Please read the author's thoughts, thank you.
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Carefully folding the letter again, I slowly pced it on the nightstand beside the bed. I could feel my chest gradually tighteniement making it difficult to breathe. Or perhaps I was breathing so rapidly that my lungs couldn't keep up with the ining air. I could feel my heart rate accelerating as a few involuntary tears escaped from my eyes.
With the money I'll earn from the bet and the es I'm about to make, I will definitely achieve my goal in this life. I will bee a great doctor.
Thinking about what my life would be like now that I'll be going to Harvard much earlier to work with a doctor on the verge of winning the Nobel Prize, I started to ugh. At first, it was silent, but with each passing moment, my ughter grew louder.
At one point, a groan from Gabe made me immediately fall silent. "Is it time to run?" Gabe asked wearily from his bed.
Quickly turning off the fshlight I still had on me, I calmly replied, "No, buddy, go back to sleep," receiving no response iury had hit me once again, and I no longer felt like ughing.
I nning once again to leave my family to pursue my own dreams, even though the letter said I could work from here. How selfish could I be?
I had promised that if I had a sed ce, I would use it to be happy, enjoy life, experienew things, make friends, and start a family. Now that it had e true, I couldn't simply fet my promise. I had friends, I experienew things every day, my new family loved me, and I loved them back. I was genuinely happy, enjoying this life. I couldn't just leave.
With these thoughts tinuously swirling in my head, debating internally whether I should go with Dr. Donnall to Harvard to tihe researd be directly involved or just stay in Texas, hundreds of miles away, after a few hours, exhaustion finally overcame my body, and I fell asleep.
In what seemed like three minutes of sleep, the sound of the arm clock abruptly woke me up. Tired from what was undoubtedly a restless night of sleep, I took a few seds to fully wake up enough to turn off the arm.
Still lying in bed, staring at the ceiling of the room, the memories of my thoughts from the previous night came flooding back.
I had to make a decision, the best course of a was defio study directly under Dr. Donnall. It was even an opportunity to secure admission to Harvard without any issues.
Lost in my thoughts, I couldn't help but be surprised when a pillow hit me square in the face. Quickly removing it from my fad getting out of bed, I saw Gabe with a big smile.
"Revenge is sweet," Gabe said with a much more animated smile than I remembered seeing at this hour in the m.
Throwing his pillow back at him, I ughed slightly, incredulous at his vengeful attitude. I put my thoughts aside and got up to start my m routine.
Gabe, still energized by his aplishment, got ready quickly, having much more energy than on other days, thanks to a good night's sleep, I guessed.
"e o's go," Gabe said, boung up and down, urgio leave the room once we were both ready.
As had bee our routine, we began warming up in the front yard of our house. "PJ, Gabe, good m," Mrs. Wilson said, as she did every m, while taking a walk with her husband, Mr. Wilson.
"Good m, Mrs. Wilson," I said with a smile to the kindly elderly dy, followed by Gabe repeating the greeting.
"Dennis told me yesterday that you pyed with him and a bunch of other kids," Mrs. Wilson ented with a sweet smile, making Mr. Wilson snort.
"I hope at least you show him how to behave," Mr. Wilson said disdainfully.
"Oh, I didn't know that one of the kids from yesterday was yrandson," I deduced that the child was their retive, given how affeately Mrs. Wilson spoke of him.
"No," Mr. Wilson immediately said, raising his void furrowing his brow even more, "that kid is not randson," he tinued, l his voice after a nudge from Mrs. Wilson.
"He's not randson, PJ, he's just our neighbor, but he's a great kid," the woman said calmly. "I hope you get along well with him Gabe; it seems he had a lot of fun with you here," Mrs. Wilson finished with a friendly smile.
"Yes, ma'am," Gabe replied with a kind smile.
"I heard that today is the first game," Mr. Wilson said, still frowning after sn again in annoyance.
"Yes, sir," I replied quickly but respectfully to the man, who only nodded, still with his ever-present frown.
"Well, we wish you luck, PJ," Mrs. Wilson said kindly, taking her husband's arm again. "We won't bother you kids anymore; tih your exercises," the kind dy tinued, gently dragging her husband away.
After bidding farewell to the elderly couple, we started our m run. For some reason, Gabe seemed unusually excited today, running faster than his usual pad even jumping a bit after a few steps.
Easily catg up with him and maintaining the same pace, I asked, "Why are you so excited today?" as we tinued running.
