Standing in front of her house, Leah looked over to her brother and thought back to yesterday when they met a rather strange person who invited her to his academy.

Unfortunately, they arrived home later than usual due to losing track of time. Because of this, they didn’t have the time to bring it up.

As such, the siblings had decided that they would bring it up after studying the next day. While they were homeschooled, both of them gave their best effort in studying. Mainly because they didn’t want to be farmers, they wanted to move to the city and get a nice job.

Approaching her house with nervous steps, Leah arrived at the door and entered her house. After taking her shoes off, she turned her head to the direction of the kitchen smelled what seemed like their usual dinner, a big pot of corn chowder.

Feeling delighted at her dinner, Leah visibly relaxed as she walked towards the kitchen with her brother following behind.

Looking at her father who was currently putting the finishing touches on the corn chowder in his casual red and black plaid shirt which had a few small stains from working with it on.

With a peaceful smile, her father looked over towards the two of them and said with a peaceful smile “It will be ready in just a few minutes. Could you set the table for me?”

“Okay, we will,” Leah responded for both of them.

Taking small steps towards the cabinets with the bowls and silverware, Leah grabbed some silverware to set the tables whereas Brian grabbed the bowls.

As they began to set the table Leah was in deep thought. While their meeting yesterday was odd, she truly did believe Ensen after both double-checking the search results of his name, including looking slightly more in-depth and checking the government website which had all of the private academies listed out.

Although it was placed last in the list due to its recent creation, Evergreen Academy was there.

Unknown to Leah and even Ensen however, was the fact that the Supreme Private Academy System had altered the records and even the registration employee’s memory to gain the legal requirements to run the establishment.

While this did come at a slight cost to the system, they knew that it would easily be gained back in the future so a slight investment was no big deal.

After Leah had finished setting the table, she took a seat and remained in deep thought until she heard a voice declare loudly “Supper is done.”

Following her father saying that supper had been done, Leah looked around to find that her brother Brian had disappeared at some point.

“Brian, Honey, supper is done. Let’s eat now.” Leah’s father said with a slightly louder tone of voice.

After pausing for a moment, he began to hear footsteps. Nodding in satisfaction, he began walking over towards the table with the pot of corn chowder in one hand and a placemat to put the hot pot on in his other hand.

When everybody had arrived, they began to eat slowly. Deciding that it would be a good time to bring it up, Leah did a slight signal towards her left where Brian had been sitting to tell him she would begin.

Clearing her throat to gain everybody’s attention, she began “Ahem. Mom, dad I have something to talk about.”

Taking a small pause to ensure they were both paying attention, she continued.

“Brian and I got an offer from the principal of a nearby new private academy last night, and we both want to go. It’s not too far from here so we could walk.” Leah said carefully.

As Leah finished her short speech, silence ruled over the dining table. Both of her parents were looking at each other for a brief moment before her father began to speak.

“You know we don’t have much money to spare, Leah. I would love for you to go, but we can’t afford it.” Her father said after a moment of thought.

“He said that the prices were negotiable and that he didn’t care much about the money though.” Leah retorted.

Pausing for a moment, her father responded “Leah, at the end of the day a private academy is still a business. They need to make money to stay open, so I’m sure there will still be costs. Even if the founder does care about raising talents more than money, it is simply unreasonable to think that we could afford it. I’m sorry.”

As silence returned to the room, Leah realized that her parents wouldn’t change their minds in the slightest no matter what they argued. Her father did make a good point after all.

“How about you talk to him then?” Leah said in a polite tone, hoping that he would agree.

“What is there to talk about? It’s not that he has done anything wrong, we just can’t afford it. That won’t change either way.” Her father said calmly.

“Please, dad.” Leah said somewhat desperately. While her education at home wasn’t terrible, she would much prefer to attend a private academy.

“No Leah, there’s no point.” Her father responded in a slightly more strict tone.

Looking to her left, Leah looked at Brian with puppy dog eyes, hoping he would get the hint. Luckily he did, and a few seconds later he put on puppy dog eyes as well.

As they both began staring at their father with gentle puppy dog eyes, her father’s strict attitude began to slowly fade and his resolute expression began wavering.

After nearly an entire minute of this, he finally cracked.

“Damn my kids are too cute.” Her father muttered under his breath.

“What?” Leah responded, not hearing what he had said.

“Fine, I will talk to him but no more. What’s his number?” Her father said.

Taking the business card out that Ensen had given to them yesterday, she slowly gave it to her father.

After looking at the business card and nodding, he said “Alright, let’s finish eating then I will call him.

***

Laying on the couch, Ensen felt refreshed from the shower.

His throat was slightly sore from all the talking with the kids at the orphanage today, he Ensen didn’t particularly mind it.

Taking a sip of the water he grabbed on the way to the couch, Ensen began to browse the internet for news and whatever else caught his interest.

Quickly growing bored from this, Ensen was curious about something. Although he told Leah at the park to search his name up, he didn’t really know what would show up. He assumed that it would mostly be articles about the teaching staff at SilverLeaf Academy and similar things but he wasn’t sure.

Quickly searching his name, Ensen noticed that it was mostly as he guessed. Combined with articles about SilverLeaf Academy were some other articles about awards he had won and similar things. Although not having an article on a site dedicated to him as a person slightly bummed him out, he knew it was unrealistic.

Satisfied with his search results, Ensen was about to return to browsing the internet when he got a call.

‘Who is this? Well, it’s a rural area code so hopefully a future student.’ Ensen thought to himself as he sat up on the couch and answered the phone.

“Hello, who is this?” Ensen asked.

“Oh hello there, sorry to bother you. Are you Mr. Fuentes? My son and daughter got an offer to join your school yesterday from you.” The voice said concisely.

With a smile full of delight, Ensen responded “That’s correct. It’s nice to hear from you then. Do you have any questions or would you like your children to join my academy?”

Gently avoiding the question for the moment, the voice asked “How many students are currently at your academy?”

Taking a moment to respond, Ensen said “As of now there are currently three students, however, Evergreen Academy strives on quality, not quantity. While the student population will rise in the future, the quality will only increase from now on.”

With an approving tone of voice, Leah’s father stated “That’s an interesting idea.”

The majority of the private academies in the city catered towards the wealthy. As such, it did not matter the talent, perseverance, or any other variable as long as the parents were willing to pay the tuition. As said earlier, a private academy was still a business. The only way that it could continue it’s existence and possibly even expand was by earning money some way.

Turning his head to his next thought, Leah’s father asked “My children said that the tuition amount was flexible and would be inexpensive for them. Is that correct?”

“That is right. Evergreen Academy strives on raising young talents, not profit. We could work out a tuition amount that works for you.”

After a moment of thought, the voice replied “We honestly don’t have much money we could spare for the kid’s education, although it would be amazing if we did. We can’t spend more than 10 dollars a month on it reasonably.”

Taking a slight pause, Ensen briefly contemplated what they had said before declaring calmly “Alright, then we can do that. Five dollars a month for each child, so 10 dollars total. Is that fair?”