A Game Of Pawns

Chapter 1

Alright, Xander, focus! I instructed, mentally slapping myself. Professor Yoh's going to have good information today. You just need to pay attention so that you don't miss it! No daydreaming, no distractions, no texting and definitely no dozing off! If you want to learn how to be successful in business, start by being professional today! My mental pep-talk continued as I walked towards my Business 101 class.

"You okay, man?" a dull voice asked from my left.

I turned to see my only friend from my business class walking just a step behind me. His bold square glasses poked out of a mop of brown hair that bobbed on his thin shoulders.

"Oh, hey Paul! I'm fine. I'm just trying to psych myself up for class today."

Paul glanced at the approaching classroom door and somehow managed to crease his eyebrows low enough for me to see the gears turning under his curtain of hair. When his face returned to normal, he asked "Why today? Are you failing or something?"

He wasn't far off, and I laughed a little louder than I meant to! It's true that I wasn't doing well in the class, but I wasn't failing. Awkwardly scratching the back of my head, I replied, "No. My grades are okay. I'm trying to get a promotion at work and hoping that Professor Yoh might have some helpful advice."

"I guess we'll see." Paul shrugged. We entered the classroom and made our way towards the back row. "Oh, before I forget, I can't make it to game night tonight."

"How come?"

"I have loads of homework to do."

I eyed Paul skeptically. "It's Friday." He was always making excuses to not hang out. We got along fine in class, but it seemed like we were drifting apart in our personal lives ever since we finished high school.

"Sorry man. Next time."

"Okay, but you owe me. I'm gonna have to play those two all on my own."

We found our seats. Paul always sat in front of me, rather than by my side, maybe to avoid the temptation of not paying attention. "Here we go," I mumbled as the professor entered. I was determined to keep fresh and stay focused.

"Hello class," Professor Yoh said, disinterest blanketing his tone as he ambled to the far corner of the room, facing his students. "I'm ready to teach, so I hope you're ready to pay attention." He said this at the start of every class. I didn't know if he thought it was funny or just a way to start class, but I always had the same impulse to it; I stretched in my seat and yawned. He pressed a button on a remote in his hand to boot up the lesson's PowerPoint presentation. "We're working on chapter five. That's page seventy-three in your textbooks."

Since Paul wasn't going to be joining in on our game night, my mind started listing three-player game options that Tommy and Michael might be interested in playing. I was great at Super Smash Bros and could probably hold my own against the other two, but did I really want to give them the satisfaction of beating me? I shook my head. I could beat them, even if it was two on one. Challenge accepted! Suddenly, I realized what I was doing and silently scolded myself. I was supposed to be paying attention!

"If you're in a situation where you have to deal with a difficult employee, use the method shown here." Professor Yoh pointed to a graph in his PowerPoint presentation and started reading it word for word. I scanned the slide for anything helpful. This seemed to be his favorite topic; what to do with bad employees. We never talked about what to do with bad bosses, or, you know, anything else business-related. Shouldn't we learn about that stuff too? Based on this class, you'd think that bad employees are the only challenges managers deal with. We didn't even talk about customers.