AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you to everyone supporting this story! Slight swearing in this chapter.
Kyle is holding his book and walks out into the lounge nearly bumping into his brother on the way.
"Hey Bubs," Heath says and messes up his brother's hair.
"Hey Heath. Did you know that it is believed that Earth has had lots of Ice Ages. However, there have been five major ones. They all have different names which are: Huronian, Cryogenian, Andean-Saharan, Karoo, and Quaternary and we are still in an Ice Age; isn't that insane?" Kyle informs, causing his brother to chuckle.
"Really? I didn't know that Bubs," Heath replies with a small amount of interest and watches his brother continue to read.
"Yeah, it says here that it's called the Quaternary Ice Age. The reason why it's not really icy is because we are in the interglacial period, which is the warmer part of an Ice Age. The current Ice Age started around 2.5 million years ago! That's just insane; don't you think?" Kyle gasps; loving learning new things and facts.
"I wondered why it was cold today," Heath comments in a casual tone, causing Kyle to turn and look at him.
"A) it's winter but B) I just said that we are at the warmer part of the Ice Age," Kyle says.
Heath suddenly gives him a wet willy.
"Argh; gross Heath!" Kyle complains and wipes his ear.
"Go on then Kylie; tell me more dorky facts," Heath says seriously, and ruffles his brother's hair.
Kyle finishes wiping his ear then focuses again on his book.
"Obviously, a lot of animals went extinct due to the Ice Age. Some of the animals that roamed the Earth were megalonyx, giant beaver, saber tooth tiger, mammoth and mastodon," Kyle explains.
Heath screws up his face in confusion.
"Huh? You lost me on those. I mean I recognise a few, but a megalonyx and a mastodon; what are they?" Heath asks.
"A megalonyx is a type of sloth, like Sid, from Ice Age, and a mastodon is similar to an elephant," Kyle clarifies, which only causes Heath to look confused again.
"I thought the mammoths were similar to elephants?" Heath comments.
"They're similar as well, but a mastodon was shorter and stockier than mammoths with shorter, straighter tusks," Kyle explains.
"It's just crazy how they all went extinct! Palaeontologists believe that there are two possible reasons why they went extinct. The first one has to do with climate. About 12,800 to 11,500 years ago, it became very cold, changing the environment in which these large mammals lived. Palaeontologists think the cool weather may have reduced the amount of food available for these large animals. The second idea has to do with humans. Humans arrived in North America about 13,000 years ago. They were hunters and killed large mammals for food," Kyle explains as Heath just nods his head.
"That's right, because there were people in the Ice Age movie and they would have to get food some way," Heath says, causing Kyle to turn to look at him again.
"You remember that?" he asks, considering Heath teased him relentlessly for liking those movies.
"Hey: I listen, Bubs," Heath says, "So were they called humans and people in those days or were they called ape-men and ape-women?"
Kyle shakes his head slightly.
"They were known as Homo-sapiens," Kyle explains and Heath chuckles.
"Homo," he laughs.
Kyle rolls his eyes at his brother's immaturity.
"The name Homo sapiens means wise human. Homo is the Latin word for human or man and sapiens is derived from a Latin word that means wise or astute," Kyle informs as he looks at Heath.
Heath sees that this isn't written in the book, so concludes his brother knew this off the top of his head and he rolls his eyes at the geekiness of his brother.
"So, when someone says homo are they saying man?" Heath asks, slightly confused.
"Technically no. It's Latin, so if you're saying it in Latin then yes you're saying man but otherwise no, therefore it's an offensive term and one that shouldn't be used," Kyle explains.
"Got it," Heath says, nodding his head.
"Do you wanna hear more facts?" Kyle asks, while his brother shakes his head.
"No, I'm so bored I feel as though I could get a wedgie for being a dork," Heath moans and smirks down at his brother, "Speaking of, get ready nerd."
He smiles evilly and reaches down his brother's pants.
"No; please don't!" Kyle begs but it doesn't help, and Heath yanks up his brother's briefs, but only to his lower back.
"Ow! Seriously Heath," Kyle moans as he fixes his briefs.
