Monday.
After the first period of biology Reaction Engineering class in the morning, Tony Snow turned to Clara Quinn, who was sitting beside him, and asked, "What kind of gift would you like?"
"A gift? Is there some holiday coming up?" Clara furrowed her brow, confused. As far as she could recall, there were no major holidays in the last month. The only upcoming date was Memorial Sunday, and surely Tony wasn't about to give her a present for that.
"Holiday? Sure, let's call it that. Every day with you is a holiday," Tony replied with a playful grin.
Clara shot him a glare. "This is the classroom. You looking to die?"
Tony chuckled. "Just tell me what you want."
"No, really, you don't have to keep buying me things," she said, shaking her head.
"Alright then," Tony relented with a sigh, deciding to ask Clara's roommates later.
That afternoon, during biology Reaction Experiment lab, Dr. Howard Quinn arrived with two graduate students, a male and a female, just before class began.
Tony, Dr. Quinn, and the two grad students stepped aside to a quiet corner to avoid drawing attention from the rest of the class.
"This is Summer Shaw, a first-year grad student, and Greg Huxley, a second-year," said Dr. Quinn. "Summer hasn't been in the lab much yet, so it'll be good for her to get some hands-on experience under Greg's guidance."
Summer had a compact build and her dark hair was tied neatly in a ponytail. Greg was tall, with short-cropped hair and noticeable acne on his cheeks.
"This is Tony Snow, a third-year undergrad. He'll be leading an experiment this week. You two are to assist him. You won't be reporting to me for now," Dr. Quinn said.
"It's a pleasure. I'll be counting on you both," Tony said courteously.
Though both grad students were initially puzzled why they, senior students, were being assigned to assist an undergrad, they nodded politely and agreed.
"Let's meet back here at six this evening. I'll go over everything with you then," Tony added.
That evening, Tony outlined the details—timing, location, and most importantly, confidentiality.
He emphasized one rule above all: the data and content of this experiment must remain confidential until the paper was published. Any leak would have consequences.
Over the following week, Tony spent most of his time in the lab. By Sunday evening, the experiments were complete.
Although the two grad students' names would not be on Tony's paper, he gave them enough data and guidance to write their own publishable papers—more than enough for them to graduate early.
By midweek, both Summer and Greg had cast aside any early skepticism. It was obvious Tony wasn't relying on favors from Dr. Quinn—he knew his science inside and out.
He consistently solved experimental problems with remarkable speed and insight, often predicting issues before they even arose. His deep knowledge and laboratory proficiency left both grad students awestruck.
They began to suspect he might be the rumored third-year genius, but dared not ask. He clearly didn't want attention yet, and besides, they hoped Tony might mentor them further.
Tony even took the unusual step of asking for the weekend off from his tutoring job with Dr. Sharp's daughter, Lina. He offered to make up the hours the following week, for which Dr. Sharp readily agreed.
By Monday of the following week, Tony was refining his paper and preparing his patent application.
He discovered that because he used university equipment, he couldn't file the patent under his own name—unless he applied for special permission to do so at his own expense.
So, Tony scheduled a meeting with University President Dr. Charles Harding and Dean Howard Quinn. He laid out his reasoning, then showed them both the paper and the patent draft.
Though Tony had only one paper, the patent covered several key innovations.
Dr. Harding and Dr. Quinn read over the material in silence. The further they read, the more their expressions shifted—from formality to visible astonishment.
Here was a third-year undergrad with a top-tier math publication and now groundbreaking cell culture techniques, some of which featured entirely novel cellular behaviors.
"Some of these findings could've been published separately. Why didn't you include them in your own paper?" Dr. Quinn asked.
"I'm giving those to Summer and Greg. They helped me all week," Tony replied matter-of-factly.
Dr. Quinn looked impressed. "Well, Greg was close to graduation anyway, but Summer... If she publishes this, she might become the fastest first-year to graduate in university history. It'll cause quite a stir in academic circles."
Dr. Harding nodded, still reeling from what he had read. "Tony, assuming you cover the patent fees, I see no reason why we can't approve your request to file personally. We'll begin the paperwork."
Tony smiled and nodded. The road ahead was beginning to open—and it was paved with knowledge, strategy, and trust.