David had managed to blend in anonymously with more than two thousand high school students for the past three years, and he planned to continue the practice for his final year. But something buried deep inside him said it was time for a change. He smiled as he walked the length of the main hall of Atlantic Bay High School, looking straight ahead instead of at the floor, which had been his usual practice for the last three years. He felt a rush of energy, something he hadn’t experienced in years, and there was a new swagger in his stride. He felt as if he could breathe again. He was actually drawing glances from other students, and he was looking back and nodding. Girls were smiling at him, and he was smiling back. It seemed like a new experience, yet also familiar, and he liked it.

“Hey, stranger,” a soft voice called. It was Chastity Bertum. She stood staring at him as if he was the new boy in school and she was fascinated by him.

“Chastity,” he said, giving her a slight nod.

“It’s good to see you, David. How are you?”

David shrugged. She hadn’t thought it was so good to see him a week ago, when she and her sister had snubbed him. “Same as I was on the boardwalk.”

Chastity furrowed her brow. “I’m sorry about the eye rolling thing. I, uh, was arguing with my sister.” Deciding to change the subject, she added, “Hey, you’re looking pretty good. Have you been working out or something?”

David smiled. “Chastity, that’s the most you’ve said to me in four years.”

It was Chastity’s turn to shrug. “You’re the one who became an introvert. Just think about what you’ve been missing,” she said as she did a little spin to let him take in the goods.

“Speaking of missing, I’m missing a very important appointment,” he said before walking away.

“Hey,” she said behind him, her tone of voice a mixture of whininess and indignation.

David smiled and nodded at a group of girls. He knew Chastity couldn’t abide being snubbed, and he also knew he should feel bad about it, but he didn’t. It had felt good.

David found his homeroom, room 116. It was nearly empty. He thought about sitting in the front row, just to see what kind of reaction he’d get from his classmates, but he rejected the idea and headed for the very back of the room, his usual spot. As he slid into a chair, he momentarily lost his sense of balance. His body felt like it was freefalling in an elevator. He squeezed his eyes closed and waited for the sensation to pass.

“You’re in my seat, Noble.”

David opened his eyes and looked up to see Brice Cooper, who was glaring down at him. If there was one person David hated even more than his stepbrother, it was Brice Cooper, a hulking behemoth with tiny eyes and the physique and personality of a wild water buffalo. Just the sound of his voice sent a wave of nausea through David.

“I can’t believe you bloodied Johnny’s nose,” Brice was saying. “If it would’ve been me, I’d have beat the living—”

“Knock it off, Brice,” Mr. Jenkins, their homeroom teacher, yelled.

Brice slid into the seat next to David. He snatched David’s class assignment sheet off his desk before David could protest and compared it to his. “Looks like it’s going to be a great year. We’ve got six classes together.”

“Maybe you’ll flunk out after a couple of weeks,” David said.

“Guess what?” Brice said, ignoring David’s comment. “I took up boxing over the summer. I think I’ll designate you as my school-time sparring partner. Maybe I’ll pop you a few times for Johnny’s sake.”

“Pop this,” David said, flipping Brice the bird.

“You’ll pay for that,” Brice muttered.

“Settle down, people,” Mr. Jenkins called. “Let me take roll call so you miscreants can get on to your first class.”

“You’ll pay,” Brice muttered again.

All morning David continued to be plagued by dizzy spells. He thought he might have an inner ear infection, but after each spell he felt a new sense of understanding, as if he’d tapped into some hidden part of his brain. In each class he soaked up information like a sponge absorbing water. David had always been smart, but today he felt like Einstein. He wondered if he might have a brain tumor, like John Travolta’s character in Phenomenon. He’d welcome a tumor if it would end his misery. Each class was more intense than the one before. He felt his IQ rising like mercury in a thermometer. He was both frightened and thrilled by it. Mathematical formulas jumped off the board, Spanish seemed like his native tongue, and history class felt like déjà vu.

His fourth class was Calculus. His stepbrother had the class as well, and his stepfather was teaching it. If Don Butler prided himself on anything besides coaching, it was his high IQ. The man was a walking calculator. He had mastered a variety of mental math tricks, frequently showing them off as a testament to his skills. David realized that math class would be no different from his home life. Mr. Butler owned the room. He began to write on the chalkboard.

Max/min of a multi-variable function over a closed and bounded region.

Find the absolute maximum and minimum values of:

f (x,y) = e ^ (x^2 + 2y^2) over the disk D given by x^2 + y^2 (smaller or equal to) 4

David stared at the board. As he did, numbers began to fill his mind, and the equation unfolded before his eyes. The solution was practically jumping off the chalkboard in 3D.

