‘A’ For Effort, End.

January 8, 2011 5:03 pm Sir Haxington Stories

Locked away somewhere on a remote computer connected to the Internet, was a text file.

LadyCubs.

LadyCubs?

“Yeah, Lady Cubs.”

—

So there it was, the password existing in a text document on Mr. Robertson’s computer, waiting to be displayed on screen and gazed upon by one, maybe two students. But those students still had an entire day of classes to sit through before they could dig up their treasure. At any point during the day, they could be called into the principals office. Caught. Punished. It would all be over. Their futures dashed “Just to see if they could do it.”

Every bell was hell that day. Every announcement over the PA could mean expulsion. Anyone who walked through the door in a less than ordinary manner could have meant they were about to be escorted from class. Anyone who seemed ‘off’ or who wasn’t in on the mission to begin with fell under the eye of extreme scrutiny.

“Who wants to know?” became the slogan of the day.

As every bell rang and as every student and teacher crossed through door frame after door frame, their levels of hope increased. Light at the end of the tunnel. Eventually, the final bell rang and no one had apprehended them.

They knew it was time. Time to finish the job once and for all. Time to finish what they started. Time to change their course in history, forever.

—

Getting into the room was easy. They’d done it multiple times. They could even get a little careless this time around. They knew the patterns of where people would be, what major problems might spring up, and they knew how to handle those problems. They had backup plans for their contingency plans, not something many people did well, or at all at their age. All the bases were covered. Nothing could go wrong now.

Getting into the machine was easy too. Without any evidence on the machine besides the password on an obscure and well hidden text file, and no disk on them, they could claim they were playing a practical joke. Or even downloading a game! Or downloading something to their TI-83 calculator! They could change their story ten times on the fly and still walk out of there. They simply needed to delete the file storing the password.

Oh, and they had to uninstall the key-logger. A minor detail they had practiced numerous times. No problem.

The computer was on with the flick of a few switches and one too many long pauses. He went straight to the file and opened it. Plain text.

‘LadyCubs’

Really. LadyCubs? The school mascot? Ohhhhhhhkaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy…

Brian wrote it down on a scrap of paper. They wanted no digital evidence on their person if they were to be caught at this point. Transfer to analogue seemed completely safe.

Yes, Brian was with him on this final run. Brian was a good guy after all, and he wanted to prove he was in it to win it with his boys. No more freak-outs. He could hang.

He looked on as Brian scribbled. Good feelings began to sank in. The final phase was near completion. He could feel it. It was all going to work out. They managed to turn the tides of fairness back in their direction and get away with it. And most importantly, no one would get hurt in the process.

One last thing left to do. Yep. Change the grades.

But to what? No one knew exactly what do put into the grading software. How far to go. Surely, if they all shot up to 100%, Mr. Robertson would take notice. What could they say then? No, it had to be less obvious.

He already knew what he wanted. A simple one-third positive grade shift was all he needed. He felt it was a just reward for hacking the computer system and getting away with it. Plus, the shift seemed fair enough for all the crap in dealing with a terrible teacher who didn’t give a damn about his future. Someone wise once told him to always look out for number one and he was doing just that.

However, the other members of the posse had different ideas.

Kyle wanted a full grade bump. This seemed far out of the question to everyone except Kyle. This also caused a last minute rift in their plans. It was possible their scheme could still go up in flames after all they had done.

“Look man, that puts your in the +100% range. That’s crazy. Everyone will be at risk.”

After talking Kyle down off his grade altering ledge, he eventually compromised a little. Not much, but enough to keep his salutatorian status. After all, this wasn’t about being a valedictorian here. Who cares that much about number two? Who will really notice?

Kyle wanted the largest grade increase and therefore put the success of the entire operation at risk. By taking such selfish actions, Kyle did exactly what was expected of him. The other three had planned for this scenario as well.

And thus, the Kyle Contingency was born.

Much like the cards stacked and glued together on Chris’ desk in his bedroom, there was no reason for their plan to fall. At least, not for all of them. “Every man for himself” from here on out guaranteed individual success and everyone knew it. As real as calling “shotgun” or the dreaded double dog dare, once the grade bump occurred, whoever got caught first would have to take the whole fall. Alone.

Kyle was down for it, although he managed to get out of going near the classroom one last time. At first there were protests. Why should Brian take the highest risk and not have to be present? But, the other three knew having too many people around would only increase their failure potential, and Brian really wanted to prove himself to everyone. He, Chris and Brian were all they needed. Kyle had done enough getting them the key to the room anyway.

