***

Jack was a cool kid. The more I got to know him, the more impressed I became. We liked the same music and had the same ability to learn things quickly. I guess that's why we were chosen for this program. If there was anything you need as a prerequisite to do this it was the ability to learn, fast.

That first day Ms. Sullivan had taken us first to the school gym, which had been decked out for the summer with all sorts of training equipment. Apparently we were joining a government training program. The idea is that through a complete knowledge of our world from a young age we would become the people to move humanity beyond our current state of development. If I just told you this you'd think that we'd a) be spending most of our time in a classroom and b) Jack would be much more equipped to do this. Well you'd be right, almost. Jack was certainly better, but I wasn't half bad myself and we did spend quite a bit of time in a classroom.

It turns out that the different countries in the world are in competition. Each has its own program similar to the one we were in and all of them secret from the general populace. We were to become not only the mentally advanced of our civilization but physically adept as well. We couldn't have guessed, but we were to become the equivalent of modern day spies or ninja or what have you.

We spent the first few weeks of summer building up our stamina, both mentally and physically. We spent hours on end being instructed in physics, chemistry and the other sciences in addition to the history of our world. Our evenings were spent mostly running and weight training.

It was then that we moved to more intensive physical training in the gym. The idea was after building up our physical stamina and understanding science on a macro level we would be equipped to learn martial arts. From that day forward we only ever trained... or walked around for that matter... with training weights on. We would practice with Ms. Sullivan as our teacher and each other as sparring partners.

Of course we moved from there to learning weaponry. I can't tell you how many times I came home that summer trying to explain to my parents why I had say a giant gash on my arm etc.

Ms. Sullivan, for all of her overbearing nature was actually a good teacher and we progressed quickly. It's also kind of nice to know as you walk down the streets of New York that if someone tries to start a fight with you, you could put them out blindfolded.

It's already winter of our senior year in school. The program told our parents that we were guaranteed college and then a job which seemed to satiate their desire for full educational opportunities. I'm not sure what we're supposed to do after high school. I expect we'll continue training. It takes a while to learn all of the knowledge humanity has amassed over a few millennia. Jack's parents wanted him to go to MIT... I'm not sure what their doing about that but I'm sure everything will work out.

We stopped going to regular classes a long time ago. We now train in the park since the school gym is in use. It was nice until it got cold. It's really cold. Ms. Sullivan doesn't seem to care, but it's damn cold in the park with nothing but training weights and pants on in the winter. What's nice though is that it's easier to learn about the natural sciences while being around nature. It's not an experience you get easily in the city.

That was where we were at the time of the first thunder storm of the season.