It had been less than a week since Jake had been allowed back at school, and while he was glad to be back, things were still much more difficult than he would have liked to admit. Classes were still as easy as they always were – that hadn't changed. But the way he'd been forced to treat Megan was actually a lot worse than he'd thought it would be. He knew he'd have to ignore her, of course – that was one of the conditions of his being allowed to return to school. And he knew that wouldn't be easy. Still, he hadn't realized just how hard it would actually be. She seemed to be even more annoyed with him than he would have thought, even though she had to know that none of this was his fault – or his choice.
Still, she wasn't saying anything about it. Jake tried to tell himself that it was because she really did know what was going on – after all, he was pretty sure she knew him better than anyone had in a long time. Still, he wasn't completely sure that was the only reason. He really wanted her to tell him what she thought was going on, but he couldn't exactly ask her about it at the moment. And even if he could, he wasn't really sure how. He never did like being direct with what he wanted. In his experience, that only led to him getting the exact opposite.
So Jake continued to ignore Megan. And while she didn't seem all that excited about it, she at least went along. But chemistry class was especially difficult. He sat at a table with her, Greg, and Jen. And while Jen also knew what was going on, Greg didn't. And that meant that Jake couldn't even explain to Jen what was happening – not without Greg figuring out way more than Jake was really comfortable letting him know.
But as bad as everything was, Jake was still actually surprised to realize that it could all get even worse. On day three of his ignoring Megan, Ms. Harle had a surprise for her chemistry class.
"As I told you all yesterday, we're going to be doing a little experiment this week, and I think it'll really help show you some of the things we've been learning so far regarding elasticity and super-elasticity." Ms. Harle told the class.
"This will probably last for the rest of the week, maybe a little longer, and I don't want everybody running around, changing seats all the time. So to make this simple, we'll just keep the groups the same as the people already at each table."
Well, this was going to make everything a lot more complicated, Jake thought. He wondered vaguely if he could get Ms. Harle to change her mind, but he wasn't sure he could make it subtle enough to work. Besides, Megan and Jen were already half-convinced he'd just been using Megan for the past month or so. If he changed out of their group now, they'd probably both believe it completely. And if that happened, Jake's chances of getting them to help him would likely be non-existent. Still, he wasn't exactly sure how he was supposed to keep Greg from realizing that he couldn't talk to Megan.
So far, he'd managed to avoid talking to her by pretending to take great notes. He knew neither Megan nor Jen was fooled by it, but they weren't saying anything. Jake was just glad he'd managed to let them know what was really going on. And at least they were helping to keep Greg from noticing how extremely odd the whole situation was. Jake couldn't help but wonder vaguely if Jen was doing it mostly so she didn't have to explain all of this to her boyfriend, but he didn't really care; if she was willing to help him for any reason, he'd take it.
Jake knew Megan didn't like it, and he couldn't blame her. But it kept Greg from asking too many questions, and that was all Jake could really hope for at the moment. But it was going to be really difficult to be in a group with her and still basically ignore her presence. When he got home, he was definitely going to have to see if he could get her to get rid of that particular restriction.
"So the four of us, then." Jen mumbled. "Great."
"Yeah." Jake felt the same way.
Megan just looked at him, and he got the impression she was trying to figure out if he'd be able to do this. Jake flashed her an apologetic look. He really didn't like to show anyone just how little control he had over things like this – especially Megan. Not only had she been one of them – one of his former masters, but he was actually hoping to get her back. And if that did somehow manage to happen, he didn't want her to remember his lack of control. Still, he needed her to remember that he wasn't doing this because he wanted to.
"Is everything ok?" Greg asked.
"Of course." Jake told him.
"Why wouldn't it be?" Jen asked at the same time.
Greg just looked at the three of them for a minute.
"It just really seems like you three know something you're not saying."
"We're not." Jen told him as reassuringly as she could. "Is just that those two are kind of...complicated."
"Yeah, I can tell." Greg told her.
No one said anything. Jake saw that both girls were trying not to look suspicious, but it didn't seem to be working very well. Greg didn't say anything. He just set his jaw, and Jake realized he was going to have to be much more careful around Greg, at least for a little while. He really didn't want to do anything to let Greg figure out what he really was.
"So let's get this started then." Greg said finally. Jake could sense the frustration in that sentence.
"I'll go get the stuff." Megan said, standing up.
It was only a minute or two before she came back. When she did, she had a Bunsen burner and two sheets of paper. One of the papers was full of writing. The other had two paper clips taped to it: one was labeled A and the other B.
"So what are we supposed to do with these?" Jen asked. Greg took the other paper from Megan. He scanned it for a minute before responding.
"We have to answer these questions." he told them.
"So what's the first one?" Megan asked. Greg looked back at that piece of paper.
"Use your senses to observe the two wires." He read. "Are they soft? Hard? Stretchy? How are they alike and how are they different?"
"Ok." Megan said. She reached out and grabbed the paper clip labeled A and felt it.
"It feels like a normal paper clip." she said, shrugging. She straightened the outer loop, making it completely in line with the outer edge of the paper clip, minus a small dent where the curve around the top had been. Then, she did the same thing with the other one.