After a sprint and now a bit out of breath, Gabe slowed down, taking a moment to respond, "It's the first game I'm going to wat person," he said with great excitement, "and yoing to py in it," he tinued, even more excited, blushing after a moment of thinking about what he had said and looking away.
"Aw, you're excited because yoing to watch y brother py," I told Gabe, pyfully nudging him on the shoulder.
"No, I just want to see how they tackle you" he said, raising his voice, dodging my arm as it sought to gently nudge him again to tihe joke. Now even more embarrassed, he sprinted again.
Amused, I accelerated as well to catch up with him and tieasing him, causing Gabe to stantly ge his running pace to avoid me.
Quickly, Gabe, who didn't maintain a steady pad didn't have the physical dition for that kind of race, got tired, slowing down to a light jog. I apanied him bae, where I let him ehe house to get ready for school.
Watg Gabe ehe house and close the door, I tinued with my own run. Since I had stantly been ging my running speed, I could feel the physical effort in my legs. Therefore, I decided to tih the slow pace we had at the end, allowio once again immerse myself in my thoughts about Dr. Donnall's proposal.
With my head still filled with pros and s, several mier, I returned home, where I took the gss of water that was already prepared for me, greeted everyone present, and took a quick shower to wash off the sweat.
Already in Bob's terrible truck, still worried about what I would have to do with the offer, on the way to school, listening to the music that Bob cimed was the best ience, he suddenly said, "I know you might be nervous," possibly notig something in my demeanor as one song ended and anan. "I used to get nervous before the first game of the season," he tinued with a big smile, still looking at the road.
Partly grateful to Bob for his iion to cheer me up, I simply nodded and didn't say anything, causing the truck to fall bato a versation-less silence. A moment ter, a new song started, making Bob tap his fingers oeering wheel to the beat of the music.
When we arrived at school, and Bob slowed down, seriously he turo face me. "What I wao say is, it's okay to feel nervous, uain, and even scared; it's natural," he said calmly, once again pulli of my thoughts. "But it's important to know that you shouldn't let those feelings overwhelm you; rationality is your best friend," he tinued with a faint smile. "No matter what you do out there, I want you to know that your mom and I support you," he said, pg his hand on my shoulder.
Perhaps Bob didn't realize it, but his words had truly helped me. I still had a debate in mind about whether to go with Dr. Donnall or not, but Bob was right; I couldn't let fear pressure me.
"That doesn't mean I don't want to see you win; quite the opposite actually, give it your all," Bob said, losing all seriousness with a big smile, pushi of the terrible truck. "Break a leg!" he shouted before closing the truck's door and driving away from the school grounds.
Shaking my head again, amused by Bob's childish attitude, I began to walk toward the school. If yesterday some people were excited, today was defihe majority of the school. "Win the game, Dun!" an older teenager said as he passed by, friendly patting my shoulder.
"Good luck, PJ," a bunch of girls said, smiling kindly in the main hallway, openly ughing when I nodded, grateful for their encement.
And so, with many more people in the main hallway, I now uood the problem that Sheldon faced every day in these same hallways. With difficulty, I tio advance, being stopped every now and then by someone cheering me on as they passed and attempting to engage in a brief versation, which I obviously reciprocated.
In one of the many occasions when I had to stop and chat briefly with a cssmate a few steps away from me, I heard, "e on, Kat, you have to tell him," from the voice of a girl.
"Kat?" I turned intrigued. What a ce it would be to meet Bianca's sister, Teddy's friend, the day after I promised the girl I would thank her sister.
Behind me, a group of three girls stood together, looking at me in surprise. "Katheriratford?" I asked the group of frozen girls who were staring at me for some reason.
One of the girls pushed the tral girl a few steps forward, causio stumble over her ow and lose her bance slightly. Quickly taking a step forward, I caught her by the arm, being careful not to squeeze too hard to avoid hurting her. "Careful," I said as I helped her regain her bance.
"Thank you," the girl said immediately, snatg her arm back with a forced smile and then turning aoward her friend, who pretended not to know anything and walked away with the irl several steps.
"See you ter," said the guy I was talking to a moment ago. "Go, Wolfs!" he shouted as he walked away, being cheered on by other equally excited people.
Waving goodbye to the excited boy alking away, I turned my attention back to the teenage girl in front of me.
