Ditch Day is the annual event where seniors in Winfield Phillips's pattern magic department vanish—possibly literally—and leave behind magical puzzles and challenges in their rooms. The remaining students form teams and try to solve the challenges, called "stacks." You were impressed by the idea until Manish looked it up on Yahoo! and discovered that Winfield Phillips stole it from Caltech.
You, Darcy, and Manish teamed up, of course. You took charge of the team, determined to impress the faculty and upper-class students by how quickly you solved a stack.
"I don't think we should break into a professor's office, are you mad?" you say.
"If it's impossible, we'll do something else," Manish says. Of course, all that does is make you determined to figure out how it is possible.