Tap Tap Tap Tap...

The sound of a keyboard being constantly clicked on could be heard echoing in the small room. Long, slender fingers continuously punched against them, forcing each one down. This continued in a steady stream and didn't seem to have any signs of slowing down. A glowing white monitor rested above it, and as each word was typed, this was reflected on the screen. Black on white, long strips from left to right.

That was all that Ms. Saffron could see within her field of vision. She slowly blinked a few times as she stared at the screen, attempting to try to shake it off. She could feel her eyes starting to burn a little. It was like she was an ancient monitor and this image was going to get burned into her retina. She shook her head once and even then, she managed to keep typing.

She had no idea how long as she had been at this. It felt like hours already. Her boss wanted this to be done as soon as possible. When she had agreed to do it, she thought it would be a simple thing. She thought that it would have only taken maybe a few minutes tops. She had no idea of all the paperwork and whatever else that this man wanted her to sort through. He didn't want her to stop for anything. He seemed rather adamant about having all of this ready before the end of the day.

She frowned at this. It was so insane that he wanted her to do this. Why did he want her to type up all of these questions? And why so many? Next to her, she could see piles of paper, handwritten by her boss himself. They had scribbles on them that she recognized as words and sentences. They were a list of questions that he wanted her to type down. He would rarely give her a break, only if her hand was in need of wrest. It was getting to that point again already.

Ms. Saffron couldn't keep up the typing. The clicking stopped and she leaned away in her chair. She let her arms rest at her sides. Her fingers curled in slightly, the muscles feeling relaxed now that they could finally take a break. She leaned her head back and stared at the ceiling, releasing a loud sigh.

"You do realize this needs to get done, right?"

Ms. Saffron frowned a little as she turned to stare over at her boss. He was sitting in a chair near her. He had been watching her the entire time, ensuring that she would get this done. She didn't know why he was so paranoid. Was it really necessary for him to do this?

But rather than complain, she readjusted herself in the chair so that she could look at him more clearly. With her arms resting on the rest on the chair, leaning against it, Ms. Saffron asked, "I don't know why you really need this so badly. This could be done in a few days' time." She gave pause for a moment as she noticed his glare. "What is it, Mr. Cosmo?"

She half-expected him to slap his hand against something, like his thigh. Instead, his response was cooled, mellow. This contrasted with his obvious frustration. The way that he spoke more or less gave away how he was actually feeling right now. "You know we don't have that kind of time. We need to be at that school at some point tomorrow."

"And we have many hours before we need to do that!" Ms. Saffron slipped out. She didn't bother trying to stop herself. More words flowed from her mouth. "And it's not even noon!"

"Right. And by starting this early, we can be prepared." Mr. Cosmo nodded his head.

Ms. Saffron struggled not to growl at this. She let out a forced sigh as she swung her head back in the direction of the monitor. She raised her hands to start typing again. She dropped them once more and looked back at Mr. Cosmo. She swung her chair around so that she was more comfortable, having gotten tired of the achiness forming in her arm muscles. "Did you really need this many questions?" She asked as she motioned towards the thick pile of paper. "You really want me to type all of that..." She raised her hand up slowly. "...before tomorrow?"

"I don't know where I stuttered, Ms. Saffron." Mr. Cosmo moved his hands in closer, tapping them against one another. His eyes narrowed softly, but the smile remained on his face. "I just feel it's more...efficient to do things like this. You'll feel so much better after the hard part is done. Trust me, everything else after will just fall into place." He leaned himself back a little, crossing one leg over the other. "It'll be like a great weight was lifted from you."

Ms. Saffron wasn't sure how to respond to that. A part of her realized that Mr. Cosmo was correct. It would feel good to get this stuff done. But that was only because there was so much of it. And she didn't even know how much of this was even needed. How much more did she really need to type? And most of all..

Ms. Saffron sighed, "But did it need to be this many questions..?"

The man shrugged his shoulders. "I think it's a perfectly acceptable length."

The woman's jaws dropped down. "Two hundred fifty questions?!"

"That's nothing. Have you ever seen standardized testing in my town?" Mr. Cosmo laughed softly. It was clear that he found humor in the woman's response. No wonder he didn't think too much of this. She hated to think how long this would have been had he done his town's length, whatever that might have been. "Anyway, this won't take long if you keep typing. The questions aren't that long, anyway. You'll be able to finish within two to three hours, I imagine."

"Two to three hours?" Ms. Saffron repeated.

Mr. Cosmo nodded his head. "Provided you keep going and don't waste too much time resting. I assume you have a good typing speed?"

Ms. Saffron didn't answer. She just looked back at the screen. She had no idea what she was going to do. Well obviously, she still had to keep moving. She couldn't let herself just stop. But still, a part of her wondered just how necessary this all was. Why was this man so obsessed with this? If he hadn't threatened to fire her if she didn't do this, she would have just stopped and walked away.

She didn't know what the big deal was. She didn't know why he had to go to this school, and why this school in particular. She didn't know why he wanted to bring these test questions over. She didn't know what made this particular school so special out of all the other schools. She thought it was randomized, but the man's reaction when she suggested a different one seemed to be in line with adamancy. There was something special about this school. She just didn't know what it was.

The woman let out a small sigh and she resumed typing. It wasn't like she was going to get an option to stop at this point. She tried not to let herself think too hard on the typing and on the achiness. She instead focused her attention on the ending result, when her body can finally stop to rest. And somehow, that helped make the process a little easier.

But even as she continued typing up question after question, she still felt a sting of curiosity. She didn't like to really pry into her boss's work. She didn't really know what her boundaries were and she didn't know what her authorization level was. Just how much was she allowed to know? The fact that she worked for Mr. Cosmo for years did little to really ease her mind. That was one of her faults that she wished that she could work on. She never quite fully got over the nervousness of being a newcomer to Mr. Cosmo's company.

Though she could obviously question his plans no problem. The thought brought a smile to her face and she chuckled. It was funny how things worked like that.

She did her best to keep focusing on her assignment, but her mind continuously wandered back to that question from before. It wasn't like she hadn't asked already. It wasn't like she didn't get an answer. But she still couldn't feel fully satisfied with the answer. She found herself releasing a frustrated grunt as she looked over her shoulder. She stared at the man intently with one eye.

"And just what is so special about Plainville High School?" She asked in a soft, slightly strained voice.

She watched as Mr. Cosmo's smile spread along his face. "This place is different from the others. I have been looking everywhere, through different schools, to find the one that I feel would be perfect." He tilted his head up slightly, as though to try to get a good view of the monitor situated behind the woman. "And I do believe, based on what I know of this place, it'd be the most obvious choice."

Ms. Saffron blinked at this. She hadn't exactly gotten any sort of answer. In fact, this was more or less the same thing that he had said before the last time she asked. But she did realize that the man was not likely going to give any further details. This was the most that she could hope for.

Too exhausted to keep asking the same questions, the woman merely shrugged her shoulders and returned to typing. She hoped that this would be all worth it in the end. That's what Mr. Cosmo kept promising her. As for whether or not that'll be true...

Well, they will just have to wait and see.