"Sorry Spooky, I had to un-geek myself," Heath laughs, shrugging and walks into the kitchen to grab a bag of chips.
Kyle shakes his head and then returns to his book and continues to read.
This wasn't for any assignment; it was purely for his own curiosity. However, he was going to give his gathered research to his History teacher, glad that Heath didn't know that, or else his briefs definitely would have been pulled higher.
The next day Kyle had all his research about evolution printed out and was so excited to show his History teacher. The reason why he did this is because he has always wanted to study it, but he hadn't been taught it yet in school.
"Come on boys; we don't want to be late!" Brax calls.
"Yes, I do," Kyle sighs sadly, knowing his first lesson was PE, but quickly grabs his bag and walks out into the lounge where Brax is waiting for him and Casey, who is currently cleaning his teeth.
Casey then runs out and meets with his brothers.
"You got everything?" he asks the boys, in which they both nod.
"Good then; let's go," Brax instructs, and all three brothers walk out the door with Brax locking it behind them.
The three brothers get in the Ute with Casey sitting in the front and they arrive at the school.
"You boys have a good day. I'll meet you boys after school; see you both later," Brax says, glancing at Casey beside him, then at Kyle in the rear-view mirror.
"See ya Brax," Casey replies and gets out and walks towards his and Kyle's friends.
"Thanks Brax, have a good day and see you after school," Kyle farewells his brother before getting out of the car and following Casey.
"Yo Dudes! It should be an awesome game tomorrow!" Liam yells and high fives both Casey and Ryder.
"Yeah, we'll smash those loser dickheads from the other school!" Casey yells, leading Kyle to roll his eyes.
"Come on Casey, watch your language. You know you're not meant to say that word," Kyle sighs.
"What word?" Casey asks cheekily, hoping to trick his brother into saying it.
"You know what word," Kyle sighs; there's no way he's falling for Casey's trickery.
"Was it: smash? I don't know what you mean unless you tell me," Casey questions cheekily, causing Kyle to roll his eyes but not answer.
"Ohh, you mean those?" Casey smirks, causing his brother to glare at him.
"I'm not saying the word, Casey, and neither should you," Kyle says with a frown on his face, becoming a little annoyed.
"He's talking about dickheads," Liam says laughing.
"Liam!" Kyle moans, turning to look at him.
This causes all the friends to laugh and both Liam and Romeo mess up Kyle's hair.
"Anyway, I've got to go to PE, I have to set up," Kyle sighs.
"We might as well come; we'll give you a hand," Casey says.
Kyle shakes his head.
"No! Remember last time, Mr. Gardiner told you that you weren't allowed to help me," Kyle protests.
"It'll be okay Ky. Since when am I bothered by what a teacher says? Let's go," Casey says, shaking his head.
The three friends start making their way towards PE; Kyle feeling very grateful that Casey and Ryder are coming early with him to set up, but just hopes they don't get in trouble for the sake of helping.
They walk into the gym building and Kyle walks up to Mr. Gardiner.
"Morning sir, what would you like me to set up today?" Kyle asks politely.
"I just need you to lower the basketball hoops today, Kyle, we're going to spend the next two classes playing basketball," He explains.
Casey and Ryder high five each other, as Kyle sighs.
"No worries, sir, I'll get that ready," he mumbles.
The three friends go and get changed before walking into the gym.
Kyle grabs the pole that lowers the hoops and hooks it up then spins it around, lowering the hoop that was attached to the wall to the right level. He then walks over to the other hoop and does the same, while he does this Casey and Ryder get the basketballs out.
They grab one each and start to take shots. Casey bounces it to Kyle who takes a shot but it just hits the rim of the hoop. Casey catches it and takes a shot, easily getting it in.
Grant, Wesley and Aiden show up and Kyle sighs; Grant is awesome at basketball. The best in their year; maybe even the best in the school.
Aiden walks towards Kyle. Panicking Kyle turns around and quickly walks over to Casey and Ryder standing right next to them, causing the bullies to laugh.
Kyle lowers his head, he hates how he makes it so easy for his bullies to laugh at him, but he couldn't help it.
