271 Zeke’s Announcement 1 (2/2)

Dave smirked. ”You gave up that many against other freshmen. At least mine was against a good varsity team.”

Their bickering picked up once more.

”Dad.” A solid call for his father came from Zeke, who had been relatively quiet all evening. The twins stopped arguing and looked to their oldest brother who sat between them. ”Dad?”

Mr. Atkins has been out of it all evening finally came back to his senses. ”What? I mean, yes? What is it, Zeke?”

Zeke pushed his plate a little bit forward in order to place some folded letter paper on the table. ”I want to ask for a favor.”

Mr. Atkins eyebrows raised. He peeked at his wife, but she looked just as surprised as everyone else. ”Tell me the favor first and I'll see what we can do.”

”I want to visit a few more colleges.” Zeke declared. ”And I have some picked out already.”

The twins blinked with astonishment, and the parents were in sync as well. Noah nudged my knee with his and we made eye contact. Zeke has talked about skipping midterms while we were on the bench. Was he really going to go through with it?

”That's great Zeke!” His Mom was the first to speak up. ”Where do you want to go? Have you reached out to the coaches yet?”

”To Southern California. I have three schools in mind: USC, UCLA, and Cal State Fullerton.” Zeke answered his mom. ”I haven't reached out to the coaches yet, but I have their interest letters with their contact info right here.” He patted the folded paper.

”Wow...” His mom hesitated. ”That's a bit of a distance. You would need more than a weekend to visit all three schools right? Are you planning on making multiple trips? Or perhaps skipping a game?”

”No. Just one trip. It'd be pointless to make so many trips when they're not that far apart from one another.” He tapped the papers. ”I want to skip midterms and use this week to go. I'll have the week between games. It's a good amount of time.”

Mrs. Atkins jaw dropped and so did her fork.

Mr. Atkins looked unprepared as well, nearly falling out of his chair. He straightened up and eyed his son. ”Skip midterms?? Are you crazy?”

”No, I'm not.” Zeke replied, nonchalant. ”In fact, I've thought this over all day.”

”A day?!” Mrs. Atkins raised her voice, making me twitched.

Zeke nodded. ”Yes. I figured I could ask my teachers if I could take the exams before I go. If they say yes, that's fine. If they say no, that's fine too. I'll still pass my classes if I don't take the midterms. It's only worth about 25% of the final grade.”

”Do you hear yourself right now??” Mrs. Atkins stood up, getting red in the face. ”Tomorrow is Friday, game Saturday, and you just want to take off on Sunday? No teacher will have their midterm ready a week in advance and be willing to let a student take it early. They'll be afraid you'll spread the questions. And with a total zero for the midterm, even if you got a full score in everything else including your final, that would still be a C.” The more she spoke, the more upset she got. It was a strange sight to see.

I started to shake, but Noah was quick to notice. He stood up, earning his mom's attention. ”Mom, I think this should be between you, Dad, and Zeke. If you don't mind, Jake and I would like to be excused?”

Mrs. Atkins sucked in a deep breath. ”Yes, go ahead. Actually, leave the dishes. I'll clean up later. You all need to go get homework done and prepare for bed. Your dad and I need to have a talk with Zeke.”