“If anyone in this class can solve the problem on the board, you don’t need my expertise,” Mr. Butler said. “In fact, I’ll make you a deal. The first person who can solve this problem before the end of class will get a big fat A for the semester.”

“Does that mean no homework, Dad, uh, I mean, Mr. Butler?” John asked.

“Indeed it do,” Mr. Butler said. “However, class, I assure you that math skills aren’t genetically passed from father to son.” The class laughed. “With that said, I doubt a one of you will be able to solve this problem. But I’m a man of my word. So, if you’re up to the challenge, and you want a free period, I suggest you start trying to solve the equation before time is up. And put your cell phones and calculators away. No cheating. You have to use that thing called a brain for this one.”

“Piece of cake,” David said before he realized what he was saying. He pressed his lips together and looked at his desk.

Don Butler raised an eyebrow. “What did you say, David? You haven’t even lifted a pencil.”

“He said he’s got the answer,” Brice said. “Mr. B, you should make him write it on the board.”

“Okay, Einstein, get up here,” Mr. Butler said. “Let’s see what you got.”

David reluctantly stood up and trudged to the board. As he began to write, the room grew silent. Every eye was on him. David’s heart raced. He didn’t understand how he could possibly know the answer. But as he stared at the board, answers began to float up from his subconscious like surface marker buoys deployed by scuba divers.

“Well, uh, first, look at the boundary condition, x^2 + y^2 <= 4 is a circle with radius 2, right?”

Don Butler looked perturbed. “That is correct.”

“So, if you realize that your f(x,y) equation is symmetric across both axes,” David said as he drew on the board, “this will help visualize the function f(x,y). Then just think about e^t. What does this look like in two dimensions? It goes down gently to 1 when t = 0 and grows rapidly as t increases. If we maximize t then we′ll have maximized e^t.”

Don Butler’s mouth fell open.

David continued to write on the chalkboard. “That means that f(x,y) can be represented as f(t) = e^t when t = x^2 + 2y^2. Then all you need to do is maximize x^2 + 2y^2 where x^2 + y^2 <=4. Taking it a step further, you′ll come to the conclusion that it’s best if y is biggest. Because of that, 2y^2 and y is biggest at (0,2) and (0,-2). But don′t forget the second one because it is symmetric.”

David’s classmates stared at him as if he were some sort of lab experiment gone horribly wrong.

“As far as the minimum of e ^ (x^2 + 2y^2), since they are squared inside, x^2 + 2y^2 will never be negative, so the smallest value will be at (0,0).”

“Where’s your graphing calculator, David?” Don Butler asked, his voice trembling with anger.

“I don’t have one.”

“Then how’d you get that answer?”

David shrugged. “It just came to me.”

“Really? Then can you tell me what my real point to this problem was?”

“I think you were trying to get us to think about the shape of the graph. But if I’m wrong, and you wanted us to demonstrate it mathematically, you simply take the partial derivative with respect to each x and y and find the point where it is 0. You will have either found a maximum, minimum, or saddle. Then, use the second derivative to figure out which you′ve got, that is, if you don’t want us doing partial derivatives.”

The two debated the point back and forth in a mathematical language that was foreign to the rest of the class. Everyone cleared the room the moment the bell rang, leaving only David and Mr. Butler.

“You’ve been snooping around in my study, haven’t you?” Mr. Butler accused.

“You mean in my dad’s old trophy room. I have no desire to snoop around in your stuff.”

“There’s no way you solved that answer in your head. You cheated. I’d bet my coaching career on it.”

“Then you’d better retire,” David snapped, grabbing his backpack and heading for the door.

Butler grabbed his wrist. “Don’t screw with me, you little punk. I’ve put up with your whiney poor-me attitude for three years. No more.”

“Let go,” David said. When Butler refused to budge, David wrapped his hand around his wrist and squeezed. Butler cried out and a look of panic crossed his face. “I didn’t cheat, Mr. Butler. If you grab me again, I’ll break your wrist.”

“Detention,” Don Butler yelled at David as he walked out the door.

David waved his hand back over his shoulder in a gesture of dismissal and walked out of the room.

Whatever was happening to David was no dream. His sudden new intelligence, strength, and confidence seemed natural, as if he were emerging from a cocoon. But memories of three years of pain and ridicule from classmates were also resurfacing. All kinds of things were being stirred loose in his mind, both polished gems and useless detritus. He knew his life was about to change.

