Kids were filled in the hallways, reuniting with friends whom they hadn't seen all summer. Buzz went directly into his classroom, which was filled with kids. They were all talking at once. Buzz took a seat at an empty desk and just sat there. The bell rang, and Mrs. Lee walked into the room.

"Good morning, class," she said. "I hope you all had a good summer. My name is Mrs. Lee, and I hope by the end of today, I'll know all of yours without messing up too badly. When I call your name please raise your hand and say 'here'."

Mrs. Lee read all the names off her roster, and, as it turned out, all the kids were present and accounted for. She asked them all what they did over the summer. Most of the kids went to summer camp, a lot of them went to visit relatives, or on vacations to places like Disneyland and the Grand Canyon. One girl went on tour with her rock star father. Buzz was impressed. He wished he had a better story to tell than telling the class that he moved to Civic City over the summer and spent the time trying to settle in.

The day went on as most do. The kids were given an overview of the year, and their textbooks. The bell rang, indicating morning recess. All the kids filed out of the classrooms and into the hallways. Buzz stopped at the drinking fountain in order to get a drink. Three of the kids in his class, two girls and a boy, stood behind him.

"Hey, you," one of the girls said. "You can't do that."

"What?" Buzz said.

"That's the sixth grade seal," the other girl said. "They don't like the lower class men standing on it."

"Why not?" Buzz asked again.

"They just don't," the boy said. "It's the way it is in this school."

"Come on, we'd better get out of here," the first girl said. "Those sixth graders might come at any moment."

"Yeah, although I can beat 'em up easy!" the other girl said.

The four kids went out to the playground. The boy managed to get a ball from the ball monitor for them to throw around.

"You're the new kid in our class, aren't you?" he asked.

"Yeah," Buzz said. "Buzz Conroy."

"I'm Ronnie Demuth. That's Tina Cooke, and Rosalyn Matthews, but everyone calls her Rosie. We basically know most of the ropes around this school, since Tina has an older brother and an older sister who've gone to this school."

"Stick with us, kid," Rosie (who was the girl who spent the summer on her father's concert tour) said.

"Okay," Buzz said.

"Rosie can beat up all the boys in our grade," Tina said. "And even some of the boys in the sixth grade. If you get into any trouble, let her know."

"I'll keep that in mind," Buzz said.

It didn't look like the school year would be so bad after all. Especially since he was making friends fast. Professor Conroy, in the meantime, had finished with one class and was now heading over for a lab to do some work on his own. As he was doing that, one of the students walked inside. He was tall, six foot one. He had dark brown hair, and brown eyes, and wore glasses.

"Professor Conroy?" he asked.

"Yes," Professor Conroy said. "Who are you?"

"My name's Robert Sanderson," the young man said. "Most people call me Bob, though. Dean Milhouse told me to talk to you about an internship with you, because you know a lot about mechanics."

"What do you mean by mechanics?"

"Well, I take thins apart and put them back together. I heard you knew something about that."

"Actually, my nine-year-old son would know more about that than I would. I do know a thing or two, but Buzz likes to tinker with that sort of thing."

"Buzz?"

"It's a nickname."

"I see. Well, let me show you what I've got, okay?"

Professor Conroy nodded. Bob pulled a briefcase onto the table and opened it. Inside was a mess of kitchen appliances that had been disassembled.

"I collect spare parts," Bob explained. "And then I turn them into something completely different."

Bob pulled a miniature robot out of the briefcase. The body was mostly made up of gears from a can opener.

"Does it work?" Professor Conroy asked.

"Unfortunately no," Bob said. "But that's okay. One day, I'll build a robot that will work."

"Well, here's my address. I think you and my son would get along quite nicely. Stop by sometime and I'll introduce you to him. And we'll talk about an internship later."

Bob took the piece of paper from Professor Conroy, thanked him, packed up his parts, and then left to get to his next class.