[COMPLETED] The Academy For Genetically Gifted Children Book One: Genesis

Andromeda

Twelve Years Later.

Chapter One: Andromeda
Home Sector: 4

A girl threw her hand in the air in eagerness, almost leaping out of her chair.

          "Yes, Andromeda?"

          "Ms. Pike, the answer to your question is x equals the absolute value of four."

The Instructor paused momentarily, then answered, "Once again, well done. Let's try to give your other classmates a chance though now, okay?"

              "Yeah Andi, give us a chance," muttered the rat-looking boy who sat next to her. He gave her elbow a discreet yet rough shove. Tears sprung to her eyes from the sharp stab of pain and when she turned her eyes down to her algebraic textbook the numbers and words had blurred all together.

Once the bell finally rang and Ms. Pike dismissed the class, Andi was quick to leave. She shoved her many books into her messenger bag, slung it over her shoulder, and left the classroom in a hurry.

If I walk at this pace, for the next 15 seconds that it takes for me to leave the building, I'll be able to get back home at exactly 2:02pm, she thought.

She made a sharp turn around a corner and pushed past the other many children running through the hall in a race to get home and play outside on a snowy yet bright day such as this one. Andi threw open the big doors of the institution and started to sprint home. Her warm breathe escaped into the air in a cloud. 

 I do hope it's there, she thought.

Andi was awaiting a letter from the Academy for Genetically Gifted Children. Ever since the government announced that the selected children would receive a letter in the mail this very day, the thought of leaving the orphanage consumed her.

It had been all over the post for weeks; the news of the Academy was all anyone in the New Nation would talk about.

"Statically speaking, my chances of selection are slim," she murmured to the wind. But statistics were always in her favor since she was so good at computing them.

Mrs. Shirley, head of the orphanage, had once told her otherwise: 

        "You've excelled in school ever since you started going. Learning comes easy to you. You started reading at the age of two. At four you understood the concepts of cells and micro-organisms. At five you could complete long division problems. Even for a genetically modified youth, you are no normal child Andromeda."

At this memory, Andi allowed herself the slightest moment of hope for her future. She didn't want to simply attend school and proceed to a mundane job. 

And Mrs. Shirley's words were true—she was more intelligent and had far more knowledge than any other children in her school, probably more than some adults. Even out of the rest of the modified children at the institution, she stuck out like a sore thumb.

Andi turned down Langley Street and passed the local grocery store, thankful once again that the orphanage was only a ten minute walk from her school. When it was cold like this, with the wind whipping strands of her strawberry blonde hair across her eyes, she'd hate to have a longer commute. 

Her thoughts of winter and the selection were pushed aside when she reached the orphanage, its familiar look calming her. The front lawn resembled the patchy coat of a leopard, with dead spots of grass in some areas and fresh crisp green spots in the others. It was a large building, but had loose shingles and was in desperate need of new paint. Andi had always thought a light blue would do nicely.