endings

By all outward appearances, Ben Blake is just a normal teenager. He rides a skateboard. He goofs off with his friends. He hates PE class. He has crushes on the hottest girls in school. He toils over his homework.

But, Ben Blake, in the new world of the future, is not normal. Truth is, he cannot keep pace with his classmates.

While everyone around him can brainload (a new technology that allows people to learn entire subjects in mere hours) Ben cannot. He must learn the way humans did for many thousands of years, and it is costly to him.

With every passing school day, Ben falls further and further behind. Soon, he will cross the point of never being able to catch up. Then, whatever normal future he might have had will become a distant dream, leaving Ben destined for a life in the new underclass.

Yet, Ben Blake is not normal.

He is different.

For a reason.