Chapter 10: Placement Test

Date: September 20th, 2023

Location: Ellington Central High School, City of Ellington

Time: 8:30 AM (Local)

*New Entry….Sophomore Year, 1st Semester….*

Allen is not a happy pilot this morning. Flanked by Amy and Brad, he stands in the parking lot of Ellington Central High School according to the big letters that sprawl above the entrance of the double doors. It’s now Monday morning and the realization that Allen had to attend High School again finally hits home. This was going to be bothersome and interfere with his and Eve’s plans. He already consulted with Eve the night before about what subjects they would possibly teach here, and she had accessed the school’s home page and reported back to Allen that he was going to be unequivocally bored. Allen and Eve decided that the better GPA Allen maintained, the less Brad and Laura would require him to spend time on academics. To sum it up, with Allen’s advanced education and training and Eve able to record audio and video, they were going to cheese the hell out of this. Amy has a thick manilla folder tucked to her side in her hands and Brad straightens Allen’s collar under his jacket. Allen had dressed in a pair of jeans and a blue collared button up shirt this morning. His shirt was untucked, and he had rolled the sleeves halfway up on his forearms. A habit he had when dressing casual in his universe. Allen also wore his new favorite leather jacket. A brown, new leather shoulder bag is worn by a strap over one shoulder. Amy brought it with her earlier and had given it to him. She was realizing that Allen seemed to prefer leather and had her people acquire it for her to give to him. Unbeknownst to Allen, a tracking device was sewn into the other strap.

“Allen, we are in a weird predicament with you. You have no school records, so I had a talk with the principal, and we came up with a way to place you. First thing this morning, you will have a placement test to see where you are in your education. From there, the school counselor will put a schedule together for you. Any questions?” Amy asks.

“Yeah, can I take a test that shows that I’m ready to graduate?” He says with his best, charming smile. Amy gives him a flat look and his smile falls. He took a shot at least.

“Here, we find ourselves in the natural habitat of the American highschooler. Note the bright, colorful plumage and boisterous behavior of the females as they attempt to attract a mate. The males seem to gather in groups for protection against the more overtly aggressive females. The highschoolers rush from their lockers after gathering necessary supplies and head to their homerooms in a state of controlled chaos. Look, how they….” Eve narrates as Allen and his group walk towards the main office. She seemed to have developed a British accent for some reason. Eve may be spending too much time on the internet.

They arrive and notify the male secretary that they have an appointment with the principle. They have a seat as they wait for the principle to meet with them. After a few moments of waiting, a middle-aged woman with black hair, dark skin, and hazel eyes walks out of her office and greets them. “Hello, my name is Ms. Willow. I’m the principle here at Ellington Central High. It’s so nice to meet you Allen.”

He stands up with Brad and Amy and shakes her outstretched hand and returns her smile.

“Allen Summerton, a pleasure to meet you.” She’s momentarily taken back by his manners and mature attitude. She looks over to Brad and shakes his hand.

“Looks like you’re raising a charming and polite boy, Mr. Summerton.” Brad smiles in reply instead of explaining that Allen just started living with him and Laura since Friday.

“Ms. Abner, Good morning. Good to meet the voice on the other side of the phone. After our talk, I also received a call from your boss, and she gave me more of a rundown on the situation with Allen. We’ll talk more in my office and then set up a computer for Allen to take his placement test and then go from there. I see you have paperwork for me?” She extends her hand for a shake with Amy. Amy returns it and then hands over the paperwork. Ms. Willow briefly scans the paperwork and then turns towards her office while motioning for Allen’s group to follow. “Andy, please don’t let anyone disturb us until we are finished.” The secretary acknowledges Ms. Willow briefly with a nod as a girl is taking up his attention with an argument about her 2nd tardiness.

“Ms. Tory, school as you know, starts at 8:20 AM Sharp. This is your second….” Andy’s statement is cut off by the girl. “I know that! My mom was running late this….” The conversation fades as they enter Ms. Willows office, and she closes the door. She smiles at Allen and says, “Well, now you know when the school day starts….”

“Alright, everything looks in order for now, but we will definitely need a birth certificate as soon as you can track one down, Ms. Abner.” Ms. Willow says after leafing through the paperwork.

