"Time's up! Please save your final exam and submit it to me by email."

Through out the large classroom were rows of students behind computers typing away final lines of code before saving their work. For their final exam, they were required to write a program that used proper algorithms and demonstrated their knowledge in debugging in a three hour time limit.

In the middle section, a man with short wavy black hair cursed under his breathe. His program worked smoothly except for whenever he tried to close the program, the computer would crash. Unable to rewrite all his text, he gave up and accepted that fact that he was going to fail his senior year of college.

He had been struggling all year with this class, 'Programming in the Real World'. The professor that taught the class did not help either. He went by the name, Professor Willow and was beloved by all the students at Georgetown University.
The elder held up against the test of time very well for the old age of 59. His face showed signs of aging by the minor wrinkles on his forehead and cheeks. He had a full head of hair for his age, even though it was gray. Hazel eyes hid behind slim glasses that had a modern design.

His laid back personality drew people to him and made others feel comfortable in his classroom. He cracked jokes with his students but always kept his professional and personal life separate.

Though his teaching methods were spectacular, the professor assigned extremely difficult assignments for his students to complete. Professor Willow was the only thing that stood between him and his bachelor's degree in Computer Science.

The student dreaded the thought of taking summer courses. He rubbed his exhausted eyes and felt stubbles of his beard growing back. The man saved his unfinished program as 'EvanHatchFinalProgram.exe' and sent it to his professor.

One by one, Evan's classmates submitted their exams and left. Most with gloom looks on their faces after dealing with another one of Professor Willow's tasks. Evan walked fast passed his professor, normally he would have enjoyed making small talk with him but was not in the mood. The man did not want to talk to the professor that was the cause of him repeating another year of college. His hand turned the door knob,

     "Mr. Evan!"

It was too late.

     "How did you do with your program? Everything runs well?"

The teacher smiled innocently towards his pupil. Unknowing that his kind manners were killing Evan from the inside out. The younger man lied through his teeth, returning a fake smile over to him, "Yes, Professor Willow. I think I did a good job with the exam."

"That's good!" The elder nodded his head. "I would have expected no less." Professor Willow suddenly remembered, "Before I forget, can you please turn in that missing assignment that I told you about earlier this week?"

     "It's on here." Evan dug through his pockets, holding up a flash drive for the teacher to take.

     "Could you please do me a favor and download your file onto my computer? I have to drop off some papers to Administration." The teacher grabbed a stack of papers from his desk, struggling to hold them up.

     "Professor, do you need help with that?" The student asked while walking closer to him, clinging onto the bottom of the stack.

The professor shook his head while gently pushing Evan away, "I know that I'm getting old but I still have my strength." His chuckle was soft and airy.

     "I'll be back soon. When you're done downloading the program, you can leave. I hope that you have your gown fitted for graduation, Evan."

The wooden door closed behind him as he walked out. His words stabbed Evan's heart violently without him even knowing. The man took a seat at Professor Willow's long, glossy desk. Files of paper and worksheets scattered all over the surface, creating a disaster of a mess. His professor's computer was an ancient fossil compared to the laptops of today's technology. The computer took up most of the space and had a separate tower to insert DVDs and flash drives.

Evan put the flash drive in one of the numerous slots and pressed the power button. A fan in the tower started to run as the system booted up. He began to download his work into the hard drive and stared at the screen, counting down the minutes until it was done.

A devilish thought appeared in his mind, "I could finish my final program and pass this class."

The student looked over his shoulders and outside the door window to make sure no one was coming. He got into his professor's email, expecting to log in but was pleasantly surprised that his email account was already open. Now, it was free game to let Evan fix his program. He worked faster than he ever did in his whole life, typing in lines of code like it was basic math.

With minutes to spare, Evan's program ran with no errors. He let out a loud sigh of happiness, contentment rushed over his body.

The man sat there to appreciate his work when a short jingle announced a notification pooped up on screen,

     "New Email! Click to view."

Evan knew well not to snoop in other people's business but he couldn't help himself. He had a curious nature, loving to learn about others and enjoying to discovering secrets about them even more. His mind made up so many humorous ideas of what if was the email contained some sort of embarrassing online magazine subscription or a love letter with racy photos sent by an admirer.

He had to know what was in the email.

With a click on the mouse, his sky blue eyes watched as the white screen turned to blue. The computer seemed to have crashed and text appeared on the screen similar to code but ran so quickly that Evan couldn't make it out. The projector that hung on the ceiling turned on and lit up the white board with images and writing. It all connected to each other in the sense that someone took this information and put it all together in a database.

The images were of famous politicians across the world, including their presidents and prime ministers. The writing was half code language and half English. Evan's brain couldn't process what was happening but he needed to turn off the computer before his professor returned.

He used every method to turn off a computer but to no avail. His attempts failed, leaving him hopeless holding down the power button of the computer. Footsteps echoed down the hallway, making it clear that Professor Willow was coming back.

Evan searched the desk for any help in his situation. His frustration only led to him pushing all the files of paper on the ground. He smashed on the keyboard, his breathing became irregular and static. The man turned the lock on the door, hoping that this would buy him some more time.

The knob turned,

     "Hello? Evan? Are you in there?"

     "Yeah! I'm here, Professor!

     "Evan, open this door now!"

     "Give me a second, please!"

     "Mr. Evan Hatch! Open this door immediately!"

The older man's voice roared, creating fear into his pupil. Never in his four years of having Professor Willow has he ever heard him yell this loudly before.

Suddenly, the door was opened by the might of the elder's kick. Professor Willow entered into the room to find Evan clutching to the keyboard, slamming it on top of the monitor as his final desperate attempt of turning the computer off.   

Tangled black hair covered one of Evan's eyes, staring back at his teacher. Slumping down to the floor but never breaking eye contact. He was prepared for the worst, expecting an earful by Professor Willow.

Instead, Professor Willow glanced around the room. He took notice of what was being projected onto the white board and all his papers on the floor. His blue computer screen that had cracks due to Evan's outburst.

The older man sighed while crossing his arms, "Having any trouble?"