Human Beyond (Patreon)

“Thank you for coming, Mrs. McGinnis.  Will your husband be joining us?”

I deliberately ignored the way mom's face darkened and kept my eyes on the AR-interface I was wearing.

“I'm afraid not.  Matt's brother Terry ran into a bit of trouble.  We decided to each see to one problem...”  Mom sighed, her eyes cutting my way.  I shuffled awkwardly, pretending to care.

Vice-Principle Harris paused, frowning, before shaking his head.  “Mrs. McGinnis, I'm sorry, but there appears to be a misunderstanding.  Matthew isn't in trouble.”

Mom paused, glancing at me.  “I... the alert you sent said that Matt had been accused of cheating on an exam?”

“Accused, yes, but...” The vice-principle looked to me.  “Matthew, didn't you tell your mother...?”

I shrugged.  “She and dad were fighting.  I didn't want to interrupt.”

“Matthew!”  Mom hissed, a mortified blush spreading over her face.

“I-ah, see.”  Mr. Harris stated in an awkward and, credit where it's deserved, concerned tone.  “Well, Mrs. McGinnis, to sum up the actual content of the alert, your son was accusedof cheating during the end of the last semester.  I believe you've been receiving our alerts about Matt not paying attention in any of his classes?”

“Ah, yes, my husband and I have spoken to him on a number of occasions and we'd hope his attitude would improve, but...”  She sighed.  “We're just...”  She flushed slightly again.  “Very busy, you understand.”

I'm pretty sure Harris saw me roll my eyes, but didn't comment.

“Well, yes, at any rate, his teachers were of the opinion that his grades would reflect that lapsed attention and were planning to move forward with a conference much like this one, but...”  He pulled up a document on the holoscreen.  “As you can see, Matthew didn't miss a single question.”

Mom stared at the display for a long moment.

“Hence the accusations of cheating.”  Mr. Harris cleared his throat slightly, an embarrassed blush now resting on his face as he looked at me apologetically.  “Two of Matthew's teachers and I called him in to explain himself and he said-”

“It's not my fault if the tests are too easy.”  I shrugged, my eyes locked onto the cybernetics text I was reading instead of on the VP.

“Yes.  Yes you did.”  Mr. Harris sighed, reaching up to rub his head.  “After that, I challenged Matthew to take the next semester's exams if he felt so confident.”

“I'm sorry, shouldn't you need parental approval for something like this?”  Mom asked, an angry frown on her face.

“You and dad both signed off on it.”  I sighed.

“No, I'm sure I would have remembered-”

“It was last Tuesday, after you and dad came home.”  I replied.

Mom blinked, her mouth open to rebut my assertion before she, no doubt, remembered the fact that she and dad had gone out for dinner that night and come home fairly drunk.

“I... suppose I may have signed something...”  Mary sighed and shook her head.  “Honestly Matt, you should have picked a better time and explained everything.”

I shrugged, letting her take that as an apology for the sake of bypassing the confrontation not apologizing would create.

“Regardless, though, Matthew sat the tests we agreed on and passed with flying colors.  Perfect scores across the board.”  Mr. Harris explained, drawing up another e-doc.

“Tha-that's wonderful.”  Mom stated, her tone slightly stunned as she looked over at me, pride in her eyes.  “So... does this mean Matthew needs to be moved up a grade?  Is that what this is all about?”

“Not precisely...”  Harris sighed and hit a few keys on the touch-board workstation at his desk.  Instantly, a building appeared on the screen.  “This is Gotham Heights.  Although it's technically a private school running from kindergarten through high school, it receives public funding and uses a special track system for accelerated learners.  Matthew would receive more one-on-one time with teachers, mentorship opportunities from older students, and an overall environment more... equipped to handle his needs.”

“I'm sorry, but I'm not sure if-I mean, just because Matt passed the next years tests...”  Mom paused as Harris shook his head.

“Mrs. McGinnis, I don't think you understand... as I said in the alert, we decided to explore exactly what Matthew's comprehension level wasafter it was discovered he was more than a year ahead of his peers.”  Harris leaned back.  “After we had to call the local high school to get their yearly assessment tests it was decided that this matter should be handled by you and your husband rather than us.”

“I... I don't think I understand.”  Mom stated, looking rather lost.  “You... Matt can't stay at this school anymore?  Because he's too smart?”

Harris grimaced.  “It's not that Matthew can'tstay here at Brighton Elementary, it's just that the number of accommodations we'd have to make for someone of his intellect would be... unfeasible, at best.  If Gotham Heights isn't to your liking, I have taken the liberty of preparing a few pieces of literature about nearby schools which might suit Matthew better.”

Mom took the offered thumb drive with a slightly numb look on her face.