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Chapter 15 – Student Leaders and Hurricane Meg

Tin-Tin Kyrano was a little sad. Alan was going back to Wharton's for his Senior Year and would no longer came home for the odd weekends like he had before. With track, student council and his course load, Alan would not be home until Thanksgiving. It was hard to be in a relationship when your significant other was gone from you so often. Just then, Emily came out to the pool where Tin-Tin had been dangling her feet in the water. Well, the teenager thought, at least she saw Alan about the same amount of the year as Emily saw John. What would life for them be like after college? With Alan accepted to Harvard, Tin-Tin's parents began to hint about a satellite program for her degree.

John was still down for his three weeks from Thunderbird Five and came out to the patio where his wife was sitting by the pool. Kate had encouraged her to do what she loved to do, sit by the pool and work on reports. John had brought out some paperwork he had been doing for Tracy Industries and joined Emily.

Looking up at her husband, Emily smiled. The "bump" as John liked to call it was becoming more noticeable, and was a constant source of fascination for the astronomer. Speaking of which…"How is the book coming?"

"Good. I think I may be able to leave a rough draft behind, if someone would care to read it…"

The smile on Emily's face was absolutely worth it for John.

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Alan was heading out to the pool, as Onaha had told him that Tin-Tin was out there. He was leaving for Boston in a week, and John was due to go back up to Five in a few days. Alan was anxious to spend time with both his girlfriend and his often absent brother. But before he could get out of the villa, Kate came running in. "Alan, come on, I have to call Fermat!"

Fermat? Why on earth would Kate need to speak with Fermat?

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Jeff and Brains were reviewing data from Thunderbird Five when Kate came running into the study, Alan on her heels. "Brains, where is Fermat?"

"H-he is w-working on an ex-ex-ex science project."

"You have got to get him, now!"

Alan and Jeff kept peppering Kate with questions but her news was for the Hackenbackers to hear, if not first, at least at the same time as the Tracys. Finally, father and son came back on screen. "Y-yes, Kate? Is s-something wrong?" Fermat was trying desperately to remain calm, which puzzled the Tracys and his father but Kate only started to grin.

"Not according to my Uncle Charlie." Fermat began to grin and hyperventilate at the same time. "Full ride, Fermat, full ride!"

Tired of being left in the dark, Alan snatched the paper Kate had waved at the screen out of her hand and read it, jaw dropping. "Fermat, my man, a full scholarship and pre-admission to Cal-Sci; that is awesome." Suddenly, the blond looked a bit sad. "Guess, you are not gonna look at MIT anymore. Would have been cool. But this is a great chance – I'm happy for you dude." Fermat nodded, torn between sadness at the thought of being separated from his best friend for the first time in years and the opportunity of a lifetime. He knew Kate had been sending her Uncle Charlie, who sat on the prestigious college's admission committee, information on him for a while now. Jeff and Brains both congratulated the younger Hackenbacker, the father almost bursting with pride. Neither noticed Alan slipping out of the room. Kate did and went over to the balcony. She had been right; Alan had joined Tin-Tin out by the pool. The girl didn't know what had saddened her boyfriend but it didn't matter. She would be there if he needed her.

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By the time Fermat and Brains returned to Tracy Island, John and Tin-Tin had worked to cheer Alan up considerably. And Emily had given Tin-Tin an idea: Maybe she could go to college in the Boston area with Alan. It was time for Tin-Tin to start looking at non-satellite study programs. John had not been too sure of the idea, but seeing how the thought of at least Tin-Tin being close by brightened up Alan so much, he wasn't going to discourage them. If she were accepted to a school in Boston and if her parents would go for the idea, then John would worry about his father's blood pressure.

