As an exchange student from Scotland, a whole new world opens up to Darren Green when he moves to the United States. He'll live with a host family, start at a new school, and he'll have to make new friends. However, what won't be a part of this new...
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IT WAS A FRIDAY EVENING in which Darren, as he had decided, would get some rest. He did this by grabbing his copy of Sapiens, a book he'd read three times before but that he still found himself thoroughly enjoying. Even if it oversimplified some facts to make the evolutionary process comprehensible to a bigger audience, Darren learned something new every time he read it and picked up some facts of things he hadn't known before to add to his ever-growing collection of knowledge.
That was precisely the thing he was looking forward to tonight. After having finished and sent in his application to every university he wanted to apply to, he wanted to clear his mind of human cloning and recommendation letters, the only thing he'd been thinking about for the past few weeks in preparation for this day. So, he'd picked up Sapiens, and allowed himself to get lost in the world of the Cognitive Revolution, a period many millennia ago when a whole new world opened up to humankind when they learned to use their imagination.
And for a second, Darren thought it was his imagination when he heard a doorbell interrupt his quiet reading time, but when it rang again, he realized he had to be the one to open the door. The McCosta family wasn't at home: Aimee was at a friend's house, Isaiah would be late from work, and Adelaide and Liam had gone for a walk – something Liam hadn't wanted, but his mother had insisted he needed some time outside. Darren figured they had forgotten to take a key with them when they left, so he got up from the couch to let the family into their own home.
However, when he opened the door, he was confronted with a figure who was much too light to be Adelaide. Instead of the dark-skinned mother standing behind her son in a wheelchair Darren had expected, he saw just one person, and this person – a girl – had very light skin and almost white hair. She stood out even more in the dark evening sky as the subject that the moonlight had chosen to highlight.
"Darren," she said. Her lips curled upwards, but stayed together to form a suspicious smile.
"Dakota?" he asked. He squinted his eyes as if he wanted to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him.
"That's me." She grinned. "We have to go."
Darren's confusion intensified, so much so that he didn't know what to ask her of all the questions running through his mind. Why was she here? How did she find him? Why did they have to go?
Fortunately, he didn't have to ask: she clarified her comment herself. "You've been here for a few months now. It's time for you to explore the world."
Darren couldn't think of a better way to explore the world than with Sapiens, a book that took him through millennia of world evolution from the comfort of the McCosta's living room. "Now? I... I don't understand." 'Why now' was one of the questions circling his mind. She had gone through all the trouble to find the address he lived at so she could visit him on a random Friday night to go out. Also, many of her friends would probably be interested in hanging out with her for a night, but instead, she'd decided to go to him.
