The Adventures of Zeke Jordan

"And that class is the way you generate the positive ions necessary for the growth of your bacteria colonies"droned Mr. Hendricks.

Zeke Jordan faded in between consciousness in his Biotech class as the teacher explained the finer details of bacteria colony cultivation, but truth be told his thoughts were elsewhere. It was May 3rd the day before his eighteenth birthday and exactly twenty-one days before he graduated high school. Zeke was on the fast track to a great life most teachers would say, he maintained a 5.0 GPA(grade point average)and was a sure-in for valedictorian his closest opposition sitting at a 4.3, that coupled with his perfect SAT score of 2400 pretty much guaranteed him a spot in an any college he decided to go to and he was already being recruited by top Ivy League schools and even some foreign university powerhouses(Oxford, Cambridge,etc.).

Most students however didn't know of Zeke's accomplishments. He was decidedly a loner at his school. He was quiet and unobtrusive enough to maintain a low profile, that and his athletic body and handsome features had stopped him from slipping into the nerd column. At 6'3" he was fairly tall with shoulder length brown hair; his skin was tan from many hours of running and exercising in the sun. At a young age he had developed an interest in martial arts, specifically karate and judo(he blamed Jet Li) and still practiced with his instructors. Along the years he had developed an interest in boxing and Muay Thai and had added that to his repertoire. No one except his parents and masters knew about his extra-curricular hobbies, and he doubted putting any of that information in a college application would help his chances to get in so it was a well-kept secret.

Zeke was largely friendless at school but it was by choice. His only friend was an Asian girl named Lin Katao, they were friends more out of common circumstance than anything else but they had a good friendship and related to one another well. Lin was the only student in the school who truly knew just how smart Zeke was; she held the second highest GPA in the school (4.2) and like Zeke was considered to attractive and outgoing to be classified as a nerd. She wasn't very tall she was barely 5 feet(5'2")and it was a running gag among the popular kids that she and Zeke were seeing each other. Most students thought that Zeke only hung out with her to get help with his studies and that Lin didn't know any better not to get involved with him.

Lin who was sitting next to Zeke leaned over to him to ask if he could come over later to help her with her AP Calculus homework, a class he had aced in his freshman year. "I'll see what I can do,"he replied,"I have a few errands to run after school and then have to be getting home for my birthday dinner because my folks won't be in town tomorrow, my dad has to go to a business conference in L.A. and my mom thought it would be a good time for them to take a vacation, but if I have the time I'll stop by."

Mr. Hendricks heard the two chattering but declined to interrupt them knowing that Zeke and by association Lin didn't really need to pay attention to understand what was going on. Zeke had displayed privately to him earlier in the semester that he had a complete grasp of the concepts of the course. Mr.Hendricks was sure that Zeke was a genius but he never took the test for certification stating that it would give him unnecessary exposure and attention, he also cited these two reasons for him keeping his GPA a secret and refusing to let the College Board publish his perfect SAT score.

Zeke turned his attention back to the lecture at hand while he thought about his schedule for the rest of the day. After school he had both his Muay Thai and Judo classes to attend, he was testing for his final red belt today and was determined to get it out of the way before going to college. After that he needed to stop by the Boxing gym and help one of the other fighters who had an upcoming match and needed a sparring partner. After that he would probably head to Lin's place to help her with her homework and hang out a bit before heading home.

The bell rung signaling the end of first period and Zeke and Lin made their way to their lockers. On the way out they passed by Caroline Brooks the head cheerleader who look at the two and sneered. "I really don't understand why you geeks always travel in groups"commented the blonde before going on to ask,"Hey Lin how much does he pay you to do his homework, or does he just fuck you for it?"

Seeing that she wasn't getting a response at all from Zeke and only a glare from Lin, Carol made her way down the hall with a haughty laugh. The only reason she took the class was to help her GPA, she had a decent chance at a cheerleading scholarship but needed to get higher grades. She was a B student and figured that she could at least pull of one in Biotech which would be seen as an A using the super scale associated with the higher rigor classes , at worst she could get a C which would bump up to a B, which would keep her GPA where it was for the most part.

