Chapter 1
“Alright, class. We’re going to do a quick experiment to test our reaction time!” Ms. Andid’s voice droned through the classroom, bouncing off students who were doodling in their books or chewing gum. She passed out buttons, placing one on each of our desks. “We’re going to see who has the fastest reaction time out of all of us. When you hear the buzzer, press your button!” Students shuffled into place, motivated by Ms. Andid’s penetrating stare. “Get ready!” she crooned.
BUZZ. I pressed my button. The sound of clicks reverberated through the classroom as people slammed on the small plastic circles. Ms. Andid pulled a results screen onto the smartboard. It listed the place and reaction time of each person. I glanced up, mildly curious. Sitting at the top of the board, a tiny 1 sitting next to it, were the words Skylar Rine- 36 milliseconds. That wasn’t my name. I turned to look at the girl sitting in the back, directly in the center. Her cheeks flushed bright pink. I felt bad for a second, but then I saw that everyone else had done so too.
“Skylar,” the teacher’s voice echoed through the empty room. “Can we talk?” She clicked out into the hallway, the unfortunate kid trotting behind her. Oh well. I thought, and turned to see what place I got.
