SEVENTY- THREE

In the library I told her to read a passage ten times. She read it slowly the first time with many mistakes and by the third attempt, almost gave up.

I encouraged her and she went on. By the eighth try, she was reading like how I read.

That was wonderful.

I didn't know why I was so happy she was happy, it wasn't because I was proud of her, it was something else...

I went on to start teaching her Biology and she did far better than I expected.

She remembered facts with great speed and was able to deduce accurate theories and connections on her own, without reading...she had a really, really high IQ.

By the time we had to get to Chemistry, she was terrified, since I hadn't taught her that yet.

I encouraged her and she slowly went.

We weren't lab partners that day and we had a pop quiz.

I was scared, not for myself, for her. But I comforted myself by the thought that she was much smarter than she was given credit for.

But she failed the test. I made Physics our next topic that recess as that was our next class.

We were taking a book to the corner of the library she was most comfortable in when I saw Xander, kissing another girl.

I was so disgusted by that guy, but was relieved Ruby had seen it for herself so she'd not fall victim to him.

She memorized the Physics laws like a baby drank milk and was able to solve complex equations on her own. I advised her to take the school's IQ test but she didn't want to.

I kept bothering her till she did and I was shocked by the results. She got a score of 157! Three points below Einstein himself!

She was also surprised and I wanted to tell everyone but she stopped me. She wanted to keep it a secret, though it was to be put in her report.

I kept teaching her and wanted Alister to help but she didn't trust him enough, she gained trust in people really slowly.

Her grades sky rocketed and she topped the school!

I was proud of her but the sudden increase in her grades attracted suspicion and bullying, especially from the Andettes.

She went into the bathroom right before an important Geography test one day when someone pushed her into a stall and locked it, the person said,"You think you can jump classes and get into mine then make my life below yours? I don't think so."

She recognised the voice as Andy's voice and heard Mandy and Sandy encourage her then they giggled, high fived and walked away.

Ruby banged the door and called for help but the main door was also locked.

In this large school, there was a complete boys' and girls' bathroom on each of the twenty floors so no one would come into that one for a long time.

She was fond of coming late to classes so knew that no one would search for her.

She climbed over the stall door and was about to jump down when she saw...

The air vents, of course!

She was about to jump to hold the platinum filigree grating which covered the air shaft when she slipped on the inch thick door and fell.

I had searched for Ruby but couldn't find her anywhere.

I saw the Andettes entering into an elevator and wondered what they were up to.

I followed them using the stairs and they came out on the fifth floor...

But this is a middle school floor, what are they doing here?

They modelled to their boyfriends, the three Musketeers and kissed them then went into an elevator together, then they got off at the bottom floor.

I was about to follow them when a security man stopped me.

"No, the Andettes are leaving school grounds during class hours, that's against the rules and I think they have something to do with a student getting missing."

"The Andettes? More like Angels, those girls never get into trouble."

"Exactly, but they cause a lot of it, please at least send a guard to follow them."

"No, now get back to class before you get detention for a month for challenging a guard."

I couldn't believe this guy!

I just left.

Then I passed through a window in the bathroom of that floor and told one of my guards to drive me and follow their cars.

The guards didn't want me to miss class but I said,"Mark said you should ensure my safety, what if these people are going to endanger it? Either you do your job and protect me, or don't and I get you fired."

I didn't mean it, I couldn't stand getting people fired but they bought it.

Ruby landed with a safety roll and looked up. It was too high for her to jump so she jumped onto the locked door of the stall she was locked in and jumped to hold the grating.

It opened immediately...

Thank goodness it's not locked!

She did it again and climbed inside...