If you were to ask any kid from 10 and under what they wanted to be when they grew up, you'd get a large variety of answers. Some of the answers would be reasonable, like a doctor, astronaut, veterinarian, or police officer. Some answers would be out of this world, ranging from superhero to fifty-foot dragon. In almost everyone's youth, they had a huge imagination and set outrageous goals for them to do as soon as they grew up.

Almost everyone. Scott Hoying wasn't like the other kids his age. It was obvious the moment he started preschool that he was different. Scott had no imagination or sense of wonder that other kids his age had. While other kids yearned to go outside and explore the world, Scott was content being alone.

Even when his sisters made attempts to make him play in their games, Scott would just ignore them. Scott was only interested in reading, which he did day and night. His book preferences were on the larger side for an elementary student. This made Scott's Mom and Dad worry, Rick more than Connie. Connie would always reassure Rick by saying, "he's just a late bloomer" or, "he just likes books." It's not like Rick didn't love his son; Scott was his flesh and blood. His father just couldn't ignore the fact that his son was a little too different for his liking. The topic of Scott being so different from other kids was always in his parents' conversations, which mostly led to hushed arguments.

When they thought Scott was lost in a book, their son actually listened to their conversations. Scott was gifted with acute hearing, another fact his parents didn't know about him. Scott could hear them so well, it was almost as if they were standing in front of him and talking in front of him.

His acute hearing wasn't the only thing that made Scott "stand out." Other kids would scream, laugh, and long for attention, but Scott felt nothing. He didn't feel joy when he heard the bell for recess, or joy for a coloring day, or misery for a spelling day; he didn't feel anything at all. It was obvious Scott was different, but he didn't think he was that different.

He felt this way until one Christmas that changed Scott's life forever. When Scott was eight years old, he got a special Christmas gift that was both the best and worst day of his life.

His Mother had woke him up with a small shake and gentle voice.

"It's Christmas morning, Scotty, go downstairs to open your presents." She said as she fixed her son's bed head.

This would be Scott's eighth Christmas. He never understood why they celebrated it. He waited for the lecture about how Christmas was a time of joy and how he should be excited for the gifts he got for being a "good boy," but it never came.

Scott was always the last one to wake up, and the last to open gifts. Once he made it downstairs, the first thing he noticed was his father pulling out the infamous family camera to film his reaction, which was always the same as the years before. In previous home videos, Scott would stare at the camera and open the presents with a look of total boredom. It would have been the same look like every other year, but Scott's main attention had turned to a medium size box that seemed to be moving a bit on its own.

A series of meows and scratching came from the cardboard box, which was more than enough for Scott to start opening it. He began to take the blue ribbon off, and then the top of the box next, only to be greeted halfway through by a white kitten trying to climb out of the container. His eyes wandered over the kitten that was crying in an effort to try and get out of the box. Finally, after having enough of the meowing, Scott had reached in to pick the kitten up in his hands only to see a red bow around its stomach. With the kitten in his hands, the boy gave the kitten's stomach a squeeze, resulting in the feline's claws going into Scott's wrist.

"Oh honey, you have to be gentle with it, it's only a baby, you can hurt it really bad." Said his Mother while she took the kitten away to set it a few feet away, only to turn and go to the bathroom to get some band-aids for Scott's hand.

Scott stared at the small puncture wounds on his wrist expecting to feel anything at all, alarmed from the blood, or he could have reacted from the small throbbing sensation but nothing. It didn't take long for Scott's mom to come back in to set a band-aid over them and place a small kiss on it.

"Did you like our gift for you, Scott?" His mother asked with a small smile, just hoping her son would just talk about something.

Scott only looked up at his mom with the same blank expression as he always did. His mother looked over at her husband who was videotaping the two, with a small nod of her head Rick got up to open up a small envelope. Scott's father took the letter out before handing Scott the card that had his name on it.

"Why don't you open it up and read what it says?" His father asked as he began videotaping his son again with a bright smile.

Scott watched the red light turn on, on the camera before opening up the letter and pull the card with his name on it. "Congrats, Scott."

