The Case About Tech

Jack and Mary sprinted into their room as fast as cheetahs, their feet echoing as they entered the room. Their bellies were full from the delicious lunch their mom had made for them, and their mom had told them, "Do whatever you want to do!" she exclaimed loudly across the house. So Jack and Mary chose to play video games because they were the type of people who loved video games and technology. Jack asked in excitement, "What game should we dive into this time?" While he turned the TV on, Mary replied in a shrill voice, "I can't wait to play Mario Kart!" Hours flew by, and still, they remained engrossed in their pixelated world. Their mom slowly opened the door and quietly whispered, "What are you guys doing now?" But Jack and Mary's eyes were glued to the screen.

The next morning, they were so sleepy, but they remembered there was school. So they brushed their teeth, took their bath, and ate their breakfast. Despite brushing their teeth and taking a bath, they were still so sleepy that they could hardly keep their eyes open. School became a blur as they struggled to focus on their studies. But once their teacher, Mrs. Bean, announced that the next lesson was going to be Media Tech, they completely woke up and shouted, "Media Tech!" Mrs. Bean was not surprised at all because she knew that they loved Media Tech. Once the class was on the 5th floor, they swiftly formed a line outside the transparent and shiny door. The Media Tech teacher, Mr. Harold, appeared from the Media room. He asked everyone to go into the room quietly and sit down on a chair. "We are going to learn how to recognize how apps can produce viruses for us," Mr. Harold said in a monotonous voice. Now Jack and Mary found this lesson kind of boring even though they loved Media Tech. After a while, Mr. Harold said in a funny tone, "I want you guys to go to any website and figure out if it has a virus." But instead, Jack and Mary secretly played video games on their computers.

When Friday finally arrived, they eagerly made their way up to the 5th floor for their highly anticipated Media Tech, and then Mr. Harold said, "Today we are going to make our robots! So pair up and find a partner to work with." Jack and Mary immediately paired up with each other. They took 2 lessons to finish their robot. It was tiny, but it could do so many things. In their 4th class, they were supposed to test it out. After Media Tech, they would have a very important test, and some classes were already doing it! 30 minutes later, the face of the robot started glitching, and then it started showing up on screens of other people's computers. They asked Mr. Harold, and he screamed, "Oh no! It is trying to hack devices around this school!" Jack and Mary were wailing, and kids were running around the classroom crazy!

At the 2nd-grade class, iPads started glitching and then it restarted everyone's test. Kids were crying and screaming, but that wouldn't help, and then it struck the whole school. Jack started thinking of ways to stop this while Mary was panicking. An idea struck Jack's mind. Maybe they could check someone else's computer and search for a website that can stop viruses. Jack got on Marcus's computer and finally found a website that blocked viruses, but by the time they were on that app, the virus was on his screen. It looked like it was sucking the computer with digital hacks. Then Mary got an idea. She ran down to the 3rd floor and got a hammer from the foundry, then ran back up to the 5th floor and broke the robot. The robot started cracking and burst open. Wires, coils, circuits, and a lot more complicated stuff were exposed. The robot's face immediately turned into a black screen. Mr. Harold was pale. He did not know what to do; he just fainted immediately. Everyone was silent and stunned. Then Jonathan, a student in their class, broke the silence and whispered, "What just happened?"

Next Monday, Mrs. Bean asked Jack and Mary to go to Mr. Harold's office. They quietly went up to the 5th floor where all the private offices were. Mr. Harold was sitting on his chair. He asked them to come in. There was silence for a while until Mr. Harold said, "I know that it was glitching and hacking, but you did not have to get a hammer and smash the robot!" His tone started getting a little firm. Jack and Mary did not know what to do because Mr. Harold was usually very funny, but today he was kind of strict. They just kept quiet. Mr. Harold asked, "Why did you, Mary, get a hammer and smash it?" She was scared but answered, "It could have destroyed or even taken everyone's progress in each test!" Mr. Harold shouted, "But that action also destroyed everyone's test work too, and now it is postponed from next week to next month!" Jack thought, "Why did he come here if Mary was in trouble but not him?" He was just about to find out when Mr. Harold asked him softly, "Why did you not stop her?" He softly answered, "She did not even tell us that she would do such a thing, and she was too fast." Mary glared at Jack. Jack felt a guilt stab at him, and he realized he should have never said that. After the meeting, he thought she would never forgive him, but instead, she forgave him. They both thought exactly the same thing, a mystery. They called some technology experts and Mr. Harold to solve the case. The case was about who caused the robot to hack and why? Jack and Mary had also learned to have responsibility for technology and think before taking action.

On Tuesday after school, exactly at 3:44, they started taking notes on why someone would do such a thing. They even reported it to the police. The police asked, "Who did it?" Jack, Mary, and Mr. Harold explained everything. Then the police chief said they were going to help. Jack punched the air in victory. They went back into the classroom and took notes about what the police would do and a few of the suspects. Jack wondered who would do this and why. After a while, they started investigating around the school. Mr. Harold was on a computer when he suddenly found out that there was a new company and building opening up. The company was about detectives, and the building was right next to them. Mr. Harold was so excited that he called the company. Someone answered the phone in a deep voice and said, "Hello." "Hi, are your detectives free for today?" asked Mr. Harold. There were so many questions in his mind. "Yes," replied the detective. "Why?" asked the detective. "Because we have a case, and that case is about a hacker who hacked our school." The detective immediately asked, "We are coming. Where are you?" "In the school right next to you," replied Mr. Harold. After a few minutes, they arrived at the front door of the school. Mr. Harold let them in and went to the 5th floor where the private offices were. The detectives asked a lot of questions, and then Mr. Harold had to sign a form to get their help. He signed it and told them a lot about the case. Mr. Harold showed them pictures of the robot and told them that Jack and Mary broke it so it wouldn't hack anyone, but it started hacking people's devices. They gathered tools like cameras, notebooks, pencils, a computer, a phone, and more devices to help them with their case.

The next day, during school break, Jack and Mary asked their classmates, who were also suspects, questions. Most of the suspects acted suspiciously, so Jack decided to spy on them for the rest of the day. He kept an eye on all of them. Eventually, Jack spotted one of the suspects taking out a phone after school. He followed him discreetly until he got a sneak peek at what he was doing. The suspect, named George, was playing a game, but when his finger touched the screen, hacks for the game appeared. Jack approached George and asked for his name. George replied with a blank expression. Excitedly, Jack ran to Mary and exclaimed, "I found who it was!" Annie was also amazed at how he found the person. They went back to George and asked if they could talk to him. George agreed, and Jack asked if he could have his phone for 5 minutes. George quietly agreed. They found the hack buttons and website on the phone and asked George, "Why have you been doing this?" Mary said as Jack held the phone. George turned pale and remained silent for a few seconds. Then, in a nervous voice, he murmured, "I wanted to make a better robot than yours, so I made it hack. I know I was jealous." They shared the news with the group and the detectives. The case was solved. Jack and Annie had learned a valuable lesson about thinking before speaking or acting and listening to their teacher even when they thought the lesson would be boring. As a consequence, George was officially suspended from Media Tech for one month.