“Oh, that shouldn’t take too long. The office has a lead on Allen’s last name, and we will be able to get everything squared away soon.” Amy says while she studies Allen’s face. He looks back at her with a blank look.

“Any idea, Eve?”

“No clue Allen. I have no idea what she’s up to.”

“Hmm, convenient.”

“Ok, let’s get you placed while your father and Amy takes care of paperwork. Follow me please.” Ms. Willow gets up and heads out of the office and the group follows her back out to the waiting area where Andy has a stack of paperwork waiting. Brad gives Allen an encouraging smile as he heads over to the counter to fill out the paperwork. Amy’s eyes follow Allen out of the room as he leaves with Ms. Willow to meet the guidance counselor. “Hmm…. No reaction to that news. He’d kill in poker.” Amy muses to herself. She had been informed by the Colonel on Allen’s last name and wanted to test him. She wasn’t surprised by the results.

Ms. Willow comes to a stop at another door in the reception area and knocks politely. An older woman opens it and smiles when she sees Ms. Willow and Allen waiting. Her hair is salt-and-pepper, and she has friendly, brown eyes. “Oh! Hello Ms. Willow. Is this Allen?” She steps back and invites Ms. Willow and Allen in. They follow her in, and she closes the door as she motions to two seats in front of her desk.

“Yes. I brought him to you to place him and work out a schedule suitable for him.” Ms. Willow declines the offer to sit and motions Allen to a chair. “Alright Ms. Barker. I leave him in your care. I have work to get back to. Allen, welcome to our school. I hope you have a successful career here.” She smiles and leaves the room.

“As she said, my name is Ms. Barker. It’s nice to meet you.” She smiles and reaches across the desk with an open hand.

“Nice to meet you too, ma’am.” He returns her smile and handshake.

“So polite. I’ll get you set up on the computer over here and you can start your placement test.” Ms. Barker walks over to a computer sitting on a desk in the corner and turns it on. After a few moments of navigating and filling in Allen’s information, she waves him over. Allen complies and sits in the chair placed in front of the computer.

“I’ll leave you here. I need to go out to the reception area and get a few things ready for you. It shouldn’t take but maybe a few hours. I’ll check on you shortly.” Ms. Barker leaves her office and Allen finds himself alone with Eve.

He looks at the screen. For student placement in this universe, they used a modified SAT that would show where a student was either strong or weak in the main subjects. The sections are multiple choice and are divided by subject. The final score is tallied and informs educators what grade a student’s education level is and what schedule they need. Allen stares at the first section labeled “Math” for a moment and then confers with Eve.

“Are they serious, Eve?”

“You are going to have to dumb yourself down to not stick out too much.”

“Yeah, definitely not orbital or fuel calculations for jumps nor calculating approach vectors. How do we play this, Eve?”

After a few moments of discussion and Eve connecting to the school’s network to calculate requirements for a sophomore, they come up with a plan that helps Allen blend in as a typical sophomore and Allen starts the placement test.

Forty-five minutes later, Ms. Barker sticks her head in and checks on Allen. She finds him twiddling his thumbs in front of the computer.

“Are you having a hard time, dear?” She asks as she walks over with a look of pity Allen doesn’t like.

“No, ma’am. Finished.”

“Finished?”

“Finished.”

Ms. Barker is stunned. Even gifted students average a little over an hour to complete the placement test. He must have skipped a lot of questions to finish this fast. In reality, Eve ensured Allen scored excellent, for a sophomore that is, and they had made a half-hearted effort on the rest. They believed that would be sufficient to be placed as a typical student of his age and blend in. They may have slightly miscalculated. Ms. Barker takes a moment to scan the results and after hiding her shock from Allen then emails the results to Ms. Willow before asking Allen to go back to the waiting area. She follows him out and knocks on Ms. Willows door and enters before waiting for permission to come in. Allen finds Brad in a chair, still filling out paperwork on a clip board and he joins him.

Ms. Willow is sitting with Amy, and they were discussing Allen’s situation. She looks up with a raised eyebrow at the interruption and waits for an explanation.