He slowly opened the card that had small ribbons on it with the theater masks on the top. Scott looked up at his parents for any reaction from mother nodded at him to encourage him to go on; which he did.

"You've been accepted to CATS…. What's that?" Scott asked in a monotone voice.

Scott's gaze went back down towards the paper but he stopped reading it out loud since his parents already figured out what it was for. The one word that seemed to pop off the page for Scott was the word Singing. Normally Scott didn't care for singing but his parents and family seemed to love when he sang out loud.

"It's a singing place?" He asked and this time he finally got an answer from his father.

"Yeah Scotty it's a place so you can get better, you like singing don't you?" Rick asked while his son simply shrugged. Scott's mother took that as a sign of shyness.

"I figured you'll like it and if you don't you won't have to go back just one day okay?" His mother said as she started to clean up the wrappers from opening the presents.

Scott was used to this, the constant "try it at least once, please?" from his parents, he's done it since as long as he could remember. They wanted him to try the T-Ball team and when that didn't work they asked him to try theater. That's when he started singing out of pure accident and ever since then that's what his parents go to activity for him was influenced by singing.

Scott got up from the ground to go up in his room, the letter still in his hand so he could reread it over and over again as he went into his bedroom. It made no sense to him at all, why did he need to get 'accepted' if he didn't why should he feel different he just didn't get accepted. The blonde set the letter down on his nightstand as he laid down on his bed, facing the letter in an effort to figure it out.

Of course, there was nothing to really "figure out" it was just a piece of paper with writing on it, Scott knew that but what he was actually trying to figure out was the reasoning behind it. His parents always tried to explain to him their reasoning for anything anytime he asked but this time he didn't even get the chance to before he got the "try it once" phrase. Scott couldn't figure out why but there was an unknown fear in the pit of his stomach, what was it?

In frustration, the blonde boy turned his back to the letter and faced the wall. In fact, the only thing he could think about was the lack of control he had of not only his thoughts, but also the situation at hand. Very few things bothered Scott, but one thing he always hated was not being in control .

Yes, the boy understood that not everything revolves around him but when it's information about himself, he needed to know something. Scott stayed up in his room for the rest of the day, ignoring his sister's begging for him to play with them, ignoring the kitten that had tried to get his attention many times since it was freed from its box, Scott even ignored his parents when they would come check on him every hour. Then again, all of it was something his family was used to.

In fact, Scott didn't move from staring at the wall at all since the hours passed, he didn't notice how time passed by him since he was trying to decrypt the letter and what his parents said about the theater group and what the letter said itself. Eventually, Scott did have to get up to go eat dinner, but the table was even quieter compared to previous nights.

It took half the time than usual for Scott's sisters to beg to be excused once they finished their food leaving Scott alone with his parents like usual. This time his parents didn't ask anything about his school or day they didn't even talk to each other they just ate. Scott finished his food but stayed just a few more minutes, he was used to his parents always allowing him to leave, but instead, they just glanced at him every so often.

The three Hoyings waited at the table for half an hour before Scott finally got the idea, mimic his sisters. The boy had seen his sister's copy one another for his entire life so who says he couldn't.

"Mommy…?" Scott asked. His voice lacked the same tone his sisters did.

"Yes, sweety?" Scott's mother asked with a rather large smile.

"Can I be excused?" Scott asked as he watched a certain shine in his mother's eyes once he asked it.

This time she didn't respond she just nodded with a bright smile while Scott hopped down from the chair to go back up towards his room. Scott was walked up to his room as the scene a few moments ago replayed in his mind over and over again. If he wanted to get a certain response from his parents he would need to act a certain way this time when he mimicked his sisters his mom seemed happy for once. The boy changed into his fresh pajamas but when he turned to get into his bed he saw a small ball of white fur curled up on the edge of it.

At this point Scott didn't try to protest, or even move it, he had spent his entire day trying to keep his present away from him so he could just be alone. Instead, he slowly pulled back his blankets to lay down on his bed. Scott stared at the ceiling in an effort to fully understand what he just realized, he just had to act like his sisters for his parents to finally leave him alone.

