Over the few years, I occasionally visited my old care home. Most of the people I knew were still there. The number of visits I gave dropped to only 1 visit per year after year 9. I knew me being there was very uncomfortable for Tom and a few others who were never adopted.
I was in year 11 and chose science, maths and IT as my main subjects.
Over the years I had nearly managed to finish reading almost every book in the library about IT, science and maths. As I guessed my ability to memorise and comprehend somehow increased either due to age or due to reading so many books.
The name of Rooted Potato should have initially ticked off the bells to me that something about this ability was unique after all. Potatoes with roots were meant to grow and my ability was doing exactly that.
I could now easily memorise and comprehend 100's of university-level books in a month's time instead of taking a year.
It was the year 2000, March and my parents had something to tell me today.
"David we are expecting a sibling for you." My mum said with happiness.
The reason why they adopted me was that they could not have kids no matter how hard they tried over the years.
But they finally had a child as they reached their early 40's.
I was happy for them and so were they.
I passed my GSCE with A* in everything.
I decided to carry on with my A level in the grammar school itself.
For my A level, I picked IT, Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. I had only needed to pick 3 but I chose 5. They would only allow someone to pick 5 subjects only if they were seen as capable. Seeing my grades throughout my academic history they accepted my decision to pick 5 subjects for A levels.
By the time my summer holiday ended my mum was in her 7th month of pregnancy. I had looked after her during my summer holiday.
My grandparents decided to come and take care of her till her due date as my dad couldn't take holiday till her pregnancy.
My grandparents advised him to save all the holidays up to use it after the pregnancy.
I occasionally helped around the house when I could, and everyone was very stressed especially my dad, as mum was pregnant so late in her year and had some complications.
My mum had given birth to a baby boy in November of the year 2000.
Everyone was worried about mums health. The doctor declared other than being very tired she was perfect.
We decided to name the baby Jack Henswick.
When mum came back she was surprised to see quite a few people from our family along with a few of her best friends gathered for a party we had arranged for her.
After all the celebrations and party, everyone left home. My mum was complaining a bit to me for inviting the cousin that she hated. She obviously made sure to do this out of her parents' earshot.
My grandparents stayed with us for a few more weeks, leaving after the new year.
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My dad took paternity leave on top of his annual holidays which meant he would be here for a long while after my grandparents had left.
My parents constantly had eyes that said they couldn't sleep.
At first, I couldn't sleep either from the baby's constant crying, before I used my ability to force myself to sleep.
I was the only odd one out every day to seem very energetic while my parents walked around tired.
One day as I was walking past my tired dad, he put a hand on my shoulder before saying. "Babies are demons! Don't make the mistake we did David." Before walking off half asleep.
I chuckled at that and went to college. As if I would have time for a woman and love in my life let alone babies.
I did my AS level exams and got A* in all 5 subjects.
My parents talked with me about what I wanted to do in uni and which uni I wanted to go to.
"I am thinking about doing MSc in Physics at Oxford University but might apply to a few other top universities as well," I told them. There was a simple reason why I picked Oxford.
Currently, Oxford was one of the best and popular Unis in the world. This is due to the quality of education given there but also because of all the latest types of equipment they have there for their students. I needed to prepare for the future and I could use those pieces of equipment to make some things I might need in the future.
They nodded and helped me with my applications and helped me set up a mock interview which I would most likely have.
I was invited to an interview with Oxford and few other Universities which I thought I did quite well followed by a short test.
I easily passed the test along with the interview and was told I could enter the Uni if I managed to achieve 3 A's and 2 B's in all 5 A levels of mine. I was surprised at the low-grade boundary offer they gave me. I concluded it must have been because of my grade 8 flute along with the excellent grades I had from primary school to A level.
In Uk having a grade 6 and above in music was considered excellent by certain Uni's and counted towards certain acceptance requirements of universities.
We celebrated Jack's first birthday with both my parents' best friends and my mum's family minus the cousin she hated.
By the time 2002 arrived and it was August I had received my results and successfully managed to enter Oxford University to do Masters in Physics.
They wanted to buy me a gift for passing my A levels and entering into Oxford.
I had never asked them for much over the years and they knew there wasn't much I needed. Everything I needed was at home. So they had a hard time picking a gift for me. In the end, they chose a laptop as a gift for my university needs.
My parents came with me to drop me off and constantly warned me about unprotected sex, gambling, taking loans etc. They obviously excluded the drinking alcohol part as I was known for not even drinking tea and coffee let alone alcohol. In fact, my parents once encouraged me to drink only for me to state the health risks from drinking not just alcohol but tea and coffee and ruined their mood to drink alcohol as well much to their annoyance.
So since that day, they steered the topic of drinking to me lest they suffer a lecture from me.
They also told me that if I had the need for money then I should simply ask rather than borrow from loan sharks or use credit cards.
It was an embarrassing talk, but I got through it.
I had received government funding to cover for my books, rent etc along with a scholarship to cover my tuition fee.
However, my parents decided to pay for my accommodation, therefore, I had booked a studio apartment in a well-guarded area rather than a student room.
"Are you sure you don't want us to stay here for a few days?" My mum asked me for the nth time.
"No mum. Just go. I will be fine." I convinced her for the nth time.
"Fine take care and study well." She said as she waved goodbye.
"Listen to what she said and don't get in any troubles ok?" My dad advised me.
"Sure." I smiled as I nodded.
After they left, I just sighed and sat on my bed.
I was finally alone after so many years.
For now, I used the saved up pocket money dad had given me over the years to buy some gym weight machines.
After buying the things I needed and getting them inside my room I started my workout.
I didn't want to go workout in a gym. I don't want people to gawk at a person with only a minimum amount of muscles as he lifted 400 Kg. I was definitely sure by now that the reason why my body didn't look ripped or packed with muscles was due to my 2nd ability 'Comfy Potato'.
In fact, due to this gift, I could both be extremely flexible while at the same time contain the strength of a person to bench press 400 kg.
Neither my endurance, stamina, strength or speed was lost due to my body figure. In fact, everything that I had trained over the years was packed in the seemingly ordinary-looking trained body.