THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

I hadn’t heard one note of understanding in her voice.
    Not for someone like me who didn’t fit in with her kind.
    Stopping in front of the last open door in the hallway, Hannah rapped on the doorframe with her knuckles. She broke out a bright smile for someone inside and said, “I have the new student the office sent you the text about.”
    Text? I didn’t ask. 
    Hannah backed up, clearing the way for a thin man to step out into the hallway. He wore a white shirt with half sleeves and pants the color of the desert. Strange clothes to me, but from the way everyone had reacted to my simple buckskin sack dress, as one person called what I’d been wearing in the desert, I was the strange one here.  I wished they’d given me back my boots, which were more comfortable than the shoes I now wore. Sneakers.
    Did that mean they made it easy to sneak around? If so, that might be useful. 
    Altering her voice to a superior one that reminded me of Nicholas, Hannah addressed the skinny man. “This is Rayen. No last name.”  She turned to me, stabbing me with a serious gaze. “This is Mr. Suarez, your beginning computer science instructor. The Institute will give you additional classes once they know your academic level and if you’ll be staying.” Her look said that wasn’t likely and she didn’t care anyway. She handed several sheets of paper to Mr. Suarez then edged a step closer to me and thrust the book she’d been carrying at me.
    I held it carefully, my fingers moving with respect and awe over the texture of the cover.
    She tapped the hard cover. “You probably won’t get time to read much by the end of the day, if you can read, but this book will help you familiarize yourself with the school guidelines and programs offered. If you stay around, finish it this week. Oh, I almost forgot. You’re to be at Dr. Maxwell’s office at five o’clock today to meet with them again.”
    The way she kept emphasizing if was starting to wear on me.
    She tossed her head and turned away, prancing toward the classroom.
    I asked, “Why?”
    Hannah jerked around as though spooked, then recovered to snap, “Why what ?”
    “Why do I meet them at five o’clock?”
    “To speak with the. . .” She glanced at Mr. Suarez and said, “Need a minute.”  When he nodded, she closed the distance between us and spoke in a low, tight voice. “Look, I agreed to bring you, but I didn’t take you on as an understudy. Did you forget you got picked up by the cops this morning?”
    “No.”  Cops must be another term for police, but how did she know they’d captured me?
    “Then I’ll make this simple. From what I heard, the detectives investigating the Piedra Lisa Park robberies are coming by to speak with Dr. Maxwell. You wouldn’t know anything about that now would you?”
    I ignored her sarcastic tone. “No.” At least, I hoped not.
    “Better hope not, because if they find anything tying you to the crime spree that’s been going on, they’ll take you with them.”  A smug glow lit her eyes. “Just be sure to be in Dr. Maxwell’s office at five sharp or losing permanent placement here will be the least of your worries. You’ll be sent...somewhere else.” 
    She gave me another dismissive glare then walked calmly into the classroom.
    Permanent placement? I didn’t want to stay here. But neither did I want to be shunted off to someplace worse.
    Why had I left my home?
    Did I have a home? My gut said yes.
    “Let’s go, Rayen,” Mr. Suarez said with a cool politeness, lifting his chin toward the classroom. His voice was less hostile than Dr. Maxwell’s and not nearly as superior sounding as Nicholas’s had been.
    I mentally marked Mr. Suarez as not a threat. Besides, like everything else today, I had no choice but to comply.
    I hated having no say over my life.
    A low murmur clouded the room until I walked in and everyone stopped talking to look. At me. I’d faced a sentient beast out in the desert. This shouldn’t be worse, but my stomach kinked at moving deeper into the room. Fifteen pairs of eyes took stock and judged me on the spot.
    Not a friendly face among them.
    Actually there were sixteen counting Hannah, but she ignored me. She’d taken her seat on the right side of the room and had her chin down, focused on setting up a slim rectangular unit on her desk. It was similar to the one with the apple-shaped emblem that Dr. Maxwell had used.
    Based on the wide eyes and snorts of barely suppressed