Take my heart

Chapter XVIII

A strange occasion in itself, breakfast with the whole family. They've only had a handful of family meals since the Prague trip. It can either go terribly good or fantastically bad, but Caesar is feeling rather optimistic as he scoops french toast onto his plate.

"We're going to visit your grandmother this afternoon, is either of you coming?" asks his mother, stirring her tea in one of the cups from the tea set Connor gave her last Christmas.

"Hm... sure, why not," Ash says.

Caesar shakes his head. "I'll try to go during the week, but the boys are coming over today."

"How do you do it? I'd go insane if I saw my friends as often as you do," his sibling admits, pouring a criminal amount of syrup on their waffles. Caesar scoffs, both at their words and their actions.

"For starters, I actually like them. This time it's not for fun, anyway," he says, as if that makes things different. "I'm tutoring Connor and Lee in math."

Terribly good or fantastically bad, and the scale starts tipping to one side when his father looks at him over his phone from the end of the table. Caesar blinks, goes over his words to see if he said anything wrong, comes up empty handed.

"Again? This is the fourth time, isn't it?"

"Uh... maybe?" Caesar lifts a shoulder. "They have a test next week so..."

"And what about your tests?" His father puts his coffee down with a slight frown.

It's safe to say Caesar has no idea where this is going.

"I've taken most of them already," he reminds him. The food on his plate is losing a bit of its appeal, but he takes a bite anyway. An unexplained urge to get away from this situation tingles under his palms. "What are you trying to get at?"

Looking more displeased by the second, his father makes a gesture at Caesar's mother, who purses her lips and sits straighter, tell-tale sign that she has nothing good to say. Both Caesar and Ash brace themselves.

"I was talking to Mrs. Wang yesterday," she says, earning an immediate grimace from Caesar. "It seems Adryan has been working really hard lately, and we're all glad his efforts are paying off, but." She doesn't sound glad at all. "Dear, I'm just saying this because I care about your education. You're falling behind."

Caesar burns his tongue with a sudden sip of scalding coffee. He bites back a complaint, wipes his mouth and raises an eyebrow at his mother.

"Sorry?"

"While Adryan is working harder and getting better grades, you're slacking off," his father has the kindness to provide. "For the first time ever, I'd rather you follow Wang's example. Does he spend as much time as you tutoring classmates? Or does he use that time to study?"

It's way too early for this. For a moment, all that's on Caesar's mind is white static, as he tries to make sense of his parents' words. No, Adryan doesn't spend much time tutoring their friends, but that's not why he's doing better. He's just putting an insane effort into everything because Dawn promised him a date for every perfect grade he got. Caesar doesn't have that kind of motivation.

"I study enough," is all he manages to come up with.

They're not convinced.

"Doesn't it bother you that Adryan is surpassing you?" his mother tries. "You've had the lead for all these years..."

"It's not a competition."

There's a sense of finality in Caesar's words. They've had several conversations like this along the years. Maybe it's because their families' companies compete in every other market, and Caesar and Adryan's results are just another proof of who's better, but it's not going to work like that. One thing their parents fail to understand is that they're friends. Adryan is not competing, and Caesar sure as hell won't either.