Mason woke up feeling sore. It was not from pounding his hips away with his bae like a large part of him wished it was. Or because of some sport or exercise like it usually was for people around his age. It was due to laughing too hard the previous night.

His parents were pretty funny if he was honest, it was where he got his sense of humor from, but when the entire family was together, it was a riot. Mason only laughs that much around a few people, and one of them was his older brother.

Smiling softly, Mason slipped out of bed and made his way to the bathroom ready to start the morning. When Mason was cleaned, dressed, and hungry for some food, he started to wonder what he would do that day.

Maybe I could look into the textbooks I will need. Mason thought, leaving his room and walking down the stairs. I may be able to get some from the used section at Clark’s bookstore.

One of Mason’s closest friends was a man named Clark Robinson. Clark was about a year older than Mason and had moved to Toronto from a small town in Vancouver. Clark had an uncomfortable past that led him to drop out of high school and lived with one of Aiden’s friends, Ethan.

Clark had gotten a job at a bookstore around a year ago and hasn’t left since. Mason had been there a few times and knew that they had a large selection for university students.

Mason was pulled from his thoughts when he heard a noise of notification. Mason frowned slightly in confusion. It was from Daniel.

What had he sent him?

—————

Daniel sat at his computer, shamelessly going through some porn videos when an ad caught his eye. There were rarely non-sex-related ads on most of these porn sites, but this particular site had automated ads not specific to the type of website. Daniel thought of ignoring it but his interest peaked again when he saw a particular phrase.

Nursing.

His best friend Mark and one of his close friends Mason were both planning to become nurses, the choice of the profession made sense to the dark-haired boy because the two were both kind people who enjoyed taking care of others. Daniel took a closer look at the ad and was soon clicking on it and being redirected to a website. It was a nursing program for high school juniors and up.

Daniel had seen everything that he had to. While he would have loved to get back to his porn and spend more of his time staring at the alluring actresses and actors, he had to get the information to his friends. It was the right thing to do.

—————

“An engaging program for youth excited to jump into the world of nursing.” Mark read aloud, his generally monotonous voice occasionally expressing dramatics every third line. “Provides indoor and outdoor teaching, practical exercises, and interning opportunities with hospitals and clinics in Toronto. The early start to your medical journey.”

Mark turned to Jasmine, raising a single brow in her direction. He had barged into her room early that morning, at least in her eyes. She did not expect her twin brother to barge in at 10:30 in the morning and would have preferred that he wait. But, Mark was far too excited about the message to care.

Mark had read the first few lines and rushed over to his sister’s room so that he could read it to her. Both of them knew how passionate Mark was about nursing. He rarely brought it up around his friends, a bit more around Daniel, but it was on Mark’s mind regularly. He was worried that his excitement overpowered his logic and he wanted to know if his sister was as impressed as he.

Jasmine slowly nodded, earning a bright smile from Mark.

“It sounds legit like they are advertising for a school,” Jasmine said, her voice slightly muffled. She had been eating her way through a plate of eggs and bacon while her brother chatted on. A woman had to eat right?

Mark scrolled further through the programs page before scoffing.

“They forgot to mention, ‘And our riveting program costs about as much as your new car and condo combined!’” Mark drawled, smiling fakely as he spoke. Jasmine giggled around her mouthful of food while shaking her head.

“Which is money you certainly have, drama queen.” She added with a laugh. Mark tried to wave off her words but Jasmine was already speaking again. “Stop trying to find a reason. You are obviously super excited by the idea of going to that program, so go! You are on a gap year anyway, you have time to do some learning for fun for once before you get caught up in medical school and the rush of a hospital.”

Hearing her confident speech, Mark started to be convinced as well. This is what he wanted, and if Mark was honest with himself, he wanted to be attending the first session they had.

Meanwhile, Mason rushed to phone his mother.

“Mom, you aren’t going to believe what Daniel just told me about,” Mason said, pacing around his room as he spoke excitedly. Relaying the information about the program, Mason was not surprised about her first comment.

“You want me to pay for more school after we are already sending you to university?” She asked indignantly, her frown heard through the phone. Mason huffed out a sigh and happily rolled his eyes since his mother could not see him.

“This is different, Mom.” He explained, his voice strained with desperation. “I would be able to get a head start and skip past all of the boring biology classes to focus on the actual nursing. Don’t you want that for your son?”

Mrs. Moore pushed out a deep sigh, hanging her head from where she stood at work. Her son always surprised her with the way that he thought. She should expect it but she somehow never does.

“I’ll talk to your father.” She sighed, yelling a bit when she heard the cheer from the other side. “But don’t get all excited just yet, he probably won’t be happy to pay that fee either.”

Mason’s mom tried to get him to calm down, but Mason was already celebrating. He knew now that he had broken down his mother and that his father was as good as won. He was going to that program, and if he had it his way, it would be as soon as their next session began.