Page 85 of Pucking Good Girl

“Not so fast.” Vaughn interrupts her. “Am I the only one who thinks that this isn’t Victor’s first rodeo in messing with grades?”

Macklin

When they say that Professor Cantucci dislikes student-athletes, they’re putting it mildly.

“Get out!” The professor snaps. “All of you, get out. I can continue this conversation with Miss Prescott. We don’t need a whole hockey team in attendance.”

The words are on the tip of my tongue that a hockey team consists of five players and a goalie on the ice, and there are just four of us here. Somehow I don’t think the lesson in hockey rules will be appreciated.

Vaughn, however, isn’t intimidated by the professor’s stern tone. “I’ll go after you hear me out, Professor Cantucci.”

“Why should I?” she barks, unimpressed by Vaughn’s determined tone.

“Oh, I don’t know,” his tone takes a relaxed, almost casual lilt. “Maybe because since Talia told me about her problems with your T.A., I did some digging and I came up with some information that I know you’ll want to hear. Or maybe because this building is called the Heston History Building. As in Vaughn Heston?”

Professor Cantucci’s scowl deepens. “There is only one type of student I despise more than an entitled athlete who thinks he should get preferential treatment because of his skills in whatever sport he plays. And that’s a student-athlete with a rich daddy who thinks his family money makes him better than anyone else.”

“I’m sorry,” Vaughn sighs, surprising us all. “You’re right. My family’s money doesn’t make me better than others. But that money, and even more the connections that come from my family’s status, helped me discover some things that you and the Dean will find very interesting.”

Professor Cantucci is vibrating with fury. “You have two minutes, Mr. Heston. This better be good, or I promise the Dean will hear about your behavior.”

“When I heard what happened to Talia, something bothered me. A red flag, if you will. Victor was your T.A. this entire time. And experience tells me that someone who’s so comfortable messing with grades and test results has probably done it before. And there’s a whole ongoing investigation into last year’s grades. The fact that Genevieve Bergen was in the same class that was affected raised another red flag.”

The professor’s demeanor changes slightly. “That’s true. I’m listening.”

“I remembered Tucker saying the reason why he didn’t graduate was that there was a mixup with grades in two classes. One was yours and the other one was History of Economics. So I asked Tucker if Genevieve was in that class.”

Oh, that’s very interesting. If I didn’t think Professor Cantucci would kick me out of her office, I’d high five Vaughn for thinking about that. But that isn’t everything.

“I’m sure you’ll forgive me for using my dad’s contacts in the Dean’s office to look into a few things; like who else took that class last year. And this is where things become even more interesting. Victor graduated with last year’s class, and while History of Economics wasn’t one of his classes, he had a placement with Professor Hartley as part of his thesis. He was one of the tech team who helped with the implementation of a new, fully digital class media interface and exam system. Just in case you were wondering, that was the same class attended by Tucker and Genevieve. The other class that’s being investigated because of the grade mixup.”

Tucker sounds perplexed. “It’s true, I remember seeing him the entire semester. He was always helping when something wasn’t working with Professor Hartley’s laptop or with the computers in the exam room. I remember it because he’s been on my shit list since he stole my teammate’s girlfriend a couple of years ago. But on second thought, wasn’t that piece of shit a history major? What was he doing helping with IT?”

“Mr. Prescott,” Professor Cantucci scolds him. “Would you mind keeping your language in check when you are in my classroom or in my office? That kind of language might be acceptable at the ice rink, but not in here.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am.” Tucker rubs the back of his neck.

I really wonder why she hates student-athletes so much. But the professor’s biases aren’t the most important thing right now.

Professor Cantucci nods stiffly. “Victor was a double major. History and Systems Software Development. He’s a very bright young man.”

“A real ray of sunshine,” I mutter, earning myself a withering glare from the professor.

“Am I the only one who finds it very suspicious that Victor is the common denominator in both the classes where there was a problem with inaccurate grades?” Vaughn asks.

The professor doesn’t disagree, but she doesn’t agree either. “That’s true. But so are Miss Bergen and Mr. Prescott.”

“Yes. But Victor was the one who, in both cases, had access to the grading system. You allowed him to grade papers and tests on your behalf. And he was in charge of the software system where the Econ exams were taken.” Vaughn says.

Tucker nods. “It’s true. If someone had an issue with the computer they were taking their exam on, Victor was the one who would either fix it or assign them to a different computer.”

Professor Cantucci is playing nervously with the gold bangles on her wrist. “I hate to admit it, because I trusted Victor, but that’s very suspicious. And under the light of what Talia just told me, I want to take a look at every single quiz he graded this year. Then I’ll speak to Victor. I can’t believe he would abuse my trust this way. Once I know the extent of his wrongdoing, I expect this matter to have serious consequences for him. The Dean was clear that if the mixup with those grades wasn’t a glitch but the result of wrongdoing, he would press charges.”

This time, Becks is the one with the fastest reaction time. “I know it’s not my call, Professor, but don’t you think you should gather some evidence before you speak to him? Like you pointed out earlier, he’s going to deny it. He’s going to deny having anything to do with this and probably say that Talia is lying for being caught cheating.”

We all agree with Becks that Professor Cantucci should wait to have damning evidence before making Victor aware that something is wrong. If he were tipped off before we have proof, he might be able to cover his tracks.

“I’ll have to speak to the Dean and to my head of development,” the professor muses. “The investigator the Dean hired didn’t find anything conclusive in the Econ system. And it might take a few weeks if he has to go through all the exam papers of all my classes during the last academic year. It’s all on hard copy and it’s a lot of material since I administer a couple of pop quizzes in addition to midterms and finals to determine each student’s final grade.”