Parnell Bennett is the 22-year-old son of an extremely wealthy businessman. His father taught him to never be the biggest loser in a deal, and he holds on to this advice. While Parnell's father values education dearly, Parnell sees it as just another game like business is. Parnell is a student at USC, and he pays a girl named Megan Deene to write papers for him.

Megan is on her own and is trying to make ends meet while paying for her tuition. She is payed $2,500 a paper by Parnell, but she decides that her services are worth more when she writes a 60 page paper for him. So, Megan decides to confront Parnell and demand more money from him. However, when she confronts him, Parnell says that he will only give her $2,000 unless she doesn't want his money ever again. Megan is forced to accept, but she is furious at being humiliated. Parnell's friend Ronnie says they should kill Megan, but Parnell does not think that is a good way to deal with a problem, so he decides to just keep a close watch on Megan.

A year later, Megan is still resentful of Parnell and how he humiliated her. She decides that this time she will play him. Megan meets with Ronnie and tells him that if he threatens her she will turn him in to the dean, and that his four years of work is not worth defending Parnell. Next, she meets with Parnell, and she tells him that she will turn him in if he does not give her $50,000 for her work over the last four years. Parnell says that she should check the rosters for the classes she wrote the papers for.

Meghan procrastinates checking the rosters, but finally does in her car. Meghan discovers that Parnell was not in any of the classes, but Ronnie was, so by trying to blackmail Ronnie she was directly threatening him. She is about to get out of the car when Ronnie jumps in with a large knife. He tells her not to scream, but she does anyway.

Parnell ruminates on his use of Megan's writing skills. He sold the papers to his friends for much more money than he charged Megan. Megan thought that Ronnie was just a dumb lacrosse boy, but he was trying to do well in school to inherit his father's business. Parnell assumes that Megan has probably been killed at this point, but even if Ronnie is caught, Parnell will not be the biggest loser of the situation.