One Semester. - 13. Chapter 13

One Semester.

“I knew we shouldn't have gone away. Somehow I'll have to fit five extra days work in the next two weeks.”

Joel didn't really mean it. The Melanesia trip had been just too good and he'd never forget it.

“What's happened?”

“Ken Parker dumped an extra test on us for two weeks from now, we have to finish our technical demonstrations Project before semester break instead of after, and worst of all we have to do the Cisco finals all over again because so many people cheated.”

“Everyone has to it? Even if you didn't cheat?”

“Nearly half the group did. They reckon it's a subject that shouldn't be part of the course because networking stuff's not about web design. They think we shouldn't have to do it”

“Half? Crikey! No wonder they got caught.”

“We think Tina dobbed them in.”

“Who's Tina?”

“She's a mature age student.”

“Why her?”

“Well we know it's not Sam or Phillip or me, so that only leaves five or six it could be and Tina was telling a few of them off for being cheats.”

“The lecturer might have found found out himself.”

“That's what Phillip thinks, but some of the group were giving her dirty looks.”

“Sounds like a kangaroo court.... But how did you find out about repeating the finals? You don't have Cisco till Friday.”

“The head of the department interrupted lectures. He was mad as a snake.”

“Whoo! Heavy! But you'll get through easily.”

“Not really. It's the whole semester's work and I want to get a high distinction again so it'll take hours to remember all those details.”

“I'll go through with you but you already know it better than me.”

“No way. You've got too much of your own.”

“Yeah, and Martin's in a panic about Java because it might affect his overall results so we're having a two-day session on it this weekend.”

“All weekend? Sheba! Why's he in a panic though? You always say he's doing well.”

“When our Semester results get posted in the break he's counting on distinctions for everything and he's worried his Java programming might let him down.”

“You have to wait till the break? We get the results of all our assignments and tests pretty much as soon as we finish them. Is it different for Second Years?”

“No. It's the same. You won't know your official result till the second week. The Head of Department talks about you and your results with all your lecturers before they make your official gradings.”

This was new to Joel.

“The second week? That's going to spoil the first week while I wonder if they're changing anything.”

“Boofhead! You're as bad as Martin. You already know you've aced everything. Did you talk to Phillip about Melanesia?”

“All lunchtime.”

“What did he say about Sam and Craig?”

“He loves it that Sam's found a friend of his own but he's laughing because Sam showed him photos he took when they were fishing.”

“What's funny about that?”

“There were two photos of the fish and thirty of Craig and him. Phillip laughs because Sam calls them the fishing photos.”

“Typical Sam.... He sure moved quick with Craig. What about the other photos? Has Phillip had a look at them yet?”

“Yes. He said they made him wish he'd been with us. He reckons they're great and he's getting copies for us after he's fiddled with them.”

“Fiddled? What's that supposed to mean?”

“I know. I wondered too. He says he uses Photoshop to tweak them.”

Peter nodded, but went back to the topic of Sam.

“Did he say anything about Sam inviting Craig on their trip?”

“Yeah, he's really pleased Sam had enough confidence to do that. He was curious what the rest of us thought about Craig.”

“Gods! I'll bet he was.... Imagine having a complete stranger dumped on you like that.”

Joel burst into laughter and Peter stared in puzzlement.

“Peter, you dork. That's exactly what you did to Martin when we went to the beach the first time.”

“No I didn't. I knew he'd like you and you'd already met him.”

“Met him?... For fifteen minutes in the laundry? That's the pot calling the kettle black if ever I heard it.”

“So I'm a pot am I?”

“Yes, you're a pot.”

“Wanna see my handle?”

“Idiot.”

“Well you can't. You have to study instead.

***

“Serves them right. I don't know why he didn't kick them out.”

Joel agreed with Phillip. They'd just come out of the repeat Cisco finals where two guys had been caught cheating again. This time it hadn't affected everyone else, thank goodness, and the lecturer made them restart their exam at isolated computers with none of their gear near them.

“How did you go, Sam? You're looking pretty happy.”

“I am. I got 89.”

“Wow! You made it.”

“Only because of the slave driver.”

He was referring to Phillip of course. There'd been a running commentary over the last two weeks about the jailer and bully, cruelly forcing hours and hours of study, sometimes even holding off on fun times till enough work had been done. It had certainly paid off though as Sam's previous score was 82, just below the 85 needed for a high distinction.

Phillip was as pleased as Sam.

“Well, we knew you could do it didn't we? And we'll do the same for VBScript, starting tonight.”

“Tonight? I'm the boss and I say were celebrating.”

“You're not the boss till 10 PM.”

Joel wondered at the quick look that passed between them.

“How are you celebrating?”

“I'm not sure. Sam's in charge of that.”

There was a vigorous nod and a rather cheeky wink from Sam.

“Ah. ...Right. ...How about coming back to 42 and working on VBScript together? Peter showed me a couple of the tricky examples in the practice tests.”

Phillip protested that they'd be using up too much of Joel's study time but Sam was eager. Joel was keen too, because getting across the ideas helped make them clearer in his own mind, and after a couple of hours of concentrated work they all felt pleased. A training swim followed and Joel had to put in a real effort to stay ahead. Sam's training was really paying off.

***

“I reckon he's stronger than you now, Peter.”

“He'd better not be. I'll mangle him if he is.”

“You'll have to mangle Phillip then. He's the one who keeps him motivated.”

Joel and Peter were having one of their discussions about Sam.

“You do too. He's still got the hots for you.”

“Ha... Well guess what he did this afternoon after we'd finished our swim?”

“Tried to grab the hot-dog?”

“Not today. There were other people in the change room. I nearly fell over with shock though, because he's loaning us his car for the first two weeks of semester break.”

Peter stared.

“For real? ...It must be a joke.”

“It's for real and I didn't believe it either. Sam says he doesn't need it because they're using Phillip's ute for their trip.”

“Wow! This is a first. Did Phillip talk him into it?”

“No, he was really surprised too, but he's pleased about it. We're getting the car on the last day of semester so we can drive home in the afternoon instead of having to wait over the weekend.”

“Are we both allowed to drive it?”

“No, just me.”

The end of chapter 13.