"Rania," Mrs. Hellman stated as she approached the twelve-year-old African-American girl standing in the school lunch line. The sudden calling of her name made the young girl shrink back in horror. What had she done now? was the first thought that crossed her mind. Children who were called out of the lunch line were usually in some kind of trouble. "Come with me, Rania," the assistant principal continued as she gently removed the plastic tray from the strengthening grip of the student.

Hesitating for a moment that seemed the stretch into eternity, Rania Jackson allowed her shoulders to sink into a posture of defeat before she resigned herself to following the older woman into the corridor leading to the principal's office. The amazed glare of the students she passed on the way to the cafeteria's double doors didn't help her feeling of unease.

Mrs. Hellman was the strictest of the assistant principals at Booker T. Washington Middle School. Tall, slim, and prone to wearing straight skirts and no frills blouses in various shades of yellow, the student body nicknamed her Penelope Pencil behind her back. Not so long ago, Gavin Brock and Dante Mills had been given a one week's suspension for mocking Mrs. Hellman with the moniker in the hallway between classes. But Rania had done nothing wrong; why had she been singled out?

More surprised than ever was Rania when she was ushered into the principal's office to find not only Mr. Slack—the head of the school—but also her parents seated around the big desk. Standing with his back to the room and gazing out of the window was a strange white man of ordinary height and weight. Quizzically the girl turned toward Mrs. Hellman seeking an answer only to find the door closing upon the departing figure in yellow.

"Ms. Jackson, this is Mr. Parker," Mr. Slack introduced the man standing in the window. "He's from the Kent Academy for Outstanding Abilities. He would like to speak to you for a moment."