The Evolution of Genius: Every Night, I Get Smarter!

Fifteen minutes later, I received a call from Chicago, and it was my parents on the line. They had known the time when the results would be released and wasted no time in checking how it went.

"Hey. Max" - I heard my Mom's weak voice.

"Hi, Mom"

The reason my family resided in Chicago instead of New York was due to my mom's health condition. She had suffered from a blood clot in her brain, which had resulted in a clot in the main vein of the retina in both of her eyes. She was basically blind.

At the time, the top doctors for her condition happened to be in Chicago. However, my sister and I were already enrolled in high school in New York, which is why we decided to stay there until we finished it.

"Max, don't stress too much about your score. You can always come here and attend college," my mom reassured me.

"Mom, there's no need to worry because I scored a full 1600 points on the SAT exam."

"What?"

"What?"

"Whaaa?!?"

I heard the voices of my father and my brother in the background I guess they had me on the speaker.

"Brother, are you serious?"

"Of course I am, did I ever lie to you?"

"Yes, you fucking did!"

"Mike, language! Give me that phone" - Father was evidently not having it.

"so, Max. Did they accept you at MIT?"

"Dad. Not only did they accept me, but I have a meeting in 2 weeks regarding a full scholarship"

"Full scholarship at MIT?" Mike couldn't help yelling, "Haha, Brother, you're crazy!"

My parents and Mike were overawed by this piece of news

I heard my mother's voice, brimming with joy and excitement through the cell phone, and my eyes started to feel a little misty at the corners.

"Max, I had problems sleeping the last couple days, but I will probably have a good sleep tonight, but are you coming to Chicago for the break? Your sister is going to be here tomorrow," my mother asked after a moment of silence.

After graduating high school in New York, my sister began to attend Chicago State University, but it was still quite a distance from our family home, which meant she had to stay in the dormitory during her studies.

"Mom, I would really like to, but I want to focus on preparing for the meeting in 2 weeks. I will come to Chicago after that"

"Sure, Max. We will be waiting here"

"Well then now it's time for you to finally find a girlfriend Max!", my father interjected

"Father, to be real with you, I already have a girlfriend"

"And he has a girlfriend too! What the heck happened to you, brother?!" at this point Mike was going nuts

"Then you should come to Chicago with her Max, make her stay here for a bit? What's her name?" my Mom asked out

"Olivia." - "OK, Mom, I will ask her if she wants to come."

"Don't forget to eat well and go outside sometimes Max!"

After I hung up, I couldn't help but let out a smile

I checked my call history and it so happened that Olivia called me during the talk with my family, so I called her back.

"Max! I got in!"

"Yea? Me too Oliv"

"Great, what was your score?"

"I got a full 1600 score, what about you?"

"Mine was 1580, but I got accepted to my first choice department. Applied Mathematics"

"I just got a call from my parents, and after I told them about you, they wanted me to take you to Chicago for a day or two. Would you like to? After my scholarship meeting of course."

"Ah yes, why no.... wait! Scholarship meeting? What are you talking about?!"

"Yea... I kind of got an offer for a full scholarship. I will need to go to Massachusetts in 2 weeks"

"Haha, that's great, but why did they pick you? My friend also got 1600, but she didn't get such an offer." she inquired, her tone playful.

"That's a secret," I replied, my tone teasing.

"A secret?"

"Yeah," I leaned in closer to the phone and whispered, "I can tell you about it once we get to Tapper Lake."

"Is this an invitation?"

"Hell yeah, it is!" - "Do you have time tomorrow? The Adirondack Mountains are a blast."

"Yes, I do have time. But we don't have a car do we?"

"Right, I think it's time to get that driver's license, but for now we have a bus at 6 AM"

"Cool! See you then!"

"See you Oliv!"

After I wrapped up my phone call with Olivia, I still had some time, so I started searching through Chicago's driver's ed courses. Figuring out how to get a driver's license during the time I'll be spending there.

