Alex had chosen the seat closest to Mrs. Pierce. He stood up, arms straight down by his sides, like a soldier.

“My name is Alex. My age is thirteen years. I like basketball.”

“Great, Alex,” said Mrs. Pierce. “Next?”

The next two were girls who talked: Mallory, who was twelve and liked horses, and Mary-Beth, who whispered “eleven” but did not say what she liked. Then they reached the boy who was bouncing. The guy teacher called him Buddy, age eleven. When Buddy waved at Nova, he turned his hand the wrong way, so he was really waving at himself, but the guy teacher said “Good job” anyway and handed him a piece of candy. Nova copied him, waving the wrong way, but no one gave her candy.

Luke and Thomas were next. Both boys, both thirteen. Luke had a wispy mustache forming on his upper lip, while Thomas sounded like he had a stuffy nose. Nova didn’t listen to what they liked because she was too worried about having to remember all these names. Mrs. Pierce. Alex. Mr. O’Reilly. Mallory. Mary-Beth. Luke. Thomas. Guy teacher. Lady teacher. NASA Bear. Nova immediately began assigning them nicknames to help her remember: Bouncing Buddy. Quiet Mary-Beth. Wispy Lip Luke…

“Last but not least, this is Margot.” Mrs. Pierce patted the knee of the girl in the wheelchair, then tapped her name on the list. “Margot loves music, especially Madonna. Right, Margot?”

Music Margot didn’t respond. Her head was still sort of slumped over. Again Nova reached out to fix her. Again the lady teacher moved her hand away.

“Our helper teachers are Mr. Malone and Miss Chambers. You’ll get to know them better this week,” said Mrs. Pierce. Nova scowled. More people with names. More people to know.

The only person who mattered was Bridget.

“Bidge,” Nova whispered, surprising herself. She hadn’t tried to say her sister’s name in what felt like forever. She closed her eyes and hugged NASA Bear close. NASA Bear, whose name nobody would ever know.

“Nova likes astronauts and outer space,” said Mrs. Pierce. “Okay, class! Let’s stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.”

The rest of the morning went the way school mornings usually did. They stood for the Pledge (Music Margot did not stand), followed by a moment of silence (Bouncing Buddy was not silent), and then Mrs. Pierce read a babyish story (Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak), Alex marked the day on a giant calendar (Monday), Mallory announced the weather (cloudy). Finally everyone went to their desks to work.

“I’ll be testing you this week.” Mrs. Pierce settled herself beside Nova at the table by the window. “So we can figure out what you know.”

Nova sighed.

Another day, another school.

Another week of testing.