Hello, Principal 2

Chapter 10: Hello, Principal 2

Hell's Kitchen Community School had thirty-six classes spanning grades 1 through 12, with over a thousand students.

Alvin was now the principal of this school. To make it happen, he had convened a meeting of Hell's Kitchen's gangs. After "friendly" negotiations and a "fair" election, Alvin was elected principal of the community school.

As for the principal appointed by the Department of Education, who cared?

The first thing Alvin did after taking office was negotiate with Kingpin. As a gang boss and Hell's Kitchen's underground godfather, he ought to make some contributions to education in his hometown, right? And those contributions couldn't be a one-time thing; they had to be a long-term commitment. So, with an enormous annual contribution of five million dollars, Kingpin proudly became a school board member.

With money, hiring teachers wasn't difficult. Even if this was Hell's Kitchen, it was still a school job, wasn't it? All they had to do was hire a headhunting firm and see which outstanding teachers were unemployed at home. Once they found them, they would send a "sincere" invitation: excellent pay, room and board, and insurance. Surely they had to give Alvin that much face! If they didn't know Alvin, they had to give Kingpin face, right?

As for the students, as a man who had endured until fourth grade alongside his son in his previous life, he knew what the schedule at a good school should look like.

Using Maotanchang High School's schedule as a reference, students arrived at 7:30 in the morning for early reading, classes began at 8:00, they rested from noon until 1:30, school ended at 5:00 in the afternoon, and "voluntary" evening study began at 7:00.

Anyone who didn't want to attend needed permission from Principal Alvin. Unless someone in their family had died or their house had caught fire, Principal Alvin generally wouldn't approve it. Besides, Principal Alvin was very busy and wasn't often at school.

Alvin stood at the school gate, watching students walk into the school on tiptoe as if mice had seen a cat.

Listening to the school's current vice principal, its former principal, Nelson Norris, lavish praise on his methods, he felt immensely pleased.

Why did his son have to study from six in the morning until nine at night every day while these little brats got to play happily all day? Get your asses into class. From now on, this place was Hell's Kitchen's Maotanchang Branch Campus.

JJ, clutching a shotgun as a bodyguard, shed a tear of sympathy for the school's children. What kind of school was this? It was Hell's Kitchen's children's concentration camp!

Dom loved following Alvin to school. He found the work here extremely interesting. Knocking a student to the ground, listening to their frightened screams, and incidentally confiscating the interesting odds and ends on them was great fun for him.

In no time, Dom had piled up a heap of spoils behind him: snacks, toys, and so on. Several children of varying ages stood in line before Alvin, holding the dangerous items that had been confiscated from them as they awaited punishment.

Alvin held an unusually shaped butterfly knife in his hand, flipping it around as he asked the thirteen- or fourteen-year-old white boy before him, "Which class are you in? What's your name? Why did you bring a knife to school?"

The white boy stiffened his neck and said, "My name is Feili. Class One, Grade Nine. The knife is for trimming my nails."

JJ, who was watching the show, burst out laughing. What kind of nail trimming required a knife half a foot long?

Alvin couldn't stand people talking with their necks stiffened. He slapped Feili across the neck, making him yelp in agony before clutching his head and squatting on the ground.

Even after getting hit, the kid was still a little defiant. Though he didn't dare fight back, he glared stubbornly at Alvin. That was unacceptable. He dared glare at the principal!

"Solitary confinement for two days. Nelson, give him a copy of the school rules and make him copy them one hundred times," Alvin said angrily. He refused to believe he couldn't straighten this kid out. If school methods didn't work, he'd use prison methods.

Watching the tough Feili scream as he was dragged into the school by the burly JJ, the boys behind him were so frightened they barely dared breathe. They obediently admitted their mistakes, accepted their punishments, and were assigned anywhere from ten to fifty copies of the school rules.

The last one, a chubby little Black boy, gave Alvin a headache. Gritting his teeth, he asked coldly, "What's your name? Which class are you in? And who the fuck told you to bring marijuana to school?"

The chubby little Black boy lowered his head timidly. "My name is Raven. Class Two, Grade Six. My dad told me to bring the marijuana."

Alvin roared furiously, "Who the fuck is your father?"

Raven grew even more frightened. With his head lowered, he said, "My teacher, Mr. Nathan, always gets headaches. He's really nice to me. When my dad found out, he told me to bring Mr. Nathan a bag of marijuana to make his headaches better."

Holding back a surge of anger, Alvin kicked an iron trash can at the entrance flying. He didn't know what to feel.

The boy's father was most likely a drug dealer. To thank the teacher, he had his child bring the teacher a bag of marijuana to treat his headaches. What the fuck kind of situation was that?

Unable to bear blaming Raven, Alvin patted him on the head. "Teachers see doctors when they have headaches. Don't bring marijuana to school again, or you'll end up in solitary like Feili! This bag of marijuana is confiscated. Now get your ass to class!"

Raven felt as if he had been granted a pardon. Keeping his head down, he rushed into the school.

Seeing that Alvin was in a bad mood, Nelson chuckled softly. "This is already much better. A few years ago, this place was practically a training ground for future gang members. Can you believe children used to openly sell drugs at school? It's better now than I ever imagined."

Alvin paused at that, then said coldly, "How's the land application with the city government going? I need to get the student dormitories built as soon as possible and keep these kids on campus. We can't let them keep hanging around the streets. I want them all to go to college."

Nelson smiled. "More or less done. Hell's Kitchen has plenty of vacant land. The empty lot behind the school is enough to build two more classroom buildings, two student dormitories, and another dormitory for teachers."

After hesitating for a moment, Nelson continued, "It's just that the student dormitory design... won't it be too cramped? Isn't a thirty-square-meter room for six students too crowded?"

Alvin shot Nelson a sidelong look. You've clearly never seen student dormitories in China's remote regions. I didn't make you build communal sleeping halls, so these kids should be thanking their lucky stars. And you think six people is crowded? Plenty of universities in China don't even meet this standard! Ninety-five percent of Hell's Kitchen families live in extreme poverty. I'm not even charging tuition, so what more do you want?

Perhaps noticing the unfriendly look in Alvin's eyes, Nelson quickly changed the subject. "But this is fine too. At the very least, we've given the children a safe environment to study in, so they can focus on their education. Your contributions to this school will be remembered by history," said the crafty old gentleman with graying temples.

Those words put Alvin in a much better mood. He happily patted Nelson on the shoulder. The old man had been a principal in Hell's Kitchen for fifteen years, so he did have some ability. His character might be mediocre, but at least he knew how to say things people liked hearing, and he was skilled at dealing with the Department of Education.

After all, the school's operation still depended on the Department of Education. Equipment and funding were matters Nelson needed to chase down.

"Alvin, you bastard! Look what you've done!" An aged voice cursed from behind him.

Alvin rubbed his nose. The owner of that voice was far less likable!