I also decided to check out the arXiv for the first time in my life, and the first document I stumbled upon was about 'magnetic monopoles in a non-commutative space-time.'

That's when it hit me that I'm still pretty damn far from grasping these mind-bending concepts.

I knew that in regular physics, space and time are all smooth and continuous, so the order you do stuff doesn't matter. But because quantum mechanics and general relativity have their own principles, some mathematicians came up with this non-commutative space-time idea where the coordinates of space and time stop playing nice and don't commute anymore.

Now, none of these wild ideas have been seen in real-world experiments,

But! They sure as hell were the hot topic in modern physics. I gave that paper a read, and every time I hit a part that wasn't clear at all to me or ran into symbols I didn't know, I searched through the internet to get a grasp of it.

By the end of the day, I figured I needed to buy some books on Quantum Field Theory and Quantum Gravitation Theory if I ever wanted to truly wrap my head around these concepts.

The next day, Olivia and I met at the bus station. She was dressed in a mountain-ready outfit that combined practicality with style. She wore a pair of comfortable shorts that showcased her sun-kissed legs, along with a lightweight, sleeveless top in a shade of blue.

Her hiking boots were both functional and fashionable, and she had a wide-brimmed hat to shield herself from the summer sun. This outfit had a hint of allure and revealed just enough to catch my attention.

"Nice tracking shoes, Max," Olivia remarked.

"Yeah? Thank you. You look amazing too, as always," I replied with a warm smile.

I had just splurged on some new clothes yesterday with the earnings I made from answering questions on Fizzy. Otherwise, I'd probably have had nothing suitable to wear for our mountain trek.

"And did I say that you look good, Max?" She said with a cheeky expression before letting out a cute laugh.

As we rode the bus, Olivia and I got into a convo about her future plans—specifically, whether she'd go for a dorm or rent an apartment while studying in Massachusetts.

Her family was pretty loaded, with her pops being a top-notch doctor and her mom a mathematician; you could tell Olivia's got that talent flowing in her veins.

But there was somethin' deeper going on between us. Our hands, they'd brush against each other now and then, sending shivers down our spines, and our eyes, they locked together in a way that words just couldn't do justice.

As we cruised through these epic landscapes, winding our way through the jaw-dropping Adirondack Mountains en route to Tupper Lake Park, I couldn't help but feel like we were living in some kind of fairy tale.

The view from that bus window, was straight-up magic, with lush forests, sky-high peaks, and crystal-clear lakes spreading out as far as you could see. Olivia's eyes were shining with this unique kind of glow, and I was completely hooked.

We got out of the bus at Tupper Lake Park, hitting solid ground, and continued on foot. We marched for over 2 hours and by this point, both of us were working up a sweat, but it would all pay off soon.

As we followed the winding path, I turned to Olivia and said with a smile, "Isn't this place incredible, Oliv?"

She nodded, her face glowing with awe. "It's a very nice place, Max," she replied. "But I've got to admit, I'm pretty exhausted."

I grinned and, and scooped her up into my arms. "No worries," I said. "I've got you. Hop on my shoulders, and we'll enjoy the rest of the way together."

The path led us to a place—a moment that took our breath away. Before us lay Tupper Lake. The sun's golden rays danced upon the water's surface, creating a dazzling spectacle that was nothing short of awe-inspiring.

Olivia suddenly hopped off my shoulders and stood by my side. Our eyes locked, and in that magical moment by the shimmering Tupper Lake, we leaned in and shared a sweet, lingering kiss.

"Did you remember to pack your swim trunks?" she teased, a playful glint in her eye.

We made our way down to a spot on the lake where you could actually take a dip during the summer.

Olivia casually stripped down, revealing that she had been sporting her black two-piece swimsuit all along. I couldn't help but wonder if she was just naturally prepared for any adventure... and now I wasn't surprised why she felt uncomfortable during the climb.

Without wasting much time, I changed into my swim gear, and holding hands, we took a leap off one of the rocks and plunged into the surprisingly warm water of the lake.