The Prodigies [First Draft]

Fourteen

"We found it! That one fits your perfectly," Miss Kaylee informed Kenny as the young girl looked into a mirror. She inspected her reflection to find what Miss Kaylee was speaking of, but she couldn't see it. To Kenny, this outfit looked the same as the one she had tried on before, and the one before that, and the one before that. She felt the two were wasting time trying on uniforms, but Miss Kaylee wanted to be sure to find one that fit Kenny's stick-like frame.

The AGC uniform was a neat outfit. The girls' winter attire was a pale blue dress that ended at the knees, a pair of white stockings, and black shoes. For the colder days, such as today, Kenny was given a dark blue sweater with a snowflake embroidered on the right breast. The young girl was required to wear the uniform at all times (excluding weekends and gym).

"And because you have Enhanced Intelligence, that includes your Training classes also," Miss Kaylee told Kenny as she locked the door to the uniform room. "Most children train in their gym clothes, but you get to stay in your uniform."

There it was, that Training class was mentioned again. Kenny held up a card that asked, What is that?

Miss Kaylee, who was getting better at interpreting the cards, realized Kenny was talking about the Training classes. She went on to explain, "Like any other ability, you need to practice using your Gift often. Training classes help your Gift stay keen and allow you to strengthen it. It's similar to moving your muscles: sure, you can do it with no training at all, but with exercise, you can move much easier and quicker."

Kenny nodded. She was slowly beginning to understand everything, but she still had quite a few questions that were so specific, she didn't have a way to express them with her cards. She would have to create new cards to ask them.

Miss Kaylee led Kenny down a flight of brick stairs. They were in the Main Office building, which was now buzzing with activity since the workweek had started. Miss Brennan hadn't even waved when Kenny walked past her desk for she was too busy answering phone calls and scribbling down notes. Several administrators rushed past Kenny and Miss Kaylee with coffee cups and Manilla files in hand, hurrying to begin a day's work. Miss Kaylee moved with the same speed while Kenny ran along next to her to keep up.

Miss Kaylee brought Kenny to a room small enough to be a closet. The young girl was ushered inside and told to sit on a single stool in front of a white backdrop. Kenny assumed they were taking a picture to go onto her identification card and set her mouth in a line.

"Are you ready to take your picture?" Miss Kaylee asked the girl after she typed some information into a computer at the corner of the room.

Kenny nodded, her face stotic.

"You can smile, if you'd like to," Miss Kaylee quickly added.

Kenny took out one of her cards. It looks unprofessional for a picture like this.

The woman laughed. "This certainly isn't the first time you've been asked to smile for a picture if you have a card like that. But you don't have to smile if you don't want to. I'll take the picture in three...two...one...."

The camera clicked, and a printer near the computer came alive. In mere seconds, a card popped out of the machine, wet with ink. Miss Kaylee waved her hand over it in an attempt to make it dry faster.

After a few moments, Miss Kaylee picked the card up. "Here you are, Kendall. Put this in your sweater pocket and do not lose it. Without an identification card, you cannot buy food or get into any building on campus. Hold this up to the scanners near every door, and on the counter near the kitchen during meals, and you'll be able to get into any building or eat."