A surprisingly young tutor

A young black man is sitting at a desk in study room 4B, all alone, focused on the laptop in front of him.

"Three hours and... Twelve minutes." He declares calmly, without even looking up at Amy, who has just opened the door and rushed inside.

"You must be Mr Briggs." Amy says, breathless.

You're younger than I expected. Probably only recently graduated. She thinks to herself, but doesn't say out loud in case it comes across as disrespectful.

"Indeed. Was there a medical emergency?" He asks in a very matter-of-fact tone.

"No..." Amy replies truthfully.

"Were you on jury duty, or otherwise called up to serve your country?"

"No."

"Were you held against your will, either criminally, or by a law enforcement officer?"

"No, but..." Amy begins.

"Then you owe me 192 thousand dollars by midnight tonight." Mr. Briggs interrupts her attempted excuse, with an air of mild interest. "Do you have 192 thousand dollars in liquid assets?"

"...No." Amy concedes softly.

"Well then." Mr. Briggs says with a knowing tone.

Overdue debt in this country is not handled like it used to be. And even if it was, it certainly isn't within the walls of this academy. Just yesterday, in that small office building at the main gate, she had signed that accursed contract they included some additional stipulations on live debt. It accrues extortionate compounding interest daily, and you cannot graduate if you are in debt to a fellow student.

Amy has heard of students **** to sell themselves into full slavery for almost a decade to even be able to graduate.

"But." Amy puts a finger in the air. "I may have your money this time next week, and almost certainly within a few weeks."

"Ah yes, the strip poker game." Mr. Briggs responds dryly. "That would potentially save you from snowballing debt, that's for sure. And I presume you consider losing to be an inconceivable notion. But I wonder... Have you earned any queens yet? Or are you walking into next week's game with a 2 3 off-suit?"

As Amy immediately squirms, Mr Briggs smirks knowingly.

"Nothing is guaranteed in this world, Miss Barnes, but if you walk into that game with a 2 and a 3, your fate is almost sealed. Please do bear that in mind. And I fear that at current daily interest rates, if you did fail to earn the top spot each week, you would still be in debt to me, even if you achieve second place every single round. Is that seriously a risk you're willing to take?"

"Do I have a choice?" Amy retorts.

"There is always a choice, Miss Barnes. And no, before you say anything, I am not referring to the option of you selling me or anyone else your body. It hasn't come to that. Yet."

"Then what exactly are you proposing?" Amy asks cautiously.

"A second chance. This one time." Mr Briggs explains calmly. "I am willing to cancel your debt to me, this ONE time... If you agree to any future debt or negotiation being substantially more punishing. Essentially, I want you to take this as a learning lesson, and recalibrate your behavior, and how seriously you take coming to my sessions on time. So, the exact terms of my offer would be that this debt of 192 thousand is cancelled, but if you are ever more than a minute late to my sessions again (apart from standard medical, incarceration or national duty reasons), or if you ever come to me to request a contract again, and then waste my time and refuse my terms, you will owe me 384 thousand dollars, which will all become due immediately."

"Double or nothing..." Amy mutters under her breath.

"I accept those terms." She says quickly, holding up her bracelet hand.

It won't be trivial, but if I put effort into it, I can make sure I'm never late again, and I can't see any reason that I'd need to come to this man specifically for a contract in the future. Amy thinks to herself.

"Then it is done." Mr Briggs raises his Sentinel too. "Now see to it that you never waste my time again. Your induction paperwork is here. These are the books you'll need for your first semester of courses, and these are the dates and times of our group tuition sessions. You may go."

"That was it? That was the whole induction?" Amy asks, unimpressed.

"Well, all the other students had an opportunity to meet each other and learn things about each other. But they were under no obligation to stay and wait for latecomers." He remarks. "If you wish to gain the full value from my sessions, I suggest improving your timekeeping."

Amy has no good response, and so just leaves before she annoys this man any more. It's weird to be talked down to by someone only a few years older than her... But this still feels like a huge win. She went into that room almost 200K in debt, and somehow left debt free.