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on hardware. It was the exact opposite of Parker who, at the age of seven, had found he had a knack for anything mechanical after pushing his father’s computer off his desk whilst climbing over it and managing to piece it all back together. He had done it so quickly and so well that his parents had never suspected a thing. The respect between Parker and Michael, therefore, was mutual. And, despite first impressions, it turned out that—though slightly awkward and somewhat lacking a sense of humor—Michael was actually pretty good company. Best of all, he didn’t mention Parker’s English accent. Not once.
    Michael looked up at the clock on the wall. “I need to go and ask Mr. Nowak if I can take this hard drive home over the weekend. Want to come?”
    Parker was quick to say yes. He followed Michael out of the room and, as he switched the light off, he smiled.

CHAPTER FIVE
68:29
    Mr. Nowak, the computer teacher, was at his desk when Parker and Michael walked into the computer lab. Unlike his old school, this lab had plenty of computers, each one housed in its own private booth. The class should have been in full swing, but there was clearly no teaching happening today. Instead Mr. Nowak was holding his cell phone with both hands and had his feet up on his desk, the soles of his tatty brown leather shoes on display.
    â€œHold on,” said Mr. Nowak without looking up. “I’ve been trying to get past this level for days. Just two more clowns and . . .”
    His voice trailed off as the game drew him back in. Parker and Michael stood and watched, slightly perplexed, as Mr. Nowak tapped on his phone furiously with his lips pursed until, after a minute or so, he let out a sudden yelp of joy.
    â€œYes!” he said, his hand shooting up in the direction of Michael. It took Michael a moment to realize that he was being expected to high-five his teacher and, when he did so, he half missed and the moment of celebration seemed to fizzle out.
    â€œWhat’s up?” asked Mr. Nowak.
    Before Michael had finished asking if he could take the hard drive home, Mr. Nowak had nodded his approval. It was possible that he would have objected had Michael told him about his plans to freeze it, but Parker suspected that he was one of those teachers who would say yes to anything, as long as it didn’t involve him actually having to do any work—especially on a Friday afternoon.
    â€œI want to show you something,” said Michael, leaving Mr. Nowak to get back to his game. He began to lead Parker over to a vacant booth in the far corner when Parker realized that he was in a room surrounded by people in his grade. He didn’t want to make it too obvious that he was looking but, from taking quick glances around him, he wasn’t able to find Aaron, Becky, or anybody else directly involved in the cafeteria incident. Even if they were there, Parker told himself, they were unlikely to notice him—everyone he could see had headphones on and was too busy playing games to notice. He assumed that Michael was going to do the same—maybe show him a cheat he’d found on a game or something—but it soon became obvious that Michael had something else he wanted to share with him.
    â€œI finally cracked this yesterday,” said Michael in a hushed voice as he typed furiously on the keyboard.
    Curious, Parker rolled his chair in closer. For a moment it wasn’t clear what Michael was doing. Parker didn’t recognize the program, and Michael was typing so fast and jumping so quickly from one screen to the next that it was impossible to read anything. Finally, after a couple of minutes, Michael pushed his chair back slightly and pointed. Parker leaned forward and read the words on the screen.
    BANKS, PARKER.
    It took Parker a moment to work out why he was seeing his name. When he realized, his head snapped around to Michael in surprise.
    â€œYou hacked into the school