"Um, no I'm..." Before Alex could refuse food, a bowl of cereal was being poured out for him, "Thanks." He replied to Riley's mother as he took the bowl from her hands and proceeded to eat it while standing. A mouth full of cereal, Alex simply nodded when the English test was brought up, and raised his eyebrows briefly when Riley began to complain, mainly with worry about the test. The Einstein comment wasn't too far off, where Alex had spent all of his life leading up to the past two months, academics had been as important as physicality. Being a genetically perfect soldier wasn't just about the brawn side of things but also being able to use your brain whenever it may be needed. Of course having been genetically engineered was part of the reason for the intelligence of the boys and girls that Alex had left.

Looking down at his own feet after Riley had reminded him of the time he had forgotten his shoes, he felt another feeling that was new to him only in the last couple of months. Embarrassment. He had learnt however that teasing other seemed to be a custom in this new world and he had learnt to take it on the shoulder with a pinch of salt, so to speak. By the door Alex put on thick white socks and a pair of black trainers, skate shoes as his new social circle called them. He took his jacket from the coat hanger, it was black and hooded with a fur trim along the hood, he threw it over himself but didn't bother zipping it up, something he had learnt was more fashionable, sacrificing functionality. As he passed the mirror he noticed that his hair was scruffy, something he didn't mind and had by this stage gotten a normal length to it, he remembered how confused he felt the first time he sat in a normal barber shop and was [i]asked[/i] what he wanted done. He ran one hand along his well defined cheekbones and another through his brown hair before leaving the house with Riley.

[i]"She's something else, isn't she?"[/i]

"I suppose so." Alex replied, "But, everyone to their own." He joked back, smiling. Laughter was something that forced Alex to smile, it was something so rarely heard to him before, it was almost an intoxicating expression. 

As the pair approached the school gates, Alex stopped, stopping Riley with him by placing his hand on her shoulder. "Say, what do you think of baseball?" He asked as he stared at the field. It was still early and dew covered the grass but no snow had set in yet, so the school still used the field for sports and physical education. "I'm thinking of having a go at it today when the team is training..." He added. The game had intrigued him since he had first seen it being played, and honestly, it looked like a lot of fun.