Invisible Sister

So here's the crazy thing.

Invisibility is everywhere.

I mean, sure, people tend to focus on the things we can see.

Like matter, living things.

But there's also all this stuff that we can't see.

Like sound waves or gasses.

And a few things we miss

because they're hidden in plain sight.

Like I said, invisibility is all around us.

Even in the most obvious and familiar places.

These opposites exist side by side.

The seen...

Hey, Molly!

And the unseen.

And the same pattern repeats itself.

Over and over.

Those bright, shiny objects,

they soak up all the attention.

While at the same time, the invisible objects

right under our noses don't.

That's just the way things are.

We can't change it.

No matter how much we might want to.

At least, that's what I thought.

Mr. Perkins.

Fancy seeing you here.

Well, I really hope you were meditating

on the marvels of science and not rocking out

to Fitz and the Tantrums again.

Oh, well, actually it is The Hives today,

in honor of those skinny jeans

you are only slightly too old to pull off.

Ah, look at that.

Not so fast.

Yeah, I got your pitch for the semester project.

Really? Turning a papaya into a battery?

I've already got seven other kids turning vegetables into batteries.

In my defense, papaya's a fruit.

Mm. Well, your proposal is officially rejected.

George gets all A's

and you're letting him study how a guinea pig reacts

to an all-ice cream diet.

- It gives them terrible gas. - Yeah, thanks, George.

Make sure you put that in your report, okay?

That's it, Mr. Whiskers,

no more Rocky Road for you.

I want to see you challenge yourself. Do something relevant.

Maybe something to do with transformation.

This is the same matter in two distinct forms.

One state is dense, dull...

Much like this conversation.

The other is transparent.

Brilliant. I'm assigning you a new experiment.

Figure out what that substance is,

then transform it into its crystal state.

And how am I supposed to do that?

Build a homemade spectrometer.

Yeah. You're gonna have to do this little thing

we in the science community like call science.

You think The Hives became The Hives

by shutting out the world and listening to their headphones all day?

No. They got out there.

All right, my point is you never know what you can accomplish

unless you engage the world a little bit.

And as an added incentive,

I've decided as of right now,

this is worth half your class grade.

- What? - Mm-hmm. Check out whatever gear you need.

You've got till Monday.

He wants me to make mystery gunk into a crystal.

That's impossible.

It's not technically impossible.

It's not like "time-travel impossible,"

or "speed-of-light impossible".

It's just... hard.

George, why are you wearing clown pants?

These are vintage lounge slacks.

They're all the rage in Budapest,

which is the new Paris, by the way.

Girls dig these pants.

At least six girls have noticed them.

Okay. One girl noticed them.

And that girl was you. Just now.

Whoa! Nice vampire outfit, freakshow.

But Halloween's not till tomorrow.

Really? "Vampire outfit?" Is that all you got?

Is it because of my cape and my pointy teeth?

Code red, code red!

C-Dog approaching. 11 o'clock. Be cool!

- What? - Hey, Cleo!

Carter, my man. What's the ups?

Lay the good news on me.

- How's it going? - Good.

I was just wondering if maybe you wanted to study together

- for Perkins' next quiz? - Who is that?

No idea.

Yeah! Yeah, totally. We could be a cliché, how fun.

I'm sorry, cliché?

The sports guy, asking the nerdy girl for help with his homework.

No. I just thought we could, you know, join forces.

Uh... okay. I'm going to be in the lab for study hall tomorrow.

If you have a change of heart, stop by.

Your epic crush just asked you out on a date,

and you shut him down.

That wasn't a date, George.

That was just a crafty jock trying to weasel his way

out of doing any actual thinking. No thanks.

I'll leave the mindless flirting to my sister.

"Awesome city! So the bomb!"

Cleo!

Speak of the devil.

Hello, car full of beautiful women.

School's done. You know what that means.

Fro-yo. YOLO. Oh, no. Let's go! Yeah!

- You wanna come with? - Yes!

No, thanks. I'll pass.

Darn.

Come on.

It'll be awesome city, totally the bomb.

Thanks, I'll pass.

It's Thursday! They're gonna have salted caramel!

Come on! Yeah. Your buddy can come too.

This is George, Coug. You've met him 400 times.

Sorry, small dude. My bad!

Still a pass.

Catch you later then, sis.

All right, let's go!

Come on. I'll give you a ride home.

I've got the big scooter today.

I made a few modifications to it.

Really souped it up.

All right! Give The Coug a paw!

Aw, yes!

- Honey! - Yes?

Did you pack my charger?!

It's in your dopp kit.

And I printed the boarding passes.

There it is!

- It was in my dopp kit! - Yeah.

Do they even know you're here yet?

Give them a second.

Oh. Hi. We were afraid we were going to miss you.

- Hey, George. - Hey, Cleo's Dad.

I'm gonna get Whiskers all settled in.

I'll see you inside.

Okay, remember, set the alarm on at night.

Don't touch the thermostats. And there are protein shakes if you run out of food.

Honey, I am so sorry we're gonna miss the big lacrosse game.

No worries, Dad. There'll be others.

But the first game always sets the tone for the season.

- The college scouts will be there. - Ohh!

- Just remember, keep that stick up. - Stay loose.

Keep that middle line open and cross if they double team you.

And you...

Stay loose, you know, with your studies and stuff.

I'll be sure to do some rigorous stretching

before I tackle my homework.

- Okay. - Okay. Bring it in, team.

- One, two, three, family! - Family!

Bye, girls.

- Bye. - Bye, Mom.

- Bye! - Bye, guys!

Oh, I forgot to mention,

I'm having some people over for dinner tonight.

Molly, you can't. I have to focus on my science project.

Who's coming over?

Just a few girls from the lacrosse team.

The whole team. And their boyfriends.

And anybody else who wanted to come.

Hoo! Hoo! Sad but true!

The Fightin' Owls are hunting for you!

Does anyone know what goes in meatballs?

- Meat, babe. - Huh.

This is hopeless.

I can't even get light to pass through it.

Did you try diluting it?

Yes.

I can't believe I've been exiled out of my own house.

I don't think you were exiled so much as "gently displaced."

You know what I suggest?

A break. We head inside, sample some meatballs,

see if maybe one of your sister's teammates

has a penchant for shorter, less athletic,

but very intelligent, men.

You should go, George.

Go get some food. I'll still be working.

You're a good person.

I don't mean to brag, but I'm a bit of an athlete myself.

I was one of the top lawn bowlers at math camp last summer.

You know they call lawn bowling the "gentleman's polo".

- I like horses. - Me too!

I love horses! Love them!

What are your thoughts on guinea pigs?

Let's see what happens if I turn up the heat.

Now we're getting somewhere.

Sucrose.

How sweet of Señor Perkins.

He gave me sugar.

Shoo! Get out of here.

Ahh!