Then again what were his sisters doing that he wasn't? Scott answered when they called him, did his chores, had good grades in school. The boy was lost, he couldn't connect the dots at all, he was stuck. Was it the way they answered with a smile? But why did they even smile? There was no point to it, no reasoning for it.

Scott eventually got distracted by the small kitten attempting to crawl up to his chest, only to curl back in a small ball and resume its sleep. Scott was about to push it off but before he could, the poor boy started sneezing and was unable to stop after the first two.

The kitten jumped and quickly scurried away after the first sneeze but it still took a few minutes for Scott's sneezing fit to come to a halt. Now that was a new one for Scott, he's never sneezed more than one time let alone five times in less than a minute. However, Scott didn't ponder on it since it was pushing later and he just wanted to sleep, so he did. Scott turned his lamp off then turned on his side so he would be facing the wall, closing his eyes to fall into a slumber.

The feeling of soft fur tickling Scott's nose was the thing to wake him up in the morning causing yet another sneezing fit from the small boy. By coincidence, it was just as his mother opened his door to wake him up. Once Scott's mother saw the sneezing fit her son was going through she knew what it was already.

"Bless you. Scott, does this always happen when Snowball is around?"

Scott was about to answer but instead of words coming out of his mouth another sneeze answered his mom's question. After another sneeze, Scott was finally able to ask his own question to his mom.

"Who's Snowball?"

"Oh, that's what your sisters named him since you haven't named him yet… We can always change it if you don't like that name, though, he is your cat, Scott." Scott's mother said with a soft smile as she walked to pick the kitten up off Scott's bed to see if her son's sneezing fits would stop. Which they did.

Scott watched his mom set the kitten outside his room and close the door so "Snowball" wouldn't be able to come back in.

"That name's fine…. Where are we going?" Scott asked as he watched his mother pick out an outfit from his closet and set it on his dresser.

"Well, we have to take you to CAT's remember?" His mother asked as she picked between two different shirts to go with the pants she had laid out.

Scott remembered but he didn't really realize that he needed to go the very next day. The boy got up to get dressed in the outfit his mother finally agreed on. It was a simple blue shirt with a white long sleeve underneath and a pair of blue jeans, just to make sure that Scott would be warm in the cold Texas winters. After slipping his boots on his mother grabbed his coat to help Scott with it then lead him towards her car she had spent the morning heating up.

Scott couldn't help but shiver when he got in the car, yes he didn't feel anything but the change of temperature even made Scott feel something. His mother started to drive towards town as she simply took everything in, her son may finally start to act normal, no that wasn't the right word. Scott was normal, he was her baby boy, he was just shy… That's what it was. Scott would finally come out of his shell and talk to people, be a talkative

Hoying like the rest of his family.

The one thing that Scott did fit in with the Hoying family was his music ability, Scott had started to sing softly to the song on the radio. It didn't really matter what song it was, if he knew it or hearing it for the first time, Scott always sang or hummed along to it. Connie knew that if there was any way for her son to become more social it was through music and would do anything and everything in her power to make sure he's happy and healthy.

Scott watched the way his mother's eyes seemed to light up the moment he started humming to the song he knew no words of. Even though he was completely clueless on the words, he still tried, only because it was the one thing to stop his entire family from talking to him.

Scott had a relative idea on where the theater was since his mother would always point it out when they drove through town, the blonde sat up a bit to be able to see it a few blocks ahead. His mother quickly parked since it was already 9:05 and they were supposed to get in at 9:00.

"Come on Scott, you don't wanna be any more late." She said, as she opened the door for her son, who jumped out of the car to stare up at the building with some confusion, but soon felt his Mother pull him into the theater.

The theater was empty besides the small group of kids on the stage; they seemed to be sitting in groups, not with any certain number. Scott figured they were just sitting with their friends. The kids all turned their heads to see who had walked in and all conversations went silent. Scott stared back at them, taking in all the details of their faces in every way possible. He felt his Mother begin to walk towards the stage. Scott followed her closely, but soon stopped she stood in front of the stage to see a man standing with a clipboard and taking attendance. When Scott's and Connie's footsteps came closer, the male turned to them with a small smile.

