Miss Ellis turned to Tony. “Andrew, since Sheryl asked a question, why don’t you tell us about your common hometown of Port Jefferson?”
Tony looked down at his desk. His stomach felt queasy. If only Sheryl hadn’t brought attention to herself, and then to him as well. Or if only Sheryl hadn’t been here in the first place. Then he could make up anything he wanted about Port Jefferson, and Miss Ellis would never know. But Sheryl would see right through any lies he might tell, and anyway, Tony didn’t like to lie.
But wasn’t that what he was doing right now, pretending to be Andrew?
“Andrew? Are you OK?”
“Yes, Miss Ellis. I—”
Tony was interrupted by a sharp buzz, and he looked up. At the front of the classroom appeared an older man with thick grey hair. He headed straight for Tony, a scowl on his face, and Tony looked down again, in fear.
He heard Miss Ellis speak. “Mr. Drummond, what are you doing here?”
The man didn’t answer Miss Ellis. He went right up to Tony and said, “Give them back! They’re mine!”
Tony shivered. It had been too good to last; now he was going to be found out. This man was obviously Andrew’s father, come to get the spex back.
“Mr. Drummond!” said Miss Ellis, with an angry tone that was familiar to Tony. “I would appreciate it if you would not interrupt my class to talk with your son! Can’t this wait until later?”
“This is not me—I mean, this is not my son!” Mr. Drummond shouted.
There was silence for a moment. Tony felt Miss Ellis move next to him and Mr. Drummond. “What’s going on?” she asked.
“This kid stole my—I mean, my son’s spex!”
Tony looked up at Miss Ellis, and saw her smile. Facing Mr. Drummond, she said, “That’s you, isn’t it, Andrew?”
For the first time since he appeared, “Mr. Drummond” looked uncomfortable. “Ummm, yeah, Miss Ellis. I had to use Dad’s spex to jack in. Whoever this is—” he pointed at Tony—“stole my own spex.”
“Ah-ha. Andrew, go home. I’ll take care of this.”
“Ummm. You won’t tell my Dad, will you? I don’t want him to know that I’ve been careless.”
“No, I won’t tell him. Now go. I’ll contact you later.”
The image of Andrew’s father vanished, and Miss Ellis turned to Tony. He was on the verge of tears.
“Well, young man, who are you?”
He sniffled, and whispered, “My name’s Tony.”
“Tony? Did you steal Andrew’s spex?”
“Yes.” He could barely hear himself.
Miss Ellis sighed. “Why?”
Tony looked up into Miss Ellis’s eyes, and it all started pouring out of him. “I just wanted to go to a good school, one where I wouldn’t be afraid, where the teachers and kids are nice, where I don’t have to worry about guns or drugs or being beaten up or—” Tony stopped. He felt as if everyone was staring at him. They probably were, but it was too late to take back anything he had said.
“I found the spex in Manhattan, Miss Ellis. I know it was wrong, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to go to school somewhere nice. I’m sorry.” He started to sob.
“Class, I’ll be back in a moment. No one jack out.”
Miss Ellis tapped at the air to the side of her face, and the classroom around Tony vanished.
Tony found himself alone with Miss Ellis in a much smaller room furnished with a desk, chair, and sofa. He had been sitting at a desk; now he was standing. He was still crying, though. He wasn’t worried that Miss Ellis would beat him, since she really couldn’t hurt him through the spex. She might yell at him instead, but when she spoke her voice was calm.
“Tony, I’ve brought us here so we could talk alone for a few minutes, away from the rest of the class. I hope you don’t mind, but I didn’t think you’d want to continue talking about this in front of everyone.”
Tony nodded, and wiped away the tears on his face using his sleeve. He didn’t want to get the datagloves wet. “Thanks.”
Miss Ellis sat on the chair, and motioned Tony to the sofa. As he sat down, he spotted his image in a mirror he hadn’t seen before. He still looked like Andrew.
“Tony, why don’t we start with you telling me about yourself, like where you live and what your full name is.”
“I’m not going to get into trouble, am I?” he asked.
Miss Ellis smiled. “No, you’re not, Tony. I want to help you.”
Tony told Miss Ellis about his life; in particular, about the horrors of his awful school. He was surprised to discover that Miss Ellis also lived in Manhattan, but downtown, below the fence. When Miss Ellis found out that Tony was black, she made some adjustments and asked Tony to check his appearance in the mirror. Tony was surprised to see a black kid facing back. It still didn’t look like him, so he told her more about his real appearance. He watched as Miss Ellis changed the image again, until it more closely resembled his true appearance.
When Tony was satisfied, Miss Ellis gave him a long hard look. “Tony, I’m not going to tell you how wrong you were to steal the spex, because I can see how bad you already feel.” She paused. “And, frankly, I agree with what you did.”
Tony was surprised. The teacher thought it was OK that he stole something?
“I guess it’s because I remember when those spex you’re wearing were first developed. They were praised as being the first step to solving the problem of violence in schools —if the students weren’t physically in one real place, they wouldn’t be able to hurt each other.”
“Do you mean that I was supposed to have the spex in the first place? Is that why you approve?”
“Well, I don’t really approve of the stealing. But I understand. After all, Tony, you and kids like you were the main reason they were invented in the first place. But I guess people forgot that it’s not enough to develop the proper technology. You’ve got to fund it too.”
Miss Ellis stood up and walked across the room, her back to Tony. She took a deep breath, and then turned around to face him.
“Tony? Would you like to stay in telepresence school? Not have to go back to your old school ever again?”
Tony’s eyes opened wide and he let out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding. “You mean I can stay?” He tried to keep the eagerness out of his voice.
“Well, not as Andrew. This is going to be difficult to arrange. Technically, you can’t come to telepresence school unless you can afford it, and obviously you can’t. But we might be able to sneak you in.”
Tony couldn’t believe what he had just heard. “Sneak me in? Isn’t that as bad as my taking a pair of spex?”
“Yes and no. I might be able to work it out so that you have your own set of spex, and can attend my class on a regular basis. We’d have to get you a full simulator too, if you want to participate in outdoor games. But you won’t be able to attend as yourself.”
“You just said I can’t be Andrew. I don’t understand.”
Miss Ellis sighed. “Tony, I believe you have a right to be here, as much right as any other student. But I personally can’t afford to pay for you. And I suspect that your parents can’t either.”
“My Mom. We don’t know where Dad is.”
“Your mother, then. The problem, Tony, is that the computer that runs telepresence school keeps track of every student through the spex, and so it knows how to charge you. Your little visit today cost Andrew’s family some money.”
This made Tony feel worse. “Then maybe I shouldn’t be here at all.”
“No, Tony, you can be here. I have a—a friend who can do something to a pair of spex so you won’t be chained, but the cost of attending will be spread out onto all the other students. That way, no one student will be charged too much for you, and you’ll be able to attend the school.”