Chapter Nineteenth: School and Telephone

  St. John's Elementary School, like most American schools, adopts a small class teaching system, with only over ten students in each class. Ryan sits in the last row of the corner, holding a pen and writing quickly, as for what the teacher is talking about in front, sorry, it has nothing to do with him.

  "Ryan!" Mr. Bartok seemed to have asked a question, but found that the guy didn't move at all after being called out, "Ryan Jenkins!"

  "Ah~" Ryan finally heard someone calling his name, scratched his head and said very brightly, "I'm sorry, Mr. Bartok, I was distracted."

  "Alright." Since this situation had already occurred many times, Mr. Bartok simply repeated his question, "Which four presidents have statues on Mount Rushmore?"

  Mount Rushmore? Capitol Hill? Ryan thought for a moment, feeling that it shouldn't be the same place. Since they could erect statues, they must be very famous American presidents. "George Washington, Abraham Lincoln..."

  Seeing Mr. Bartok nodding slightly, Ryan added a few points to his confidence in his answer, anyway he knew the name of the American president, either being assassinated or very famous, it should not be those short-lived ghosts, "Franklin Roosevelt."

  Mr. Batok's eyebrows furrowed.

  "Ah, I remember now, John Kennedy and George Bush."

  When the name behind him was spoken, there were already classmates who had burst out laughing in the classroom. Ryan's mouth twitched and in his haste, the old cowboy's name slipped out.

  Fortunately, the bell rang at the end of class, ending Ryan's embarrassment. Rarely, Mr. Bartok didn't say anything and left the classroom after packing up his teaching materials.

  It's already April, and the sun is shining brightly in Los Angeles. The second class of the afternoon is physical education, which doesn't include radio calisthenics or simplified tai chi, but rather some enlightening and entertaining games, as well as baseball and basketball.

  Of course, football is still the most popular here, but due to age reasons, the school has some restrictions in this regard.

  "Ryan, aren't you bored? How about we play baseball together?" said Jerry, the tallest kid in the class besides him, who shared the same name as that famous mouse.

  It wasn't the first time he had been invited by them, just like all transfer students, coming to a new school would always encounter some trouble. But after Ryan knocked down the sixth-grade black big man who came to find fault with him, everyone's eyes on him changed, and some small groups among his peers wanted to invite him to join.

  "Alright..." Ryan nodded in agreement. Jerry and the people around him, although a bit immature, were not bad guys.

  After simple preparation activities, Ryan took over the children's special bat and learned from the professional athletes on TV, posing a standard batting posture.

  "Wow, Ryan, you look very professional." The receiver behind Ryan, Peter, initiated a disturbance.

  Jerry tossed the baseball up lightly, looking confident, and just as Peter's voice rang out, he threw the ball in his hand after a fake action.

  "Bang!"

  That baseball that looked incredibly fast, in Ryan's eyes it was slow to the extreme, he swung his bat and slammed it heavily onto the baseball.

  With a "whoosh", the baseball soared into the sky and flew dozens of feet away before finally landing on the ground.

  "Wow~ Ryan, great job!" The onlookers at the scene cheered even more excitedly than Ryan himself, "Home run!"

  Jerry blinked his eyes in an unbelievable manner and after a while said, "Ryan, you should join our baseball team!"

  "Alright, Jerry, you know I'm busy." Ryan said without hesitation.

  "Yeah, we all know you're busy, but nobody knows what you're busy with? Ryan, what are you writing every day?" Jerry asked. From a distance came the shouts of other classmates, "Hey, can you throw our basketball over here?"

  That was the sound from the outdoor mini basketball court separated by a wire mesh from the baseball field, God knows how these guys did it, they actually managed to throw the ball over here.

  Ryan took a step forward, and with a light flick of his toes, the bouncing basketball was kicked into the air, almost subconsciously doing over a dozen fancy flips in a row. Although he hadn't played much in this life, the skills he had honed in his past life seemed to be etched into his soul.

  "Hey Ryan, hurry up and give us back our basketball."

  On that side, Ruien couldn't wait any longer and started to urge, so she used force to lift the ball up. When it fell down, she used her right foot's outer instep to kick the ball.

  His intention was to kick the ball over the iron wire and return it to those people in the distance. Who knew, just as everyone's eyes were wide with wonder, the basketball drew a beautiful parabola, hitting the backboard and falling accurately into the basket after a "clang".

  Everyone including Ryan himself was at a loss for what was going on.