For some reason, she seemed nervous, shifting owo feet still firmly pnted on the ground, swaying bad forth while pying with her hair behind her ear.
"Sorry," I said when I noticed I hadn't said anything, which robably why she felt unfortable. "Are you Katherina Stratford?" I asked immediately after.
Raising her head, she nodded, intrigued. "How do you know?" she asked strangely, with a small smile.
"Your sister is a friend of my sister; I met her at my house yesterday," I replied to the girl with a big smile, trying to be friendly.
"Oh," she said, surprised, losing her smile and widening her eyes.
"Yeah, what a ce, our sisters are friends," I said, trying to joke with the teenager. "Well, she said some hings about me that you had told her, so I wao thank you," I tinued, making the girl's eyes widen even more ically for some reason.
"What?" she asked, raising her voi disbelief after a small coughing fit.
"Yes, your sister said you think I'm the best student of the year. Thanks for that," I expined, causing the girl's expression to ge drastically. "Oh, that, yes, everyone knows you're the best in our year, even though I'm in different csses," she quickly crified, nervously pying with the hem of her clothes.
"Well, thank you very much for that," I said, fttered. "Although there's Sheldon," I tirying to py it off.
"The kid?" she asked, this time more calmly.
"Yes, I'm definitely not smarter than him," I expined calmly. Sheldon's intelligence didn't bother me; I've always known that there are people much smarter than me. You 't be the best at everything; it's impossible.
"Everyone knows the kid is a genius," the girl said, trying to downpy the topic. "But you're intelligent, kind, funny, and outgoing. They say you help anyone who asks, and no one has ever seen you be pretentious or rude to anyone, not even a teacher," she quickly expined, staring at her hands as if something very iing was happening with them. "Despite being one of the most popur people in school, you're open to having a versation with anyone, and it's easy to get along with you," she tinued quickly, not pausing to take a breath and avoiding my gaze.
"Well, at least that's what everyone says," she said after a moment of catg her breath.
Now, embarrassed by all the pliments, I didn't know what to say. I was simply kind to other people, and I didn't realize they thought so highly of me. Looking at the people around me, I began to notice that indeed many of them greeted me cheerfully when our eyes met. I thought all these iions were normal, but it seems it was a false idea of mine.
"Than—" I was saying when someone pulled my arm. "PJ!" Regina shouted excitedly as she hugged my arm. "It's today, the first game," she said, still excited, boung slightly while ging to my arm. "Aren't you excited?" she asked, squeezing my arm tightly, fillih her strawberry st.
"Yes," I replied as calmly as possible, once again thinking about mathematics, trying to get the excited girl to rex a bit, and therefore, me too. "Hellina, good m," I tinued after a moment, remembering my manners.
"Good m, PJ," Regina said, calming down and slightly smiling as she g even closer to me. "Regina, meet Katherina Stratford," I said quickly, recalling the irl I had rudely ignored.
"Ah, hi," Regina said with a strange smile, quickly ign Katherine, who had a hand up with a simirly strange smile on her face.
"Let's go, PJ, I'll walk you to your locker," Regina said again, ging her expression and pying with a few strands of hair as she tugged at my arm, urgio move forward.
Being dragged along by the girl, I smiled at the other teenager with silent apologies for my unresponsive behavior. "See you ter, Katherine," I said, waving with my free hand without looking at where Regina ulling me.
"Just Kat," Kat replied, smiling slightly, also waving with one hand in the air.
"Goodbye, Kat," I replied as I ulled away by Regina.
"Who's this 'Kat'?" Regina suddenly asked, strangely serious as we walked through the school hallways.
"What?" I asked, surprised by the suddeion.
"Yeah, who is she?" Regina asked, squeezing my arm between hers.
"She's the sister of a friend of my sister," I replied quickly, not really knowing why I o expin.
"Ah, okay, then it's fine," Regina said, quickly ging her serious expression and smiling at people passing by and cheerfully greeting those roached to give encement for the uping game.
Every now and then, for some reasina would press closer to me to greet irls by name as they passed by, who simply walked faster, making Regina smile even more.
Arriving at my locker, Regina squeezed my arm o time. "See you at the game, PJ," she said sweetly before heading to her locker with her friends.
"Right now, I'm so jealous of you," Brock said, approag from the same spot where Regina and I had arrived moments ago.
"What? Why?" I asked, genuinely surprised, as I fist-bumped my friend.
