Raising the Bar

 

Garth came from a family of lawyers. His father was a criminal defence attorney, his mother was in mergers and for the past six years Garth had been practising family law. It seemed inevitable that his younger sister, Kayleigh, would follow in the traditional – if only she could just pass the bar... When she came hammering on his door on the evening of her latest attempt, tears streaming down her face, his question was not whether she had failed – it was how did she know so quickly.

“It's all computerised now,” she explained in between gasping sobs. “You know your score right away. Oh, Garth, it's so unfair... You know I would have got it this time if it wasn't for Greg!” Greg was Kayleigh's long term boyfriend, who had ungraciously ditched her just two days before the prestigious exam, apparently realising that the long hours she had dedicated to studying the law was a sign of what was to come rather than a short-term hurdle to overcome. “I haven't been able to concentrate since he left... Oh, Garth, I can take a makeup test tomorrow but if I fail that, I can't retake for another year!” She buried her face in his shoulder. “There's no way I can pass the bar tomorrow,” she continued to cry before stopping abruptly. She pulled back from her brother and studied his face. “But...you can...”

The next day, Garth was sat at a laptop inside the exam room. Identical desks surrounded him signalling the smallest of mercies – he was the only person doing the makeup test today. Apparently his oath to hold up the law, not to mention his dignity, was no match for his fierce loyalty to his family and a pair of puppy-dog eyes. To Kayleigh's credit, she had done a sterling image recreating him in her image. As siblings, they were physically similar anyway, but a few pounds of cosmetics and a hastily bought wig had blurred the lines completely. When he had started to look through his sister's outfits for something sensible and conservative to wear, she had stopped him and insisted something suggestive just in case it could win favour with the examiners in some way, That's how he had ended up in a figure-hugging white dress with buttons down the front that frankly looked like it was missing the skirt. Completing the exam with one waxed leg crossed over the other felt absurd.

The biggest problem, however, was an unexpected one. Garth had passed the bar the first time six years ago, and he hadn't exactly maintained a broad understanding of the law while working in family court. The questions swam on the screen before him as he realised in horror that the exam was a lot harder than he had expected. He couldn't fail – not like this. He couldn't fail Kayleigh. Knuckling down, he tried to answer each question as carefully as he could and when finally he finished, he closed the laptop's lid and looked at the examiner expectantly.

“Such a close thing,” the man sighed walking down the center of the empty exam room. “Just a couple of marks in it...” He reached down to unzip his fly. “Which way though? Well...a sweet thing like you with a pretty mouth.” He smirked cruelly. “That's up to you...”