“He finished.” Is Ms. Barker’s simple reply. Ms. Willow waves a hand over to an unoccupied seat in front of her desk. Amy turns her head to listen.

“Was he having difficulty?” Ms. Willow asks. Amy pulls out a pad and pen. She’ll have to report to the Colonel later about this.

“Umm…. I emailed you the results to see for yourself.” Ms. Barker says instead of answering Ms. Willows question. Ms. Willow reads the results, stops. Then rereads them again.

“How is this possible?” Ms. Willow asks Ms. Barker. She just shrugs back. Amy’s curiosity reaches its peak.

“What do you mean?” Amy asks.

“He scored perfectly at a 10th grade level. The rest? It’d say he umm…. Sandbagged it?”

Amy’s face screws up in confusion. Then she fixes both the ladies with a serious look and says, “Look, I hate to step on your toes and pull governmental rank, but I’ll have to here. My office has an invested interest in Allen. Let’s just say that he’s an “extraordinary case.” I’ll ask that you’ll not discuss this further. Go ahead and place him as a sophomore and you can discuss this with my boss further if you need more answers.”

The ladies decide to just not get involved with government business and Ms. Willow gives the go ahead to Ms. Barker to make a schedule for Allen with classes suitable for an average sophomore per Amy’s instructions. Ms. Barker beats a hasty retreat to her office. On the way, she gives Allen and Brad a brief smile and informs them that she’ll have a schedule shortly. Brad finally conquers the paperwork and turns it in to Andy who files it. He returns to his seat and turns to Allen.

“How do you think you did?”

“Fine. I should be assessed properly as a sophomore. Erm, I mean it wasn’t too bad.” Allen tries to correct his reply. Brad sighs at another strange proclivity of Allen. He’s starting to think that Laura is correct about Allen being from a government facility. To better cope with Allen’s strangeness, he decided to just roll with everything as he and Laura wanted to give Allen a normal life full of love and support. Brad ignores the strange comment from a 16-year-old and continues with the conversation. Amy and Ms. Willow finish their talk in the office and join Brad and Allen. Ms. Willows talks about the school and what Allen can expect. Eventually, Ms. Barker joins them again and she has a laptop and papers in her hands.

“We use laptops instead of hardcover books at our school. You’ll access tests and schoolwork on it and complete various other assignments online. Your father already signed for it so be careful as we hold students liable for them. Here is your schedule. If you are staying for the day, you should be just in time for 3rd Period. A map on the back should be enough to guide you around today. Finally, here’s your locker assignment. The combination is written on there. Any questions?” Allen shakes his head no and thanks her before she heads back to her office.

“Well, this is where I leave you. Allen, if you have any trouble at all, please see me or Ms. Barker anytime. Andy is aware of your situation also and should be able to assist to with any issues if you are too nervous to speak to a woman about them.”

Allen looks at Andy and he smiles and waves back.

“Yes, we are a little outnumbered these days so don’t be afraid to talk to me if you need to.” Andy says.

Allen smiles and nods. Ms. Willow says her goodbyes and goes back into her office.

“What do you think, Allen? Want to start fresh tomorrow or start today?” Brad asks. Allen mulls it over with Eve before replying.

“I’m fine to get started today.” Allen replies.

“Okay. If you want, you can ride the bus home or if you’d be too uncomfortable to do that, I’ll be here to pick up Kayla after her football practice around six. Have a good first day and try to take it easy on your fellow students.” Brad chuckles after he says this. Amy quirks an eyebrow.

“Have a good day, Allen. Call me if you need ANYTHING. I’m here to make sure your safe after all.” Amy adds.

Brad hugs Allen and leaves. Amy departs after patting Allen on his back and shoots him a thumbs up on her way at the door. Allen’s thoughts are interrupted by the 3rd period bell.

“Okay young man, 3rd period just started. Go ahead and make your way there. Like Ms. Willow said, I’m here if you need to talk.” Andy gives Allen one last wave and a smile as he answers the ringing phone.

Out in the parking lot, Brad and Amy look nervously at the school.

“Think he’ll be okay?” Amy asks while biting her thumb.

“Heh, I’m more worried about the OTHER students. Besides, Kayla will have his back.” Brad replies.