"Hi, you must be Connie, Rick told me you'd be stopping by today. I'm Carter." The male said still smiling as he shook Connie's hand.

Scott looked up at the tall male as he took in every detail he possibly could from the man in front of him. Carter was much taller than his Mother and was probably a few inches shorter than his Father if not more than that. The man was wearing thick-framed black glasses that rested nicely on the bridge of his nose. His glasses held up a few strands of dark red hair that threatened to cover his hazel eyes, that seemed to be blue due to the dark blue V-neck he was wearing. There were only a few flaws that Scott could tell from his first glance of Carter, his nose was a bit crooked, and his smile was too. Other than that ,Scott could tell that he seemed like any other guy you'd see on the streets.

"Yes, I'm Connie and this is Scott. Scott say hello to Mr. Carter" Connie said as she let go of Carter's hand after giving him a handshake.

Carter kneeled down so that he was eye-level with Scott; his crooked smile plastered on his face.

"Hey buddy, I'm Carter. Your mom says you're good at singing? Mind if hear your favorite song?" Carter asked with a calm and happy voice expecting to get something from the young boy, but Scott just stared at Carter.

It was a while for Scott's staring to begin to bother Carter, but Scott looked away when his Mother nudged his shoulder. "Scott, don't just stare, say something."

"Oh no it's fine Mrs. Hoying, I'm used to it," Carter said as he held his hands up while shaking his head with the same smile on his face.

" He can go sit on the stage to try talking to a few kids; we still have some on their way." Carter said as he reached down to lead Scott onto the stage.

"If you wouldn't mind Mrs. Hoying could you come up to my office to fill out a few papers for his information."

"I'll be sure to say goodbye before I leave Scott, be good." She said as she waved and smiled at her son while following Carter up to his office.

Scott's eyes scanned over the kids who were staring right back at him, but it felt different. At school, people stared at him sometimes, but the stares he was receiving now were more deep and intense. The only difference between these kids and Scott is that they talked to different kids, while Scott was content on just sitting alone, which he did. Scott went over to sit in the far back near the curtains, hoping that the other kids forgot about him even being there.

The uneven breathing and quiet sobs soon hit Scott's ears, making the boy turn to look around in an effort to try and find the source. It didn't take that long to figure out since he saw his Mother and Carter walk out of his office. His Mother was trying to wipe her face while Carter was hugging her in an effort to comfort her. Scott would have continued to watch his mother try and figure out what was wrong, but he heard a hiss coming from one of the kids.

"Ow! I got a stupid paper cut!" A small girl said as she held her finger tightly causing a small droplet to hit the ground.

The moment the blood droplet hit the wooden stage made Scott's body seem to go completely on edge. Why did it do that? Scott's heard plenty of things fall on the ground, yes they all had their own special reaction for Scott but blood? The blue eyes seemed to be staring at the crimson red liquid pouring out of the girl's finger. Scott was about to go over and try to make the blood drip down on the wood again by maybe squeezing her finger? Of course, before Scott could do anything he wanted Carter's voice brought him out of his trance.

"Hey, Scott! Come over here and introduce yourself!" Carter said happily without a single clue of what Scott's real intentions were for getting up.

Hell Scott didn't even know what he was going to do, but he quickly turned to walk towards Carter.

Scott took his place in the front of the stage and just stared at everyone; his mind racing, trying to think of what to say to the kids. Scott didn't care about what these kids thought about him, but he did need to make a good first impression in order to be close enough to study how their body types. Just as Scott opened his mouth to say something, he was cut off by a small brown haired boy rushing down the aisle of the theater seats.

"I'm here, I'm here! Mr. Carter, I'm so sorry I'm late I had to take a shower and got up late and the car wouldn't start-" The brunette seemed to be running out of breath by the time he got to the stage right behind Carter.

That voice, his voice was something Scott's never heard of or would ever forget. The blonde looked down to be able to get a better look at the brunette. It was obvious he was younger than Scott since his body was smaller than him and a few other kids.

