classroom. Once the teacher got there though, his expression brightened.

“Kaya, as expected, I can always count on you.”

As he handed Kaya the test paper, a big A could be seen on the top right of it. Kaya gave the teacher a smile as if he was happy with the result, but as soon as the teacher looked away, kaya’s expression returned neutral as he laid the test paper on the side of his desk.

Kaya wanted to go back to solving questions again now that the class was quieting down, but he was disrupted as someone suddenly put their arms all around Kaya. Kaya flinched and shuddered, his expression becoming nasty for a second before forcefully putting a smile on his face when he remembered he was still in class.

“I got a B Kaya! Can you believe it?” Lucy practically yelled for the whole class to hear, making nearly half the class stare at the two of them with jealousy in their eyes.

“Yes, I can believe it. Isn’t that why I said not to worry. I was the one to help you with studying after all.” Kaya said playfully, matching her tempo. “Ahem, Lucy, I know you are grateful, but can you please stop hugging me?”

Lucy looked at Kaya for a short moment, her eyes looking directly at his. “Hmm, but I don’t want to.” Lucy said in a bratty way, only hugging Kaya tighter, her body pressing against his.

It took all Kaya’s mental strength to not give Lucy a death stare. Instead, he tilted his head slightly, his eyes almost fatherly, or at least what Kaya had surmised a normal fatherly assertive look to look like.

Seeing this, Lucy giggled. “Okay, Kaya.” She said, and let go of Kaya immediately, still looking into his eyes with a smile on her face.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Most people in this situation would have been jealous of Kaya, being hugged by one of the prettiest girls in the school. Lucy had a small figure, but she was not petite. With her slender body only accentuating her curves. Her face was also nothing to scoff at. She had a little button nose and pretty blue doe eyes that went well with her long, blonde, wavy hair.

However, more people were jealous of Lucy for being seated next to Kaya. People just found it nice to talk to Kaya. And a rumor also went around school that whoever sat next to Kaya would improve their test results and get more friends, which wasn’t really a rumor anymore but just a fact.

After Lucy stopped hugging Kaya there were still some eyes on them, but they were quickly diverted forward as the teacher began his class. He began teaching like he hadn’t just given a 15-minute-long speech about how disappointed he was. But unlike normal, no one dared to mess around, much less talk, as he already wasn’t in the greatest of moods.

Kaya didn’t mind this, however. He could just listen to the lecture uninterrupted as he solved some more questions from the textbook in the meanwhile. This was the atmosphere Kaya hoped to have in every lesson. Just in his own world. Being productive as a normal student.

Like this, time passed quickly, and before Kaya knew it, the bell rang. This being the last period meant the school had ended for the day. It was also Friday, meaning that it was the weekend.

Already regretting his promise, Kaya headed toward classroom 3 as he had said in the hologram questionnaire philosophy class.

Having waited there for a few minutes, surprisingly only one student showed up. Apparently, the advice he had given in front of the class had already helped most people who wanted to talk to him.

“Hey Ray, seeing that you are the only one and that you live in my direction, do you want to talk about it while walking home?” Kaya asked the one student who had shown up, Ray, with a smile on his face.

Ray’s expression immediately brightened up. “Yes, please!” He said as if it was a huge favor Kaya was giving him. However, Kaya only suggested this as walking home while talking about it was going to take up less of his time than if they were to talk in the classroom.

With both people happy with this arrangement, Ray and Kaya walked home. On their way, Ray vented about why he answered that he was not happy in life, and Kaya played his part as a friend, but mostly a therapist just listening and giving advice.

With the walk to Kaya’s house taking around fifteen minutes, Ray’s problem had already been solved as much as advice could by the time they had gotten to his house.

“Uhm, Kaya, do you maybe want to hang out with me and a few of my friends on the weekend?” Ray asked, a nervous smile on his face thinking to have become closer to Kaya on this walk.

“I would love to,” Kaya said, immediately igniting sparks in Ray’s eyes. “But, I have to study. We have a test next week, and you know me…”

Instantly, Ray became saddened. “Okay, good luck.” Ray said, disappointed. He wasn’t disappointed in Kaya, however, he could never be. Kaya had already helped him so much.

Having said goodbye to Ray, Kaya headed inside the apartment complex he lived in and entered his room, number 205. Shutting the door behind him, Kaya couldn’t help but utter a sigh of relief.

Kaya put down his backpack by the door and immediately undressed, changing into something more comfortable. A pair of soft, loose-fitting grey sweatpants and an oversized T-shirt.

‘That’s better, much better.’

As Kaya had changed clothes, he immediately lay down on his bed. Grabbing his laptop that was on the nightstand, he put it on his lap and opened it. As soon as he heard the melodic beeping of the laptop starting up, a slightly relaxed smile formed on Kaya’s face. This time genuinely.

This was it. He didn’t plan to study at all, that was a lie. But he didn’t completely lie, there is a test next week. However, Kaya had no need to study for it as he had paid attention in class. And for Kaya, this was good enough to get an A most of the time.

Now being at home, with no one to bother him, Kaya was going to spend every minute, every second of his free time just sitting on his bed reading some novels and watching shows and streamers to pass the time.

This was the only time in Kaya’s life when he was comfortable, and the closest he could come to happiness.

He had always wanted to become an author, artist, or something akin to a streamer. So, in a sense, reading authors’ works and watching streamers felt the closest he could come to this dream, living vicariously through them.

Because there was just no way Kaya was going to pursue his dreams. These types of aspirations, these dreams, were quickly beaten out of him as he was still a child, transformed into something forbidden, something unacceptable and unachievable.

Kaya already knew that, at that moment, his whole life changed. He changed. Instead of dreaming of a happy life, his mind was already becoming programmed to work towards a normal, stable unfulfilling life.

Kaya’s aspirations had already been set then and there. He was going to live a normal, unbothered life. Out of view of everyone, just finishing school peacefully, going to college for business, and getting a job at a normal company with an average position where he would practically be invisible. Just being able to work the clock from 9 to 5 and then not having to think about anything anymore.

Even now, years later, Kaya was still following this path. But to achieve that Kaya had become someone else entirely, his life filled with deceit. And he had become perfect at it. Not only had he deceived his friends, but also the teachers. Without doing much, Kaya had already received a scholarship and was seen as the perfect student.

Kaya was happy with this, but not in a normal way though.

‘With this, I will be able to retire a few months earlier.’

That is how Kaya thought about it. He was still a child, but he was already thinking about retiring as early as possible, already knowing that he wouldn’t like his job or anything besides just comfortably sitting on his bed reading novels and watching shows and streamers.

He had also already decided that he was just going to live in a cheap small apartment never going on vacations, and breaking off all ties with his friends after school just so that he had more free time and could save money to retire earlier.

Yes, this was what Kaya was going to do. And he IS going to achieve that, there are no variables in that as he had everything planned out, realistically, without risks.