CHALCEDONY

Zora

Lauren had left and the principal showed Coal to his class. Now he stood in the front of a room full of teenagers staring at computer screens. In the juvenile center, he'd always avoided the complicated machines. According to Principal Miranda Introduction to Computers was a required class because most homework assignments would have to be done on a computer.

The backside of white, highly polished computer screens, partially blocked the faces of the students. All of them were hunched over white, metallic shiny keyboards. They wore white headphones lodged completely in their ear or large shiny black, pink, or purple headphones with a curved "b" etched on the sides.

Coal expected stares, just like in the hallway this morning. But he needn't have been worried, no one looked away from their monitor. They neither heard nor a cared about him entering. For a moment, Coal felt invisible until a man with neatly trimmed black hair rolled from behind on of the computers.

"You must be the new student. I'm Mr. Nguyen." He removed his hand from the thin wheel of his wheelchair and extended it towards Coal.

Coal nodded and looked away.

Mr. Nguyen sighed.  "Anyway," the man said a little too loudly, clearly annoyed. "I was briefed on your history, or lack thereof. Is it correct that you have no experience with computers?"

"No, I've never used a computer before," Cold answered truthfully. Staying silent Coal figured would do him more harm than good.

"Follow me." Mr. Nguyen passed the rows of students locked away in their personal cyber worlds and stopped at the last row where a girl with copper-toned skin sat staring at a computer screen watching another girl apply make-up.

When Mr. Nguyen tapped her on the shoulder, she clicked a button on the keyboard, the screen went blank, and she turned to face them. She looked as if she had been doing something bad. "Yes, Mr. Nguyen?"

Mr. Nguyen grimaced and said, "Zora, this is Coal. The student I told you about."

"Nice to meet you, Coal." She extended her hand and without thinking he shook it. Her hands were cool and small. She had dark brown skin, but her eyes were grey and her brown and blonde streaked hair was manipulated into a bow at the top of her head.

"Well now, I see you don't have a problem avoiding the touch of girls."

Coal's cheek burned and Zora giggled as she pulled her hand back.

"If you haven't noticed," Mr. Nguyen said to Coal, "each student learns at his or her own pace in my classroom. You're late into the school year. So Zora has volunteered to teach you the basics. She'll show you the ins and outs of computers."

"Any questions?" Mr. Nguyen asked.

"No," Coal answered, hoping his voice didn't shake. It seemed like a lifetime since he'd been around any girls. And this girl with her grey eyes and odd hair made him nervous for some reason.

"So you do talk. It's amazing how girls are always the cure-all for teenage boys. I'll leave you both to it."

"Alright let's get started," Zora said, after Mr. Nguyen had rolled away. "If I can get you can get caught up pretty quick, Mr. Nguyen said he'd give me a butt load of extra credit." she said, sitting down.

"Sit here." She pointed to the chair next to hers. Obediently, Coal sat.

"Scoot closer, I won't bite, unless you want me to." She winked and gave him a large smile. "I'm kidding. You should have seen your face just now. Are there are no girls where you come from?" She pulled his chair closer. Her fingernails were painted black and shaped into long dark talons, reminding him of Queen Isis.

"So the basics," Zora said, in between chewing her gum. "Do you know how to turn on a computer?"

"No," Coal said.

"No problem. They send all the computer illiterate students my way. Do you know how to turn it on?"

After Coal shook his head no, Zora pushed a button near the bottom of a screen and the dark screen lit up with the words: enter your username and password.

"That was the power button," "Your password will be your first and last name.," Zora said, typing the word 'Cole' into the computer.

"No," Coal remarked, "it's C-o-a-l."

"A boy named Coal with skin the cover of coal," she said as she typed.

This time when his cheeks warmed, he couldn't hide the smile. "Yeah. Exactly," he said.

She smiled, her gaze meeting his. "It fits you. So, what's your last name?"

"Smith," he answered. It was the name assigned to him when he arrived. He hadn't had a last name in the fey realm, and he couldn't remember the surname he was born with.

"Coal Smith," She said, tearing her gaze away and entering the information. As soon as she was finished, another screen popped onto the monitor.

"The second most important thing about computers is Google. Have you heard of Google?"

"I've seen a few TV commercials," Coal said.

"That's better than nothing." She clicked a multi-colored icon the monitor, and the word Google appeared on the screen. "With Google dot com," Zora continued. "You have the entire internet at your fingertips. If you have any question, you can find the answer on Google. It may not be always the correct answer, but it'll give you a starting point."

Coal sat up, suddenly very interested in learning about computers. "I can ask it anything?"

"Anything," she repeated, with a smile on her black tinted lips, using her tiptoes she pushed her chair to the side. "Give it a try. Ask Google a question."

What he wanted to type was how to get back to the fey realm. Since he'd found nothing in the small libraries at the jails and juvenile centers he'd been at, but he couldn't do type that question in front of Zora. Instead, he typed 'How many humans are on Earth.' A safe question.

"You have to hit enter," she pointed to the button labeled 'Enter.'

He did as he was told and the screen populated with a list of answers. The top answer read: the human population on earth is estimated to be 7 billion.

"Amazing," Coal said unable to hide the astonishment in his voice.