  In the midst of a collective gasp, the boy could only scratch his head. Even if David Beckham had come, he might not have kicked it so accurately. Alright, he admitted that although in his past life as a football fan, his skills were pretty good, this kick was purely lucky. Even if he kicked it a hundred times or even a thousand times, he might not be able to achieve such accuracy again.

  "Hey Ryan, wait for me."

  Ryan was walking towards the school gate with his backpack on, Jerry and a few others caught up from behind, "Are you going home? Why not play together?"

  "Sorry, Jerry." As they walked out of the school gate, Ryan pointed to an Audi parked by the roadside, "Someone's here to pick me up, some other time."

  Watching Ryan get into a car with a tall woman, Peter asked, "Is that Ryan's mother? She looks really pretty."

  "No, I've heard people say that it's Ryan's sister." Jerry seemed to be thinking deeply, "She's actually prettier than those big stars on TV."

  Back in her apartment, Nicole checked the time and found it was getting late. She had to hurry up. Entering the dressing room, she took out the evening gown she had prepared for Ryan.

  "Ryan, hurry up, can you handle it yourself?" Nicole asked.

  "No problem, just a small token." Ryan took the dress and walked into his own room.

  A white dress shirt, a deep blue Western-style suit, and a tie of the same color. Although it was a bit troublesome to wear, it wasn't much of a challenge for Rhein, who had received a year's worth of British etiquette education.

  He is now taller and has more muscles compared to when he was filming "The Sixth Sense", his thin body has gradually become stronger after long-term persistent exercise, and the effect can be seen.

  "Ryan, the phone is ringing, go answer it."

  The woman's dressing was no ordinary trouble, so Ryan had to quickly tidy up her clothes and rush into the living room.

  "Hello, this is Ryan Jenkins and Nicole Kidman!"

  "Ryan, you annoying guy, you deceived me!" It was a somewhat familiar girl's voice.

  "Nate?" Ryan asked tentatively.

  "Right, it's me. Ryan, isn't that you, the little boy on the Sixth Sense poster?" Natalie asked pointedly.

  Yes...

  "So why did you deceive me and say you were a minor role with no lines in the movie."

  Ryan blinked his eyes, this...this is clearly a reversal of the situation! "Hey, Nate, I remember very clearly that you were the one who said this!"

  "Really?" Natalie seemed to be recalling something on the other end of the phone, paused for a moment, and then said with an unyielding tone, "But you didn't deny it back then either."

  "But I didn't admit it!" Just like every time they talked on the phone, the two of them would start arguing after just a few sentences.

  "And also, is the screenwriter behind Ryan Jenkins you too?"

  "Yes."

  "Why didn't you tell me? You call yourself my friend and yet you deceived me, Ryan!"

  "Hey, Nate, you never asked how I was doing? Am I supposed to jump in front of you and say, 'Dear Nate, I wrote a screenplay and starred in the lead role'?"

  "You've discussed film-related topics with me so many times in your letters, but you never mentioned this."

  "I didn't mention it because I was afraid of hurting that young and fragile heart of yours." Anyway, Ryan simply became more and more unreasonable.

  "Do you think this little thing can defeat me?" Natalie's vicious voice came from the receiver, "Ryan, wait and see, next time we meet I will give you a good show."

  "I'll be eagerly waiting."

  After their usual argument subsided, both of them calmed down a lot. After asking each other about their recent situation, Ryan said, "Are you going to watch this movie, Nate?"

  "It's okay. I've already asked mom to buy the tickets."

  "That's it then." Seeing Nicole appear in the living room, Ryan realized the call should end. "Give my regards to Mr. Evner and Mrs. Shelly."

  This is the first weekend after entering April, and "The Sixth Sense" has already completed its post-production. After a series of promotions, it's finally going to be released. For Miramax now, $20 million is already a big investment, so holding a premiere is quite necessary since they've spent that much money anyway.

  As a screenwriter and one of the main actors in the film, Ryan had already received notice from Harvey Weinstein. Of course, at his age, he could have easily found an excuse to decline, but he had already set his future path in this circle, and with more works coming out, attending premieres was only a matter of time.

  Besides, every circle has its own rules of the game, and those who break the rules are not welcome anywhere. Moreover, he had already reached an agreement with Harvey Weinstein on certain things about propaganda.

  In Ryan's view, a head shot is just as good as any other shot, so why not take advantage of the opportunity to maximize his gains?

  Collecting votes~~ Collecting tickets~~