Jess, Payton and Julian were in the Artist Hangout with Autumn and they were chatting. Autumn was busy painting a portrait as she talked animatedly. Jess smiled at Autumn and commented, "It's good to see you like this, Autumn."
Autumn blushed. "Thanks to you, Jess. You gave me a chance to transfer and you've made feel welcome."
Julian then remarked, "That's good and all but there's still something I'd like to know. Where did Max get that quadrocopter to spy on us? That thing was really high tech and would have cost us the game."
Jess agreed, "True. We need to investigate that matter."
Autumn clasped her hands thoughtfully and said, "I have an idea...but I won't be able to verify it without going back to Hearst High. The guy I'm thinking of always hangs out in the science department."
Jess stood up and said, "We can go together. Gives me a chance to meet the guy who made the quadrocopter."
"Hold up, Jess. You're not welcome at Hearst?" Autumn pointed out.
"I'm with Autumn on this one. We can't go in without a plan," Julian said.
"How about disguising her? No-one will recognise her that way," Payton suggested.
Jess thought about it and agreed, "I like it. That works."
"What will she go in as?" Julian asked curiously.
"How about a substitute teacher? Cranky and mean. No student wants to mess with them. Besides, it'll give me a chance to dress her up," Payton said happily.
Jess smirked, knowing Payton's love for fashion. She complied and Payton squealed enthusiastically. Payton grabbed Jess's hand and they went to the Prep Hangout, where Payton handed Jess a cream long-sleeved blouse, a black knee-length pencil skirt and black pumps. "I always keep an extra set of clothes around, just in case," Payton explained when Jess gave her a quizzical look at how she happened to have these clothes around.
Jess got dressed in the clothes she was given. Payton then sat her down and styled her hair in a bun. For the final touch, Payton gave her a set of nerd glasses. Jess took a look in the mirror and she had to admit, Payton did a good job. They went back to the Artist Hangout where Julian and Autumn were waiting.
"Wow, Payton. Good job on the disguise," Autumn commended.
"Now we need to figure out a back story for your character."
Jess looked at her quizzically. "Say what?"
"Just in case you're questioned, you know," Autumn said.
The others stared at her until Cassandra said, "That won't be necessary. I'll just focus on looking cranky."
"Aww, you're no fun," Autumn mumbled.
Jess ruffled her hair affectionately and laughed.
Time Skip…
A little while later, Jess walked through the halls of Hearst High, looking every inch a substitute teacher. People avoided her as she glared at everyone. She nearly managed to reach her destination without anyone stopping her but…
"Hey! You! What do you think you're doing?!" A familiar voice shouted at her. Jess turned around and saw an angry Mia Warren walking towards her.
"You're a substitute teacher, right? I need you to give me a copy of next week's Chemistry pop quiz. Pronto!" Mia demanded.
Jess replied firmly, "I don't think that's part of my job."
"Are you kidding me? Do you even know who I am? My dad's the principal. My big brother is the school star. That means you have to do whatever I want!"
Jess raised an eyebrow and Mia rolled her eyes and reached into her pockets, taking out some money. "Ugh, you're going to really make this difficult, aren't you? Here, have some money. Would a 20 cover it? That's about what you make in a week, right?" Mia gave her once over then she narrowed her eyes. "Say... wait a minute... you look kind of familiar... do I-"
Just then, a voice interrupted her, "Mia! There you are! Cheerleading practice is starting!"
It was Kara Sinclair with her signature sneer.
Mia groaned, "Ugh, whatever. I hate today..."
She made an about turn and walked towards Kara, leaving Jess alone, who let out a breath of relief that she hadn't known she was holding. Jess rushed over to the science department before anything else could go wrong, where Autumn was waiting for her.
Inside a science classroom, a guy and a girl were working on some kind of robot...
"Hmm... it's a start... but if we're going to make the greatest Battlebot ever, we'll need to come up with some anti-grav thrusters..." the guy said. He had tanned skin, green eyes and hair styled in a mohawk. He was dressed in a blue science shirt, simple sneakers and jeans.
"Come on, Nishan, you know we don't have time for that. We need to get back to prepping those cheat sheets for Max and Kara..." the girl said worriedly. She had pink hair, brown eyes and was dressed in a steampunk-like outfit.
"Hey Nishan! We need to talk." Autumn called out.
Nishan walked over to where Autumn were standing. "Autumn, good to see you," He greeted. He looked at Jess. "And you are?" He enquired.
Jess took off her glasses and Nishan's eyes widened in recognition and he gasped "Wait, you're that girl who owns that school, Berry High Jess Miller."
He paused to take a breath and continued, "How may I help you two?"
Autumn said, "Nishan, Max recently tried to record our football practice using some kind of advanced helicopter... robot... model... thing."
Nishan looked down uncomfortably and sighed, "Ah. That would PROBABLY be the stealth quadrocopter I built for him."
