GENESIS

One week later

“You're doing really well, Gen. I'm so proud of you,” Miss Melissa said, raising her hand for a high five. I slapped mine against hers, and she chuckled before handing me my papers.

I looked down at each of the scores I’d gotten. We had done something Melissa called a test—just to see how much I’d learned from her lessons.

In English, I scored eighty out of a hundred. And in math… a perfect hundred. I was so happy, I couldn’t stop smiling—even when my cheeks started to ache.

Math had always come naturally to me. I loved it. Miss Melissa once told me I was...