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Kylee Bauer looked up at the kid looming over her. He couldn’t be more than twenty-two, fresh out of college, making more than she ever made in her twenty-nine years. But he was her supervisor.
He was also shorter than her, which was why she was sitting. She’d dealt with boys like him her whole life. Short, insecure, little lordlings who would take credit for the work she did because they were threatened by her intelligence.
But Kylee hadn’t had the use of her title in years. Anthony Sims wouldn’t know that he should bow to her rather than lord over her. It didn’t matter because it was Kylee who wasn’t on his level. Anthony knew more about AI-generated learning programs than she did.
Just a decade ago, Kylee had been at the top of her high school classes. She’d earned a full scholarship partially based on her perfect SAT scores. She’d planned to major in Instructional Design. But that was all before she’d further disgraced her already disgraced family by getting pregnant in her sophomore year at university. She’d had to take a temporary leave from college that turned into two years.
By the time she’d managed to finish her degree a few years later, everything in the academic testing world had changed. Gone were the personalized curriculum planning and lesson plans she’d been introduced to in her freshman year. Now everything was digital, and Kylee was still stuck in an analog world.
With her Number 2 pencil in hand, she scratched out a circle on her notepad -the old fashion parchment, not a computer tablet. “I’m sorry, Anthony. Do you think you can explain the program to me one more time?”
The co-ed sighed. His head fell to his chin, giving Kylee a glimpse of the back of the man bun on top of his head.
“Actually, you know what,” she said. “I think I’ve got it now.”
Kylee tapped a few keys and prayed. Someone up above was listening because the program beeped to life and began to run. She tried to hide the surprise from her face as she looked back up at Anthony.
He eyed her skeptically. But luckily for her, he had a short attention span like many in this generation who spent their days staring at screens. Hardly anyone in the office of Thrive Learning Systems held a pencil. That was a shame because every standardized test from the SATs to the ACTs to the International Baccalaureate Exams all still required the use of pencil and paper.
Kylee looked back to the test she was in the midst of preparing a preparatory course for. Her problem remained that she had no clue how she’d gotten it to work. She still didn’t fully understand the inner workings of the new system. What she did know was how to prepare lessons and assessments.
She pulled out the sharpener for her pencil. There was something satisfying in watching the shavings fall off the lead. The pencil was being born anew as well as getting sharp for its new task.
Much like Kylee.
She’d shed her skin more than once before. First with her family moving from royalty to commoners. Next with transforming herself from the Student Most Likely to Succeed into the cliché good girl who ran off with the bad boy. Try as she might, she could never get that role to fit. But neither could she pull on her old skin of Girl at the Head of the Class. Now she had to forge a new identity in this company, and she was determined it wouldn’t be the Kid at the Back of the Class who didn’t know the material.
Kylee rolled up her sleeves and prepared to get to work. Of course, her cell phone chose that moment to ring. She looked down at the number. It looked vaguely familiar.
“Mrs. Romano?” said the voice on the other end.
“No,” Kylee said, shaking her head for further emphasis even though the person on the other end of the receiver couldn’t see her. “I mean, yes. I was Kylee Romano. I go by Bauer now.”
“Mrs. Bauer-”
“No. I mean, yes. I’m no longer married. It’s Ms. Bauer.”
There was a pregnant pause. “Ms. Bauer?”
“Yes.”
“This is Mrs. Ackerman from Barton Elementary School. I’m calling about your daughter.”
Kylee didn’t panic. She didn’t immediately think the worst. She doubted that her child had fallen into danger and been harmed. Instead, Kylee sighed and caught her forehead in her palm. “What has Molly done now?”
“She was sent to the principal’s office this afternoon. He’d like to have a word with you. Can you come in?”
Kylee couldn’t leave work just now. She had to turn in this project. But first, she had to understand the software, get her test questions into the software, and figure out where the send button was so that she could submit it to her boss. “I’ll be by to pick her up after school.”
“He’d like to meet with you before then, if possible.”
“I’m sorry, I can’t leave work right now.”
There was another pregnant pause. But Kylee was used to them. She was determined not to let that silence judge her. Unfortunately, the silence was louder than her resolve. “Fine. I’ll be there in an hour.”
Molly acting up at yet another school was the last thing Kylee needed. The jokes her daughter liked to play and the mischief she liked to cause were all from her father’s side of the family, make no mistake about it. Kylee knew the divorce had been hard on Molly. But so had the years of moving around and not knowing where the next meal was coming from.
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