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The Barrier Hotel was the newest hotel in Boston, thirty five stories and covering what had been five blocks of waterfront property on Boston Harbor. And now it was the temporary home to two thousand seniors and chaperones from high schools across the country. Wharton Academy, the exclusive boarding school had selected seven of it brightest and best, leaders of the next graduating class to attend. All seven resumes had been approved; making them the most represented school in the country. While nearly a fourth of the students were from the northeast, many credited that from the location of the convention this year. The convention organizer always found that the region where it was held was always the most represented.

Alan Tracy and Fermat Hackenbacker had been dropped off by their respective father a few minutes earlier. Jeff and Brains had transported the majority of the boys' luggage and school supplies to Wharton's before heading to Boston. After a lunch – supposedly to celebrate the boys having not only been selected for the Student Leadership Convention, but for both having secured early admissions at two very elite schools – at Jeff's favorite Boston restaurant Hampshire House, the fathers reluctantly let their boys check in at the hotel and watched from the doorway as the two kids (at least in their fathers' eyes) made another step away from their dads. Jeff was still trying to watch Alan as the seventeen year old got on the elevator, but Brains yanked the billionaire away. "I sw-swear, you are w-worse than I am. He will be fine, Jeff."

Jeff smiled a little sadly. It was harder than he had ever thought to let go this time. With each of his other sons, he had still had his "baby". Letting go of Alan was going to be the worst.

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"So Alan got off OK?" John asked from Thunderbird Five.

"Yes, he seemed very excited. So was Fermat."

John smiled as he noticed the whole family had gathered. Jeff was always a little down when he would drop Alan off and the rest of the family tried to cheer him up without ever admitting what they were doing. His father always thought he hid it so well.

"Anything you keeping an eye on that we need to worry about John?" Scott added.

"Well, the tropical depression off of Bermuda is now Tropical Storm Meg and is moving towards the Atlantic seaboard. We'll have to make sure that nothing comes from that."

"With Alan's luck, it will hit Boston dead-on." Gordon's sarcastic remark was met with pillows from Kate and Emily. Yeah, he was definitely in trouble again.

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The boys from Wharton Academy had been left messages that they were to meet in the lobby prior to the opening night dinner. Alan and Fermat were happy to see four of the boys that came towards them, as well as Coach Bob Michaels, who had been designated the chaperone. But the fifth boy who approached the group turned Alan's stomach. "Wescott." Kyle Wescott smirked, "Tracy, so nice to see you again."

Coach Michaels explained, "Robert Gonzales had to back out at the last minute. The headmaster received permission to substitute a student. In normal circumstances, Mr. Wescott probably wouldn't have met the criteria, but the headmaster and … a friend (Alan read this to mean Kyle's father, a fraternity brother of the headmaster.) persuaded the organizers to accept him. And I am sure you will all welcome Mr. Wescott as a fellow Wharton student even though none of you like… I mean, none of you usually hang around with him, that all of you will act in a manner that will make Wharton's proud."

Alan grimaced as he realized all eyes were upon him. Two of the boys, including Fermat, were in the computer club and Alan had broken his arm last spring saving them from a fire caused by Kyle. Another had been on the track team with Kyle and Alan when the youngest Tracy son had saved them from a forest fire their sophomore year. And Michael Preston served on the student council with Alan. The other five boys were letting him lead the way. Looking at his coach, Alan finally surrendered to the pleading expression on Bob Michaels' face. "If that's what Wharton's wants, I am sure that ALL of us will be good representative of our school, right Wescott? We are here to be examples of future leaders and we all know how what is expected of us."

With that, Alan turned and led the boys into the banquet hall. He missed the look on Wescott's face – one that if he had seen it, would have ruined his appetite.

a/n so the boys will go seperate ways after high school. sad part of growing up. and I love bringing back characters, so if you need to please reread my other TB fics - no one comes out of thin air, just the dark little corners of my mind. Oh and Hurricaine Meg is in fact named in honor of our own Megz McGizzle. May it inspire her to creative heights, or at least new chappies on her 3 open stories. HINT Meghan! JK