Chapter 13: The Heartbroken Old Man

At 2:40 in the afternoon, the bell for the end of the last class rang, and Tommy Hawk stretched his neck as he walked out of the classroom, ending his day's classes.

While organizing his locker, he looked over the class schedule inside and calculated his credits, ensuring he had met the school's required score. Without delay, he went to the principal's office with the reason that participating in social activities met college admission standards and high school graduation requirements, applying to no longer attend classes on campus every day.

As long as the credits were complete and met the requirements, the school would not interfere with the students' other arrangements. Especially over the past two months, Tommy Hawk's diligent performance had been recognized by the school. Even though the principal was currently as eruptive as a volcano, triggered by Dennis and Pam, he still made an effort to show the decorum and amiability befitting his position when dealing with Tommy Hawk, encouraging him for the upcoming AP exams and wishing him excellent results.

Getting the school's approval meant that, from this moment on, Tommy Hawk no longer needed to attend classes at school punctually each day. If he wished, he could even start preparing his high school graduation thesis now, applying for graduation a step ahead of his peers.

As for his good friends Dennis and Pam, they could no longer leave school together with him to share the joy of not having to continue with the routine classes, because they were currently being accompanied by their parents, receiving the school's wrath. As Tommy exited the school gates, he seemed to still hear Mrs. Hebers' roar, which resounded across the campus:

"Dennis! You can make the TV get pay-per-view channels for free! And you never thought to save your mom some subscription fees!"

...

Of course, the heavy price paid by Dennis and Pam was not without reward, as for a long time from today, they would probably be the topic of discussion among all high school students at Lincoln High School.

And the newly arrived beautiful teacher, Ottilia Farrell, thanks to their actions, was completely overshadowed and failed to make any waves.

After all, when comparing a clothed female teacher to an unclothed adult film, high school students certainly know which is more interesting to them.

Tommy Hawk rode his bicycle to the docks of Warwick City, where the part-time job at the laundromat had already been messed up by his dad, and he now needed to find another part-time job. In Warwick City, the most easily found part-time job for high school students is helping fishermen untangle troublesome fishing nets or clean the foul-smelling cabins on fishing boats.

The main reason such jobs are easy to find is that the work is dirty and exhausting, but the pay is comparable to that of part-time work at a laundromat, only earning the minimum hourly wage of three US dollars.

Before finding another part-time job suitable for himself, Tommy Hawk planned to make do here, after all, his savings of four hundred US dollars should not be squandered recklessly before figuring out how to use it as capital to earn money, as it was his fund for participating in summer activities.

"Sir, does your fishing boat need help with the nets or cleaning?" Tommy Hawk asked a middle-aged white man with a bushy beard who stood on the deck, working on some part with a wrench.

The white man, with a cigarette in his mouth, looked at Tommy Hawk and smiled with a grin, "You want to find a part-time job on my boat?"

"Yes, sir," Tommy said with a nod and a smile.

The white man nodded, "OK, do you know how to swim, retrieve nets, operate cranes, or simply dock a fishing boat?"

"Ordinary fishing boats should be no problem, sir. I've been doing part-time jobs on fishing boats since I was fourteen," Tommy Hawk said.

Warwick City is a coastal dockside city where a large portion of the residents make their living by fishing. For the city's high school students, operating small motorized fishing boats is as commonplace as it would be for high school students in large agricultural states to fly light aircraft to spray pesticides for their family farms.

"What's your name?" the bearded man asked, his head lowered as he continued to adjust the nut with a wrench.

"Tommy, Tommy Hawk, eleventh grade at Lincoln High School."

"I'm Rocco Waldman, Tommy. You can come back after school tomorrow; I've finished all the work for today," the white man said with a smile at Tommy Hawk after tightening the nut and looking over his now-clean fishing boat.

"Thank you, Mr. Waldman."

"Don't mention it, kid. But if you do a lousy job, I'll have a stern face while sending you off, and I won't pay you a single dime."

"I'll work hard," Tommy Hawk promised, turning to leave.

Having just found a part-time job and about to leave the dock, Tommy saw his father, Colin Hawk, stepping out of the family car and walking towards him.

Seeing his son, Colin Hawk was stunned for a moment before smiling and asking:

"Here to find a part-time job?"

"Good afternoon, Dad," Tommy Hawk nodded and replied.

Colin approached, intending to pat Tommy on the shoulder but eventually held back, just looking out at the dark blue sea and smiling as he said, "I mentioned last night that I would prepare the check for you to go to college. Go study, son. Do what you want to do."

"I'm sorry, Dad, my attitude last night might have…" Tommy Hawk noticed his father's gesture and began to speak.

"No need to apologize, you didn't say anything wrong." Colin Hawk smiled, then pointed to Rocco Waldman's fishing boat, "I'm going to greet that guy. He wants to buy some parts from the scrapyard. I'm here to check it out. See you next time, son."

Having said that, Colin Hawk walked towards the fishing boat.

It seemed that after last night, Dad didn't wish to interact much with him anymore, treating him more like a duty. It looked like he believed that once he'd provided the check for the first semester's tuition when Tommy got into college, he would have fulfilled his entire duty as a father.

As Tommy Hawk, the son, last night's conversation seemed to have hurt his heart.

Watching Colin Hawk leave, Tommy Hawk got on his bike. As he felt for the cigarette in his pocket, his fingers encountered the day pass for the Paradise Club.

He took it out for a look and finally decided to take a spin the club, not really to indulge his curiosity or avoid wasting his youth, but to see if by chance he could use his free time that day, when he didn't have to work, to discreetly sell off the prescription drugs at a low price, especially since medicines had expiration dates.

Having made up his mind, Tommy Hawk pedaled his bike, heading straight for Providence, the state capital, and easily found the Paradise Club with its silhouette of a dancing girl.