Working On the Weekend

Chapter 2: The Last Supper

TUESDAY - 2045

On the University of West Wood's campus, two best friends are prying open a window at the back of the principal's office.
Usually, students don't get away with antics like this so it's a good thing that they're not –

The professors are doing it instead.
Professor Curtis Stevenson stands on his co-worker's shoulders as he tries to pick the lock with a knife.

"What even is tuition?" Curtis asks as he looks directly forward, staring at the woodland through the fence. His co-worker, Keith Williams uses him as a makeshift ladder standing on Curtis' shoulders facing the opposite way.

"Do you want a definition, or do you already know?" Keith Williams, Professor of Creative Writing answers as he shimmies the tool between the latch.

From where they stand, behind the principal's office which is at the front of the school, In the distance, Curtis can see most of the school's black gate between the red brick walls that separate the campus from the rest of the world. The guard booth is completely shielded by a massive oak tree whose branches rest on top of the towering 15-foot wall.

Curtis starts, "Tuition isn't an expense, it's just a word they hide money behind. Each course is about 2,000 dollars. Professors are paid about not enough. There are more than 4,000 students who take several courses. Can't say the money is for fixing stuff cause you're the one fixing stuff."

Usually when something isn't working right, Keith is the one they call- whether to fix a leaky tap or there's a printer malfunction or maybe there's another issue that he is totally not qualified to fix but does it anyway.

Curtis continues, "If they said Exam fees, I'd understand cause they spend money on the paper and labour. Therefore, expense."

"What about registration fees?" Keith spurs on his friend's rant. Back in Curtis' college days, he scored a Bachelor's in Accounting, became an accountant soon after, got fired, then landed a job back at his old college, West Wood University, as – you guessed it – a Professor in Theatre Arts.

"Scam." Curtis starts, "That's just there to weed out who has money and who doesn't... Hey, do you ever wonder how school started? Like the first school ever?"

"No, not really." Keith admits as he jiggles the knife between the window's lock.

"School is a business which means they would have to advertise it." Curtis breathes a laugh, "Can you imagine that?" He begins to imitate one of those people who voices over infomercials, "Are you unsure what to do with your life?
Are you tired of your parents nagging you?
Do you have thousands of dollars lying around?"

Keith adds, retracting his knife from the crevice. "This unique simulation of the outside world will lengthen your days and shorten your life, so you won't have to."

Curtis exclaims, "Make your parents proud!" He feigns a cough and adds quickly, "Limited time only. Dormitories sold separately."

As Curtis and Keith converse, two students are wheeling a keg around the corner on a trolley they borrowed from the school's stock room. Beforehand, they mapped out the principal's usual route around the school. There are certain areas the principal visits more than once during the day, and today they have to account for the meeting in one of the lecture halls.

The staff room along with the principal's office, the vice principal's office, school psychologist's office and a teacher's restroom are all located in the reception building. There are two exits to the reception building, Exit #2 stands a few feet away from the staff room and lets out to the rest of the school.
Exit #1, the main exit, is a few doors down a shallow hallway that passes all the offices and the washroom and points to the open area where all visitors have to do is look to the left to be greeted by the building with the wide steps.