It was 1975. Volkswagen had just come out with a new model, The Vietnam War had officially ended, and somewhere in New Mexico, Bill Gates was founding Microsoft. The media was overflowing as television became more mainstream. Magazines spilled over with the newest hot topics, and youth everywhere was searching for meaning and excitement.

Hank McCoy sat on the bleachers at the edge of his highschool football field. Tonight was the final track meet of the season, and it was Hank's last event in his highschool sports career. Graduation was only a couple weeks away. He stared off into the corn fields that stretched away from the town in every direction, the view only broken by a few scattered clusters of low trees and brush. Dundee certainly wasn't the most exciting town in the country, he thought, but it sure was beautiful. He sighed and tilted his head back, letting the sun warm his face while the soft Illinois breeze rippled through his auburn hair.

A shout from behind him interrupted his moment of tranquility. "Hey, Gorilla!" As he turned to see who had called out, he instinctively prepared himself mentally for what could easily be a fight. The nickname "Gorilla" was something that stung deep and it was regularly used by the other jocks in the school, who weren't afraid to rough with him if they were in a group.

He quickly made out the face of the person who was running towards him, waving. It was only Jesse Aaronson, a fellow classmate and friend of his. He let out a small breath of relief and waved back. Jesse approached the bleachers panting, his dark skin slightly flushed. "I've been looking all over for you!" He must have seen the remnants of unease left in Hank's expression, because he looked down at the ground and added, "I'm sorry for calling you Gorilla...I just wanted to get your attention, that's all."

Hank smiled down forgivingly at him as he descended from the bleachers. "Don't worry about it. What's up?"

Jesse needed help on his chemistry project. Go figure. Poor Jesse, he was a good kid, but he always managed to screw up hands-on science project. Maybe he just had bad luck, but something would always go wrong. It always seemed to do with electricity, too; an outlet wouldn't work, the lights would go out at a crucial moment, a battery would unexpectedly overcharge and melt...something bad was bound to happen. But no trouble. Hank felt honored that his friend was coming to him for academic assistance, though it was no real surprise. Everyone in the school knew that he was the star-student as well as the star-athlete. Even if they judged him for the most trivial differences, they knew better than to question or challenge his intellectual prowess.

The two of them walked back to the school and made their way to the science department. When Hank stepped through the doorway to Mr. Stone's lab extension, he couldn't help but chuckle to himself. Jesse's work station was a wreck. There was a whole cluster of materials strewn haphazardly across the blue tabletop; wires, a beaker laying on its side, test tubes, matches, batteries, a box of baking soda that had tipped over into a puddle of water. "God Jesse, you couldn't possibly have chosen a more suitable lab project. Electrolysis of Water?! You're crazy...you'd think maybe electricity and you should take some time apart." Jesse forced a small laugh but he looked nervous and uncomfortable about what had just been pointed out. Hank immediately felt sorry and tried to direct the focus back onto the project.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I did this project last year in Advanced Chem- it's real simple." He walked over to the sink and refilled the spilled beaker. Back at the table, he tried to instruct Jesse through the steps.

"You're going to invert these test tubes into the water." Easy said, and easy done.

"Alright...next, you just need to complete the electrical circuit." He pointed to the wires and batteries laying in front of them. "Simple stuff, we did this in fifth grade, remember?" Jesse's fake smile failed completely that time as he reached shakily for the first battery. But as soon as he touched it, a number of sparks shot out of the end and hit a rag that was laying on the table. Jesse yelped and jumped back quickly, holding his hands away from him and staring at them as if they weren't his own. In his haste, he knocked over his stool and it clattered noisily when it hit the tile floor. The rag had immediately begun smoking and Hank did the first thing he could think of; he grabbed the beaker and dumped it all over the rag and the tabletop.

"Whoa..." He was looking at Jesse, who was looking helplessly back at him. "I didn't mean to-"

"What's going on in here?!" The two seniors both jumped about a foot in the air as Mr. Stone hurried into the room, looking both peeved and alarmed. "Jesse! What's the ruckus?! And-" He noticed Hank, still standing by the lab table. "What's he doing in here? I told you this is an individual project, not to mention your final! Outside aid results in instant termination of your grade and as far as I can tell-" Jesse was practically shaking in his shoes and Hank knew he'd have to come up with something.

"Excuse me, Mr. Stone?" Hank was glad he had made a positive impact with his teachers. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience, I was just walking through the hallway to drop off my Physics textbook and I noticed Jesse was looking around in the cupboards and, well," He puffed out his chest proudly, "you know as well as I do that if anyone knows where the supplies are kept in here, besides you of course, it's me. He was looking for some batteries that would work...I checked the ones he had been trying to use and they were dead. But I accidentally knocked over the beaker, so I had to grab a rag to clean the mess up with..." He trailed off and held up the soaked rag.

Mr. Stone eyed him suspiciously for a moment, then laughed and patted him on the shoulder heartily. "Good boy, Hank. I was just messing around, I know you wouldn't help someone cheat." He looked up at the clock and then back to the two of them. "Jesse, I have a faculty meeting so I'm going to have to lock up and ask you to leave." He surveyed the mess. "You're going to need to clean up your...materials. Hank can help you out, right?" Hank nodded fervently. "I'm sorry about the batteries, I was sure they were fully charged. I'll give you one more day to work on this project...how about tomorrow during lunch?" Jesse swallowed. "Y-yes sir. Thank you very much, I'll get it done tomorrow for sure. Sorry for the trouble." Mr. Stone acknowledged him with a wave of his hand and turned to leave. "Just be sure to switch off the light and shut the door on the way out."