The Prodigies [First Draft]

Eighteen

The school hallways bustled with activity. Students ran to catch up with each other, holding their ID cards about their heads and calling, "I've got a Recreation Area pass!" or "Let's go buy some snacks!" The children chatted with an ease that could only come from finishing a school day and finally being able to get some rest for a few hours.

Kenny wished she could say she was at ease also.

Alas, the young girl couldn't relax when she had more pages of homework than there were stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud. She decided it would be best for her to find her dorm before she began to work. She checked the room number on the piece of paper Miss Kaylee had given her earlier that morning and headed towards the Girl's Dormitories.

Kenny quickly swiped her card on the scanner and entered the dorms. She walked along the carpeted hallways, comparing the numbers on the blue doors around her to the number on her paper. She traveled up a staircase to the second floor of the building. Once there, it only took the young girl a few minutes before she finally found the place she would be staying for the rest of the year.

Kenny swiped her card on the scanner next to the door, and she was allowed entry into room G-216. She pushed the door open and walked onto the carpet inside the room. The walls and sheets were the same color as they were in the ND room, but there was no PHC or glass desk. Instead, there were four much smaller, wooden desks clumped in groups of twos for the inhabitants of the dorm to work on. The room, however, was much larger than the previous area Kenny had stayed in. Two bunk beds sat in opposite corners, and the young girl realized her belongings were on the bottom bunk of the bed closest to her.

Kenny decided she would unpack her things later, when she had more time. She headed for the work space closest to her, letting the door click shut, and suddenly a figure shot up from behind one of the desks. It was a girl about a foot taller than Kenny with short dark hair. Her eyes were clouded with confusion as she gazed upon her new roommate.

"Who are you?" she asked in the same formal fashion as Gene or Einstein would've. Kenny briefly wondered where they'd all learned such a precise and cool way of speaking, but the girl before her began to move before she could fully question it. The girl stepped out from behind the desk, jumped into the air, and disappeared.

It happened so quickly, Kenny wondered for a moment if the figure had been a stress-induced hallucination and had never existed in the first place. However, a few moments later, the girl reappeared right next to Kenny.

Kenny's heart seemed to skip a beat, and she froze in shock. The girl giggled at Kenny's reaction, disappearing once more. This time, she reappeared in front of the young girl rather than beside her.

"You reacted better than most of the people I've done that to," Kenny's roommate complemented. She stuck her hand out, and Kenny very hesitantly shook it. "Jump, group B, Gift of teleportation," the girl introduced herself.

Kenny went to get out one of her index cards, but before she could find the correct one, Jump blurted, "Oh, yes! I know who you are! You're the mute-who-doesn't-like-to-be-called-a-mute. Hawking, group A, Gift of enhanced intelligence, I believe. And you're a Neophyte."

Kenny nodded, frowning. She had never met Jump before, yet the girl knew her name, group, and Gift already. Who had told her that information?

The young girl's question was answered when the door whooshed open. Metal stood in the doorway, scowling at Kendall. She pushed past Kenny to get to the desks near the bunk bed in the far corner and called, "See, Jump? I told you we would get Hawking as our roommate. That's the second time today I've been stuck with her."

Metal pulled a book from her desk and slammed the drawer she had gotten it from shut. She directed her cold glare to Kenny. "Alright, Neo, this is how things work in this dorm. As you can see, this room is clean, and it will stay clean, even with you here. Books stay in your desk, and all clothes and any other items you may have in your closet. The laundry goes into that basket over there, and we take turns hauling it to the laundry room. Lights are turned off no later than ten o'clock, so anything you have to do after that will be taken care of out of this room. Any questions?"