On a bright spring day at Pennbrook Middle School, the bell marking seventh period had just rung. The schoolchildren were ecstatic at the prospect of going home and wasting time until the next seventh period bell. While many denied it, it was most certainly true. For at that bell, in room 21, a most interesting occurrence occurred invariably every day.
Dan had always loved to dance and sing. In fact, there was nothing he liked more in the world. If the world were ruled by Dan, everyone would dance and sing all day long. He bit his nails, gazing longingly at the clock. Thirty seconds to go. Twenty seconds to go. Tennineeightsevensixfivefourthreetwoone. The bell rang. Mr. Joe Catagnus put on some hip tune. Dan finally got his chance to dance.
When Chris brought his video camera into school one day in December, it was a complete accident. Chris hadn't even known he owned a camera. But when he sat on it minutes before seventh period, Chris realized he had the ultimate practical joke on his hands. As the music started and Dan started dancing on the desk, Chris began to film.
The videotape was an instant success. Everyone in the school had a copy. Always one to glimpse a lucrative business project, Chris began to film Dan's dance every day. Within months, there were live video broadcasts throughout the building. But despite all this, Chris had not made a single penny. He was certain he was on to something, but he still couldn't seem to make ends meet. He needed a plan. More than that, he needed a mathematical and economical genius. He needed Taesup.
Taesup was a quadbajillionaire, that is to say, he was so rich, they needed to make up a word to describe how rich he had become in his relatively short lifespan. Upon hearing Chris' predicament, Taesup smiled patronizingly. He said, "My dear boy, the solution is quite palpable. In a week, your funds will have quadbajillionized®." Ignoring Chris' blank stares, Taesup went to work.
Four days later, no music played at the seventh period bell. The TVs broadcasting the dancing were blank. A thousand miles, five hundred years, and a parallel universe away, Mr. Catagnus' class was sitting, dazed, on a strange street in a bustling city. "Uh, where are we?" asked a confused Pat. The various students nodded in assent. Taesup stepped forward and explained, "In a chance to become tremendously wealthy off of Chris' tapes of Dan, I decided to appeal to a greater audience. In order to accomplish this goal, I enlisted my good friend Kyle. If you would, Kyle, old thing…" All eyes were now on the young man known as Kyle.
"If you would recall a few months ago, I did a project on black holes. While I did not win a ribbon," Kyle's eyes turned red, "I did discover a parallel universe beyond a black hole. Using complex mathematical equations, I found that the parallel universe bizarrely mirrored books that we've been studying in English class. I tried to send videos at inflated prices here, but instead I sent all of us to—" He was interrupted by a normally quiet boy named Reece whose face had suddenly lit up with a near-demonic form of ecstasy. He said:
"Two houses, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean!"