Leaving The Genius’s World Chapter 01

Leaving The Genius’s World Chapter 01

All four of my friends are scary smart when it comes to AI. They can generate images, build websites, write code, train small models—anything. Even on their first SAT, every one of them scored above 1530.

I gave it everything, and my first SAT was only a 1300.

That wasn’t bad, exactly. But next to “the geniuses”? We weren’t even in the same league.

To apply to the same schools they were applying to, I signed up for the next SAT. Even with a fever, I did practice questions in my hospital bed.

I thought if I worked hard enough, one day I’d catch up.

But on test day, all eight alarms I’d set had been turned off.

When I woke from a dead sleep, the exam had already started. Shaking, I stormed out of my room and demanded to know what happened.

They just looked at me with light smiles. “Audrey, why do you keep chasing after us? You’ve got zero instinct for AI. All you know is the most basic chat mode. What’s the point of forcing your way into our world? Just stay ordinary.”

Looking at the four of them, so casual, so unconcerned, something in me suddenly let go.

If I, an ordinary person, couldn’t fit into the geniuses’ world, then I’d leave.

***

“Who turned off my alarms?”

The moment the words left my mouth, I realized I was trembling.

In the living room, all four of them stopped what they were doing.

Theo Anderson—my boyfriend of five years—walked over calmly and tried to kiss my cheek like always.

For the first time, I dodged.

His hand froze midair, then he gave a helpless little smile.

“Audrey, why do you keep chasing us? What’s so bad about just being ordinary?”

Wyatt Evans leaned back lazily, still spinning a chess piece in his hand. “Yeah. You worked yourself into the hospital over the SAT. It was exhausting just watching you.”

“Caring?” My eyes burned. “That’s your idea of caring? Making me miss the test?”

Sadie Cooper closed the tech journal on her lap and frowned slightly.

“Audrey, even if you’d gone today, your score wouldn’t magically jump from 1300 to 1550. We just didn’t want to watch you compare yourself to us again and fall apart after.”

She paused, then added, “Besides, we’re already talking to professors at a few schools about summer research. Once we’re in college, we’ll keep doing AI. You’ve never been interested in this, and you’re not good at it. Why force yourself onto the same path?”

Owen Sullivan nodded too.

“What’s wrong with going to a school that fits you? No matter where you end up, we’ll take care of you.”

Four familiar faces. For the first time, they felt like strangers.

Ever since we were kids, things they memorized in one glance took me dozens of repetitions.

They breezed through AMC problems, while I’d stare at an ordinary function question for half an hour.

They were the gifted kids teachers talked about.

I was the ordinary girl who’d wandered into their world by mistake.

But they didn’t always used to be like that. They used to slow down and wait for me.

When I bombed math, Wyatt would walk me through every problem I got wrong, step by step.

Owen would tell me it was okay to be slower.

Sadie would shut down anyone who laughed at me.

And Theo would pinch my cheek and say, “You don’t have to become us.”

So I always thought the way they called me an idiot was just their way of showing they cared.

For today’s SAT, I’d prepared for a whole year.

When my stomach problems flared up and I was admitted to Huntington Hospital, I was still doing Reading and Writing practice in my hospital bed.

Apparently, in their eyes, all of it was pointless struggling.

I looked at them, and my heart sank inch by inch.

“I get it.”

Theo clearly hadn’t expected me to be so calm.

He was about to say something when his phone buzzed.

He glanced at the message.

“Caltech wants us. The emotion recognition model from yesterday is off. The training data has to be rerun.”

The other three snapped to attention.

During their last year of high school, they’d been part of a youth AI research program in Pasadena, doing auxiliary experiments with the research team.

Owen was already on his feet, pulling on his jacket.

“Audrey, we’re going to the lab. Listening to model stuff wears you out, so don’t come. There’s cheesecake in the fridge, your favorite. Stop thinking about the SAT.”

The old me would’ve scrambled into shoes and grabbed their sleeves to follow.

I was terrified of being left behind by four geniuses.

Terrified that one day, their world would contain no word I understood.

But this time, I only nodded.

“Okay.”

“I’m not going.”

That stopped all four of them cold.

Sadie stared at me for a few seconds, like she was checking whether I was sulking again.

Theo finally sighed.

“Text me what you want for dinner. I’ll bring it back.”

The door closed.

I was alone in the house.

I walked to the window and watched them leave side by side down the quiet Pasadena street.

At the corner coffee shop, the smell of cinnamon and toasted bread drifted through the air.

Suddenly I flashed back to sophomore year—I’d bombed a math test and was sitting on a bench near the Rose Bowl, crying.

Theo ran several blocks to buy me a hot chocolate and a cinnamon roll.

Wyatt and Owen awkwardly took turns handing me tissues.

Sadie sat beside me and pressed my head onto her shoulder.

“Audrey, even if you’re the worst test-taker in the world, we’ll stay with you.”

I closed my eyes.

Then I turned around and started packing.

If this road no longer led where they were going, I wasn’t going to chase after them anymore.