"Wait, what?!" Jess and Autumn exclaimed at the same time.
"Nishan, how could you?" Autumn scolded.
"Are you tell me you did Max and Kara homework?" Jess asked
"He been doing it since he started high school." Autumn explained
"That's unfair Max and Kara taking advantage of you not making any effort for years they should get detention or held back."
"Max and Kara get away with everything otherwise Principal Warren will fire the teacher."
"Besides, it's not like I could say no. Max keeps the bullies off me, and I do whatever he wants. That's the deal." Nishan defended himself.
"Is that how you want to live the rest of your high school days? In fear of being bullied?" Jess asked him with a sad look on her face.
"Oh man, I am really bad at awkward social situations like this. Is there a polite way I can say no? Or do I just throw a smoke bomb and run?" He ran a frustrated hand over his face and sighed, "Look, no offense, but Hearst's got the best academic reputation in the state. The way I see it, high school's just one dinky step on the way to college... which is a step on the way to my PhD... which is a step to running a research facility... And from there, it's just a few steps to becoming an ageless, all-powerful cyborg... and that's just a step to-"
Autumn interrupted him, "Have an open mind, Nishan! Look, just come by Berry and check it out! You'll be impressed by our academic programs and lack of bullying."
"f you want to transfer, that's up to you," Jess added.
Nishan nodded, "Okay, I'll come by."
The Next Day...
Jess and Autumn met Nishan at the gates. They walked through the school gates and Nishan whistled as he looked around. He seemed impressed. "Well, well, so this is the new school. From all the talk at Hearst, I was expecting more of a sprawling garbage dump meets post-apocalyptic wasteland... But instead it looks like you've got a state-of-the-art learning facility! I haven't been this pleasantly surprised since I tried to create synthetic peanut butter. It was totally inedible. Just awful. But it worked amazingly as an industrial sealant!" Nishan rambled, then he caught himself. "Where was I? Oh yeah! Nice school."
Jess giggled then she asked Autumn, "Is he always like this?"
"Yep. He grows on you, doesn't he?" Autumn replied.
Jess smiled, "He already has."
Nishan's ears turned red. The girls took him on a tour of the Nerd Hangout where they found some of the students building robots and observing the stars with a telescope. Some of the girls like Nishan He joined the students building a robot in an animated discussion about the use of anti-grav thrusters. He came back to them after a while, then they went by the library, where Nishan grew more impressed by the number and quality of the books in the shelves.
After that, they went outside where Nishan commented, "Okay! Consider me officially impressed. You guys seem to have a strong academic program." Nishan's fell slightly. "Look, I... I couldn't leave Hearst even if I wanted to. I owe Max. He's kept me safe from bullies for years!"
Jess gave him a firm look and placed a hand on his shoulder. "No. What he did was exploit you. He only used you for what you could offer him.
Autumn gave him a bewildered look and asked, "Is this an advanced stage of Stockholm Syndrome?"
"No. Maybe." Nishan sighed, looking up at the sky. "Look, we've got a symbiotic relationship, like those little fish that cling to sharks."
"Do you realize that in your own metaphor, you're a tiny fish clinging to a SHARK?" Autumn pointed out.
Nishan scowled a bit. "This is high school, Autumn! Open your eyes. Jocks rule the school and pick on nerds. No one cares about your personality until you get to college."
Autumn frowned at this and with a determined gleam in her eye and said, "No, it's not like that in this school. I can prove it."
Autumn grabbed his hands and they walked towards Party Central where a party was in full swing, thrown by the nerds, which was in attendance by the different cliques in the school. Nishan was speechless for a minute then he spoke, "Okay, I'm speechless. So you're telling me that anyone, and I mean anyone, can throw a party here?"
"That's right," Jess said with a smile. "You get to be yourself and everyone will support you."
"Okay, but there's one last thing..." He trailed off.
"Please don't tell me we have to build a rocket," Jess groaned.
"No, maybe later." He frowned. "I'm worried about the... how do I put this nicely... musclebound, chest-thumping monkeymen."
"You mean jocks?" Autumn enquired.
"You do realize that I'm a jock?" Jess asked rhetorically, eyebrow raised.
"You're a different case, Jess. Sure, call them what you want. I... I realize now that the way the jocks treated me at Hearst was to okay. But I don't want to go from a frying pan to... well, another frying pan, I guess. I saw that Julian joined your school. That guy was not exactly nice to me back when we were at Hearst together," Nishan said nervously.
"Julian can be a little rough around the edges, but his bullying days are behind him," Autumn said.
"Oh yeah? Prove it," Nishan challenged.
Autumn and Jess went to the Jock Hangout where Julian was working out. He saw the trio and walked towards them.
"What's Hide-And-Go-Geek doing here?" he asked casually.
"Ahem... we're actually trying to recruit him to our school... and we need your help! You see, according to Nishan, you haven't exactly been nice to him in the past." Autumn said with a scowl.