Lin watched Carol walk off and turned to Zeke. "Why do you take that from her... and everyone else for that matter? You could easily show them how smart you are."she asked. Zeke grunted and shrugged his shoulder in reply and proceeded to grab his and Lin's books out of the locker. They shared lockers because Lin's was far from her classes and she wouldn't have enough time to grab her things and make it to class otherwise, so Zeke kept their books in his locker and Lin kept their book bags and jackets in her locker.

Zeke and Lin breezed through their shared 2nd period and parted ways for 3rd. Zeke had a free period which he spent in the computer lab. The teacher Coach Beinke(he was the track coach)let him come in during free periods and work on different things. Today Zeke decided to work on a device that he was building which would help to decrease the effects of greenhouse gasses. The device would attach to car exhaust and trap the CO2 while introducing another molecule of oxygen turning the compound to CO3 the main component of our ozone layer which would slowly over time rebuild the ozone while reducing carbon effects. The machine would also have the added effect of eliminating heat signature which would make any vehicle outfitted with it undetectable by heat and thermo scans providing a nice added bonus for military use. Zeke was working on the patent for the blueprint but was holding off because he wanted to create a prototype that he could patent alongside of it.

Zeke looked up to hear the Coach telling him that the class was leaving for lunch and would be back in thirty minutes. Zeke used this time to work on his new hobby. In the past month Zeke had gotten interested in computer hacking and was quickly becoming proficient in the art. Just last week he had hacked into the Pentagon and the CIA databases without a hitch, he had downloaded several promising schematics and information regarding nanites and weapons that he knew he could improve upon. He was ready now for most of the work but was lacking the necessary funding to explore these avenues.

He decided early on that he would never steal money or resources using his hacking skills. Besides his dad had told him long ago ''There are plenty of perfectly legal ways of making money and only lesser people resort to crime" This, like everything his dad said Zeke took to heart, his dad being a prominent lawyer had a large dislike of criminal activity and would probably not approve of Zeke's hacking but he reasoned that his hacking didn't really hurt anyone.

The door opened and the Coach walked back in and was soon followed by students as the bell rung signaling the end of C lunch, Zeke withdrew from the system and wiped the hard drive clean after sending all relevant data and changes to his home computer. He had to meet Lin upstairs, she had D lunch and Zeke had not eaten yet so he figured they could go grab a bite to eat before her fourth period started. Zeke met Lin upstairs and they made their way to his car after they checked themselves out, technically Zeke couldn't check himself out because he was under eighteen but the faculty let it slide knowing that Zeke and Lin were the last two people who would get into any kind of trouble.

Zeke settled into the driver side of his blue Honda Accord and looked over at Lin and cracked a smile. It was time for their daily rock-paper-scissors match to decide where they would eat. It was merely a formality because Zeke always let her win, he always chose rock and she always chose paper, it was a running gag between the two that had evolved into a daily tradition. Lin with her 109th consecutive victory under her belt directed Zeke to go to The Varsity, a burger joint downtown.

Arriving at the Varsity they both ordered a cheeseburger with fries and milkshakes. Over lunch they talked about a variety of things ranging from Lin's secondary education plans to what Zeke planned on doing the next day for his birthday."Let me be the first to welcome you into the world of adults."Lin joked. Her being a couple months older than Zeke she had told him that once you turned eighteen the whole world seemed to change, but Zeke wasn't worried, besides he didn't believe anything would change at all. Finishing their food and Zeke paying, much to the chagrin of Lin they headed back to school where Lin had her fourth period Calc. class and Zeke had another free period.

Zeke made his way to the gym to change into his workout clothes and went to the empty softball field to practice his martial arts. Zeke's schedule for this afternoon was boxing and Judo so he would do karate and Muay Thai in his free period. After practicing for the last hour and a half of the school day Zeke made his way to the showers and then to his/Lin's locker.

He met Lin at the locker and they both collected their stuff and started towards the parking lot. They both climbed in their cars and bid each other goodbyes for the time being, while Lin expressed that she still wanted him to come over to help her with her Calc work.

