Albino: Chapter 1

Sierra Summer picked a rock from the sand and threw it sideways. It skipped on the crest of a wave and disappeared into the next one.

"Ice cream's ready!" Atemi Summer called. Sierra turned and jogged across the beach. Her right hand worked almost as well as her left. After four years, prosthetic hands were finally just as reliable as the real thing, maybe even more durable. It was surely a miracle of science that she had feeling in the artificial hand, and she didn't want to take it for granted.

"Chocolate or vanilla?" Atemi asked as Sierra stopped in front of her.

"Vanilla. Thanks." Sierra took the cone from her sister. After a few licks, she asked, "Are you sure we don't need books or anything? Not even a pencil?"

"We should have them, but answer me this: what other day in the school year can you go to school empty-handed, without any stress?"

"On the last day?"

"Nope. Exams."

"Are they hard?"

"So-so. Depends on the class. You'll probably have an easy time with math and English. And, obviously, foreign cultures. Art isn't a major class. Sorry."

They walked off the beach and onto the sidewalk. Several kids shot past on bikes or scooters, and one even glided along on a Segway.

"Show off," Atemi muttered. "Just because his parents are rich."

"Says the girl with a Porsche."

"That was luck. Mom and Dad earn around a hundred thousand per year, combined. We're a little above average, but we're not rich. Ah, your hair's in your ice cream."

Sierra pulled her cone away from her face. A few strands of hair followed it for about a foot, then dropped off. "Aw. It's gonna be all sticky."

"You've got gym fourth period, right? Wash it out when you shower. Showers are mandatory in high school."

"I have to be naked in school?"

"Would you rather smell like a guy the rest of the day? And have your hair all sticky?"

Sierra thought about it. "Are there curtains?"

"Only in the girls' showers. The school must have ran outta money. Shower curtains are so expensive, after all."

Sierra nodded. "Yeah, a dollar per curtain sure cuts into their budget. Anyway, what's on the lunch menu?"

"Didn't you ask yesterday?"

"I forgot."

"Only healthy stuff approved by the government. I told you this last year, but we're not even allowed to take brownies or pop to school under some new regulation that everyone hates. Thank God for the open campus."

"Thank you, God," said Sierra, looking into the sky, "for the open campus."

Golden Hills High School was smaller than Sierra remembered it from the last few times she'd visited. It wasn't small, by any means, but its monstrosity was at least manageable now. It had three floors and a basement. It had as many classrooms as the middle school did just on one of its floors. The three major middle schools in the area sent their graduates to Golden Hills High, aptly explaining the size. The lower floor was all bricks and a few windows, and the top was made up of nearly all glass. The second story looked like a transition between the two. Students flowed in from the two streets leading to the school. Buses and cars drove in and out of the schoolyard.

"I've got science first period," Atemi said. "It's on the other side of the school as foreign cultures. Can you find your way?"

"First floor, room six. Yeah, I think so."

The interior of the school looked like any ordinary school. There were lockers, stairs, and elevators, all crammed with students from fourteen to eighteen. Sierra had taken Atemi's advice from orientation and memorized her schedule and locker combination—or permutation, as Atemi said, followed by the respective definitions. She walked straight to her locker, opened it as a test, and headed to class.

Room six on the first floor was just a few steps away from her locker. She walked in, glanced at the teacher, and stopped. She turned back and stared at the woman sitting at the wooden desk in the front of the classroom. The woman looked up.

"Hello, Sierra," said Shiva Kahle.