Lulu Marketplace

The first in the "Children of Power" series, this book introduces Smith Valley: a private school for privileged interstellar youth. Jenni is a deaf student from a frontier planet, while her roommate Michiko is from Earth. Along with alien Roris, runaway Hope, and reluctant attendee Kechana, they will spend a year away from the lives to which they're accustomed. Their first challenge is not to find common ground, but to find a common language.