Zeke headed home to drop off his things and pick up a few items. Both his parents were out, his dad at work and his mom out shopping, so Zeke ate a light snack and headed back out. Zeke first made his stop to his Judo class, while it was a large dojo; early on Zeke had begun personal tutelage with Master Kain, the dojo owner's father. Master Kain was about sixty years old and had been teaching him personally since Zeke was five and now on the cusp of turning eighteen Kain was confident that his secret skills were safe with Zeke. Kain had taught the boy things that not even his own son knew and today Zeke was coming in for his final demonstration, he'd have to last in a five minute round with a tenth Dan red belt, without submitting.

Kain wasn't worried in the least bit however because he knew Zeke was ready. Pulling Zeke to the side before the demonstration he told him solemnly," You have forty-five seconds, a second longer and I'll be very disappointed." Zeke took this to heart, his masters had been integral parts of his life since a young age and he dreaded the thought of disappointing any of them. "All right, I can do this."he thought making his way to the mat. The referee introduced the two combatants, they shook hands and went to their respective sides, and the bell was rung signifying the beginning of the match.

Zeke adversary decided to throw the first blow going with a high roundhouse kick to Zeke's upper torso. Zeke however saw it coming, ducked underneath the kick, dashed forward and secured the leg by clasping the knee with both hands. He brought the leg on top of his shoulder holding his opponent in place before sweeping the man of his feet and twisting him so he landed on his back. Zeke brought the leg forward and bent it back, and then he lay on the man's back securing the leg under him and grabbed the man's arm. Locking the arm behind the man's back Zeke put pressure on the shoulder joint, nearly enough to break it. The man was in extreme pain and seeing no way to get out he quickly tapped before passing out from the intense pain. Zeke had finished the match in less than twenty seconds.

Zeke stepped to Jon, master Kain's son and was presented with his red belt and formally bestowed the title of tenth Dan. Jon smiled at the boy and said,"Congratulations Zeke, you've been here for a long time and I'm proud of you for completing but remember your training never ends."handing over the belt he continued,"You may now take this home, there will be a formal ceremony later this month that will be held at the regional tournament,I encourage you to enter."

Smiling to himself Zeke headed to his car then down to the park. In the park is where he met his Muay Thai master for training. His master was a thirty or so man from Thailand that had moved to the U.S. when Thailand began to break out in civil war. After a long afternoon of hard training Zeke finally left the park. Of all his sensei's his Muay Thai master worked him the hardest always saying,"you never know how you will feel when it is time to fight so there is no point in only practicing when you are at your best."

Zeke headed home to grab a quick shower before meeting his parents at the restaurant for his dinner. Stepping out of the shower he heard a flurry of movement downstairs, and crept down to the source. He saw a flicker of movement go past in his parent's room and quickly bounded in grabbing the intruder by the neck.

The intruder let out a muffled scream before Zeke realized that it was only his mother and promptly let her go, apologizing for scaring(and almost incapacitating) her. "My God you scared me!!" she exclaimed while holding her heaving chest. She turned to face him before saying,"Your father has been called to the conference early and we must leave on a flight in half an hour, he's already at the airport, I just came to grab my bags." she said hurriedly. She stopped and pecked him on the cheek before continuing with,"sorry for missing our dinner but we left money and we should be back next week, Zaira is coming home in a few days, and Zandra says that you're always welcomed to stay over there but I figured that seeing as you'll be an adult tomorrow you could stay home by yourself."

Zeke's family was in the upper middle class and was moving up in the social hierarchy. His father(Zander)was a lawyer who had recently made partner at his law firm after working there for years and his mom(Emily)worked part time as an investment advisor so the family made a decent amount of money. Emily had met Zander when she was fifteen and he was eighteen and they quickly fell in love, so it was no surprise when they announced that they were getting married and that Emily was pregnant with Zeke's oldest sister Zandra. Zandra now twenty-three had just graduated from med school and had moved back to her hometown to work as a doctor at a private practice. His other sister Zaira(20)was in her second year of college out of state at UVA pre-law and planned to follow in her father's footsteps and become a lawyer. And then there was Zeke. He was sort of the black sheep of the family, while he was slated to be at least as successful as his sisters; he lacked their ambition and drive(partly because everything came easy to him). While his sisters were set in their careers path at a young age, Zeke pinballed from profession to profession. In addition his sisters' were social butterflies both being cheerleaders and leaders of many other clubs at the school were as Zeke was content to fade in the background. Despite all their differences they all got along really well and were a very tight-knit group.

