Page 95 of Happy Harbor
“A program? I’m not sure I like the sound of that.”
Mrs. Reynolds laughed. “Oh, nothing like that! Kendra is incredibly smart. We recently did some IQ testing on the students, and she was near genius level.”
Josie’s mouth dropped open. “She was? Are you sure?”
“Quite sure. I know your daughter had some problems in her previous school. She’s told us that. But I think that was more about emotional issues than intelligence. Kendra is extremely gifted.”
Not that Josie didn’t believe her daughter was smart. She absolutely did. But she had no idea she was almost a genius. How could she have missed that?
“So, what are you saying?”
“We are closing in on the end of the school year, and there is an opportunity for Kendra to take some tests that will allow her to graduate early.”
“Graduate? She still has another year of school left.”
“That’s the point. There’s a chance that she could graduate with this year’s class in a couple of weeks. She could start college a year earlier. Or take a year off.”
“But we haven’t even prepared for that. She’s missed all the deadlines to apply for college.”
“Some colleges will make exceptions. Even if she just wanted to start at the local community college to get her core credits out of the way, she could transfer in a year to another school.”
“I’m not... financially prepared... for that.”
Mrs. Reynolds smiled. She pulled a stack of papers out of her desk and slid them over to Josie. “There are multiple scholarship opportunities for a child like Kendra.”
“It seems you’ve thought of everything.”
“Please don’t think I’m trying to be pushy. This is why I haven’t spoken with Kendra about this yet. I thought it would be best if you did that. It’s really more of a family decision.”
“When would you need to know?”
“Monday, actually. I have to set up all of those tests, and that can take a bit.”
“I can’t believe this. I knew she was smart, but I didn’t think...”
“I’ve found that sometimes we can’t always see what’s right in front of us, you know? Sometimes it takes another person to point it out.”
As Josie said her goodbyes and took the information from Mrs. Reynolds, she thought about that. What was she missing in herself that other people were noticing? It was an interesting question, to say the least.
CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE
Kendra sat on the tree swing, looking down at her feet as they kicked up the sand beneath them. She still couldn’t get used to the fact that they had sand in their yard. Back home, it was all Georgia red clay, which was really orange, so it was a misnomer.
Where she’d lived previously, there were always huge orange mud pits after it rained. Now, she had sand and some regular dirt, but none of it would permanently discolor her nice white sneakers.
She couldn’t believe what her mother had told her before leaving to go to a bridal shower in Atlanta. They had to decide by Monday whether she was going to stay in school for another year or graduate early after taking some tests.
Kendra had never given herself much credit. Always a problem child, she had no idea that she was gifted. It explained why she got bored so easily in most of her classes at other schools. Why those teachers never took the time to figure that out was beyond her.
“Everything okay?” Walker stepped out of the guest house, locking it behind him.
“Yeah, I guess.”
He walked over to the tree and leaned against it. “I’m not convinced.”
“Just thinking about some things that my mother told me before she left.”
“Oh. You mean about taking the tests and graduating early?”
