Time Out

Time Out is a mystery, in which a bright high school boy named Sam helps investigate curious inconsistencies in his school's computer system. Sam befriends a new student, Jim. At a basketball game, they discover that the shot timer allows more time to their school's home team that to the visiting team, though it does not indicate a difference in the countdown. Sam asks his computer science teacher for help with this puzzle, and the teacher gives him administrative access to the school-wide system so that Sam can investigate it from home. Meanwhile, smaller mysteries seem to present themselves: the buses seem to arrive late to bring the students home, and students feel rushed in their classes. Sam's first unlikely suspect is the language arts teacher, who seems to have used her computer access to alter the timing system for the basketball game and to shorten the duration of all the classes. Ultimately, the authorities are called, and, with Sam's help, they determine that Sam's friend, Frederica, had stolen the teacher's password (which had been written and kept in an unsecure desk drawer), changed her status to ADMIN, and altered time programs and grades. Though the complete motivations of the guilty student are never spelled out, it is clear, by the end of the book, that she wished to increase her grade, bolster the chances of the basketball team, and shorten the school day—perhaps also increasing the time she could flirt with her crush on the basketball team as they waited for the bus at the end of the day.