The family moved to a city far from their hometown in Elysia.
The city was called "Mirai"— The city had high-rise buildings, perfectly planned and sorted, a beautiful city center with Mayor's house in the heart of the city.
Dexter was stoked at the sight of the city, his eyes sparkling with curiosity.
They started to unpack and settle into the new house.
Dexter and Silas were to attend a prestigious school in the city— one where admission was reserved only for the exceptionally smart or the outrageously rich.
Both brothers had earned their place; Silas and Dexter were accepted for their prodigious intellect.
Silas was also very charismatic and quickly made friends everywhere he went.
Dexter on the other hand was not very keen on the idea of "interaction".
He preferred to observe, speak only when spoken to, and watch the world moving around him.
Nevertheless, it was not like Dexter completely lacked interaction.
Being a prodigy meant people were bound to come to him with their problems.
At first, Dexter gave solutions to each and every problem he was told about, but slowly he started to get tired of it and began to shrug the problems off, pretending he didn't have a solution.
People didn't catch on to that, but as soon as he started doing so, fewer people sought him out and before he knew it.... HE WAS ALONE.
After one year in the school, Dexter received a letter to change branches for his academic excellence.
And so, he left. Dexter repeated the same pattern of pretending not to know in the new school, as expected no one came to him…. Except one.
There was a rather tall boy with a hoarse voice.
"Hey! My name is Max. We'll be in the same class until graduation, nice to meet you".
The boy was moving down the rows, introducing himself to everyone, and it was finally Dexter's turn.
Dexter gave a small nod, enough to prove he'd heard, but nothing more.
"My name is Dexter, nice to meet you."
He said, his words barely leaving his body as he exhaled heavily.
Max blinked, surprised by the minimal effort. The rest of the class was exchanging glances. But Max wasn't one to back down. He pushed, insisting…
"Since we will be in the same class, why not tell us about your future plans, interests, your birthday, or anything that you might want everyone around you to know about you".
Dexter replied, once again with the same tone, expression and energy.
"I have no plans… Kendo…. August 21st, 2106... I have nothing in particular that you might need to know".
Max surrendered, crawling into a corner of the classroom.
Dexter returned to his silence, letting his eyes wander across the room.
The girls behind Dexter commented loudly.
"And now he spaces out! Max! You don't have to feel down just because one or two people don't know how to talk properly".
Max was already popular in the class and was basically everyone's favorite.
The teacher entered the class, beginning roll call; Dexter only put his hand in the air when called out.
The whole class at this point was convinced that Dexter was a socially clueless dork.
It was time to assign class reps—a medal of pride in Mirai, reserved for top scorers.
All eyes fell on Max in anticipation.
Even before the teacher could speak, Max grinned.
"Even if I do get the medal, I would just hand it over to someone else. They can talk all day long as they like, is that alright? Teacher?"
The class broke into laughter.
The joke was at Dexter's expense; Dexter was aware but unreactive, though his classmates thought he didn't catch on.
The two girls behind him started mocking him.
"You probably don't even know we're laughing at you".
The teacher demanded silence in class and replied calmly,
"Of course you can hand it over to someone else, but there's one problem".
Max, still grinning, asked abruptly,
"What problem?"
"Because it was never yours to begin with".
Max broke into a cold sweat.
"Who could have scored higher than me when I studied so hard last year?!", he shouted in visible anger.
The teacher gazed at Dexter,
"There IS someone who scored higher than you last year. Everyone—Dexter will be the class rep for your grade".
Dexter froze, his mind lagging like an old device, refusing to boot up, shock rippled through the class… same as his own.