The Prodigies [First Draft]

Seventeen

"So how was your first gym class with the A groupers?" Color asked Kenny as she sat down at their lunch table.

The young girl had known this question was coming, so she had already picked out a response. That was awful.

"Playing games with the A groupers is always awful," Fins reassured Kenny. "Did you guys play baseball? Were you on Einstein's team?"

Kenny nodded to answer his first question, then shook her head to his next one. Fins sighed sympathetically. "Then you must have lost terribly. You probably didn't earn any points. What was the score?"

Kenny held up a one with her left hand and used her right hand to make a zero. Fins thought for a moment before asking, "Ten? The score was ten to zero?"

Color looked up from her tray of food, suddenly very interested in the conversation. "The score was only ten to zero?"

Kenny shook her head and dropped her right hand.

"One to zero?" Fins asked after a moment. He looked doubtfully at the young girl and gave an awkward chuckle. "You're joking, right?"

Kenny shook her head once more, and Color asked, "Was Coach on your team? He couldn't possibly just be the catcher. And you probably pitched, right?"

Kenny nodded. She went through her index cards and picked out one that said, What's wrong?

"No one's ever gotten that close to winning against Einstein," Color informed the young girl. "It's practically impossible."

Fins, who had been thinking as Color spoke, turned to Kenny and inquired, "How many outs did you make as pitcher?"

Kenny held up two fingers.

"Have you ever played as a pitcher before?"

The young girl shook her head, shifting uncomfortably in her chair. She had never been asked this many questions by people who were even relatively close to her in age. In an attempt the change the topic, she pulled out her card that said Where is-? And pointed to Clay's seat. The small boy had been missing since lunch started.

"He's on Kitchen Duty with the rest of the G groupers," Color replied quickly. "But where did you learn to pitch a baseball?"

Kenny picked another two index cards out from her pile. I don't know, the first card read. Then the second card said, We play catch, which had been made specifically for Gabriel's mother when she had asked what Kenny and her friend were doing in his backyard.

"What?" Fins read Kenny's second card several times. "We don't play catch. And even if we did, catching and throwing a baseball is much different from pitching one."

"Well it's not that different," Color disagreed. "The mechanics are almost the exactly same: step and throw. Other than the fact that pitchers grip the ball differently, pitching and catching are basically the same thing."

"Excuse me, what did you just say?" Fins looked appalled.

Color, sensing an impending argument, turned back to Kendall. "Anyway, Hawking, you should be careful around Einstein. He may be small, but he's a ball of fury when he gets upset. And a close game like the one you just played has no doubt made him upset."

Kenny nodded just as Fins began to list the many ways in which he was correct and Color was mistaken. Color quickly objected and their quarrel started. The young girl watched the two quietly, pondering Einstein and the baseball game all the while. However, thoughts of Gabriel's doppelganger faded once Kenny realized what classes she would have to attend after lunch.