Chapter 6

William and Elise were the last to leave the meeting room as they headed for the morning assembly. William was curious why Elise wanted asked him to help Adam out today. This morning, he and Elise were called to the principal's office and told to decide whether they wanted Adam to remain in the committee. William had decided on a vote but Elise wanted Adam to remain a prefect.

He asked Elise why and she answered without a change in expression, "Since it was stolen from his room, he shouldn't be blamed for the thief's actions. There's no reason punish him. The only problem is the prefect doesn't have any fixed responsibilities, so why don't we let him help us out? He used to be a house leader and is a better candidate than anyone else we can find."

William felt Elise wasn't telling the truth, but he said nothing.

'Forget it. I only have a few months left as a president. Since, she will take over my position, it's not wrong if she wants to find some helpers now. If there's any other reason, it won't be my problem in a few months.'

He trusted Adam and Elise's character and knew they won't cause any incidents while he was around, even if Elise wasn't being entirely truthful about her motives.

So, William talked with the club presidents he was friends with and told them to vote with him but didn't tell them what it was they were voting for. He counted on Mountain House helping Adam along with the Drama Club who supported Elise. They would have enough votes, but he didn't think Elise wouldn't work with him. In the end, the football club helped Adam out.

He asked, "But, why didn't you vote for him yourself?"

"I didn't want to."

'Do you want him to remain a prefect or not?'

William knew Elise didn't want to tell him so he didn't push her. It wasn't a big deal, even if she had a personal reason for helping Adam. The members in the committee could do things in their own interests as long as they did their duties properly.

Adam went back to the dorms after class and saw that his roommates were all present. They seemed to be discussing something and went silent after he entered and watched him as he put down his bag.

Oliver was the first to ask, "Why didn't you tell us they wanted to remove you as a prefect?"

Adam was stunned.

"How do you guys know?"

Johnathan replied, "The football club president talked about it during practice. He said you guys had a vote whether you should remain as a prefect and you barely won."

Adam confirmed his words.

"It surprised me too. I didn't think I would get to keep the badge either."

Oliver grinned at Adam and said, "The art club prez told me you had to help the president and vice out from now on. Seems like your relaxed days as a prefect are over."

"Yeah. I will have to carry it around now instead of needing it only on Mondays."

Johnathan was worried about something else now that Adam was still a prefect.

"We can still use it when you don't need it right?"

"Probably not. I didn't tell you, but I met Elise yesterday. She knew I had been letting you guys use it. That's why I was sure I was losing it today. I wonder why she didn't bring it up in the meeting."

"You and that girl are the only ones who don't use your position in the committee to benefit. Neil used to abuse his position as the president of the football club and get a bigger budget every time, then spend most of it hosting parties. We have seen him make fake receipts to show the school."

Oliver looked amazed when he heard James then sighed, "Compared to that, Adam borrowing us, his badge doesn't count as anything. I only know Mira was buying expensive paint with the art club's budget, but that's about it. She didn't spend it on anything outside the club."

Adam had been changing out of his uniform and finished while they were talking and said,

"Well, I have to go. William told me to meet him in the president's office."

The president's office wasn't really as fancy as the name suggested. It had long table in the middle that occupied most of the room. There were eight chairs on each side and two at the end. Behind the table was another smaller office table and William was presently sitting on it and writing something on his notebook. Behind him was a large window that covered most of the wall.

Adam looked around for a bit before looking at William and said, "Looks like you bought a nicer chair."

William laughed when he heard Adam, "We also get an annual expense from the school, although it isn't anything compared to the other clubs. The previous president bought most of the things in this room. We don't really get much compared to other clubs. When was the last time you came to this room?"

Adam had come here frequently as the house leader to report to the president, but he didn't have any duties as a prefect. The last time he came here was probably when the last president was still around.

"Are you guys really that busy? It looks like you have a lot of leisure time."

William was still doing his assignment and said to Adam without looking up, "Nobody is busy all the time. Besides, do you see Elise around? She went to get the estimated expense of the Drama Club for the Establishment Day's act."

He closed his notebook and continued, "The next major program is the Establishment Day. It's after the winter vacation but I want to wrap up our job sooner since the exams are coming up."

William took a file out from under his desk and said, "Take this. It has the music club's proposal for their performances in the program. Go to their Clubroom and check if they really need everything they mentioned in the proposal. If they don't put the effort to make a more convincing proposal than this when they ask for such a large budget, I won't approve it."

Adam walked out of the office with the file and headed for the Music Club. He had looked at the Music's club proposal and almost thought he imagined an extra zero at the end of the estimated budget.

Adam also thought what William said was weird after looking at the budget. He didn't say he wouldn't approve the Music Club's if they didn't reduce it, only that they had to make it look more convincing.

'I always had the impression that William was a model student, but it seems I didn't really know him. Does that mean I am also wrong about Elise? Is that why she didn't bring up my badge being used by others during the meeting?'

He didn't really care about how William and Elise did their jobs. He was just surprised about how different the president was from what he imagined. As for others, he didn't mind following William and turning a blind eye. He just needed to help the president, how he did his job was his business.

Adam finally reached the Music Clubroom and entered. It was more of a hall than a room. It even had a stage, and quite a few music instruments on display. The members were practicing on stage while the president watched. The president also seemed to have noticed him enter and waved. He was present in the morning meeting and probably guessed that Adam was there on behalf of the president.

'I just have to make sure they need everything they listed in the proposal and then match the required budget. If it doesn't, then I make them redo it.'

Adam exited the Clubroom an hour later. The job he thought was simple turned out to be significantly more complicated. He also understood why William said that their proposal wasn't convincing.

'The club doesn't even have some of the instruments mentioned in the proposal. The school never had a harp, so why do they need one for their performance. Do they want to learn in a month then perform?'

That wasn't everything, though. When Adam looked at the practice and mentioned that the club seemed to have enough violins for the performance, he remembered how some of them stopped playing and just smashed theirs on the floor.

'Are all clubs like that or did William send me to the Music Club to show me this?'

Adam finally reached the president's office and entered and saw that there was an extra person inside this time. Elise and William seemed to be cleaning up before going home.

William saw Adam and seemed to understand what he was thinking.

"Most of the clubs are like that. They don't even put the effort to cheat me the first time around. Did you manage to get them to change the proposal and bring the new one?"

Adam passed the new proposal to William. After discussing with the Music Club president for an hour, changing the club's performance for the program, reducing the number of new violins they needed to buy, Adam had cut the expected expense in half from the previous outrageous number. It still wasn't a small number, but at least it was a lot more reasonable than the last one.

William looked over it once before putting it under his desk and said, "I'll make a copy tomorrow. You should get an exit pass from the administrative department tomorrow morning for after school that day."

"Why do I need an exit pass?"

Elise replied to Adam's question, "Since, our badges no longer work on the school's main entry gate."

The atmosphere in the room got awkward after Elise answered.

William coughed and ignored what Elise said before looking at Adam, "You will need to go to a few of the stores we regularly deal with and confirm the prices before we send this to the principal for approval. Since, you are a new member, I want you to be familiar with the places."