Getting his way

Chapter 14

Chris looked after her as she left, deep in thought. He nodded slightly, before turning on his heel and walking back to the office. "What?" the woman screeched, and he opened the door with a short smile.

She grumbled, and quickly looked back at her computer screen. "I'm busy." she huffed.

Chris took a glance around the room, before smiling slightly. "Now, that doesn't seem completely true. Anyway, I feel like we got off on the wrong foot, Miss..?" The woman looked up at him, and put her hands together. "It's Mrs. And Holm."

Chris put his most pleasing face on, the one that was best with dealing with married women, and strode up to the chair. "Alright, Mrs. Holm. Can I sit?" he asked, motioning at the chair and she nodded.

"I'm Chris. And, as I said, I represent Ka- ms. Greenwood." He paused and put one leg over another, putting his hands on his highest knee as he studied this Holm.

The information lens had already given him some information, but it's generally considered bad form to just rattle of about a person you're not supposed to know.

Holm sighed, and wrote something down a notebook. "And, Mr. Chris, what can I do for you?" she asked, keeping the suspicious look. "Oh no, I think it's more about what we, as a team, can do for you. See, we'd appreciate it if Kate wasn't harassed due to a small... Well, slip-up. As such, I'd like her strike to be removed."

Holm shook her head, while pursing her lips and frowning. "I'm afraid something like that is impossible." she said, shaking her head. "We don't just remove strikes. That would go against the entire system."

Chris took a look around the room, before leaning forward, his gaze burning onto her. "I'm not one to harass people. However, Kate has quite the team behind her, and you'd probably do well to think about this. It does not have to be a bad thing; I'm sure we could work out a deal of some sort."

Holms eyes remained steadfast. "You cannot bribe me." she said, a mocking tone in her voice.

Chris nodded ever so slowly. Alright, if she couldn't be bought, it had to mean something else could be. "Don't you think the school could use some new equipment? An update to the dorms? A new wing for lab students? Kate has quite the network." Now it was Mrs. Holm, the ever so loyal little dogs' turn to have eyes that darted around the room, before she leaned in closer. "Tell me more."

He smiled, tracing the grain of the wood on the arm of the chair with a finger. "Well, I can assure you she'd be prepared to offer a sizeable donation, if she didn't have to worry about the rest of her school time here." He sent her a slight smile as he leaned back. "I'm sure you can understand that."

The woman looked past him, at the door, before slowly nodding. He continued trying to persuade her: "I'm sure you'd have some sort of ethical problems with letting in a student because of a donation. But instead, this is a student who simply wants to stay at your school. She's happy here, and she'd like to stay here. Do we understand each other?"

The Mrs. licked her lips, suddenly unsure. "We can, uh, we can book a meeting with the school's headmaster... Then Miss Greenwood can come along as well." Chris shook his head. "No, no. She has way too much on her hands in the first place. You can book a meeting with me. But we don't have to have too many meetings. We can just write a check. How much would be appropriate for this, uh, favour?"

By the time Chris rose from the chair, they'd decided on a precise amount, and what exactly it'd go to. His drink had melted, but she'd prepared some coffee for the both of him (and generally sucked the f**k up) once she caught wind of the money.

As he moved out to his car, he found another ticket on his windshield. He rolled his eyes, and stuffed it in his pocket. He should've worked in a condition that he didn't get tickets. He chuckled slightly at the thought as he turned the key. This wasn't about him, though.