America 1982-Chapter 100 - 17: Honor mobilization privilege (Part one)
"We’ve frittered away enough time. It’s time to get serious and show everyone that the Fraternity is not some child’s play of house! We are brothers of true worth, ready to give our all for each other!" the new recruit director of the Fraternity, Ted, said sternly, pointing at the whiteboard next to him with a straw, speaking seriously to the dozen or so Fraternity members in front of him.
A dozen veterans looked at each other, then all turned to Ted, with one of them frowning and asking, "What happened, Ted?"
"Tommy and Jason have invoked their ’Total Mobilization Honor Privilege,’" Ted scanned his companions with a serious look, before continuing in a weaker tone, "because these two idiots, maggots, pieces of shit, didn’t finish their math homework! They don’t want any trouble from the professor, who already collected the work before class, and they still haven’t turned theirs in, but they’re working hard to finish it. We need to wait for them to complete it, and, without the professor knowing, turn their work in."
The ’Total Mobilization Honor Privilege’ of the Fraternity is a privilege that every Fraternity member has at least once. Some members, who frequently bring honor to the Fraternity, can even have two to three times. When facing troubles that they temporarily can’t deal with, they can use this privilege to request help from the Fraternity, and the Fraternity cannot refuse.
Upon hearing Ted’s words, everyone was somewhat dumbfounded; typically, this privilege was used for personal endeavors such as when someone couldn’t win over a girl they liked and hoped that the Fraternity would help, or when facing various emergencies on a date. In essence, it was always about life’s troubles—even once when someone used this privilege to be emperor for a day, and then the Fraternity members managed to cooperate cosplaying as ministers and revolutionaries, successfully staging a coup by day’s end and sending the troublemaker to the guillotine.
In short, this privilege meant you had the right to a dream day within the Fraternity, but obviously, no one had thought about using it for turning in homework.
"Although those two maggots are our new brothers, I don’t plan on kidnapping the professor for them, Ted," a veteran spoke up decisively: "This is too much. They didn’t finish their homework and now want the Fraternity to find a solution? I think we can’t let them manipulate the Fraternity into solving this for them by using their privilege; it’s cheating."
"You’re getting a bit heated, brother," Ted, noticing his companion’s intense tone, curiously inquired, "What did those two do to upset you so much that you oppose this?"
The other, glancing at his comrades’ looks of expectation, spread his hands out and said righteously, "What upsets me is that I didn’t think of using my privilege to ask for help from the Fraternity when I didn’t finish my work last time. If they don’t get punished, it will hurt me deeply."
"Good, if there are no objections, I’ll organize the action plan. First off, I need two forwards," Ted pointed to the whiteboard and addressed the crowd: "Whoever is playing forward, you can go change into your protective gear and running shoes now."
...
In the classroom, Tommy and Jason were writing frantically, with Jason whispering to Tommy as he wrote, "Are you sure the privilege will save our skins? I’m not looking forward to getting a dismissal letter and then having my old man come charging over from Mississippi with a shotgun to blow me away and have another son to inherit the family business."
At Stanford University, handing in homework late is a terrifying matter. It’s not as simple as handing it in half a day late, having a word with the professor to beg for mercy and forgiving. For instance, if you’re two minutes late, the professor might dock you two credit points for being in a bad mood, or worse, if you’re unlucky enough to encounter a professor who’s had recent unhappy domestic life, being abused or humiliated by his wife and needs to vent his rage, he might just issue you a warning letter for having an improper academic attitude. If that happens, you’re in deep trouble, as another warning letter means you have to work twice as hard as your peers to prove yourself and earn the university’s forgiveness to get that diploma.
"I’ve given Ted the action plan. If he does as I’ve instructed, there shouldn’t be any major problems," Tommy said under his breath, biting on his pen, examining the last math problem before him.
And at that moment, the bell signaling the end of the class rang!
After the professor announced the end of the class, he picked up the assignment box filled with work from the lectern and walked briskly out, while the other students, wearing numb expressions, stood up one after the other and hurried to their next classrooms.
"Hey, you two rookies, Ted said you guys need help?" said a veteran clad in football gear who had walked in from outside and greeted them.
