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This Is Not a Test

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This Is Not a Test
Air Date July 24, 2006
Written by Bryan M. Holdman
Director Pat Williams
Episode number 105
Next episode Blame It on the Rain

It's a whole new world as Kyle experiences his first day in high school, and he's not the only one struggling to get along.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

Nicole Trager is planning to enjoy a quiet afternoon in the house alone with Stephen, but suddenly, she hears an upstairs window break. Tom Foss, the mystery man, has broken in and planted bugs throughout the Trager house. But as quickly as he sneaked in, he leaves undetected, then knocks on the door "just in time" to "rescue" Nicole from the break-in and "investigate." Stephen rushes home after hearing about it during a phone call to Nicole and finds Foss meandering around Kyle's room. He is curious as to how Tom just "happened to show up just in time" to "save the day." He takes down Foss' information to check on him later with the security company.

Meanwhile, it is the first day of high school for the Trager kids and the only one excited to go is Kyle. He quickly picks up on the existence of cliques, noticing how they organize by their attire, vocabulary, age, and skin color. Everything is new to him, but he still has a difficult time understanding just how school works and why a bell rings every 50 minutes. Nicole is still fighting with the principal to get Kyle private tutoring, and the principal begrudgingly agrees to give Kyle skill assessment tests on the basic subjects: Math, English, History, and Science. Kyle has 5 hours to complete the tests. Nicole leaves him to the principal for the day, promising that she'll pick him up later. Meanwhile, Kyle is instructed to take the tests in the 5-hour time limit. He is given the first test in the pile, history, and he reads over it, but does not recognize any names, dates, or places. Becoming frustrated, he hears the class-change bell and decides to do more "exploring," not realizing he was supposed to remain in the testing room.

Lori has just entered her first day in math class and is still fighting with Hillary over what happened at Jeff Preston's party. Lori and Hillary inadvertently chose to wear the same shirt, which Hillary is not happy about. In the middle of class, Hillary passes a note to Lori to "take it off," to which Lori responds "no way" and promptly gets herself in trouble with the math teacher, Mr. Miller, who confiscates the note and gives her an after-school detention. He then introduces a graduate-level problem from MIT to his students, promising that if any of them can crack it before the end of the semester, he will give them an "A." Kyle happens to wander into the empty room during a non-class period and figures out the complicated math problem with ease. He writes down the answer on the chalkboard and leaves the classroom to do some more exploring. He finds Amanda Bloom in a music class and observes her from the hall.

Josh, meanwhile, is suffering in a remedial English class. He inadvertently manages to anger a hostile student, Toby. When the teacher asks Toby to read a passage from the book, he declines. The teacher insists, and he reluctantly reads with extreme difficulty from the text. Embarrassed by all the laughter from the other students, he stops and refuses to continue. The teacher then assigns Josh to continue reading from where Toby left off. Josh reads far better than Toby, and with a bit of smugness as well, which Toby notices. Josh quickly realizes that he has angered Toby.

Before long it is lunchtime. Kyle wanders into the cafeteria, where he sits down to have lunch with L.K. Deichman - a nerd who just happens to love superheroes. Deichman is unwilling to believe that Kyle would sit next to him voluntarily, explaining that people often call him "Geekman" or "Dykeman." He explains to Kyle the fundamentals of superheroes, including their aliases. Kyle is confused as to why superheroes would need to have secret identities. Deichman explains that it's to protect them. He is also very surprised that Kyle would not know such "basic" knowledge. Kyle explains that it's why he has come to high school - to learn. So, Deichman decides to give Kyle a little help by introducing him to the school library. Finding out that Kyle really doesn't know much about any subject and perplexed that he can be in high school with such limited knowledge, he suggests starting with the encyclopedia. Kyle picks up 3 volumes of World Book and starts reading voraciously. The math teacher comes back into his classroom to discover that his extremely complicated problem has not only been attempted, but solved. He is perplexed as to who completed it, or who could even attempt to do it. He ponders for the rest of the day about who could have solved it.

Eventually, the end of the day draws near. Amanda, with Charlie, stops in the library and, seeing Kyle, asks him how his day went, and why and how he read the entire encyclopedia. She then asks Kyle if he likes her. Kyle considers what response to make, and weighs the consequences of each. He concludes that it will make Amanda happiest if he responds that they are "just friends," and so he does so. This elicits a smile out of Amanda and a handshake. Amanda then says that the end of the school day has come and it is time to go home.

Josh is walking through the hallway with his friends shortly after, when he has an encounter with Toby from his English class. Toby begins to bully him by throwing Josh's book and almost punching him in the face before Kyle attempts to stop him. Toby pushes Kyle down the stairs as he and Josh attempt to leave, and Toby tries to hit Josh again before Kyle, showing no effect from the fall, blocks the punch. Toby tries to hit Kyle but Kyle dodges, forcing Toby to strike the wall instead. As Kyle attempts to leave again, Toby tries to push him again and Kyle evades the blow, causing Toby to nearly fall down the stairs, Kyle calmly grabs him by the jacket, suspending him over the stairwell. Everyone, including Deichman, is amazed at Kyle's "super-abilities." The principal stops the fight as the Tragers come to pick the kids up from school. Everyone involved in the fight has to wait in the waiting room adjacent to the principal's office while everything gets straightened out.

Meanwhile, Lori is reporting to her math teacher for detention. Seeing that he is talking to himself in confusion about the math problem, she thinks about the only person she knows who possibly could have solved it. She makes a deal with her teacher that if she can find out who it is, she can get out of detention. The teacher agrees.

Back in the principal's waiting room, the Tragers and the principal discover that Kyle didn't even attempt the tests given to him. They ask why not, and Kyle responds that he didn't know any of the people or answers, and went to study. The principal states that it's unacceptable when the math teacher bursts in with Lori. He quickly explains to the principal what Kyle has done with his math problem and begs to work with him. He starts badgering Kyle with questions about how he solved the problem, and Kyle just responds that he "looked at it, and knew" how to do it. The math teacher insists that Kyle finish taking his tests so that he can become a student. The principal retorts that the tests have to be completed in a 5-hour time frame and that there's only 30 minutes left. The Tragers and the teacher beg him to let Kyle try as much as he can, and of course, Kyle finishes every test with 5 minutes to spare. Kyle, of course, passes all five tests with ease and is eligible for private tutoring, but he actively refuses to accept it on account that it would hold him back from knowing the one thing he wants to know - Why do we do the things we do?

Everyone is getting ready to leave for the day, when Kyle notices Deichman sitting outside waiting for his ride home. Kyle decides to strike up a conversation with him. Some of the other students recognize him from the "super" fight with the mean kid, and stare and make comments. This embarrasses Deichman, but Kyle reassures him that "weird is good." In thanks, the nerdy kid hands over a detailed drawing he made of Kyle, dressed in a cape, with a foot on a mountain of books, looking like the superhero of Beachwood High School. Kyle accepts and hangs it up in his room later that night.

Nicole and Stephen check with the security company whether Tom Foss is indeed working for them; a company representative assures the Tragers that Foss is an excellent employee with a military record, so they have nothing to worry about. The closing shot is of Kyle going over the things he experienced that day while he's lying in his bathtub, ready to go to sleep. The camera pans out and becomes fuzzy as the image of Kyle in his room is now on one of three side-by-side computer monitors, with Foss spying on him and the Tragers from his apartment.

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