CHALCEDONY

School

The sound of Lauren's high heels on the hard floor of the George Washington high school almost drowned out the murmuring of the dozens of teenagers Coal passed in the halls of George Washington High School.

No one said anything to him but they all stared. He assumed the school would be like the juvenile center. But here there were people of every color, not just varying shades black and brown. And there were girls. Lots of girls. A few smiled at him while he passed, and he had to struggle to ignore the heat rushing to his cheeks.

"I was hoping you'd be able to see Joseph before we saw the principal," Lauren said, as they entered a large office at the end of the hall. "but he's on the other side of the school. But he'll be here to pick you up after school. You can't miss him. He looks just like Youssef, and he knows what you look like.

The room must have been sound proof, because as soon as the door closed the noise from the kids in the hall immediately stopped, as if a mute button had been switched on.

Lauren approached a pale-skinned woman whose hair had blond tips and black roots.. "Hi, I'm Lauren Ash and this is Coal. We have an appointment."

She looked at Lauren, and then stared at Coal, for an uncomfortable moment, before she spoke. "Just a minute."

Another woman with short tapered brown hair and sharp hazel eyes walked from the back of another office. "Hi. I'm Miranda Jones, the principal of Washington High School." She extended her hand to Lauren.

"I know who you are. My son is Joseph Ash," Lauren said as they shook hands.

"I know him. He's a good kid. He stays out of trouble. I'm sorry we haven't met until now," Miranda said.

"Ms. Ash. This is the new student I talked to you about Coal."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Coal." Miranda extended her hand to him, but he didn't take it.

"He doesn't shake hands," Lauren said. "He does give great hugs, though."

Lauren laughed, but Miranda turned and said, "Please follow me."

"He doesn't have a transcript, correct?" the principal asked once they had all been seated.

"No," Lauren answered. "Just his test scores from the juvenile center. The paperwork I sent you two days ago should have explained this."

"It does. But in my experience, the paperwork always omits important details."

Miranda shifted in her seat and looked towards Coal. "Do you speak English?"

"Of course, he speaks English," Lauren said.

"I need him to answer." Miranda had no emotion on her face. She looked determined and cold, like some of the cruelest guards. They appeared nice and indifferent, but if they suspected a threat they were always the cruelest "Do you speak English, Coal?" the principal asked again.

"Yes, I speak English," Coal answered.

"Where are you from?" Miranda asked.

When he didn't answer, she cocked and eyebrow. "United States, Ghana, London, Nigeria?"

"He doesn't know," Lauren said.

"You don't know where you've been the past few years."

"Like I said when we talked. He was held captive for around eleven years. He was never told where he was isolated and locked away from people."

She cocked a brow. "And he's sane?" She asked as if Coal was not there.

"Of course, he's sane," Lauren snapped. She tried to sound confident, but Coal still felt her fidget beside him in his chair, and there was almost indecipherable doubt in her voice. He wondered if the principal heard it too.

"Coal. You've been isolated from people, and then placed into juvenile hall. Do you really believe you're prepared to function in school full of teenagers?"

Isolated. Kidnapped. Held against his will. They had no idea he'd been living in another world for the past decade, perfectly happy for most of it.

But there was no way he could tell them any of it.

What he didn't understand was why the principal was making this seem so tough. He'd just passed in the halfway seemed half as scary as the kids he'd left in the juvenile center. And, none of the kids in this school could be more terrifying than a pissed off elven princess. "Yes, I'm ready," he answered. High School would be a vacation compared to what he'd been through over the past few month.

She sighed heavily and began flipping through the papers on her desk. "If you've never been to school, why are your test scores so high?"

"I've always been tutored." Coal chanced to say.

"In what subjects?" She looked as if she didn't believe him. Maybe he should not have answered. How much information was too much?

"I'm aware that you were taken from your home as a child," the principal said after a while. "And you have developed some loyalty to your kidnappers, but... could it really hurt to answer some questions about your education? I'm not out to hurt you. I just want to make sure I put you in the right classes."

Coal looked out the window, buying time while he thought. Did it really matter? He was getting out of this realm as soon as possible.

"I was tutored in math, science, and physics, but for the past few years, I've been working on apprenticing at a forge."

Lauren and Miranda exchanged glances. Lauren said, "Apprenticing? Wow, I guess that's better than gun play. Can you read?"

"If he passed the tests doesn't that mean he can read," Lauren snapped.

"I need Coal to answer the questions," the principal said. She spoke to Lauren but she never took her eyes from Coal.

"I can read English, Spanish and Portuguese." Parts of Chalcedony's territory include the U.S., Mexico, and Brazil. And so as she was taught their language and history, out of boredom he sat in on the classed and learned right beside her.

"Really?" she asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"Yes, really," Coal answered, regretting that he'd said anything. It was better to keep his mouth shut. Once again he'd been proven right.

"And you don't know where you've been for past eleven years?"

"We already told you. He doesn't know," Lauren said. "Can he go to class now?"

"I apologize." The principal said. There was a visible strain on her face as she thought of what to say. "We have similar students and their guardians in your situation enroll here and most can't read or write English. And they lie on the applications. And they forge the test results. So I have to be vigilant. I'm sorry about the situation you've been forced in, but if what you're saying is true it'll make my job of educating Coal much easier.

"Come I'll take you to your next class," Principal Miranda stood. "According to your test scores, your grade level and age, you're somewhere between a junior and a senior."