"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.

When she was done with her meal, the young girl had to report to Mrs. Lin's classroom. Then Kenny had her first therapy session with a woman named Mrs. Page. She was relieved to see that Mr. Kingsworth's social studies class ended her day, but she was more nervous about her first meeting with Mrs. Page.

Lunch was over before Kenny knew it, for the perception of time seems to quicken when people are anxious. Kenny bid a short farewell to Color and Fins with one of her index cards before heading to her English class. Mrs. Lin was standing at the door as she held her ID card on the classroom's scanner.

Mrs. Lin had an angular face which, accompanied by her critical eyes, made her seem like she was the type of person who expected respect instead of asking for it. Her hair was pinned up in a tight bun to keep her dark hair away from her fierce gaze. Though she appeared to be the same age as Miss Kaylee, the teacher carried herself with the wisdom of someone with twice her experience. Kenny inferred it had come from all the reading she had done as a literature professor.

"I assume you are the Neo," Mrs. Lin stated as the young girl stepped into the classroom. She went on without allowing Kenny to answer. "Please sit in the desk closest to my own. I have left every assignment we did in this class since the beginning of the year there for you to complete. It'll be due in two weeks."

Two weeks? Kenny thought, confused. She looked at the stack of papers on the desk her teacher was referring to. It had to have been at least half an inch thick. Two weeks.

This was what Mr. Roberto had meant when he asked if Kenny had been to Mrs. Lin's class yet.

The day's lesson began, and Kenny was relieved to find that the class was reading Lord of the Flies. She had read the novel several times before, which allowed her to scan through the papers on her desk while other students were reading silently. The amount of essays and open-ended questions the young girl would have to finish was astonishing. However, Kenny had gone through most of the books she was required to read.

The students were assigned two chapters to read just before the bell rang to announce the beginning of sixth period. Kenny was surprised at how soon the class had ended, for she had been too engrossed in her work to notice the passage of time. She quickly packed away her things, using the white pendaflex inside her backpack to keep her papers organized. The girl started towards her next class with great posthaste, but she slowed when she remembered where she was going.

Behavioral therapy. What fun, Kenny thought to herself. But her attempt to lighten her own mood with sarcasm failed.

Kendall anxiously made her way across the school building. She doubled her steps twice, worried she was heading the wrong way. Neither Fins, Color, or Clay had heard of Mrs. Page, and none of them could tell her where the classroom was either. The young girl quickened her pace as she finally found the room and swiped her card near the door mere seconds before the bell rang.

"Hello, Kendall," a voice said behind the young girl as she closed the door. "I am Dr. Cecelia Page."

Kenny turned. Her new therapist was a dark woman with curly hair. She wore a blue blouse with a white pair of pants, which made her seem like she was in uniform like Kenny. The woman gave Kendall a warm smile that reminded her of Gabriel, but it wasn't as bright.

Nothing could ever be that bright.

"Please call me Mrs. Page. Do you have anything you would prefer that I called you by?"

Kenny resisted the urge to frown. The woman spoke to her like Mrs. Brennan when she first arrived on campus, like almost all other adults did before they realized Kenny was smarter than she seemed. She hated it when people did that for it meant they believed wisdom and intelligence came with age. Those come with more experiences and factual knowledge, not longer length of life.

Kenny ignored the woman's tone and replied, My name is Kenny.

Mrs. Page smiled. "What a pretty nickname. Why don't you sit down, Kenny?"

The young girl took a seat at the desk Mrs. Page was standing near. The therapist took the chair from the desk at the front of the room and sat herself next to Kenny. Then the questions began.

"How is your first day going so far?"

Just the thought of the pile of homework Kenny had gave her a migraine, and she was already tired of carrying around her violin. She picked out a card. It was good.

"You have Mrs. Lin, right? I bet you've got a lot of homework. That seems stressful."

Kenny didn't reply.

The therapist attempted to change the topic to something that would get more information from the girl. "What do you like you do when you're finished with homework and things like that?"

Kenny blinked. She didn't have a card for this question. The only people whoever asked her such queries were her siblings, and she could tell them the answers.

Mrs. Page seemed to realize this and asked, "Do you not have an index card to answer?"

Kenny nodded.

The therapist beamed. "Then we'll make one. In fact, let's make several...."

Kenny and Mrs. Page spent the rest of the session making new index cards that Kenny could use to answer questions she would be undoubtedly asked now that she was at AGC. The two changed the card that said, My name is Kenny to My name is Hawking and added cards that included her dorm number and teachers' names to her collection. By the end of the period, Kenny's pile of index cards had nearly doubled.

"Goodbye, Kenny," Mrs. Page said warmly as the bell rang. Kenny waved back to the woman and left the room, sighing in relief when she was out in the busy hallway. She only had one more class period before the school day was over.

Clay ran up beside Kenny in the hallway. "Hawking! Are you ready for Mr. Kingsworth's class?" he asked excitedly. Clay seemed to be jumping forward rather than walking. He went on before the girl could respond. "I love Mr. Kingsworth's class. He's the teacher for the smart kids. That's why I have him. And you have him, too!"

Kenny almost smiled at the boy's excitable nature. His words blended into each other as he spoke, and his sentences came and went as rapidly as a rip current could take someone out to sea. He reminded Kenny of Jackson, her brother.

Clay led the young girl to a brightly lit, colorful room. It was similar to the world history classroom the girl had seen yesterday, but the projects hanging on the walls were made by younger students. A male stood by the door to help children who were too small to reach the scanner. However, students as old as fifth graders exited the room as Kenny came in, allowing her to assume that her teacher taught all of the elementary school children rather than just younger ones such as herself.

Clay sat down and patted the chair next to him. "You can sit here. No one sits here."

Kenny nodded and sat next to Clay. The bell pinged just a few moments later, and the man who had been standing outside walked inside. He was a young man, even younger than Miss Kaylee and Mrs. Lin, who radiated energy just as well as Clay. His blue eyes scanned the classroom as he asked himself, "Is everyone here? Yes! You all are here and ready to start."

Mr. Kingworth's gaze fell upon Kenny. He smiled brightly at the young girl before going on. "Alright, class! Does anyone remember what we talked about on Friday?"

Clay's hand shot up. "We talked about presidents!"

"Yes, Clay, but wait for me to call on you before you answer. Today, we're going to talk about people who work with presidents. I've got a hologram for us to watch. Let me just pull it up on the computer...."

The class then viewed a holographic video on senators and representatives. It was a vague overview of how democracies worked, and most of the information was learned when translucent instructors broke into song. Once the video was over, Mr. Kingsworth handed out coloring sheets with an inside view of Congress. The students murmured to each other as they colored, whispering of activities they were going to do once they got out of class.

Clay turned to Kenny. "I'm going to the Recreation Area with Fins today! What'll you do when class is over, Hawking?"

Homework, Kenny said to herself. The thought upset her, but it lightened the young girl at the same time. Though the amount of homework she had was unreasonable, Miss Kaylee had been right. There would be no more addition problems for Kenny. She was being challenged, and her brain loved it.

The bell rang, and Kenny began to pack away her things. Her first school day at AGC was finally over, along with the worst of the challenges she would face as a student. Or at least, that was what Kenny believed was true. Little did she know, the challenges had just begun.