Is this a trick question?
In <span> British English it </span>means<span> the exact opposite</span>
A. Best the reason why it is not better (even though it sounds right) is because it says "out of the five cousins" there for we are comparing ben to five other people and he is the best.
The answer is c because the subject is the topic of the story pretty much like if I where to write something about myself I would be the subject and let's say the theme is about bravery and I have to deal with that so yeah C