The Genius

Chapter One

Kaetio’s POV

The lyrics to a Lady Gaga song assaulted my ears as I flipped through the latest issue of Rolling Stones Magazine. It showcased the one and only Gaga herself on the cover, two large assault rifles strapped to her chest. I came to a page advertising the breakfast menu at McDonald’s. I felt my stomach rumble. I pressed the pause button on my computer’s media player and dashed across the lime green carpet of my room. I flew down the stairs to the living room where I found my sister and her fiancé cuddled on the couch drinking what smelled like coffee, scenes from Happy Feet playing on the TV.

“Taking a music break?” Dakota – the husband to be – asked with a chuckle. I had spent the last half hour raiding the music on my computer and downloading enough songs to last me a week.

Kyra, my sister, scooted out from under the blanket and signed me a hello. I rolled my eyes at her. Kyra took more to sign language when she spoke to me; she thought it was more polite. I, on the other hand, found it offensive. She gestured to the magazine.

Is everything okay? You rush– I interrupted Kyra mid-sentence by putting my hand palm-up in her direction. I shook my head and pointed toward my lips.

I loved to hear people’s voices; I found them beautiful, no matter what tone they possessed. I couldn’t use my own voice so I used others’ tones and accents to fill my thoughts. Kyra’s had always been my favorite to use because I imagined that since we were sisters, our voices would probably sound the same.

“Is everything okay? You rushed out of your room like something was on fire.” She chuckled,

“There isn’t anything on fire is there?” Dakota chimed in, setting his cup down next to Kyra’s on the glass coffee table and walking over to the stairway. He looked up toward my room.

I smiled and shook my head to answer Dakota’s random question. Kyra looked back at him and patted his back. I pushed the magazine at her.

I was thinking about going to get some breakfast. Do you guys want to come? I signed.

“Oh!” Kyra skipped into the kitchen and grabbed a sticky note from the pad next to the phone on the wall. She came back and handed the pink paper to me. “Sage called while you were asleep. He wanted you to video text him when you got up. He said something about the stables and breakfast.”

That was like half an hour ago! I signed with my eyes wide open. Woman, you need to have a clock installed somewhere in your brain or something!

I turned and ran back up the stairs, closing my bedroom door behind me. I grabbed my phone from the pillow next to the pile of rumpled pink bed sheets I had discarded after waking up. As I walked back over to my computer desk, I unlocked the backlight and noticed that Sage had called only ten minutes before I had woken up.

I found the Sage Alexander contact in my Contact List and began to record myself after propping the phone against my computer. I smiled and waved to the screen for the beginning of my video.

Good morning! I am so sorry I missed your call and I would have called you after I woke up, but Kyra failed to give me your message until about forty seconds ago. You know how she is with times. I giggled silently and then sent the message.

Sage was the first boy I had met after moving here to Miami with Kyra when she moved in with Dakota. He was a rider at the local stable I had chosen to board my Friesian in – there was no way I was going to leave Zander at our previous home – and he helped me get Zander registered and settled. Since that day, Sage has been my best and almost only friend.

Suddenly, the chorus to Dirty by Christina Aguilera interrupted my thoughts, causing me to soundlessly laugh. There was only one person in this whole world I would give that ringtone to. I answered the phone with a small whistle. This was how I greeted my callers.

“Well, good morning and hello to you, too.” Sage’s voice filled my ears and made me smile widely. “Get on webcam, ‘kay?” I whistled twice in agreement and he hung up.

I wiggled the mouse and my computer screen lit up. I exited out of the media player and my desktop picture came into view. It was a picture of me, Sage, and Zander in one of the stable pastures. I had placed the camera on a post and set the timer. Sage and I were sitting on Zander’s back and Sage’s arms were around my waist. Zander had his head lifted toward the sky. I opened the Yahoo! Messenger and saw that Sage was already online. I accepted his invitation to web chat and I saw his face appear in a medium sized box. He waved at me and I waved back.

I loved how easily Sage had taken to my disability. From the first day, he had had no negative reaction toward me. Though Sage and I weren’t in a relationship, I treated him like he was my boyfriend. We did seem like we were a couple, but neither one of us wanted to ruin the relationship we already had with one that we really didn’t need. He was my best friend in every sense of the word and that’s the way I wanted it to stay, for now at least. He was an amazing guy, don't get me wrong, but I just couldn't see myself with him because I felt like my prince was out there waiting on me and I knew it wasn't Sage.

“You’ve been awake how long? You look like you just woke up! You still have bed-head-hair and everything. And is that an eye booger I see?” He chuckled as I flipped him off, my cheeks blushed terribly. “Hmm, I wonder what that sign could mean.” My body shook with the laughs that followed Sage’s statement. He shook his head and cleared his throat. I heard a small bark and Sage looked down to the floor.

“Well, hey there, Buddie.” Sage leaned over in his chair and lifted the Boxer-Great Dane puppy into his lap. “Tell Kaetio, ‘hey.’”

I smacked my lips together and got the puppy’s attention. His small white ears pricked and he yipped at me, batting a large black paw at the screen of the computer. He whimpered and tried to climb toward my picture on the screen.

“Whoa there, little guy.” Sage pulled the puppy back into his lap and ruffled the loose skin on his head. “I’ll bring her back to see you after we go to the stables today, okay?”

Buddie barked and sent his oversized tongue out to meet Sage’s chin. Sage sat the dog back on the floor and watched him scurry across the tiled floor and out the door.

“Okay, anyway, do you wanna go out and get some breakfast before we go to the stables? I just got paid yesterday.” He help up a wad of cash and looked at it with the face of a mad scientist.

Oh my God! You read my belly’s mind! I signed enthusiastically.

“Good, so where do you want to go?”