"Yeah, okay. I might've been kind of hard on the guy." Julian confessed sheepishly. "So what do you want to do to settle the score, little guy? Wanna punch me in the face a couple times? I can take it," He offered.
"I was thinking more on the lines of a game of knights and bishops, kings and rooks! A true game of gentlemen!" Nishan suggested.
"You mean, chess?" Julian enquired.
Nishan nodded and Jess took them to the picnic tables and set them up with a chess set where they began playing a round of chess.
One game of chess later…
The game ended with Nishan winning the match. He commended Julian, "I was impressed when you sacrificed your pawn for control of the center."
Julian shrugged, "Hey, go big or go home."
"I've got to say, you're pretty alright, Julian." Nishan said with a smile.
"Thanks, Thanks, Dorktopus. You're not bad either."
They got up and the group began walking casually towards the classrooms. Nishan looked ahead and gulped nervously. "Um, guys. I don't want to alarm anyone... but I'm pretty sure the Dark Lord of Evil and his Ice Queen are right over there..." He indicated towards the parking lot.
Indeed, Max and Kara were standing in the parking lot. He pointed towards Nishan and beckoned for him to come over.
"What do these guys want now?" Jess wondered.
"Nothing good," Julian replied.
Nishan walked over to them, with Jess, Autumn and Julian as backup.
"Uh, hey, Max. You wanted to talk to me? With words and preferably not punches?" Nishan asked nervously.
Max actually managed to look shocked and surprised and he responded, "Punches? Why would I punch you, Nishan? We just came here to talk! Didn't we, Kara?"
Kara rolled her eyes and spoke in a flat, bored voice, "Yes, Nishan. We came here because we miss you so much. Please don't transfer away. That would be sad. Blah blah."
"What the hell are you playing at?" Julian demanded.
Max ignored them and continued, "I'm serious, Nishan. I don't know what crazy ideas these losers have put in your head, but you do not want to transfer. You're a valued student at Hearst!"
"Oh really? Is it because I build you stuff?" Nishan asked.
"Is that so bad? I help you, you help me, no one gets hurt... except for these losers here, of course."
"Wow, Max, I have to say thanks... But no thanks." Nishan said firmly.
"What?!" Max's expression darkened.
"You know, I always figured I had it pretty good for a nerd... I was being lovingly exploited after all! But now I realize that things don't have to be that way. People don't have to treat each other like that. Not here. I mean, look at Julian! I spent years terrified of that guy... and the two of us just played a game of chess!"
"No way? Did he like, eat the pieces?" Kara asked in disbelief.
"See? That's what I'm talking about. That's what I want to get away from. The people here don't just want me for what I can do for them. They want me for ME. And that's why I'm transferring." Nishan declared with finality in his tone. "I finished prepping the cheat sheet you asked for." Nishan hand the cheat sheet over to Max and Kara.
Max grinned. "Feels like an A."
"You don't need to do this." said Jess
"Trust me Jess." Nishan winked at Jess
"You just burned your last bridge, Nishan. When my dad's done calling his buddies on the college board, there won't be a single school in the state that'll consider you!" Max threatened.
"And what about that little nerd-girl you're always staring at, huh? Think she'll still want to build nerdbots with a TRAITOR?" Kara taunted.
Nishan stammered, "Sakura? She... she..."
Jess interrupted him, "Enough!" She glared at Max and Kara and hissed, "And you wonder why your classmates are transferring out of your school. You guys acting like jerks is what's driving everyone away from Hearst."
Max muttered, "Come on, Kara. Let's get out of here."
The duo turned around and left. Nishan blinked a couple of times before asking, "I really just did that, didn't I? I'm not imagining it?"
"Nope. You just stood up for yourself, Nishan. My dad can put a good word for you." Jess smiled.
"I can reach out to Sakura, you know... see if she wants to transfer." Autumn suggested.
Nishan turned her down, "No, it's... it's okay. She's happy at Hearst. Don't bother her. And don't worry about me, I'll be fine."
Jess hugged Nishan affectionately, "Welcome to Berry High Nishan."
"I might have put down the wrong answer for the cheat sheet. They'll both get F. Time for Max and Kara to get their taste of their own medicine." said Nishan
They chuckled
"They'll both learn to do their own homework. Nice Nishan." said Jess
Back at Hearst High
"An F!" Max and Kara exclaimed reading the result
"Ridiculous I never got a F before!" Kara exclaimed
"Nishan wrote wrong answer on purpose. Nerd boy will pay." Max gritted angrily
"Are you saying Nishan and Sakura done your homework?" Mr Oneal asked
"No we did our own homework." Kara lied
"Save it Nishan told the truth Principal office!" Mr Oneal exclaimed.
Max got Principal Warren to change the grade to A.
"You can't even expel us." Max taunted
"Your right all the teacher will give both of you special attention. Detention for both of you." Mr Oneal glared at Max and Kara
Max and Kara glared back at the teacher