He stood before the new class of seventh graders with a sad smile on his burned face. "For every year I have taught," he paused; making sure everyone was listening to him. "I have given a year-long assignment to every student in my class." The entire present student-body groaned, slumping even further into their seats. Mr Simonet took no notice. "You may have heard of the last person to actually pass the assignment." He raised an eyebrow. A small child, no bigger than Trevor had been, put up his hand. Mr Simonet nodded. "What's your name?"

"Sam," The boy replied, looking through his thick brown hair at the teacher. "Was it that boy who died?" A hush fell over the class. Mr Simonet nodded. "Sir, what is the assignment?"

Mr Simonet stayed quiet for a minute. "The assignment is to think of something that could change the world." He let it sink in. "And put it into action." He smiled at the class, as they looked back at him with shock.

"But sir!" A girl called from the back of the classroom.

"Hands up please," Mr Simonet said, without looking. The young girl put up her hand hesitantly. "Yes?"

"But sir. How are we supposed to do that?" She looked at him curiously. The class followed suit.

"There are many ways that you can go about changing the world." Mr Simonet walked to the black board. "1, changing the whole world, is the hardest." He wrote it up on the board, chalk rising into the air. "2, changing the world of one person, is easier." He wrote it up too. "and third, the hardest, but the best, changing the whole world person by person." He wrote it up, but instead of writing what he said, the board had three things written on it:

Changing the world

Changing a Person

Paying it Forward

Sam put up his hand. Mr Simonet turned and nodded at him. "Yes Sam?"

The young boy straightened in his seat. "Sir, what's paying it forward?"

Mr Simonet smiled. "Paying it Forward is the last assignment that passed. Trevor McKinney thought up the idea, and he put it into action. The idea behind it goes like this," He paused, ordering his thoughts, trying to stay focused. "A person picks three people. Maybe they're in the person's life, maybe not." He shrugged. "But this person does something for each person he picks." He sits on the front of his desk. "And not something little. It has to be something big." His mind wanders as he thinks of the young boy who used these exact words the year before, standing in the exact same place. "And you don't ask for anything in return. If they want to repay you, you tell them not to. But you tell them to pay it forward, and do something big for three other people." He looked up at the class. They all sat, staring at him. "So, in theory, what started with one person, goes to three, then it exponentially grows until everyone is involved." A timid hand raised into the air.

"What did Trevor do?" The child asked, unsure if he had crossed some unspoken line.

"Trevor…" Mr Simonet trailed off, thinking of the homeless man, Trevor's mother, and himself, and the wonderful things Trevor had unknowingly done for them. "Trevor did the impossible."