I knew what I wanted. I picked the magazine up from where I had dropped it on the floor and found the page that showed the magical food my stomach had been fantasizing about since I had seen it. I pushed the page up against the camera, nearly dislodging it.

“Okay, so you want a brown spot?” I heard Sage laugh. I pulled the magazine back to show him the whole page. “Ahh, I see. It makes more sense now.”

I don’t care how much money you made yesterday, I will be paying this time. I signed strongly. Sage always insisted on paying when we went out to eat, even if it was my idea and I drove.

“Oh, no can do.” He shook his head. “Other than you, I have only skateboarding paraphernalia and music to spend my money on. Now go do what you have to do to get ready. I’m leaving to come get you.” A few minutes later, Sage and I both logged off. I stood up and stretched, feeling my shirt come up. I shook my head and smiled.

“Kaetio.” Dakota called from the living room.

I trotted down the stairs. I had to make this quick; Sage only lived about twenty minutes away. I entered the living room and saw Kyra emerge from the kitchen with a cookie in her hand.

“Is Sage coming to get you?” She asked, her mouth half full from a previous cookie. I nodded. “Okay, just making sure. You can go get ready now.”

I ran back up to my room and once again shut the door. I pulled the blue sleeping shirt over my head and kicked off my gym shorts. I put on a pair of lime green skinny jeans and a faded pink Hello Kitty shirt. They aren’t your normal riding clothes but as our stable manager says, “As long as you ride correctly and wear the proper head gear, you can ride in your underwear for all I care. Please, however, always wear clothes.”

I put on a pair of socks and my favorite pair of old original Converses. This was the last year I was going to wear them before putting them on the rack in my closet, alongside the other retired pairs. I walked into my bathroom and washed my face. I brushed out my long black hair and threw it into a high ponytail, but it still flowed past my shoulders. I brushed out my bangs and brushed my teeth. I didn’t wear make-up, never have and I never will. I liked myself without it and so did Sage.

I walked back into my room and pulled a black Fall Out Boy jacket from my closet. I folded it over my arm and walked back down to the living room. Dakota didn’t seem too happy; he never did when Sage was coming over.

Oh, c’mon Dakota. Will you please get over what happened? It was an accident. He snorted and slinked past me into the kitchen.

A few weeks ago, Sage had come to pick me up for dinner to celebrate my sixteenth birthday. We had gone to eat at a restaurant further up in town and then we had gone to the stables for my party. While we were at the stables, Sage had taken me on a ride through the pastures to show me my birthday present.

Sage had bought me a brand new set of western tack and he had tacked Zander up in the barrel racing arena. I was excited to try the tack out and so I did; it fit me and Zander perfectly. On the way back, it was late at night and it was hard for us and the horses to see. Sage was riding behind me and Zander. Suddenly, Zander tripped and kneeled forward, spilling me from the saddle. Sage couldn’t see me and before he knew what had happened, his horse had stepped on me. It had bruised a few of ribs and left me sore for many days. Dakota still couldn’t find it in his mind to forgive him.

“Just be careful, okay?” Dakota said, coming up behind me.

“Oh, she will. If that incident ever happens again, she won’t be going back to the stables at night.” Kyra followed Dakota and they sat back down on the couch. They had some wonderful smelling breakfast pizza in the plates in their laps.

The bell rang a few minutes later and I opened it. Sage was standing on the porch, looking the farthest from an equestrian rider as possible. He was dressed like a full-fledged skater punk. I signed a goodbye to Kyra and was gone.

“Ready to go?” Sage asked as he threw his arm around my shoulders.

Oh for sure. He laughed.



Cainean’s POV

“Hey, Cainean.” My friend Taylir huffed as he came to my side. I was in the middle of grooming my mare, Shadow, a purebred dapple grey Arabian. I looked over my shoulder and laughed at him.

Taylir’s hair was sticking up in many odd ways, as if he had just gotten up and drove here. I turned to him and put the curry comb back into the grooming kit. I leaned my back against Shadow’s side. The mare tuned her head and nudged my arm as if to demand me to finish grooming her.

“Having a bad morning?” I asked. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a few sugar cubes. Shadow slurped them happily from my palm and was content.

“For sure, dude.” Taylir unlatched the stall door of his massive black Anglo-Arabian gelding. He led the horse over next to Shadow and tied a loose knot into one of the rings on the wall. Taylir yawned and proceeded to groom his anxious horse.

Shadow and Jet touched their noses together to greet each other and whinnied softly. They were the best of friends just like me and Taylir. I chuckled and continued Shadow’s grooming session. I moved on to brush her mane.

It wasn’t too soon after that when the stable’s only purebred Friesian stallion poked his head over his stall door and neighed. Taylir and I looked just in time to see the new girl and her black boyfriend walk through the door. The girl was signing something to the boy and he was responding.

“Yeah, jumping sounds good.”

I watched as Sage groomed and tacked a buckskin Arabian mix horse while the girl did the same to the large Friesian stallion. They mounted the horses and where gone.

“What is up with that chick?” Taylir said, throwing the padded saddle over Jet’s back and leaning down to pull up the girth straps.

I really didn’t know what was going on with her and Sage and I really wasn’t interested. She was an excellent rider from what I had seen but she never talked to anybody and always used sign language to communicate. I don’t know why she did. She looked totally capable of talking, which I found rude.

“I dunno.” I slipped the bridle and saddle on Shadow and untied her. I placed her halter and lead rope over her stall door and put on my riding helmet. Taylir and I both climbed into the saddles.

We rode out into the yard and advanced to the vacant show jumping ring. The other was obviously being used. The fourteen jumps had been previously arranged by other riders. Taylir and I had to practice for the competition that was scheduled to begin later today. We were going to trump everyone with ease and we knew it. Even Ms. I-Don’t-Talk-To-Anybody and her boyfriend.