America 1982-Chapter 52 - 10: The Reluctant Principal
Just as he returned to Warwick City, standing outside the main entrance of Lincoln High School, Tommy Hawk issued his latest action instructions to his two closest buddies.
Seeing the principal, vice-principal, and dean, who seemed almost ready to sprint out of the academic building to greet them, Tommy Hawk said:
"History has taught us that without the Princeton incident, they would never bow and scrape to welcome us back to school with the enthusiasm they’re showing for Lincoln."
"Tommy~" Ottelia reminded him from the side.
Ignoring the beautiful teacher’s reminder, Tommy continued, "So, prepare for the worst. Even without Princeton, even without support, we’re still going to run this summer camp."
After he finished speaking, he tossed his pre-prepared supply list to Dennis:
"Dennis, you’re in charge of securing the basics for fundraising—textbooks, sports equipment, those sorts of things. Use your local high school connections and charm. I just want to see the final numbers! Don’t tell me you can’t do it. Mr. American Youth Leader, Honorary Citizen of Saint Vincent, and Chief of Saint Vincent National Police, sir! And a reminder for you, you’re doing all this without any financial support! These are the essentials that need to be prepared even if there are no business opportunities knocking."
"Are you sure? I even see you want a damn one hundred twenty American high school textbooks!" Dennis took the list, glanced over the dense requirements, and said to Tommy, "This isn’t possible for a high schooler to manage! Do you know how expensive one textbook can be? More expensive than a damn bag of hay!"
"Then forget you’re a high schooler and use your brain, displaying the unique wisdom of the American youth leader praised by Prime Minister Madoff!" Tommy didn’t even look at Dennis as he turned to Pam.
Dennis flipped Tommy the middle finger, cursed under his breath, and left with the list, not bothering to enter the school.
Pam was still poring over pictures of Carly. Honestly, Tommy thought Carly might be just settling—maybe she hadn’t seen a white high school boy in too long, which is why she became friends with a nerd like Pam, who got no attention from girls in American high schools.
"Pam! Stop drooling over Carly’s photos! Grab the ones we took earlier and the documentary footage. I don’t care if you have no clue about photography techniques or design, but the school has related clubs. Find a way to get them to help you, whether you have to flirt or do whatever it takes. I need to see a promotional page and a short promotional video as soon as possible. I’ll provide you with the text content later. And you’re luckier than Dennis; you have a whopping fifty dollars of funding!" Tommy Hawk patted Pam’s shoulder, snatched the photo of Carly from his hands, and said loudly:
"You’d better get it done; otherwise, I’ll become your rival in love. I’ll woo Carly and then send some cozy photos of us together to you, my dear friend, for your tearful appreciation!"
Pam snatched the photo back, cursing repeatedly, "Of course! F*ck you, Tommy! To keep Carly out of your damn hands, I’ll do whatever it takes."
Then he looked up at the approaching trio of school officials and headed down a side path towards the school campus, seemingly in the direction of the photography club.
"That’s right! Get it done. Protect your Carly, or I’ll definitely take an interest in telling Carly how Dennis’s chest became so swollen! Convince her that you and Dennis are a couple of gays! Then join me in tearfully wishing you and Dennis happiness in the same bed!" Tommy called out from behind Pam.
Once Pam had left, Tommy Hawk turned to the nearby trio of school officials and said to Ottelia beside him:
"I bet they’ll pretend they didn’t hear a word I just said."
Sure enough, after covering the last few meters, Principal Mendes greeted them with a warm smile, saying, "Miss Farrell, Tommy Hawk, we’re delighted to see you return safely. Moreover, we have a surprise for you."
...
"You let Saint Cross High School and several others more prestigious than ours know about this? That’s the surprise? I thought you might give us a checkbook worth five thousand or even ten thousand dollars." Inside the principal’s office, Tommy Hawk stared blankly at his own high school principal, Mr. Mendes, who tried to maintain a serious and dignified air but couldn’t help but smile at the corners of his mouth.
The principal completely ignored the latter part of Tommy’s remark about financial support and only responded to his first question:
"Actually, not just that. I also called the high schools that once partook in exchange competitions with us and humiliated us with a huge defeat, with no display of gentlemanly spirit. I told them that a Princeton University professor is coming to our Lincoln High School summer camp. Guess what, they sounded just like me when I was humiliated back then."
"But we haven’t contacted Princeton yet and don’t know if they’ll even look at our plan or manage to attend." Tommy frowned, somewhat puzzled.
The principal hesitated for a moment, then answered in a lowered voice, "Kid, that’s exactly the problem. After calming down, I thought long and hard and figured if I wasn’t crazy, then that unnamed Princeton professor must be. To avoid getting our hopes up for nothing, I decided to call and get back at those guys first. After all, they humiliated me dearly with their scores. So, even if the Princeton professor doesn’t show up, we won’t be left with nothing."
