Finally, it was the last day of high school.
Ever since that fateful weekend, and the little interaction he'd had with Gina in her office, James had been counting down to this final day.
He had to admit that it was getting harder and harder to ignore or even turn down the random offers he was getting from some of the cheerleaders.
Apparently, and he had heard this some of the jocks, after he had ignored the first few phone numbers, some of the more adventurous girls had gotten a pool together, and the first one to sleep with him would win it all.
With the final day of school right around the corner, the stakes had risen, and he had been on the receiving end of some really outlandish propositions.
For example, there was the cheerleader who had cornered him at a quiet corridor before removing a tiny black thong and presenting it to him. Another had openly groped him and asked if he wanted to go find an empty classroom with a lewd wink.
James thought these things only happened in movies and people's sordid imaginations. Who could have foreseen this happening to him, of all people?
---
After class had ended, James made his way to each of his teacher's offices, keeping Gina's for last.
When the doors were opened, James had poked his head in and thanked each teacher for their time and efforts.
When the doors were closed, James had knocked and waited for a response. If the teacher was in, he would repeat the ritual. If there was no response, he would wait for a couple of minutes before moving to the next office.
When he reached Mr Lee's office, he had stepped in and had a quick chat to thank him again for adjusting the rules of the gamble on the fly. Despite being cheated out of the hundred dollars, the single dollar he had won, had quite literally, changed his life.
James was truly grateful.
He had thought about it, and without that dollar, he might not have been able to unlock the system. Without the system, he would probably have avoided Phil's game, and would have been in the safe room when it was breached. If that happened, who knew what would have happened to him then.
Each of the teachers had shown the requisite, polite amount of surprised gratitude at receiving his greetings.
Of course, James wasn't a model student, and he wasn't doing this purely out of the goodness of his heart. It provided a good excuse for him to find Gina, and not be suspicious while doing so.
Even the quick chat with Mr Lee had given him a precedent to be inside a teacher's office for an amount of time.
Finally, he was done with everyone else.
James traversed the few short steps between the last office and Gina's office. Her door was closed.
James knocked on the door.
A few heartbeats later, the door opened, and Gina, dressed in her usual dress shirt and pants, a sight for sore eyes, was in front of him.
"Oh hi James, what I can do for you?" Gina asked casually.
"Hi Ms Chung, I'd just like to say thank you for your efforts in teaching me this year. I also had a few quick questions to follow up on our previous conversation about college, and was wondering if you could spare a few minutes?" James had rehearsed this spiel only about a thousand times. The delivery was perfect.
Gina's eyes twinkled. With the last day of class over, their relationship was no longer bound by the strict teacher-student norms. She had also observed some of the less benign attempts by his classmates, and had been privately gratified when he had stayed the course.
"Oh sure, please come in." Gina said, before stepping aside to let James in.
Once James was safely in her office, Gina took a quick glance down the corridor. Empty.
Most of the other students were probably out getting an early start on graduation festivities. Almost none would take the effort to come and pay their respects to the teachers.
Gina shut the door and turned back to look at James.
James had a hungry look in his eyes. He'd played this exact scenario over and over in his mind over the last few weeks, and was eagerly anticipating what would happen next.
Gina walked over to James before bending over... and giving him a quick, chaste kiss on the cheek.
---
James was stunned into silence.
After two months of arduous torture, staying pure in the face of temptation, he got a kiss on the cheek?
Gina must have seen some of the expressions make their way onto James' face as she laughed a little at his disappointment.
"Unless you're just looking for a quick roll in the hay, let's do this right James." Gina explained.
"Do it right?" James asked before hurriedly explaining, "I'm not just looking to get laid. I think I could have done that with any number of random suitors any time in the last two months. I think you're special, I was just surprised."
"Yes James. Take me out on a date first." Gina said, "Don't worry, I know your financial situation still isn't the best. I'll pay for it. But take me out first?"
"Of course! I'm sorry Ms Chung, I should have thought of that." James said contritely.
"Now that you've finally graduated, it's Gina, please."
"However... I have to grade a bunch of final papers for the other years before I can shut down for the school year." Gina continued before suggesting, "How about we do it in a week? I'll give you my address and phone number, and we can set up a time next week. We can meet at my place."
James was inwardly excited. A phone number AND an address? This was serious. He took down her information into his new phone and sent a text message to confirm that he had the right number.
"Got your message James. Alright, get out of here and enjoy the week. I'll see you next week, it's a date."
Gina sent James out of the office with another quick smooch, only this time on the lips.
---
As James walked out of school and was preparing to call for a driver, he found Phil waiting for him on the steps.
"Hey man, where have you been? Did you disappear for some nookie in one of the classrooms or something? I've been waiting for you for a while now." Phil asked.
"Ah... no Phil. I was just talking with some of the teachers about college. My grades aren't great, so I don't know what I'm going to do." James thought back to the excuse that Gina had given him.
"Oh, don't worry about that man. You're on my team. Here, I'll get you into the local university. That's where I'm going too." Phil answered casually.
"I thought you were going to Harvard, Phil." James asked cautiously
"Oh yeah, it's too far away. Who wants to spend four years with a bunch of nerds. I'll go there for an MBA or something." Phil said dismissively.
The truth was, he had been instructed to continue his assignment with James and keep a close eye on him. He had been left with no choice.
"Cool. Thanks Phil, it'll be great to have a friend there." James answered gratefully even as the lingering sparks of suspicion fanned into flames.
"Yeah man, we're friends! Hey, it's pretty far from my place to the campus. You don't have a driver's license right?"
"No Phil. I never had the time or money to learn."
"It's cool. That's what I guessed. Here, catch."
James caught a card that Phil had tossed in his direction. Looking down at it, he saw that it was a driver's license with his photo on it. It looked just like what he could have gotten if he had taken the test, with two tiny exceptions.
First, his date of birth had been moved back three years, meaning that the license showed he was just above twenty-one. Second, the name on the driver's license was Sanjay.
"Sorry for the delay, but this will be useful for more things than online poker. One more thing. Heads up!" Phil smiled as he tossed a set of keys towards James.
James caught them with surprise. It was the keys to Phil's BMW.
"I can't Phil, I'm going to crash your car if I try." James apologized.
"No dude, first, it's your car now. I just bought me a brand new, loaded 911. That's what I call a real car." Phil boasted, "Oh yeah, and second, there's an instructor waiting for you in the Beemer. Go learn how to drive. We'll have lots to do this summer."
"I don't know how to accept this Phil. This is a lot..." James started.
"James mate, first, you're one of my guys. I have to take care of my guys, or they won't be my guys any more. Second, like you said, friends right. Third, it's not really much to me, so don't worry about it." Phil reassured James.
Inside his head, Phil was celebrating at being acknowledged as a friend. It was a huge step towards the completion of his mission, and all it had cost him was an hour and an old piece-of-junk car that he couldn't be caught dead in driving to college.
"If you're sure... thanks Phil. This is the nicest thing anyone has done for me." The flames of suspicion had died down somewhat, but they were still burning.
James didn't truly think that Phil had a heart of gold. He would have to pay Phil back for this eventually, and probably not in a monetary fashion. James thought back to the night where he was worried about being "staked" and perspired a little inside. Anything but that.
"Yeah man. Don't worry. Like I said, we've got lots to do this summer. You can start pulling your weight then. Alright, I'm going to Monte Carlo for about a month, I'll find you when I'm back and we can talk." Phil confirmed James' suspicions a little before swaggering off towards a small crowd surrounding his new 911.
With one last glance at Phil deciding which of the hanger-ons to give a ride to, and perhaps ride later, James set off in search of his new car.