Broken souls Boyxboy

Chapter 20: Random Rambles

Dalton's POV

We had been at this river for hours now. The temperature of water had become familiar to me now, no longer sending an icy shiver knifing through my veins. Wrinkles had become prominent over my fingertips. The sun was still beaming down at us, vivid golden rays itching to reach every patch of ground around us.

Jack and I had just been swimming around, floating, having races, talking.

As of now, we were sat on a rock beside the river, our breaths heaving as we revived from previous intense races.

"Do you do any sport at school?" I asked.

"Me? Sport? Are you being sarcastic?" He laughed in between breaths.

"You're not that bad." I tried. I guessed the answer was no but I wanted to know for about him so shoot me for trying.

"I am the stereotypical nerd, Dalton. I like to read and study and have this constant need to be approved of by teachers." He shrugged.

"I can't imagine that, being smart."

He gave me a funny look, like he was done with my shit.

"Firstly, I'm not smart." Okay. Sure. "Secondly, I do not believe you are not smart."

"You are smart. I've heard the way you talk about shit to my parents, when you enjoy something, you somehow know every little detail about it. That shit's impressive."

"I know but..." He looked down between his legs, his cheeks growing red.

"Okay, tell me about something like..." I thought for a second. "Animals. Any animal. What's your favourite?"

"Uhm, a hedgehog." He concluded proudly.

"Why?"

"Well, got starters, they are really cute. They have really bad eyesight so they rely on hearing and smell. Did you know in New Zealand, as a joke, a hedgehog was nominated to be elected to parliament. Uhm, they are nocturnal and lactose intolerant so don't leave milk out of them if you were planning on doing so. They also can travel like 2 miles a night. Isn't that cool? I mean you've seen their legs, they're so little yet they can walk so far. And, did you know how many little spikes they have on their back? I think it's something like 5000. Also, the spikes are hollow on the inside, but they have a complex chamber to make them strong but light so the hedgehog isn't weighed down. Oh, and they used to..."

I'd already lost interest but it didn't stop me from admiring Jack. How could someone like him possibly think he isn't intelligent? It's crazy. He just sat there, going on and on about hedgehogs and I didn't feel the urge to make him stop. He was in his element, stars in his eyes as he racked his head for more intriguing information and statistics.

After around a minute, he stopped, taking a in deep breath of oxygen. I simply stared at him in amazement.

"W-what?" His voice decreases as his head descended.

"You are so clever, Jack. It amazes me." I told him truthfully.

"Stop. It's just useless stuff that no one will ever need in life."

"Yeah, so is trigonometry and electrolysis but if you got them topics nailed, you're a genius."

"But you d-do need maths and science in everything."

"Not the point. You are clever." I leant over and nudged him slightly with my shoulder.

His whole upper body jolted to the right, only reminding me of how small his body was compared to mine.