The Lost and Found Girls

Part 1: Chapter One: Introductions:

Sept. 5, 2006 I tied my hair back into a ponytail and adjusted my backpack over my shoulders. Once I'm satisfied with my look, I close the door to my room and head down the stairs. I lock the door behind me once I'm done.

"Nainai, I'm heading out now, I'll be home later", I called out to my grandmother.

Nainai looked up from behind the counter where she was sorting herbs.

"Make sure you come home right away once you're done with school, And stay safe", she reminds me.

"Yes Nainai", I nod before heading out the front door.

I turn right and head to the direction of the bus stop. Once I'm there, I take a seat at the bus stop and wait for the bus. Once it comes I show the driver my bus pass. I take a seat near the back and wait for the bus to head to the direction of my school.

Once the bus stops near my high school, I get off. I head to my locker and remove my Algebra II textbook while replacing it with my lunch. Once I'm done, I head to my first class of the day.

I head to the back of the classroom and take a seat. Once seated, I take out a book and read. I wait quietly for the rest of my classmates to enter.

Once the bell rings and we are all seated, Mr. Meeks takes attendance. I spend the rest of the class taking notes on the lesson of the day. Towards the end of class, Mr. Meeks asks one of us to solve a problem using the method we just learned earlier. I sit up more alert in case I'm chosen. Luckily, it's not me, but Jenny Wan. When Jenny goes up to do the problem, I notice that as she's working on the problem, she got part of step five wrong, which results in a wrong answer. I wait for Jenny to pause and correct her answer, or at least for someone else to point it out. None of that happens though, so Jenny is about to go back to her seat until Mr. Meeks stops her.

"Jenny, wait", he calls out before she sits down.

Jenny pauses and turns to Mr. Meeks.

"Yes Mr. Meeks", she asks.

"I think you missed a step here."

Jenny heads back to the board and reexamines the problem again, trying to find out exactly which step she missed. She thinks hard before responding.

"Should I have multiplied the two and five instead", she asked quizzically.

"Not quite", he tells her gently. "Can anyone else point out the correct way to solve this problem?"

Mr. Meeks surveys the room and his gaze seems to land on me. "Lingpo", he says, "can you help Jenny?"

I silently get up and walk to the board, using a marker to write the correct way to do it next to Jenny's method. As I write it down, Jenny follows my movements with her eyes. When I'm done, she nods and her eyes widen.

"Oh I get it now", she nods.

"Thank you, Lingpo", Mr. Meeks says, "you may have a seat. Jenny, without Lingpo explaining it to you, do you think you can explain to us why your method was incorrect and why hers is correct?"

As Jenny explains, I head back to my seat. A few students eye me as I return. I normally try not to draw attention to myself in public, whether at school or on the bus. As someone who was orphaned at a young age with a peculiar supernatural ability, I don't want to draw any unnecessary stares from others. The people who work in the neighboring stores already know that my parents died when I was younger. They treat me and Nainai with a mix of sympathy and distance; they feel sorry for our family for having to go through this tragedy at such a young age (at least for me), but at the same time they admire us for still persevering. However, they don't want to get mixed up or involved in problems that do not directly involve them.