The grading software was open. He looked out the window and watched Chris’ legs go back and fourth outside of the window, guarding the building exterior. He then turned back to the monitor and gave himself his one-third bump by scaling most values a tiny amount across various homework and lab assignments. He stayed away from raising test scores. He didn’t even need bother. Raising the grade one-third required changing very few values to begin with. Raising test scores and quizzes seemed risky and something Mr. Robertson might notice.

Kyle had his ever-so important awarding winning status cemented in time, but was not given a full grade bump just as they had agreed upon beforehand.

Brian had nothing changed because he wasn’t even in the class.

Chris broke out of the C range and into the B range. He went from a C+ to a B to be precise. A questionable decision to cross over into letter changing territory, especially given the encounter with Mr. Roberston regarding homework earlier in the year. Everyone thought Mr. Robertson was watching Chris like a hawk. However, the weight of the Kyle Contingency didn’t phase him for a second. He was practically thrilled at the opportunity of possibly getting  to exercise the Kyle Contingency and engaging Mr. Robertson face to face once more.

And just like that it was over. Password file deleted. Program uninstalled. All traces removed. They even bothered scratching out the password on the paper because it was so laughably easy to take to memory. Why even bother with written evidence? Locked away forever in their head, it would be impossible to get caught now, unless they were caught breaking in again. They never did.

They came in the way they came out, like they always had. No sense in breaking tradition.

—

He opened the door with a warm feeling beaming over him. His body was tingly and numb. He was giddy and gleeful all at once. Relief.

But this time things were different. The plan hadn’t gone exactly how he wanted. Unexpected result.

Mrs. Henley was standing only a few feet from the door. They were equally shocked to see one another.

A short burst of thoughts flew into his head. Questions that needed immediate responses or he could be sunk.

Ask them all and answer them all. No. Unnecessary. You’ll brain-freeze. Use your backup plan. Trust it. You’ve planned it all out. Be cool. You should have made Kyle come along this time. He could have been watching the hallway. How long had she been there? Did she know everything? Was it just a chance encounter that she was there? Find the backup plan. Ah, there it was. The coat. The coat slung over your arm. Calm. You can do this.

“See if I sling it over my arm it looks like I just picked it up. It looks real. Like I actually just picked it up. Wearing it would be too obvious. It’s more believable! Over my arm!”

Yes, a backup plan of his own design. No one really trusted it would work as he explained it though. They looked at him like he was an escaped mental patient. The plan was terrible and could backfire horribly in multiple ways. He didn’t get what the big deal was as he explained it to the other three in Brian’s room.

He now saw the big deal right in front of him.

What if they were right? What if this won’t work? She could say anything right now! Anything and I’d stutter! She’d pick up on my nervousness! It’d all be over. She’d catch me in my lie! Ughhhhhhhhhheeerrrrrr….

One last challenge. He could do this. He stuck to his guns.

“And what were you doing in there?”

His answer sprung forth without a second thought.

“Coat! Had to get my coat.”

He said it in the most suspicious way possible. Nerves began to sink in. No. He had it. Fight it.

He raised up his coat arm. He was never a good liar but the body language sold it.

“You know you’re not supposed to be in there.”

“Yeah, but I had to get my coat! Plus it wasn’t locked!”

Just enough sauce. Perfect. A digestible lie. Good to place the blame elsewhere. Keep her on the defensive.  He waited for a response intently. The situation could go either way.

“Alright, well ask a teacher next time you need in there.”

He was home free. He could sense it.

“I would have asked Mr. Robertson! He’s down below coaching though…”

He let the sentence hang for a bit. He knew he had her. She took the bait of guilt.

“I know, I know…”

Cutting her off mid-sentence was the coup de grace. He controlled the conversation at this point. She swallowed the coat story hook, line and sinker. He practically danced through the door frame.

“I’m going to miss my ride, they’re waiting for me! I gotta go! Sorry!”

He brushed past her and walked through rest of the floor. He pressed the giant metal bar on the door and exited the dark hallway out into the early evening sun. It was warm out. It felt nice.

Operation complete. Mission success.

—

Now you may be asking yourself, why didn’t they access the machine remotely? You said it was connected to the Internet! The answer?

“Because that wouldn’t be as fun!”

All four parts of ‘A’ For Effort can be access here, in one convenient place.