Carter looked down at the brunette with a soft smile as he crouched down to pick the boy up and set him beside Scott. "Don't worry about it Mitchell I'm happy you decided to come back again." Carter said in a much softer voice than Scott's heard him talk in all day as the older man ruffled Mitchell's hair.

"He wants to be called Mitch. Not Mitchell." Scott said as his eyes seemed to be glued on Mitch only to slowly look up at Carter with a blank face. The blonde almost missed it, but he was able to catch the end of Mitch's hushed whisper.

"What?" Carter asked with his brows furrowed together in confusion, but he was sure to keep a smile on his lips.

"He wants to be called Mitch." Scott said with more aggression in his voice and seemed to be a bit annoyed with the fact that Carter didn't understand those six simple words.

Scott pointed at Mitch with a blank face while Mitch was in awe that anyone heard him at all. "Mitch."

Carter glanced at the two only to crouch down to be at eye-level with Mitch. "Is that true Mitchel - Er… Mitch?" Carter asked as he waited for a reply to come from the boy, but nothing. Instead, Mitch just held onto his side and give the slightest of nods.

That was enough for Carter as an 'okay' so he didn't pry or draw any more attention to Mitch than already was. Though what Scott didn't expect was for Carter to place a hand on Scott's shoulder with a small smile.

"Thank you, Scott, you two are going to be great together so I want you two to be partners today." Carter said while he pushed them together a bit till they took a step to stand next to each other.

Once they stepped together Carter went to grab the stack of sheet music to hand out to everyone. Carter had given everyone a copy of the sheet music, everyone except Scott. Mitch had left Scott's side to sit in between two other groups. Mitch sat down on the stage then motioned with his hand for Scott to come and sit beside him. The kids surrounding Scott and Mitch began humming the notes, of course they all started to grow louder so their voice would be heard which was just what Scott wanted. Joy. Scott placed the sheet music between himself and Mitch but when his blue eyes scanned over the notes he was completely lost. This would be the first time that Scott ever saw notes on paper so he was confused, to say the least.

"I-I… I can help you if you want…" Mitch's voice seemed to come out as if the dark haired boy was too scared to even talk so he tried to keep his voice low enough so no one would hear. Little did Mitch know that Scott heard anything and everything.

"Yeah if you wouldn't mind. Scott said blankly as he and Mitch scooted closer so their shoulders were barely touching. Mitch slowly began humming the notes that his finger went across, being sure to go slow so Scott could catch on. It was easy to see that Mitch was uncomfortable to sing out loud so he stayed at a whisper level.

The biggest problem that Scott had as of now was that everyone wanted to be the loudest just to get praised by Carter. That ended up making it nearly hear Mitch's voice properly.

"Why don't you sing louder?" Scott asked with some actual emotion, his eyes scanning the notes again, trying to remember the notes Mitch sang.

Mitch's shoulders went up in a shrug as he stared down at his hands, picking at the skin around his nails. That's when Scott felt his lips go down into a frown from the boy's actions in front of him. Mitch had started to frustrate Scott more than anyone ever has, not because he was shy or quiet but because the blonde couldn't figure him out. Within the first five minutes, Scott could figure out anyone he wanted too, how to make them uncomfortable, how they saw themselves but not Mitch. This boy was almost completely opposite, he didn't show anything about himself, only what people wanted. Just like clockwork Carter had walked over to crouch in front of the two boys with that same smile on his lips.

"Hey you two, how's everything going?" Carter asked though he watched where Mitch's finger was on the page, smiling when he saw they were halfway down the page.

"I don't know what the things are called but I know the noise I'm supposed to make." Scott said while he started from the top and started singing the songs Mitch had shown him earlier. The boy hit most of the basic notes, but there were some parts where he was either a little too sharp or too flat.

Carter listened to Scott's voice completely amazed on his vocal range at such a young age."That's amazing Scott you're very talented and don't freak out I'll give you the names of the notes later on another paper."

Carter took the paper to start writing the names of the notes for Scott and a few other notes showing if they were supposed to be high or low. Carter handed the paper back to Scott once he was finished.