Tommy and Jason were too busy to continue talking to him and buried their heads, speeding up to finish their respective assignments. Tommy, seeing Jason pause, snatched his homework and, along with his own, handed them over: "Run! Hurry!"
"I never thought my football training was so I could one day race a fifty-something professor!" The player took the assignments, cursed, and dashed out of the classroom.
In the corridor outside, a Fraternity member pointed at the elevator and said to the guy who had just rushed out, "The target has taken the elevator down."
"Shit!" The football player, holding the assignments in a stance like carrying a football, sprinted into the stairwell and threw the assignments down the stairs: "I couldn’t catch up, it’s on you now!"
The football player on the first floor, already ready to act, picked up the assignment and dashed out, the Fraternity member guarding the elevator on the first floor also timely reported the professor’s movements, his voice trembling slightly, "The target is heading towards the parking lot! Quick! Any later and we’ll really have to kidnap the professor for those two dummies who couldn’t finish their assignments!"
The reason why the companion spreading the news was worried was that college professors only had four to six classes a week, the rest of their time was free to use, which meant if the professor drove off, they would have no clue where he was heading next, whether he was preparing to return to his office to grade papers, go home to spend time with his family, or watch a striptease to relieve some stress.
"Pass the ball to Eric!" Ted, dressed in his football gear, walked out of the parking lot with some friends, and seeing the professor getting closer, he took a deep breath and instructed.
"Why me!" Eric caught the football tossed over by a companion, looking perplexed, "Do you guys want me to perform a body slam on the professor?"
"You were the one who brought those two maggots, Tommy and Jason, in. You’re their Big, so naturally, it’s your duty to stand up now." Ted said with an innocent look on his face.
Cursing under his breath, Eric, clutching the ball, suddenly sped up, charging forward and shouting loud, "Out of the way! Stanford’s best quarterback is coming through!"
Ted and the others chased after him frantically, looking like a group of football players on their way to a match, with a warm-up skit happening on the side.
When the professor heard Eric’s shout, he obediently stepped to the side, even admiring these students’ vitality, which filled Stanford with vitality.
Next second, Eric charged at him, shoulder bashing into the professor’s box of assignments! Fortunately, he held back some strength, the professor only stumbled, but the box of assignments he was holding was knocked into the air, the papers scattered all over the ground!
The accomplice holding Tommy and Jason’s assignments was the first to run over, tossing their work among the other papers as the professor was still in shock.
The others also gathered around, expressing concern for the professor and helpfully picking up the assignments from the ground, while taking the opportunity to insult Eric with various nasty words. The startled professor, confronted by over a dozen robust youths, ultimately chose not to get angry but merely accepted the collected assignments with a grim face, sizing up Eric, the main culprit:
"What’s your name?"
"Eric Bell." Eric hung his head, showing a posture willing to learn, "Professor, I can accompany you to the medical office for a check-up. I’m very sorry for startling you with my rash behavior just now."
"No need, Eric, I forgive you. You’re lucky you’re not taking my class, or I’d make sure you had no more time to play football," the professor said, taking his reorganized box of assignments and proudly heading towards the parking lot.
Once the professor was far enough away, Ted turned to Eric, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, thankful for dodging a bullet, and said, "Guess who the professor will suspect first if he reaches his car and finds all four tires are flat?"
"Why? Who did it?" A look of despair crossed Eric’s face as he heard Ted’s words.
Ted patted Eric on the shoulder, "For safety, to buy time. Tommy’s idea."
"That idiot better not show his face around me for a couple of weeks," Eric grumbled.
Witnessing everything from the classroom windowsill, Tommy said to Jason, "Your old man probably won’t need to have another kid this time, but it’s hard to say, because before you can bring glory to the Fraternity with your beer chugging and my ping-pong playing, from now on all assignments have to be done on your own. Better not have any more accidents like this."
"If only college assignments and exams were as easy as chugging beer," Jason sighed with relief, looking out the window at the retreating figures of his Fraternity brothers and mused.
"There’s only one S in Superman, but elite students need to score three S’s, which means we’re even more awesome than Superman." Tommy patted his shoulder, heading out of the classroom, "I need to do something, end this kind of life as soon as possible."