He headed for the lunchroom. He was hungry and needed to double up on pizzas to feed his raging appetite. He piled on the peppers before grabbing a Coke to finish his tray. As he searched for a table where he could be alone, his stepbrother stood up from his table before he could pass.

“Sit with us,” John said.

David gave him a blank stare.

“Look, it’s not a trick. I’ve even forgiven you for popping me. That took real stones. Didn’t think you had that in you anymore.”

“What do you really want, John?” David asked.

John smiled. “I’ve decided to make you my senior project. My goal is to make you popular this year.”

“Good luck with that,” Brice whispered.

“Not interested,” David said, ignoring Brice’s comment. He continued toward the back of the lunchroom. Before he had taken two steps, someone tripped him and he went sailing to the floor along with his pizzas and soda. He heard Brice laughing behind him.

“Not cool, Brice,” John said.

David climbed to his feet. His shirt was covered with pizza sauce and Coke. A wave of laughter broke across the room as David made his exit.

“You are a loser,” David said to his reflection as he stood before a mirror in the boy’s room. He used a wet paper towel to try to clean his shirt, but his efforts only spread the stains. He bent over the sink to splash water on his face and noticed a burning sensation on the back of his neck. He wondered if his dreams had crossed over into reality. The pain was intense. He rubbed his palm over his neck but felt nothing. Then the dizziness returned and he heard the sound of air being sucked down a wind tunnel.

“Are you all right?” John said, grabbing David as he lost his balance and began to sway. The dizziness and searing pain vanished at the sound of John’s voice.

“Yeah, I’m okay, I guess.”

“Figured I’d give you my jersey to wear. You sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine, just been feeling a little lightheaded today. But I’m more aggravated than dizzy,” David replied as he pulled off his sauce-stained shirt. “Thanks for the jersey. I was thinking, maybe it is time to bury the hatchet. After all, we used to be best friends.”

“And now we’re brothers, too,” John said, smiling. “I’m ready to start over. I’ll even talk to Brice, get him to lay off.”

“I can handle my own problems.”

“Brice isn’t such a bad guy. You just have to stand up to him. Once he knows he can’t push your buttons, he’ll leave you alone.”

David nodded.

“I still think you should join the football team,” John said. “Dad will let you on, he already said so. Brice will leave you alone once you’re one of us.”

“Somehow, I don’t think football is an option anymore, not after Calculus class.”

David’s head wouldn’t stop spinning. By last period, he felt like a drunken monkey on a perpetual tilt-a-whirl. He counted the minutes to the final bell. He lay his head down on his desk and closed his eyes. The last thing he remembered was squinting against blindingly bright lights.

He groaned. “Am I dreaming again?”

“You’re fine, honey,” his mother said as she squeezed David’s hand.

“Where am I?” David asked.

“You’re in the emergency room of Atlantic Bay Hospital.”

“What? What happened?”

“You passed out at school. The doctor says it looks like mono. Worse case he’s ever seen. You’ll be out of school for a week or two.”

“What a way to start my senior year,” David said to his mother as she tucked the sheets around him on his foldout couch in the basement.

“You sure you don’t want to sleep up in your old room?” she asked.

“I’m better off down here. I wouldn’t want anyone else getting sick.”

“Call me if you need me. Good night, honey.”

David fell asleep, plagued by dreams of the alien being tortured and random equations floating in his head. The last dream he remembered was climbing his basement stairs, standing in the kitchen, and looking up at the ceiling. A beam of light shot down from the sky through the roof and into him. He woke up, startled, and stared up at the ceiling. He crawled out of bed and made his way to the kitchen.

John was sitting at the breakfast table. “Coming out of your coma?” he said with a smile.

“It’s morning already?”

“Sunday morning. You’ve been pretty much asleep since you passed out at school.”

“Guess I’m feeling better then.”

“You sure?” his mother asked.

“I feel fine. Better than fine. I feel amazing.”

“Don’t think for one minute that this gets you out of detention,” Don mumbled as he read the Sunday paper.

Karen felt David’s head. “Cool as a cucumber. Your fever seems to be gone.”

“I swear, mom, I feel like a new person,” David said. “I think I can go back to school tomorrow.”

“Not without your doctor’s permission.”

“That’s the fastest I’ve ever seen anyone recover from mono,” Dr. Robertson said.

“Maybe it wasn’t mono,” David replied. “Maybe just a bad case of flu.”

“Maybe. Anyway, I’m giving you a clean bill of health. You can go back to school tomorrow. But, I’ve got to say, young man, you’re definitely the first kid who’s ever asked me for a doctor’s excuse to go back to school.”

“What can I say, it’s senior year.”