"Why don't you show me what you can do Mitch?" Carter asked as he tilted his head with a soft smile, just hoping that this time Mitch would sing for him.

Though the dark brunette just stared down at his hands as he began to pick at the skin around his nails. There it was, that nervous tick that drove Scott crazy. The boy had an amazing voice yet here he was too scared to do anything. Scott felt his frustration grow but he kept a blank expression on as he watched Mitch.

"Do I have to?"

"Well no you don't but I'd like to hear you, your dad says you're a good singer Mitch." Carter said with a small smile in an effort to try and coax Mitch to actually sing, but it was no avail.

Scott's eyes began to wonder to the other kids who were singing together when the idea popped into his head after watching a few sing in harmony.

"Why don't we sing like they do?" Scott asked while pointing behind him with his thumb to the groups. The idea was a surprise for Carter since Scott's Mother told him that Scott never spoke his mind about anything.

So without trying to ruin the moment, Carter nodded with a bright smile. "Yeah, you two should give it a try. Why don't we start from the top altogether?"

The heavy and quick breathing coming from Mitch made Scott wonder if he was going to be okay. Under any other circumstances, Scott would have tried to push Mitch's limits. Scott patted Mitch's shoulder with a small smile to calm him down.

"You can do it."

Carter blew a small whistle for them to all prepare, leaving Mitch and Scott in silence. Carter pointed at the notes so they could start singing. Scott started off loud enough for everyone to hear, hitting most of the notes easily. After a few seconds, however, Scott lowered his voice volume only to hear the sound of pure heaven to his left. Scott turned his head to see Mitch singing, his eyes on the paper so he wouldn't be shy when Scott stopped singing. How could he blame the anyone for staring? Mitch's voice was smooth and even for both the basic and advanced notes, which took everyone by surprise and watch the brunette in awe.

Normally Scott's ears would have hurt from the sound of their voice, but Mitch's was different. Scott felt as if his heart had stopped beating the moment he saw Mitch actually smile while he sang. He couldn't describe it, but Scott wanted to know everything about Mitch in that moment.

Mitch soon realized that everyone was staring at him, he became shy once again and stopped singing. Scott didn't understand why he had the urge to make Mitch happy again but he did. The blonde placed his hand gently on Mitch's to try and comfort him with a smile.

"You did really good Mitch." Scott complimented Mitch in an attempt to get him relax. Mitch relax Scott complimented him and patted his shoulder while Carter watched the two in surprise.

Mitch's cheeks had turned a light pink from embarrassment though he shook his head as he looked at Scott. "You were good too."

This could be a breakthrough for both Mitch and Scott, so Carter let the two boys work for the rest of the day together. Of course, it was only with Mitch but the two boys had joked around and sang together for the day. Mitch was glued to Scott's side, and vice versa. It was wonderful that the two boys to had gotten close in one day.

Carter recommended that they both see each other as much as they could outside of school, which both parents agreed to without a doubt. The two boy's parents set up play dates and after the group meetings which helped Scott.

It didn't take much play dates for Scott and Mitch to become best friends. Thankfully Mitch's parents were nice enough to take Snowball in since Scott's parents explained that he was allergic to cats. The next year and a half together were full of memories. From the days he spent at the theater, Scott learned how to fake emotions. Scott had learned to at least fake these, but had he mastered them? Not yet.

Scott's feelings were very much real when he got the worst news he got in his entire life.

Scott was getting dressed and about to walk down to the car to get to another group meeting after school. Once he walked downstairs, his mother stopped him with a sad expression on her face. Scott looked at her with a confused look as he went over to sit down on the sofa.

"Scotty come over here I have to tell you something important okay," Connie said while patting the seat next to her. Scott, of course, sat down next to his mom and waited for the news.

"Scott… Mitch, he's… He moved away" Connie said as she looked down at her son's expression.

Scott's face went blank and unemotional as the words, "Mitch moved away," echoed in his head.

A/N: Hey everyone! TM here and here's the first Chapter to my new book I'm very excited for! I hope you all get ready for the emotional roller coaster this hopefully will be. Stay tuned and I'll try to put out the next chapter Soon!