The Prodigies [First Draft]

Five

The second Kenny walked into the K1 classroom, she knew something was wrong. Yet she couldn't put her finger on what. Her classmates were as rude to her as they always were. There was still an alphabet chart in sign language hanging on the wall. The reading corner continued to be a mess of Dr. Seuss books. But something didn't feel right. She was forgetting something. Perhaps if she had gotten more sleep, she would have realized what it was.

Three hours. Kenny had slept for only three hours the night before. The chores she did for Ms. Greenwood had taken until eleven o'clock, and then she studied sign language until sometime around five in the morning. Alas, a Kindergartner cannot function properly with only three hours of rest, especially the restless sleep Kenny managed to get. She had dreamed about the Darkness she had seen the day before and pieces of pink chalk until she was afraid to close her eyes, lest she have another nightmare.

"Hello, Kendall!" Miss Kaylee smiled brightly at the young girl as she walked to her cubby to put her things away.

If Kenny had been more alert, she would have frowned to herself. She would have thought, Miss Kaylee never greets me in the morning. Why is she doing it today? But the tired young girl just blinked in response, not suspecting a thing.

The morning went by quite quickly to Kenny. She shuffled around in a daze, hoping no one would notice she was barely awake. Lunch came and went, and during recess, mud was kicked on her as promised. At least she had remembered to wear brown today. But there was something she couldn't remember, and it frustrated her. No matter how hard she tried, she failed to recall what she'd had to do.

Then math time came along.

"Okay, class, take out your homework!" Miss Kaylee called. "I'll be walking around to collect it."

Kenny's eyes widened. She took her math workbook out of her desk and flipped to the page she had to do for homework. It was blank.

She had forgotten to do her math homework.

Kenny whipped out a pencil as Miss Kaylee began to collect the young children's worksheets. If she hurried, she could do the entire page right there. I'll skip the word problem at the bottom of the page, Kenny decided as she scribbled down answers, and say I didn't understand it. She made quick work of the paper and was beginning to feel relieved as she neared the end of the sheet. However, because she was so focused on her homework, she did not notice the shadow that soon crossed over her paper.

Miss Kaylee stood there, staring at Kenny in utter shock as she raced through the problems on the page faster than even she could fathom. The girl herself knew she worked slower than she usually did at the foster home, running on nothing but air and whatever she had for breakfast. But even a sleep deprived Kenny was faster than an extremely intelligent Kindergartner.

It was then that Miss Kaylee knew that Kendall's future depended on whether she could convince Dr. Zhang to let Kenny into the Academy for Gifted Children.

Kenny ripped out her page and looked up, nearly jumping out of her seat when she realized Miss Kaylee was standing above her. She handed the paper to her teacher, and Miss Kaylee hesitantly took it. How much did she see? Kenny wondered. She paled, forcing the question out of her mind. Throughout the rest of the day, Miss Kaylee threw subtle glances Kenny's way. Each time Kenny's heart skipped a beat. Because, though she didn't want to admit it, the young girl already knew the answer to her own question.

Enough. Miss Kaylee had seen enough to be curious, and to Kenny, curiosity was a dangerous thing.

****

Gabriel was there waiting for Kenny that afternoon. And the next day. And the day after that. He always asked Kenny if she wanted to play catch, as if the answer might change one day, and he would be okay if it did. She continued to nod yes, though, like she had the very first time. Gabe would then smile his bright, happy smile, and the two would play until five o'clock. When their time together drew to an end, Kenny would sign goodbye, and Gabe would watch her walk away, waving, until she made her way down the block.