Volume 2: Knocking on Heaven's Door Chapter 53 Welcome Everyone
"When doing business, you have to adopt a business attitude. I don't care how much money the Princeton professors who are willing to attend will take in the end, Mr. President, but including the donation to the school, I can only give 20%. I am very grateful for the school's small support for our students' entrepreneurship, but this is the amount of material thanks. Yes, 20%." Tommy Hawke sat in the principal's office and looked at the principal, Mr. Mendes, behind the desk with a serious expression.
Mendes took off his glasses, slowly stood up from behind his desk, walked to the window to look at the scenery, then slowly pulled down the blinds, walked to Tommy Hawke, took out a pack of Marlboro cigarettes from his suit pocket, put one in his mouth and fumbled in his pocket: "Twenty percent, Grandet should learn how to do business from you, lend me a light, kid."
Tommy Hawke took out a lighter and helped the principal light it. "I'd like to make it clear in advance, Mr. Mendez, that I picked up the lighter on the road and was about to give it to the teacher."
"Thank you on behalf of the convenience store owner for returning the lost property, kid." Mr. Mendes took a puff of his cigarette, walked back to his desk and sat down again:
"Forty percent. Otherwise, I will use the excuse that you took away the school's sports equipment without proper approval to stop the club's activities. I know it was Dennis who did it, but that's not important, right? The administration department has counted that nearly two hundred high school students have asked about payment methods, and the number is still increasing. A week-long summer camp at Cambridge University in the UK is only priced at 1,500 dollars! And you just took them to a country place in the Caribbean where there's not even a TV station to live for a week, and you quoted a high price of 999 dollars."
Tommy Hawke played with his lighter. "You were a very tall figure in my mind before, Mr. Mendes. You surprised me. I think you'd better not destroy your great image in my mind."
Mendes spread his hands. "Because I don't know whether the professors at Princeton will want a share, and how much that share will be. If they want too much, you can't let the school bear it. This is a public high school, not a wealthy private school. The school supports students to do some business within their ability and increase their social and business experience, but the school does not want to become a loser. Besides, your donation of 40% will make me happy and forget what those bad boys did before."
"Thirty-five percent," Tommy Hawke said.
Mendes nodded and did not refuse: "If it is 35%, I will replace Miss Farrell with Mr. McDyess, a tutor whose image, gender and personality are exactly the opposite of Miss Farrell. Mr. McDyess is experienced, after all, Miss Farrell has just started working, and she..."
"You really know how to do business, Mr. Mendes. 40%, deal. I don't need the expressionless Mr. McDyess to guide me. Let the school's legal advisor draw up the contract. The extra half of the profit will be considered as payment for my own eyesight." Tommy Hawke interrupted the other party and spoke.
Mendes smiled with satisfaction, raised his cigarette box and gestured to Tommy, "Of course, Tommy, the school will provide all-round support. Good, how about one?"
"Okay." Tommy stared at his principal suspiciously, then slowly stood up and took the cigarette box from him.
Mendes took it back just before Tommy was about to touch it: "Sorry, I forgot that I lit the last one, but I guess you have a box of found cigarettes in your pocket?"
"If you were in politics, I would definitely vote for you, Mr. Mendez. Giving cigarettes to students and witnessing someone smoking a cigarette have different consequences for these two complaints, right?"
"Since you might be dissatisfied with me, I have to be on guard. If I really give you cigarettes, you will complain about me, which will not be worth the loss." Mendes smiled cunningly: "So how many sessions will this summer camp hold?"
"According to the current plan, there will be four sessions, one every two weeks, and sixty people in each session. We plan to stop after recruiting two hundred and forty people, because I think that country should have been harmed enough by more than two hundred American high school students." Tommy Hawke sat back depressedly and spoke.
"Seize the opportunity, Tommy. This is the best moment for Lincoln High School and you." Mr. Mendez encouraged Tommy. "By the way, why haven't I seen Dennis and Pam these past two days?"
Tommy Hawke exhaled, "I was worried that the school would raise fees temporarily , so I thought about making back the money in advance. I asked them to take Dennis's mother, Mrs. Herbers, and my brother's girlfriend, Ashley, to St. Vincent to open a fast food restaurant and small supermarket that was only open for two months. The prices were twice as much as in the United States."
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"Kevin Knipfen! Shouldn't you be going to Princeton, Harvard, Columbia or somewhere like that with a full scholarship? Why are you here like a loser like me?" Frank Grillo pushed two large suitcases that his mother had helped him prepare, plus a travel bag that covered his entire back, and walked to the previously determined gathering place, the Lincoln High School Garden Square . Then he saw a familiar figure that had appeared in his dreams countless times, standing there admiring the scenery.
Kevin Knipfen turned around, with some surprise in his eyes, but his tone was not friendly to the opponent he had eliminated from the state league: "Stay away from me, Frank, don't force me to end you again."
"I heard that you had a problem with your waist and your coach forced you to retire. You even had to temporarily switch to other sports if you wanted to go to college. Are you sure you can still defeat me?" Frank's eyes and tone were full of sarcasm.
"Do you want to try it?" Kevin heard the taunting and walked towards Frank.
Frank threw away his backpack and walked over fearlessly: "Of course."
"You two, can you postpone the fight for two minutes? I want to make some pocket money by gambling. Of course, I'll give you a share." David Schaeffer, who came hurriedly, pushed his glasses on his nose, walked over with sincerity on his face, and said, "I used to do this kind of thing in Georgia before. I have experience, but the players before were all black people with no skills, so they were not well-known."
Katherine Nantingting, wearing a black dress, appeared with her arms folded. She looked at the two people who were about to fight, with disdain on her face: "I never thought that a sports student with a brain full of muscles would also participate in this kind of summer camp. The flyer says words like international strategy and future development. Are you sure that a sports student can understand these?"
The two wrestlers turned around and glared at the girl who had spoken rudely. Kevin said coldly, "I advise you to contact a dentist before you speak again, miss."
"Hi, everyone. I'm Zoe Winters. Nice to meet you all." Zoe Winters, who is a model of a lady, walked over gracefully, gently shook her palm, and smiled sweetly to everyone: "Are you all my companions who came to participate in the summer camp? This feels great."
"Ladies, are you interested in placing a bet?" David Shaffer looked at the two girls and said, "Wrestling agent David Shaffer is here to serve you."
"That guy has a better chance of winning." Chris Ferguson, who was wearing a cowboy hat, pressed the brim of his hat with his fingers, tilted his head in Kevin's direction, and said in an affirmative tone.
Frank looked at Chris with dissatisfaction: "I can help you treat your eyes first! Boy!"
"Swoosh~" A playing card flew out from Chris's hand and cut off a leaf in the flower bed a few meters away. He looked at Frank expressionlessly: "I can also treat your eyes, kid."
"Wow, beautiful card skills. It seems that you all have special skills. I am far behind. Nice to meet you all. I am Stephen Bean, a low-key high school student with nothing but money." Stephen Bean, dressed in casual clothes, stood under a paulownia tree with a sunny smile and spoke while clapping.
"According to normal summer camp procedures, the bus driver should show up with a hamburger in his mouth and call us to get on the bus." David Shaffer saw that neither side had any intention of continuing the fight, and said regretfully: "So, where is the driver?"
"That's because I changed the process." Tommy Hawke, accompanied by Otilia, walked out of the school and stood in front of the group and said:
“Welcome to CSLS, I am Tommy Hawke, the committee chair, and good afternoon, fellow new members of the CSLS committee.”
