Teddy and the Paradoxineers

1:06.

The clock read 12:05 at the start of class, but now it read 1:06. He didn't know why he was counting, but he was always good at math and this was just a simple add-on. How long does it take to get through a class? Half an hour? Maybe a little bit more, depending on the teacher.

He looked up from his laptop, not bothering to hide the screen from the man in front of him. The teacher, who still hadn't introduced himself yet, had his head down and seemed to be writing something on the board. The classroom was empty except for Teddy and this strange new teacher.

"Hey," Teddy said, "when do the other kids get here?"

The man paused for a moment before turning around and looking at him angrily. "What did I say about phones?" he said menacingly. "Put that away now."

Teddy's eyes went wide as he put his phone away, stowing it in his backpack. It wasn't really even a phone anymore—he had a tablet that could make calls now—but he kept calling it his phone because it felt right. There were plenty of times when he wanted a real phone instead of using his tablet phone, though, like when someone called him on FaceTime or when he wanted to check Twitter in class without being caught—but there were more important things to do than argue with one of his teachers about what to call the thing.

"I already told you," the man continued, "this is online school." He waved his hand at the rows of desks that stood before them as if they were supposed to be obvious. "You don't need to be here physically for this. Now go back home." He turned back around with a huff and returned to whatever he was writing on the board.

Teddy sighed and did as he was told, gathering up his bag and walking out of the classroom (which happened to be an office) only after grabbing his phone from its place on top of his backpack (he needed it). Technically he could have stayed because they weren't officially in class yet—they didn't have their assignments yet—but whatever this guy wanted to call himself, Teddy knew he wasn't going to learn anything today if he didn't get started on it right away. And besides, it was only 10 minutes later than when class would normally start... well... had normally started... Had normal started...?

1:07.

This time Teddy got up from where he sat working at his desk and walked out into the hallways of his house while still working on drafting his assignment due next week. His kitchen was behind him and so were all of the other rooms where people lived in this house; instead of living alone like most kids his age did (even if they were still in high school), Teddy lived with five other teenagers as well as two adults who claimed to be their guardians or something along those lines—Teddy never thought too much about it since they let them do whatever they wanted anyway and never interfered until someone decided they needed some kind of punishment.

1:08

Teddy crossed into one of the larger bedrooms that no one ever spent any time in anymore and flopped down onto one of the couches that lined two sides of the room before putting his feet up onto one of the tables nearby (the floor wouldn't stay clean if everyone walked around with their shoes on).

1:09

The lights flickered once before turning off completely and sending everything into darkness except for Teddy's phone which lit up just enough for him to see everything clearly while also not letting anyone else know exactly where he was. After a second everything turned back on again (just as abruptly), making Teddy jump slightly as he jumped off of the couch and walked over to another table closer to the window where there was an open laptop waiting for him so that he could finish drafting up his assignment... or start doing it if it wasn't ready yet...

1:10

There was a knock at door downstairs and Teddy quickly closed his laptop before moving over towards one side of the room where another door stood next to what used to be a closet but now served as storage space for extra beds and suitcases that no one ever used anymore (even though they technically lived here). The bedroom door opened just enough for Teddy's head to peek out first before opening all the way so that Ted could step out into hallway so that he could look down over the railing at whoever had come knocking at their door unannounced.