• tab "Here. Take this." We're right next to this girl's classroom, and Mr. Jacobs hands me an odd device. It looks like an earpiece, except instead of a mic they have a steel, silver slate at the end. Silver, of course, is granted. Everything is silver in the future.
    tab "What is it?" I ask, holding the device in my hands, running my fingers through it like a curious child. Because that's what I am.
    tab "A sound muffler." Mr. Jacobs replies. "We can communicate wih eachother without being heard."
    tab "Uh...why didn't you just give me this earlier?" is the obvious question that comes from my mouth. Mr. Jacobs shrugs and says,
    tab "I hate explaining things."
    tab "Yeah, I got that message a while ago. But it wouldn't kill to do a little."
    tab "We got by without it before because it wasn't necessary. But now it is." His logic is a little skewed, but I decide to leave it be, and I put on the muffler, as does Mr. Jacobs. We turn invisible, put on our IMEs, and walk into the room, which is already open. Not exactly high end security, but I'm not complaining.
    tab "Which one is she?" I whisper over to Mr. Jacobs at the side of the classroom. Mr. Jacobs gives me an awkward look, and replies,
    tab "You don't have to whisper. We got the mufflers, remember?" Oh. Ri ht. He points over to a girl over at the front of the room.
    tab "There. That's our girl." I stare a little bit at her. Gawk, I guess would be a better word. Wow, that sounds bad, but I'm not going to lie. She looks really good. Slightly wavey brown hair dangles down from her shoulders, and her sparkling blue eyes light up the classroom.
    tab Surprisingly enough, though, something else catches my attention. The boy sitting next to this girl is pretty much completely ignoring her as she talks on and on to him, as if he was her best friend or something. By the looks of it, I'm not believing it. The boy buries his head in his arms, his straight, brown hair flowing out onto the table like a fountain. Suddenly, he jumps up out of his seat, and over the whole classroom murmuring, I hear him shout,
    tab "Shut up!" The whole class shuts up, let alone that one girl. Quickly, the boy sits back down, and conties on ranting. I look up at Mr. Jacobs, who's sad eyes tell a long story as he stares grimly at the scene.
    tab "What was that all about?" I ask.
    tab "That, Timothy, is he problem we're trying to fix."
    tab "What were they talking about?"
    tab "A science project. The girl, Mary, got paired up with that boy. They, or the boy at least, was fighting about it."
    tab "So this girl commits suicide...because of a science project?" Mr. Jacobs nods.
    tab "That's the root of it, yes." I chuckle a bit
    tab "What, she get a D on it or something?" Mr. Jacobs looks at me harshly. All right, that was a pretty cruel joke. I look back at the unlikely pair. The boy continues to ignore Mary as she continues to yab on.
    tab "That boy she got partnered with looks like quite a jerk." I turn back my head, and see, or rather hear, the solemn silence of Mr. Jacobs. But it is more than that. Nr. Jacobs actually looks...hurt.
    tab "Wait...No way," I gasp. "That's not...the boy isn't you, is he?" Mr. Jacobs hesitates for a second, and then nods his head glumly and insecurely. Like he doesn't want to. I glance back between the two selves.
    tab "But you...you look nothing alike!" I conclude. "And the behaviour..."
    tab "I know. I've...I've changed." "Change" doesn't quite cut it. Talk about a complete makeover.
    tab "I told you," he goes on, "I was the motive for her death." He turns, and starts heading for the door.
    tab "That's all there is to see. Let's go. We need to be somewoher else."
    tab "What is this, 'The Christmas Carol'?" Mr. Jacobs responds with a chuckle as he walks out the door,
    tab "That's one way of putting it." I don't believe I'm ready to believe that Mr. Jacobs chuckle is ver reassuring. But I don't really have much of a choice as I follow him down the hall.