"The scores were not as high as I was hoping for, class." said Ms. Norwood, shaking her head as she walked down a row of desks, handing back graded tests. She sighed as she looked over the loud and reckless classroom. Teenagers were sitting on desks, passing notes, throwing little balls of paper. A couple was making out in the back of the room.

She tried so hard to get through to her students, but the fact was that she was a high school teacher in the South Side of Chicago. By the time most of the students reached her classroom, they had no interest left in schoolwork. They came from poor families and violent situations. The became involved in gangs or they needed to work to help feed the younger ones at home. Their parents didn't speak English or weren't able to take time off to come to conferences or Parent Night.

Ms. Norwood reached the end of the last row, where the kids who ran with the gang GCD sat. They carved their gang symbol into the desks and rolled joints on their lap. The school required all students to wear clear plastic backpacks as a safety precaution but this group still managed to bring in knives and start fights in the cafeteria.

She handed the test back to the two GCD members in her class, Jaylen Jones and Derrick Morgan. Jaylen had answered two questions out of 15, both incorrectly. Derek had gotten all 15 correct. He quickly shoved the test into his plastic backpack.

"D-man this is some bullshit," said Jaylen loudly, crumpling his test and throwing it across the room. Some of the class laughed.

"Derek Morgan, can I speak to you after class?" called Ms. Norwood, over the chatter of the classroom.

"Yeah, whatever." said Derek, trying to look like he didn't care. The bell rang and the kids cleared out of the room in record time.

"See you round, D-man." called Jaylen, kicking his crumpled test under a table.

Derek slouched up to Ms. Norwood's desk, trying to remember everything he had done wrong in the past few days. He had stolen some candy from a store a few days ago and yesterday he had ran a few ounces of weed for GCD but he couldn't imagine how Ms. Norwood could have found out about that.

"Derek? How are you?" asked Ms. Norwood when Derek reached her desk.

"What do you care?" retorted Derek.

"Well, Mr. Morgan, you got the highest grade on the test that I handed back today."

"So what?"

Ms. Norwood flipped through her grading book. "In fact, Derek, you've gotten the highest score on every test I've given so far. You have a 98% average in this class." Derek cringed. He was trying to join GCD and they didn't exactly value high grades. "I've spoken to your other teacher and you seem to be doing the same in their classes, too. You have a 4.0 GPA and you scored in the 97th percentile on the PSAT."

"So what?!" said Derek forcefully. "Can I go now?"

"I want to talk about this." said Ms. Norwood. "I don't think you're being challenged here. My class is already an 11th grade class and you're bored in here, too. What will you do in two years, when you've finished all of the classes that this school has to offer?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'll drop out and get a job?"

"I want you too look at this pamphlet." Ms. Norwood handed Derek a shiny blue pamphlet that said "Chicago Achievement School" in gold letters. "You have to apply to the school and send them your transcript and test scores." Derek opened the flap and read the top line.

"Apply now to the Chicago Achievement School to join the most intelligent students in Chicago."

Derek scowled. "I ain't smart. This school is shitty but that don't make me smart, it makes the classes dumb. I ain't smart enough to go to no fancy college prep school. And I sure as hell can't pay for this shit."

"If you got accepted, they pay all of your fees. You can choose to live on campus in the dormitories or live at home but its paid for."

"Yeah, whatever. I'll think about it." Derek bolted from the classroom and out of the school. He knew that he got better grades than most of the kids in his school but, like he told Ms. Norwood, that was only because the classes were all easy. He considered throwing the pamphlet in the gutter, but instead, he shoved it into his clear backpack, next to his test.

Derek looked up and down the street and, seeing that the coast was clear, he entered the public library. He couldn't risk someone from school seeing him going into the library. He sat down at a computer and looked up the Chicago Achievement School online. There was a multitude of sports, activities and courses that all looked appealing to Derek. The dorms were clean and bright with views of Lake Michigan, much nicer than the small apartment that he shared with his mother and sisters.

Derek clicked a tab labeled "Trips and Internships". There was information about all of the college trips that the school took the students to, even if they were across the country. Mr. Norwood was right, they school paid for everything, even airfare for trips. The school also paid for students to attend precollege study internships at various institutions across the country. He got excited when he saw the FBI Academy in the list of programs.

Derek looked around the website for the application page. In the Admissions tab, he read about how the school picked students. Apparently, only 6% of students who applied to the Chicago Achievement School were accepted. Applications included transcripts, letters of recommendation, standardized test scores, essays and entrance exams. Derek searched his backpack hurriedly and dug out as many nickels as he could find to print the application. He carefully placed the application in his backpack so as to not wrinkle its edges and ran outside to catch the train home.