After the first day of school was over, Jason was in the study area of the dorms, an area that was built to his scale. He studied with Sadler and the other TOYs. Meanwhile, Maude was taken to court, and within 20 minutes her father’s lawyer got her sentence reduced so that she will be a TOY for only 24 hours, and received 6 months of probation. 

She was taken to the auditorium where she was miniaturized, and a nurse placed her in a tram, where she was taken to the dorms. Maude Sienna Todd showed up in the study area, much to the surprise of Jason and the other TOYs. 

“How long are you on probation for?” Jason asked.

“I will only be shrunk for 24 hours, and I got six months of probation.”

Jason and Sadler were astonished. She continued: “I’m not a real criminal like the rest of you, I was just clowning around.”

Jason responded: “I only broke the law one time, just like you, so I should be seen in the eyes of the law as being just like you!”

I disagree,” Maude replied. “If you guys had never been caught, you would still be out breaking the law whenever the whim suited you. I screwed up one time, and one time only!”

Jason’s personal electronic tablet beeped, and it was a message from Regan.

“Jason, I’m in the library if you want to study with me.”

“I’ll be right there, Regan!” Jason replied, and he gathered his belongings and headed to the tram station. In less than a minute he was in the library, and exited the tram. He was retrieved by Regan and brought over to her table. She had study materials strewn across the table, as well as her electronic tablet.

“I wanted to talk to you about something,” said Jason.

“I wanted to talk about something, too!” said Regan. “You go first!”

“I think you’re cute, and next year, when I’m normal sized, would you consider going out with me?” Jason asked.

“You’re cute, but my dad is a police officer. You being a member of the therapeutic occupational youth program causes complications. I don’t think my dad would approve of you going out with me!”

“Your dad’s a cop?” Jason asked.

“Yes, and his dad was a cop, and all of my uncles are cops. You would have to completely turn your life around for me to date you!”

“What was it that you wanted to tell me?” Jason asked,

“Do you want to join the cryptography club with me? They meet here in a few minutes.”

“Sure!” said Jason. “I have a program running from last school year, when I was a sophomore. It’s 99 percent solved!”

“Whoever is the first to decrypt an invention wins pizza for the whole club, the teacher running the club will pay for it,” said Regan. “It sounds like you’re closing in on being the first winner!”

Soon, the students who were members of the club began to file into the library. There were about eight of them total, counting Regan and Jason. The teacher was a woman, about 40 years old, with an attractive face and dressed nicely.

“I am Ms. Heidner. Before we begin, are there any of you who were in the club last year?”

Jason raised his hand. The teacher called on him and had him give her the web address to the decryption sequence his program was working on, and it was shown on the main view screen in the library.

“Has anyone else come this close to decrypting an invention?” the teacher asked.

Nobody in class raised their hand.

“Has anyone from last year made any progress at all?” Ms. Heidner asked.

One kid raised his hand. When his decryption program was shown on the main view screen,  it was 58 percent solved.

Jason raised his hand, and Ms. Heidner called on him.

“If my program decrypts the invention, do we all get pizza?”

“Yes, but only if someone else outside of the club doesn’t decrypt it first.”

“Ms. Heidner, if we get pizza, how will you get it to my scale?” Jason asked. “My miniaturized body can only assimilate foods that have been reduced to my smaller scale.

“Principal Navarro has granted us permission to use the miniaturization equipment in the auditorium for just that purpose.”

Jason seemed more thrilled about the pizza than he was about possibly decrypting an invention.