Chapter 3! Please review :)

I don't own MI High.


Once Rose arrived at the orphanage, she pulled on her cover as Rose Patel. Shyly following Mr Harold (Frank's cover) into a shabby office, she was waved to sit by the forbidding house matron Miss Moscow. Answering the questions she was asked quietly with one or two syllable answers, Rose told Miss Moscow about her supposed background – used to attend Knee-high High School, was a grade-A student moved up two years, and was an only child – as the lady made notes. Frank was sitting beside her the whole time, and occasionally Miss Moscow threw a question at him too – about the deaths of her parents, the legality of sending her to the orphanage and many others besides. After about an hour, Miss Moscow seemed satisfied, and she thanked Mr Harold for bringing Rose, saying that she could take it from here. Frank them formally shook Rose's hand, then Miss Moscow's, before leaving Rose in the suspected SKUL camp.

Meekly following Miss Moscow up the corridor, Rose used her training to take in every detail of both what the large lady was telling her and what she could see. The orphanage was obviously not well funded. The paint was peeling, and peeking into classrooms as they went by Rose could see that everything was smashed up. After about a three minutes walk, Miss Moscow opened the door to a small room, containing a bunk bed and two small and scruffy desks, as well as a chest of drawers with drawers that would not shut properly.

"This will be your room, Rose. I'm afraid you don't have a roommate yet – you make the total number of children odd. But we're expecting another boy quite soon – Oscar someone-or-other. He'll share with you – we don't have the funds to abide by single-sex roommates for everyone." She said this all very briskly and fast. "I'll leave you to settle in then." Miss Moscow sailed out of the room, shutting the door firmly behind her.

Alone at last, Rose took the opportunity to look around her new room. There was barely space to move. After ascertaining that the room was not bugged or under surveillance, Rose sent a quick message to Frank – "Hi Frank, Rose here. I'm in. No roommate – it's going to be Oscar – and I start school tomorrow. Bye." Rose then started unpacking her small bag, laying her books on one of the desks and her pyjamas on her bed. Once she was done, Rose curled up on her bunk – the top one – with a book, and read until dinner.

At 7.00, a tall boy with messy red hair barged into Rose's room, shouting "Miss says I'm to take the newbie down to dinner cos she doesn't know the way…what you doing?" Transforming instantly into Rose Patel, Rose quietly said "Just reading. Thank you for coming to show me the way. "

"Why're you reading? Reading's for school and geeks. And I didn't have a choice you know – Miss told me to. Can't say no to Miss." Rose blushed deeply and clambered down of the bunk bed, before following her guide out of the small room down to the dining room.

Dinner was being served with industrial efficiency. Children took a tray and were served a large dollop of everything by the dinner ladies. There was no choice on what you could have – it was a scoop of everything or nothing. This was the only orderly part of the room though. In the main eating area, there were kids clambering and sitting on the tables, teachers shouting for order and being ignored, and food flying through the air. Weaving her way through the confusion, having been completely abandoned by her guide as soon as she entered the room, Rose found a tiny table in the corner that was unoccupied. Sitting down, she began to eat the less-than-gourmet food and opened her book again. No sooner than she had read a few pages, however, she realised that she had visitors. Shutting the book quickly, she looked up from her food to see the red-haired boy and several other children looking down at her. "Hello," she said, trying to convince herself that they just wanted to meet the new girl.

"Boys," she heard the red head announce, "This is the newbie. Rose Something,"

"Patel," she whispered

"Rose Patel. Well like I was saying, she's new here. And guess what? She reads. When she doesn't have to. She was reading when Miss sent me to get her for dinner. Just lying on her bed reading."

"What's wrong with that?" asked Rose, again blushing. She already knew of course – these were the bullies, she was new and a LOT smaller than them – and desperately wanted to demonstrate her full nelson of karate moves Blane and Carrie had taught her to show these thugs that small truly could be mighty. But she had to keep in character, and Rose Patel was more likely to jump off a mountain than become a martial arts expert.

"What's wrong with that she says," chuckled the red head, who was evidently the leader. "What's wrong with that, shrimp, is that I don't approve of reading. Frys your brain. So I would strongly advise you, shrimp, to hand over your book before you become brain dead."

Rose shivered. "I will not hand over my book," she said quietly but firmly. "It's mine."

"I said," the boy repeated in a threatening voice, "Give it here." Shaking her head again, Rose tried to pull the book into her chest to protect it, but two of the boys each grabbed on of her arms and twisted them behind her back, making her cry out in pain and drop the book. Sniggering, the red head picked it up. "So what do we have here? 'A Well-Ordered Thing – Dmitri Mendeleev and the Shadow of the Periodic Table'. Who the hell is this Mendeleev guy?"

"He created the first Periodic Table. He's a genius." Said Rose, trying to get her book back.

