The Prodigies [First Draft]

Twenty Four

That night, Kenny had another odd dream. She was in a boy's body this time, writing inside of a dark book that resembled Crash's journal she had found the day before. The young girl tried to read what her hand was recording, but the body's eyes were too bleary to decipher the large handwriting on the page before her. Instead, she waited until she woke up so she could read the real journal hidden in her backpack.

It was unsettlingly quiet in the dorm room. The dial on the clock on Metal's desk informed Kenny that it was 8:26 in the morning, which meant breakfast would be starting in about half an hour. The young girl decided that would be enough time for her to scan a few more pages of the stolen journal for any clues about the Nursery.

However, before Kenny could manage to pry the zipper on her backpack open, a loud beeping noise startled her. She jumped into the air, barely managing to keep herself from crying out in surprise, and her roommates shot up from underneath their blankets. Jump managed to teleport herself across the room in the panic.

"What is that?" Tellie demanded irritably, rubbing her eyes.

"The Main Office is calling," Jump responded, just as upset, "which means someone's gotten themselves into trouble."

The beeps stopped abruptly. "Hello!" a voice chirped. "Is this room G-216?"

"Yes," Metal answered. "Who do you need?"

"Hawking, please."

All eyes fell on Kenny. The young girl's hands froze over her backpack. Everything she had done wrong— every school rule she had broken— suddenly came to mind. Her body grew cold, and she could feel her blood rushing away from her face.

"We'll send her down." Metal's voice seemed to ring in Kenny's ears.

"Alright, thank you!" The voice then disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. After a moment, both Metal and Jump returned to their slumber. Tellie continued to stare at Kenny, and she mouthed a question to her friend. It took the young girl a few seconds to figure out what message her roommate was trying to get across, for she was distracted by the troublesome thoughts that wouldn't cease to trouble her.

'What did you do?' Tellie asked.

Kenny shook her head and attempted to focus her thoughts on one of her most recent lessons in pre-calculus. She didn't want Tellie to know about the stolen files and journal, and she certainly didn't want her friend find the answer to her question amidst her anxious thoughts. Rather than reply, she changed out of her pyjamas, grabbed her ID and index cards, and left the room.

Once she stepped outside of her dorm, Kenny walked briskly toward the Main Office. If she was in trouble, she decided, she would tell whoever had called her down to the office that she had found Miss Kaylee's backpack in the library. Of course, she would only speak of the bag if that was what she was being called for. Now that the young girl thought about it, she had broken the rules at least four times during her stay at AGC. She could very well be getting in trouble for going out past curfew to look for Tellie.

Kenny's brisk pace began to slow the closer she got to the Main Office. She couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen to her. She didn't know how students were punished at the school, for she had never needed to know before. Now, as she pressed her ID card against the scanner next to the Main Office and waited for the door to click open, it seemed like the most valuable information she could have.

The Main Office was empty but for two people who stood near Miss Brennan's desk. They whispered urgently to each other and were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn't notice Kenny had arrived. The young girl slowly approached them, unsure if they were the ones who had called her. She soon recognized the woman as Miss Kaylee and began to move closer. Once she was within ten feet of the two, the woman waved the young girl over, urging her to walk faster, and turned to reveal a man Kenny had never seen before.