ach soft tap on a keyboard, was a countdown to someone's future. Mine was already set, a full ride to MIT locked in from a na

former steelworker, a man of strength reduced to waiting on a transplant li

clock on the scr

ched for my pocket. I pulled o

e louder than I intended,

tor, a tired-looking history teacher named

ed, holding up the drive. "It

still. This wasn't a kid asking for a bathr

down," he said,

g distant, cold. "You need to take it

ve from my hand as if it were radioactive. The students around me, the sons and daug

ver. Her mouth was slightly open, her perfectly made-up face a mask of utter disb

rage he was trying to control. "Your test is invalid. Get y

f calm washing over me. The first