When I Was, Now I Am

Chapter Four

Nine

When I was nine, people told me I was 'gifted'.

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School was supposed to carry on like it did any other day, but I was confronted by a well-dressed man with slicked down hair and a pensive expression. His eyes narrowed as he looked at me as if he were sizing me up for something. Whatever the case, it made me horribly uncomfortable. Swallowing tightly, I attempted to shrink back into my seat, but this only made the strange man study me more.

At last, he broke his stiff posture to squat beside my desk invading my personal space in a way that made me uneasy. His expression shifted from pensive to inviting, but he was still a stranger. Raven, who sat behind me, leaned forward ever so slightly.

"Want me to bark at him?" She asked, whispering into my ear. Glancing over my shoulder I noticed that she too was watching the strange man with a mixture of weariness and curiosity.

"I presume you're Thea Luxley," the man smiled, extending his large, calloused hand. I regarded it for a moment, not sure what to do before shaking it out of politeness rather than desire. "My name is Mr. Quant, I'm here to talk to you about a test that you took recently."

"The one with all the shapes on it?" I asked, thinking back to a series of recesses I had to skip in order to complete three separate aspects of an exam.

"Precisely that one." Pausing, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper. "These were your results. We've sent them to your mom and dad as well, so they know what's going on."

"Did I do bad?" Suddenly, my heart sank. I had yet to do bad on a test during my handful of school years. Is this what happened when you failed? Did they send a man dressed like a secret agent to tell you how dumb you were?

"Oh no, you exceeded all expectations, Miss Luxley. You scored very well which leads me into my next question. Have you ever been admitted into a program that enhances the learning experience for gifted students?" Mr. Quant arched an eyebrow, gently setting the document on my desk for me to study. It didn't make much sense to me, but it did help ease my nerves to feel like I had an ounce of control in the situation.

"But I'm not gifted," I frowned, shoving the paper back towards him.

"On the contrary. You are! See, I was hoping that due to your test results you'd agree to move into my class with some of your more talented and intelligent peers. Of course, you don't have to make a decision right now. I actually recommend discussing it with your parents first. " With that, he flashed a smile, tapped his knuckles on my desk, stood, waved to the teacher, and left.

Sighing, I leaned back into my chair before slipping the paper into my folder. Raven glanced about to make sure the teacher wasn't paying attention before leaning forward to whisper in my ear again.

"Jeremiah went into the program but he never came back," she worried, eyeing my folder like it might explode any second.

"Do you think they ate him or something?" I worried, very aware of Jeremiah's previous disappearance. Only, he'd been talked to by a woman, not Mr. Quant.

"I don't know. It's possible," Raven decided.

The notion of being eaten alive did little to soothe my fears for the rest of the day. So much so that even Tommy noticed. He did his best to cheer me up and distract me, but nothing was working. Not even the silly duck noises he could make. With a heavy heart, I ventured home to find both mom and dad waiting impatiently for my arrival. Chances were, they got some sort of phone call from the school and the moment we made eye contact I knew they disagreed on the matter.