text: [Themes: modern, romance]
  
  You remember the ads on television reminding drivers to take a rest from driving when tired, and you immediately pull over and leave the car to stretch your legs. The park's trees and grass bring back memories of your suburb as you jog for a couple of minutes to wake up your brain. Ideally you'd nap now, but you can't miss your appointment.
  
  As you return to the car feeling rejuvenated, you notice an unopened energy drink on the back seat amidst all the rubbish. You're unsure how it ended up there as you never have energy drinks (because of your rare genetic heart condition). It's probably one of your friends' leftovers on the way back from a party. Do you:
  
  > leave it Alone
  You know that energy drinks greatly increase your heart rate and you don't want to crash and burn later in the day, so you ignore the can and drive onward. Hopefully you can time an afternoon nap in-between shifts to refuel.
  
  Your drive is fairly uneventful and you arrive at work to find one parking space right next to the '2014 Tuition Centre' as your working headquarters are so creatively known. You try to overhear a conversation between two of your smoking colleagues outside, but you are too woozy to make out more than a few insignificant words.
  
  You are greeted as you pace up the long flight of stairs with 'Hi, your first student is waiting for you at station 2.' from your boss Ray. Ray is always matter-of-fact with everyone. Some of the employees find his lack of cordialness a bit strange, but you don't mind it. To be honest it's a lot better than the stereotypical yelling, abusive boss you thought you'd be working for as you ploughed through papers at school.
  
  You wonder why a student would clash their tuition with standard school hours, short of being desperate to pass an exam. You don't recognise the girl you're meant to be coaching; she is probably one of the other tutors' regulars.
  
  After learning your student's name is Alice and that she has a free first period at school today (of course, why didn't you think of that?), you give her a previous school paper to prepare her for a math exam later in the day. You don't have to complete a lot of work as Alice breezes through the paper, however near the end of the session she encounters a hard nut to crack. When Alice looks to you for help, you casually remark that the question probably won't appear on her paper, but she pipes up with 'Actually my teacher informed our class that this sort of exercise would feature in the exam, so can you please demonstrate how to solve it?'
  
  You study the problem more closely and while you solved an almost identical one once before, your head isn't in the best place and you're having trouble remembering the method. Being fairly mathematically gifted, you normally figure out the method and solution as you go along, but you also identify that you aren't your normal self, and wonder if you should request help from your friend in the 'Data Office'. He's a programmer and he'd have no trouble cracking the nut, having said that he tends to be very fast and not explain his thought process clearly, and that's assuming he agrees to help you in the first place.
  
  > solicit your Friend's Help
  You may not be figuring out the solution to the problem, but you're shrewd enough to have a Plan B in your friend Daniel if you're stuck during a session. You haven't needed his help before either, meaning he will almost certainly assist you. At this hour of the morning he's usually goofing off watching Youtube clips, as he works alone (implying his coworkers only slow him down) and delivers quality output for the company, so the boss turns a blind eye.
  
  'This is definitely a tough problem' you start, 'But I know a math whiz who can solve this puzzle - and I'll go talk to him now.'
  
  You're about to leave your seat when Alice, smirking to herself, somewhat stroppily suggests 'Don't chit-chat with him too long, I'm leaving for school in 10 minutes'. While her cynicism irks you a bit, her comment does give you the idea that you may acquire aid more easily if you bring her along. You mentally picture Daniel's ex-girlfriend, who looked similar to Alice - black hair, dark brown eyes and golden yellow skin, with a slender frame. However company policy prohibits students from interacting with the back-room staff, let alone enter staff rooms not assigned for tutoring, so you could cop a serve if someone catches you or Daniel dobs you in.
  
  > visit Daniel Alone
  You can't risk getting caught breaking several rules and you doubt Daniel will help someone with such a negative mindset. So you ask Alice to wait at your desk while you stealthily approach Daniel.
  
  Entering the back room, Daniel is transfixed on a viral kitten video. 'Hey Daniel, how are you?'
  
  Daniel turns his chair in surprise, furrowing his bushy black eyebrows, and remarks 'I was just enjoying myself, why are you here anyway? Shouldn't you be helping those snooty kids?'
  
  You explain the math problem you can't work out quickly and politely ask for his assistance.
  
  'Sorry pal, but I'd get in trouble if Ray caught me not doing my job! Look up the answer yourself'.
  
  You cheekily retort 'Ray already knows you take some breaks and doesn't care, and you promised you'd help me out if need be...'
  
  Daniel's demeanour sharply changes to one of frustration as he declines with 'No, I am not absconding from my cozy room.' You suggest that he explains the answer to you, but arrogantly mocks 'Nein, you wouldn't understand a thing'. Before you can criticise him for slighting you, he kicks you out, and you return empty-handed.
  
  This isn't well received by Alice, who accuses you of wasting the last 10 minutes of her lesson chatting to your friend, and loudly requests a refund, labelling you a 'bone-headed slacker' and that 'you sure have helpful friends'.
  
  After Alice leaves, Ray asks you what happened and, positive Daniel won't back you, you concede that you asked your colleague for help. He's not happy to hear that.
  
  'What you did was wrong, you're not meant to be distracting our other employees with your own shortcomings. And as the girl said, how do I know you weren't chatting and wasting my time?'
  
  You start 'But Ray, you know...'
  
  'I'll tell you what I know. I know you struggled with a math problem. You then slowed down possibly our most important employee for your own measly gain. You seriously annoyed one of our best clients. And your eyes, your eyes! You look like you're drunk or high. We can't have our tutors presenting so filthily, so I regret to say you're fired. Here's your week's pay, now get out of my sight.'
  
  You are so drained from all of this that you come home early to escape this mess in dream world. While you soon find a job at Woolworths stacking boxes, it doesn't pay anywhere near as well and the financial pressure and lack of quality time cause Kim to break it off a few months later.