"All right bye honey."his mother yelled as she walked out of the door to load her suitcase into the waiting taxi. Zeke stood at the window and watched his mother leave towards the airport.

"Well," he thought"at least I don't have to go to that restaurant tonight." Zeke got in his car and drove over to the boxing gym to help his friend spar. While he was below the weight class of his friend's next opponent he was skilled enough to play the role in sparring.

Zeke left the gym after about an hour at it was going on about ten p.m. He decided to head over to Lin's house to help her study. Pulling up to the two story house he hopped out and rang the doorbell. Lin's mother Thao answered the door. She was a very small woman, only 4'7"; she looked more oriental than her daughter because Lin's father was a man from Europe, somewhere like Romania or something, so Lin got her father's brown hair while Thao had the traditional long silk-like black hair of her native land. Lin's father had up and left when he found out that Thao was pregnant leaving her to raise the child herself. Thao actually made a fair amount of money as an inventor and engineer consultant to major companies.

"Hey Ms. Katao, I'm here to see Lin."Zeke said to the woman.

"Okay come on in, and I told you to call me Thao, you're practically an adult now." Like with most of Lin's friends, her mother didn't really approve of Zeke when she had first met him as she unfortunately had heard of his reputation at the high school, so she was even wearier of him. She had however grown to like him over the last four years, and they had become exceptional friends in their own right when he had help her overcome some design flaws for one of her devices. Since then they had both begun working on new inventions and they both were sitting on a couple of co-patents together.

"Sure thing um... Thao"he replied still feeling a little weird to call his friend's mother by her first name as he walked up the stairs to Lin's room. He heard music playing in the room so decided to just go in. Lin was lying on her bed staring intently at her calculus book. All of a sudden she reared up and tossed the book over the bed unto the floor exclaiming," God this is complicated, where is Zeke? I wish he was here." Chuckling to himself Zeke picked up the book and placed it next to Lin.

"Ask and you shall receive Madame."said Zeke as he sat next to the surprised Lin.

"Oh good, you're finally here you're a life saver."Lin yelled,"so about this problem...."

_____

After about an hour and a half Zeke had managed to help Lin finish all her work and just in time too, because right after they closed the book they heard Lin's mother yell that dinner was ready.

"Guess that my signal to head on home."Zeke said while picking up his stuff to leave.

"Home? I thought you had to meet your folks at the restaurant for dinner. Although it would be a late one it's already eleven thirty."

"Naw they bailed, my dad got called to the conference early and they had to leave on an express flight earlier tonight."

Lin looked around for a minute and then said,"Wait right here, I'll be right back."then bounced down the stairs. Zeke didn't know what was going on but figured"what the hell"and waited for Lin to return. She returned a minute later and smiled up at Zeke while saying,"My mom said its okay for you to stay for dinner if you want."

"Oh no, that's okay I'll probably just order a pizza or stop at Burger King on the way home or something."Zeke responded. He didn't really want to put the Katao's out and have them feed him dinner unexpectedly. Lin could tell what he was thinking so instead of arguing she just grabbed his arm and led him down the hall to the bathroom where she made him wash up and join them for supper.

Thao had made a traditional gyudon donburi, which was basically cooked rice with stewed beef on top."This looks delicious, Ms. Katao, thanks." Zeke said as he slid into his chair at the table and Thao placed the food in front of him.

Immediately Thao stopped and leaned over and wrapped her hands around Zeke's jaw and turned his face up to look directly at her. Thao had never had any sons but she had had plenty of lovers. She knew that the best way to get a man to understand anything was to add sex appeal to it and Zeke, for all his smarts, was no different."Now what part don't you understand?" she said in a sultry voice as she leaned in closer to him, their noses barely touching,"Just call me Thao. Come on, let me hear you say it."