"Regina," he said as if it were obvious, looking at me incredulously, "she's pletely into you," he tinued, but after studying my face for a moment, Brock's eyes widened in surprise. "You really don't know?" he tinued with a big smile, starting to ugh, increasingly puzzled.
"I don't know what?" I asked, amused by my friend's attitude.
"e on, SuperStar, you've got to know," he yelled, throwing his hands up in frustration.
"What does he have to know?" An suddenly asked, also having arrived from the same dire as us a few moments earlier. "Everyone's very excited," he said as he fist-bumped us.
"Yeah, I know" Brock said excited seeing the other people at school, "but SuperStar cims not to know what Regina's up to," Brock expined with an incredulous expression, pointing at me with his hand while shaking his head.
"Oh, yeah, he definitely doesn't know," An said as he stored arieved things from his locker.
"I don't know what?" I asked, this time more desperate.
"What are you talking about?" David also asked, joining the group.
"Abina and SuperStar," Brock expined as if it were a recurring topic.
"Oh, yeah, she's intimidating," David ughed as he also started st arieving things from his locker.
"You're popur, mate," Brock expined as he gave me a shoulder hug.
"Yeah, someone made it clear today," I said, agreeing with my friend's statement.
"Well, why do you think girls don't talk to you besides the ones in our css?" Brock tinued with a sinister smile.
"Girls do talk to me," I said, feeling offended for some reason. "Look," I said as I a group of girls passing by us.
"Hi, PJ," they said in unison befhing and tinuing on their way.
"See?" I smiled proudly.
"Yeah, they greet you," Brock said, adopting a strange pose of wisdom, "but they don't talk to you beyond that," David added, joining Bro fist-bumping ger friend, imitating the pose.
"But what dina have to do with all this?" I asked, amused by my friends' antics.
"I noticed it," An said calmly, closing his locker. "There are no irls from different groups or years who talk to you," he said calmly, "only Regina and Regina's friends," he tinued, giving his expnation as if it were a presentation. "Yesterday, there proach with anirl in front ina, and she somehow distanced her from you," An said, receiving affirmations from the other two teenagers.
"So, with this evidence, I cluded that Regina was doing something to keep irls from getting close to you," he said, crossing his arms, apanied by our other two friends that were making hat were inteo be creepy with fun.
Watg my three friends having fun, I couldn't help but shake my head amused by their crude clusions. It couldn't be true that Regina was keeping people away from me; she's a kind girl.
Although, with Kat, she literally pulled me away from there, it couldn't be true, right?
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Author Thoughts:
As always, I am not Ameri, aainly not a doctor.
This marks the end of this week's chapter. I know I mentiohe possibility of a mid-week chapter st week, but I didn't really have the time to sit down and write. I feel that for now, I won't be ging the update schedule, so we'll have to stick with one chapter per week, or maybe not. I don't know.
Things I would like to crify: 1. The MC is a human, and I try to make his personality as human as possible. Humans are made up of feelings and thoughts. If you want to read about a pletely desensitized, fwless protagonist who's far from human, go ahead and read another he synopsis has a warning for a reason, so he'll be calling Bob by his il he deals with his human issues. 2. His 'Beta' attitude (I find it very disgusting to categorize people as Alpha, Beta, ma; It's just the stupidity of a teenager who wants to be like Christian Bale in Ameri Psycho. Just teehinking that hating the world is 'cool.') will tiil he ges it. I'm not going to immediately ge his attitude; it's called character development, and my character will undergo it as the story progresses. 3. I've been having some trouble researg tax and stock market-reted things for this novel, so with or without your permission, I'll make up nonseo keep the stoing. I won't suddenly make the protagonist the richest person on the p; how b would that be? 4. The title may be misleading. Even though this novel will have elements from various TV series, characters, plots, iioc., it remains fually a medical drama. That's the purpose, and it will tio be. The main plot of the story is to be a doctor, as I've expi some point. In my he story is divided into three volumes: the current one, 'adolesce' getting used to the world and his persona; the sed volume, medical school, where the character is more developed, and there are many other pns; and finally, the third volume, being a doctor, where the story will end (there's still a long way to go for that).
If you've read these points, please leave a ent or just a message to let me know that I didn't write these crifications in vain.
I think that's it. As always, if you find any errors, please let me know, and I'll correct them immediately.
Thanks for reading! :D
PS: 20 Chapters, What? How Cool it's that? :D