2 Chapter 2- One Month Ealier

Rosetta Stone was walking down the school hallway trying to figure out how to tell her parents about the summer camp. They were hardly ever at home and when they were, they seemed to communicate more with their laptops than they did with her.

Everyone in school knew her parents, they were famous. Not only in their careers but also for missing school events. Her parents had the highest absence rate, always having excuses to miss PTA meetings and school functions. She always came last in their scale of preference. She sighed.

Her life was really boring. She had never attended birthday parties of people closer to her age or sleep overs. People had stopped inviting them when they realized their invitations will never get accepted, yet she had attended her first science fair at age three and her first seminar few months after.

Her parents enjoyed working and were happy with their careers and she was happy for them but not for herself. It meant the more they became excited about a new discovery or breakthrough, the less she saw them and they more they pressured her to become a doctor like them so she could understand them better. She had once wanted to be like them but not anymore. She didn't want their lives, didn't want to love her career more than her family. She didn't want those around her to suffer from being neglected.

She walked out of the school building towards her bicycle. A boring black bicycle. She passed a couple of people on her way. Those with sports practices, detention or extracurricular activities. Where did she fall in? She was taking advanced math and science classes which in her parents' twisted reasoning would account for her extracurricular activity. She sighed again watching people huddled in their various groups. Some were engaged in conversations, laughing, smiling or just listening. She wished she could join them but no! She knew how to make pie the subject of the formula better than holding a conversation. Everyone one knew that she had a very high IQ, low EQ and no social skills as constantly observed by her teachers.

She straddled her bicycle frowning. Apparently a car wasn't as brain stimulating as pedaling a black bicycle in the late afternoon sun. She should concentrate. She needed to be home on time for her music lessons. She hated receiving more lectures from her parents on how to manage and invest her time productively.

Rosetta arrived home and saw her parents' car parked in front of the house. From the looks of it they arrived in a hurry and were not planning on staying long. As if to confirm her suspicions, her parents rushed out of the door. Dr. Matthew stone was carrying two large suitcases while her mom Dr. Annabelle Stone was trying to balance the files in her... hands.

"Hi honey, thank goodness your back. We just made a huge breakthrough in human genetic mutation..." Her father began

"And reconfiguration! " her mother added

"Yes! And we need to experiment more, so your mom and I would be away for a while. Your aunt Julia is coming over. This could be the future of humanity. We just need to..."

Rosetta was no longer paying attention. She knew how the speech went and could recite from memory. They just tell her that they need to do more tests, experiment, analysis... They never tell her on time when they are going to go, for how long or when they'll be back. They just breeze in and out. They just had to go and it was always important.

"I wanted to talk to you about... "She began

"About the summer camp? We read the mail, very detailed but you know we can't let you go off on your own and I know you're going to tell me that your teachers and other kids would be there too but you've not been around other people for long and we are afraid it may be too much for you. Besides you need to work on improving your IQ and brain functions not wasting time. So here's what we'll do, when we get back we'll go somewhere together." Her mother finished and she was already in the car. Before Rosetta could say anything else

"Bye honey"

"Be good"

And they were gone. Rosetta starred after them till their car disappeared out of sight before she was able to drag herself up to the house to do some school work, wait for Aunt Julia and her music teacher.