Jake was fully expecting that the second paper clip would act just has the first had – they were both paper clips, right? And when Megan tried it on the second paper clip, the same thing happened – just as he knew it would. When Jen saw this, she decided to give it a try herself. She pulled the end of each paper clip until they were both bent – but instead of the final loop going around the outside edge of the paper clip, both now pointed in the opposite direction, like hooks.
"Yeah, I don't see any difference." Jen announced. "Except for the color."
Jake took a closer look. It was true that the two paper clips were slightly different colors; paperclip B seemed to have a slightly more orange hue to it. But even Jake couldn't understand why that would make a difference. It had to be a coincidence.
Greg set the sheet of paper down on the table.
"No difference except color." he mumbled. Then, he straightened.
"Ok." he said, reading the next section on his sheet of paper. "Now we have to heat them both up – carefully."
"Of course we'll be careful." Jen told him.
"I'm just reading what it says here." Greg told her.
No one seemed particularly interested in lighting the Bunsen burner, so Jake decided to do it. Besides, if he actually did catch himself on fire, he could always put himself out, right?
Once he got it lit, Greg read the next part of the instructions.
"Light the burner. The flame should be about two inches high and should have a slightly blue hue."
Greg looked up. "Does it have that?" he asked.
"Well, kind of." Jake answered. He turned the temperature down a bit, trying to get it more in line with the instructions. Once it did, he nodded at Greg, and Greg continued reading.
"Using the tongs, put Paperclip A into the flame. What happens?"
Using the tongs, Jen carefully lifted Paperclip A into the flame. It started to get a kind of orangish glow, but other than that, nothing happened.
"It's just the same." Megan announced. The rest of the group was forced to agree.
"Nothing." Greg mumbled as he wrote it down on the paper before continuing to read. "Now, carefully, using the tongs, place Paperclip B into the flame. What happens?"
Jen dropped the first paperclip into the sink in the middle of the lab table. Then, she picked up the second paperclip with her fingers and placed it into the tongs.
"Ok." Megan said. "Now, put it into the flame."
"I can already write it down." Greg informed them. "It's gonna be just like the first one."
"No it won't." Megan told him. "If it was, then what's the point of all of this?"
Jake grinned – she was right. He found himself wishing he could tell her that, but then again, he had to ignore her. So instead, he kept silent, watching as Jen put the second paperclip into the flame.
For a split second, nothing seemed to happen. But as Jen moved the paperclip so that the normally bent outer edge touched the flame, they all saw it. The metal started moving – it was so quick, Jake would have almost said that it snapped back into place. And in just a few short seconds, it looked just like the top part of any paperclip should.
"What?" Megan said, staring at it with wide eyes
"No way." Greg said at about the same time.
Even Jen seemed surprised as she slowly moved the now perfectly-formed, if somewhat bent, paperclip even farther into the flame. As the middle touched the flame, the bend that Jen had given it there also straightened out. And when she finally set it into the sink with the other paperclip, the whole thing looked just like it had when Megan had first brought it to their table.
"How is that possible?" Megan asked in awe. She glanced up at Jake, as if he'd had something to do with all of this.
"It's like magic." Jen mumbled.
"No, magic is way worse." Megan said to herself as she stared at that paperclip.
"So what's going on?" Greg asked, pen in hand.
"The second paperclip turned back to how it had been." Megan told him.
"Yeah, I see that." Greg told her, rolling his eyes. "But what am I supposed to write here?"
The group was silent for a disturbingly long time. Jake realized he was going to have to say something. But fortunately, Jen spoke up before he got the chance.
"Well, the second paperclip behaved way different than a normal paperclip should have..." she started slowly.
Greg immediately started writing that down, and Megan nodded along cautiously. So, Jen decided to continue.
"So, they must be different metals."
"Yeah, but what's the difference?" Megan asked.
"Don't you see? It's sueperelasticity." Jake broke in suddenly. Everyone was kind of looking at him like he'd lost his mind, but Jake didn't care. He finally understood what Ms. Harle had been talking about for the past week. Unfazed, he happily continued.
"Most metals don't do this, right? But this one does. It's that nitinol stuff. After you heat it up, it reverts back to the shape it had when it was incredibly hot. It's almost better than magic."
Megan was staring at him with that wide-eyed fish look that she seemed to get so often, and even Jen looked surprised. Greg was too busy writing down everything Jake was saying to even notice.
Jake had to admit, even he was a little surprised at what had come out of his mouth – not the science stuff, that was plainly obvious. But the better than magic thing was something even he hadn't considered. Maybe humans really did have something to teach him. He had to admit, that prospect had never occurred to him.
"So what's our conclusion?" Greg asked suddenly.
"What?" Jake asked, turning back to him.
"It's the final question." Greg told him. "What did we learn from this experiment? What is our conclusion?"
Jake sat there for a moment, trying to decide. He'd personally learned a lot, but most of it probably wouldn't make for a good paper. But then, Jen spoke up.
"That not all metals behave the same." she said. "Some, like nitinol, behave differently. And that can have very unexpected results – like changing back into the forms that they originally had. It's what the term shape-memory alloy actually means."
Greg scribbled furiously, but Jake just stared at Jen, surprised. It actually didn't sound too bad; he probably should give Jen just a bit more credit than he had been. She might really be smarter than he'd originally thought.
ns 15.158.61.18da2
