CHAPTER TWO

From: buggernaut106fleetcommand.gov
To: hegemonagentwikelAssault.heg
Subject: Child's play

We already have someone who's ready to save us. In fact we have two. You know whom I'm speaking of. Yes he's still in the Battle School but we think they're the ones. Well you can bring him up but he won't account too much. He's to late. He's to far behind. Have you seen what he's been doing lately? He's terrible. He's hit his peak.

Respectfully,

-White Rabbit

Will sat there in class. He knew what the people in the IF wanted. They wanted him to be smart. If he were they would take him away from his perfect home. They needed someone who was a genius. They needed a Mazer Rackham. He didn't want to leave his family. Will sat there with the half completed test in his hand and he started to erase answers. All the kids in the class turned around all of them at least 2 years older then Will. The class was silent. Not a single thing happened. The kids had stopped doing their tests and the teacher had stopped doing whatever it was she was doing. The teacher got up and started to walk towards Will.

"Everything all right?" The teacher asked.

"Yes Mrs. Haughton. I'm just confused. I'll be okay." The kids all looked at each other confused. Will looked back down at his white sheet of paper. He started to mark all the wrong answers. He knew that the battle school was looking for the best and the brightest. He didn't want to leave his family. Will wrote every wrong answer on the test except for three. He left them correct so he didn't seem like he was purposely making his answers wrong. He sat there pretending to mark answers and erase them. He tried to look confused. He scrunched up his forehead and raised his eyebrows. He sighed every once in awhile just so the kids knew he was frustrated and tired. When all but one kid had turned in their test Will got up and turned in his shaking his head. The teacher took the paper and looked at the first problem she immediately gasped. "Will," she called, "can you come up here for just a second?" Will approached the teacher's desk and she looked up at him. "Are you sure that you want to turn this in?" she asked.

"Yes, Mrs. Haughton I do. Its very confusing work." All the children in the room were silent. It seemed as if time had stopped and Will was the only one breathing. "Good", Will thought. Will walked back to his seat all the eyes in the room followed him and the teacher shook her head. She put the paper down and began to grade it. All the kids turned and watched her. The one boy that was left walked up to turn in his paper.

"Not now James. Give it to me later." Mrs. Haughton said. James walked back
to his desk and laid the paper down.

The teacher finished grading wills paper and she typed in a message. Will opened his desk and was about to hack in to her database to see what she was typing when he thought, "Wait, if I hack this database they'll know that I'm faking because I've never cared about my test scores before." Will put the desk down after logging off and waited. The teacher finished her message and walked over to Will.

"Will here's your paper." She laid the paper down in front of him and watched to see what his reaction was. Some of the kids near Will leaned over to see what he had gotten. Will already knew what his score was going to be but he looked at it for theatrical purposes. He picked the paper up and put it at an angle so the girl sitting behind him could read over his shoulder. She gasped and Will put down the paper. The teacher walked away and stat at her desk. She got out the other papers and signaled for James to come back up and hand her his test. Will folded the paper and put it in his folder. The bell rang and he put everything in his backpack. All the kids began to chatter as they walked out of the classroom and many of them walked over to Grace who was the girl sitting behind Will. They all gave glances at him as they talked and there conversation went with them out the door. All Will heard was, "The little boy...stupid...smart...low..." He didn't make anything else out. As will strapped on his backpack he began to head for the door when Mrs. Haughton called for him.

"Oh, Will!" She called. "Can you come over here?" Will walked over to her large desk and gave her a questioning look. "Will, It's about your test score. How come you got such a bad grade?"

"I didn't understand it. Why is that such a big deal?" Will shook his head and walked out the door. As he walked through the halls kids all around him glanced at him. It wasn't the normal glance he got from kids. Usually they gave him a look of child prodigy but now they gave him the look of strange being in a foreign land. Will walked towards his bus and sat in his normal
seat behind the bus driver. The kids all gave him the look as they entered the bus.

After a bit the bus took off. It dropped off all the kids at their houses and once again Will was the last one to leave. When he got home he didn't see the normal gray four-door sedan instead he saw an emergency vehicle. Its lights were flashing and the door to Will's house was open. Will looked at the emergency vehicle long enough to notice the IF's signature symbol on it. He got off the bus and walked up the driveway. Right past the flashing lights of the vehicle. He got into the hose to see his mom shocked sitting on the couch and his dad along side her.

"Mom, Dad!" Will yelled. He ran up to them and gave them big hugs. When Will turned around He saw a man in a gray IF uniform. He was sharp and clean looking. "Oh, NO" Will thought. "I'm too late" The man stood up from the couch he was sitting in and walked towards Will. Will began to run from the man. He didn't want to leave his family. The man had longer legs and he was much faster. He caught Will before he had even got out of the room. The man
turned him around and held the squirming body. "I don't want to GO!" Will yelled.

"Kid you're not going anywhere." The man answered back. Will stopped squirming. "Yes that's right your not leaving as of now."

"Yes," Will thought, "I did it." The man held Will firmly, "We know what you're doing Will. And you must stop it. It's not going to get you anywhere."

"Whatever do you mean?" said Will.

"Don't play this game with me young man. You know what I'm talking about. Your test score."

"What, so I did bad on one test. What's the big deal?"

"It's a very big deal Will. You are in the IF search for the child geniuses project. You are not going to be faking dumbness now are you?" Will knew there was no point. He was too bright. If he was so bright how could the IF know he was faking? It had to be the monitor. He knew that it could see what he saw... Then Will knew. It was the test he had had half of it completed
and then erased it. He had all the answers right and then he erased it. That was his mistake. "Will if you continue to do this you're just going to go to the Battle School. It shows you're a creative thinker. You just strengthened are argument to bring you up to space."

Will knew it was true he escaped the man's grasped and ran out of the room. This time the man did not follow him. He ran up into his room and closed the door.