"Never heard of him, so can't have done anything that special. Shrimp, I'm confiscating this book for a while…let's say until I feel like giving it back. How's that sound?" He then grinned as a tear trickled down Rose's cheek, before spinning around and leading his posse away from her table. Rose quickly picked up her nearly-full tray, deposited it on the rack and left the dining room, heading quickly back to her room.

The next day, Rose put on the smartest clothes in the suitcase Frank had given her - she wanted to make a good impression on her new teachers - and headed down to the schoolroom Miss Moscow had pointed out the day before. Inside stood a worn-out looking teacher, with long black hair pulled into a messy ponytail and a long red skirt. She started when Rose knocked on the door before silently pushing it open. "Oh my dear, you gave me quite a fright. Now you must be Rose Patel, new here?" Rose silently affirmed this. "Well isn't that nice. I must say, the letter your old school sent us – Knee-High High School wasn't it – was exemplary! A straight A student, I hear! Even after having been moved up two years!" Rose blushed, looking at the floor. "Well, this place could use some talent. You can have the desk at the back my dear, the one by the window. I trust I don't need to keep my eye on you! By the way, my name is Miss Franklin – appropriate for a science teacher!"

"Yes miss," whispered Rose, heading to the desk Miss Franklin had pointed out and sinking into the chair. Pulling out another book – this time a biography of George Clooney – she read until the bell for classes started, when she slid her book into her bag and looked around, puzzled at the lack of students in the room. Miss Franklin grinned when she saw this. "There's no need to stop reading, dear. I expect the other students will be along in around 10 minutes." Shocked at the lack of discipline that allowed children to be 10 minutes late to class and the teacher not to mind, Rose looked disbelievingly at the teacher. "Yes, dear, I know, it must be quite different here from your old school. Nevertheless, the children will do what they want, and I find it best to just allow them to turn up when Miss Moscow chases them in – she is the only teacher who scares them! We could start some other work if you wanted to?" Nodding eagerly, Rose wondered what the teacher could be talking about. One of the main points about Rose Patel's character that Frank had given her was that she was vastly intelligent – that was what was meant to attract SKUL scouts to her. So Rose had to keep the lid off the formidable vat of intelligence inside her, and allow the teachers to see what an excellent brain she had inside her. "Well Rose dear, what is your favourite science?

"Chemistry miss," said Rose, not embellishing as she stayed firmly in the shell she had created around herself since arriving at Penhallow's.

"Mine too! I find all the chemicals and reactions quite fascinating. Tell you what – if you fancy a challenge, how about you learn the first 20 elements for me? I'll test you next week…"

Shyly interrupting, Rose said "I'm sorry miss, but I already know the first 20 elements."

"Really? That's wonderful! Finally I have a student with brains! Alright, how about the first 40?"

"Sorry to be rude, miss, but I know them too. I know the whole Periodic Table."

Miss Franklin looked at her in disbelief. "Are you sure Rose?" When Rose nodded, she asked "Do you mind if I test you? Not that I don't trust you, just to check? Thank you… so what is the 49th element?"

To prove a point, Rose recited "The 49th element is Indium, group 13 period 5, discovered in 1863, melting point 156.6 degrees." Miss Franklin looked as though she was about to faint.

"So it's true…we finally have some brains here! Rose, when did you learn this?"

"I first memorised the Table when I was six, miss," whispered Rose, worried that she had gone too far in revealing her brains.

"I don't believe it…I can't believe it. Rose, I'm sure you already know but you are a very special girl. I can't think of anyone else who knew the whole Periodic Table at the age of six!" Rose smiled at the teacher, faintly tempted to tell the enthusiastic teacher about all the times the country's fate had rested on her knowledge of the sciences and technology. Miss Franklin smiled back. "I'm not sure I'll be able to teach you that much, Rose! Not if you kept going at that rate!" said Miss Franklin.

"Don't worry miss, I know that you will. Knowing the Table isn't everything, after all."

"True, true, but it is clear that you have the most remarkable ability Rose. This is very interesting, we must explore this further…but here are your classmates. Finally." At this Miss Franklin returned to her desk and stood behind it, trying to restore some calm into the shouting crowd of students. After 5 minutes, they were all relatively quiet, and she began.

"Everyone, I would like you to meet your new classmate, Rose Patel, who joined us yesterday. Rose, will you please stand up and tell us a little about yourself?" Rose looked terrified. She was meant to be withdrawn and lonely, in mourning for her parents. So she stood up slowly and quietly said

"My name is Rose Patel, I used to go to Knee-High High School, and I like Science and my parents … my parents died last week." With that she dropped back into her chair and hid her face in her hair, which she had pulled down.

"I'm so sorry, Rose. Thank you for sharing. Now everyone, today we will be learning about the Periodic Table. Maximilian, perhaps you will tell us what that is…" the lesson began, and Rose put her head down on her desk and didn't listen much. When she was asked a question – Miss Franklin seemed to be trying to show off her brains to the class – she answered as simply and as quickly as she could. Already, she couldn't wait for Oscar to turn up, even if she couldn't openly be friends with him. At least she'd have someone to talk to occasionally.