"Alright class, line up," Mr. Gardiner orders.
Everyone lines up and Casey makes sure that Ryder is standing in between him and Kyle. He needs to make sure that he and Kyle are on the same team.
He's assuming that Mr. Gardiner will walk down the line and give everyone either a number one or a number two, but he's proven wrong; Mr. Gardiner walks along the line counting how many kids there are. Once he's done he stands in front of the whole class.
"Okay everyone, from Kyle to the left is one team and everyone to the right of Kyle is on another."
Kyle looks at Ryder and Casey worryingly. Not only does he have Aiden, Wesley and Grant but he's also got Gavin and Grace. There are some nice kids in his team but that doesn't make Kyle feel any better.
"Mr. Gardiner, can I swap teams, maybe with Kyle?" Casey asks.
Mr. Gardiner gives Casey a confused look.
"Why?" he asks.
"Because I want to compete against Ryder," Casey lies.
"Teams are decided, Casey," Mr. Gardiner says firmly and raises his brow.
"Now get into your team. I've just got to quickly get something from the office. Talk amongst your teams."
Kyle is suddenly surrounded by the five kids he didn't want to be surrounded by.
"Listen here geek: don't screw this up!" Grace hisses as she gives him a shove into Grant.
"Yeah! Don't touch the ball and make us lose!" Grant hisses in Kyle's ear.
"But I've got to. I have to participate, otherwise I'll get in trouble with my older brothers," Kyle whispers causing all the bullies to laugh.
"Oh, so you let them push you around as well; that sounds about right!" Aiden laughs as he hits Kyle around the head.
Casey and Ryder look sadly in their direction. They are about to go help Kyle when Mr. Gardiner walks back in.
"Just stay out of the way or you'll pay; got it geek!" Aiden hisses.
Kyle's head drops. He knows he's going to be in trouble with his brothers if Mr. Gardiner complains again, but he also knows that his brothers love him and would never vindictively hurt him, his bullies on the other hand would.
"Okay, I'll keep out of the way," Kyle mumbles.
"Good!" Wesley hisses and flicks Kyle's ear before shoving him into Gavin, who shoves him onto the floor.
"Okay class, let's begin," Mr. Gardiner says, eying Kyle on the floor but knows he's a clumsy kid and doesn't think anything of it.
Kyle pushes himself up and stands on the very end of the court to hopefully avoid getting the ball.
As the game goes on Kyle stays out of the way as much as he can but there is one point where he trips and bangs into Wesley who has the ball, Wesley loses his balance and Lee who is in the other team manages to get the ball and score a basket.
"You little geek!" Wesley yells down at Kyle.
"Wesley; it was an accident!" Mr. Gardiner says as he watches Kyle push himself up.
Kyle's face burns with embarrassment as everyone is looking at him.
"But the other team scored!" Wesley argues, still fuming that Kyle had allowed the other team to score.
"It's just a fun game, for exercise, Wesley," Mr. Gardiner confirms as he watches Casey and Ryder walk up to Kyle.
"Whatever!" Wesley huffs and goes to stand next to Aiden.
"Okay, are we good to go again?" Mr. Gardiner asks, "Okay. Let's go!"
Mr. Gardiner passes the ball to Casey who starts the game.
Kyle is passed the ball a couple of times by other players, but he immediately passes it off to one of his bullies. There are sometimes that he loses it and the other team grabs it in which he gets a glare from his bullies every time.
Soon enough PE finished, and Kyle turns to his friends.
"I'll meet you guys in the changing room, there isn't much to pack away," Kyle says and grabs the pole again but this time spins it the other way around so that the basketball hoop is lifted up and out of the way. He then does it to the other hoop and afterwards he puts the pole away and after that he puts all the basketballs away.
On his way to the boys changing room Mr. Gardiner stops him.
"Kyle, are you okay after Wesley's outburst towards you in class?" he asks, checking in on Kyle after not being too happy with the way Wesley spoke to him.
"Yeah, I'm okay," Kyle sighs, "Wesley was just frustrated."
"Okay Kyle; have a good rest of the day," Mr. Gardiner dismisses.
"You too," Kyle replies.