As the Head Proctor looked around the hall to ensure that all students had settled into their seats, their papers neatly arranged before them, he instructed;
"Sixty minutes. No talking, no phones, and no communication of any kind. You may begin."
Immediately, the room came alive, the quiet scritches of pens and pencils filling up the room.
Students leaned over their papers with laser-sharp focus as they worked through questions designed to test everything they’d spent months preparing for.
Theo’s pen was already moving steadily across the page, the youth already in the zone.
Damian and Megan were equally as focused, their gazes sharpened as they reviewed the question for a brief moment before picking up their pens.
Flash and Henry had barely finished reading the first page before they both began scribbling away, their grins wide and confident, a stark contrast to several other students with furrowed brows.
Even the supposedly weaker students were giving it everything they had, though it was clear that they’d found themselves on the hot seat.
Evelyn wasn’t among these bunch.
Afterall, her GPA only put her in the Scholastic Division because of a situation that was out of her hands.
That said, her gaze couldn’t help but flit over to the youth whom was just a couple desks away from her.
Unsurprisingly, she wasn’t the only one finding her gaze drawn to him as a couple other students and invigilators nearby watched him proceed to blankly stare at his papers for the next five minutes, his hands lazily flipping through.
Clearly, they seemed to be of the belief that he was stumped.
Good for them, they believed. One less contestant to worry about.
As for Aiden...
’Hmm... if I can blitz through everything in twenty-five minutes, I should be able to nap for another thirty minutes...’ he mused after reading through all the pages.
Then, letting out another quiet yawn, he picked up his pen and began answering, and finally everyone seemed to take their gazes off of him.
Roughly thirty minutes later...
... Aiden placed his pen down with a soft tak.
Several heads nearby immediately turned to him again... not that he cared as he simply stretched his arms, yawned and blinked his eyes a couple times.
Then, apparently finding nothing else worth doing, he folded his arms on the desk, rested his head against them and promptly fell asleep.
For a few seconds, nobody said anything.
Then someone whispered;
"Is he seriously sleeping?"
Flash briefly looked over from across the hall, his brows knitting together upon catching the youth’s sleeping posture.
He himself was already on his second to last paper, so he found it rather hard to believe that anyone was already done.
’Probably gave up,’ he immediately tossed the possibility of the youth having actually finished before him aside.
Henry on the other hand, looked over for a brief moment as well, muttering to himself as he returned his focus to his paper;
’That’s... curious...’
Evelyn on the other hand, merely stared, then continued with her exam.
As for his teammates, they didn’t even bother looking over because they were rather certain he’d probably finished the damn thing.
Yet, literally five minutes after, another student finished, his pen equally tapping the desk softly as he began reviewing through his papers one last time.
It was none other than Theo.
This time, Flash found himself stunned that anyone had actually managed to finish before he did.
’Well, it’s a matter of who has the highest score, not who finishes first.’ he placated himself and returned his attention to his papers with a slight click of his tongue.
The other half of the hour passed and then, finally, the Head Proctor declared;
"Pencils up!"
The students immediately did as they’re told, none of them willing to incur a deduction to their points as the invigilators promptly began retrieving their scripts for assessment.
At the same time, all the students began filing out after they were informed that they would move to the next hall for the second-round after a forty-five-minute break.
As the teams headed out, Aiden who still hadn’t gotten the right amount of sleep to function as was required of him, found himself being asked by Megan who caught up to him amidst the crowd;
"Wide awake?"
"I’d say I’m functioning." Aiden replied instead, his head bobbing once.
Not that it stopped the lady from regarding him with a skeptical look from behind her red-rimmed glasses;
"Barely, it seems."
"But I trust it should be enough for you to steamroll your division in the quiz bowl." she added with an arched, knowing brow.
"Fingers crossed." Aiden simply replied, a thin, tired smile touching his lips.
Soon enough, the rest of Silverlake High’s team met up once more, this time with Mr. Lazlow and Mrs. Delacroix--both of whom were really curious to know how their students had faired.
In any case, the forty-five-minute break passed surprisingly fast after that.
Now, several individuals had moved over to the auditorium, the enormous space already packed.
Afterall, it was where the spectacle most were looking forward to would happen.
The Super Quiz Bowl.
Without much fanfare, the students of the respective high schools equally filed in, their Varsity Divisions promptly taking the stage a couple minutes after.
Students, instructors, proctors and professional personnel filled the seats while a massive digital scoreboard dominated the stage.
Currently, there were six teams on stage, the lights illuminating them as they had occupied their respective seats, the quiz immediately kicking off a couple minutes after.
And when their round was done, complete with applauds for the participating teams, only three schools remained in the top spot.
-
1. Midtown High - 14 points.
2. Westchester Prep - 10 points.
3. Queens Collegiate - 8 points.
-
Silverlake High’s Varsity Team, had unfortunately only managed to secure 7 points out of the 50-point quiz bowl, putting them firmly in fourth place.
It was also why Flash grinned, a mocking gloat on his features. Henry on the other hand curiously glanced over, somewhat expecting some sort of reaction from them.
Yet, not a single one of Silverlake High’s team members looked perturbed, or even bothered to notice that they were being mocked or studied.
Rather, they simply pat their varsity members on the back for a job well done, the proctor coming up on stage to appreciate the teams before calling up the next batch;
"Now, the Scholastic Division."
Promptly, the students in the division got up from their seats and filed onto the stage. Upon seeing Aiden walk up alongside them, Flash audibly scoffed in mockery as he muttered;
"He was in the scholastic bracket? GGs, Silverlosers. You’ve ended your chances of winning before you even started."
Henry looked on in mild pity, whereas the rest of Westchester Prep’s students couldn’t even be bothered to give him the time of day.
Right now, they looked extremely confident, far more than Midtown High’s students in fact.
The reason for their confidence, was none other than Evelyn, the lady whom people often misinterpreted as being cold, when she was just in fact introverted.
It was why she hardly ever talked and she likewise hadn’t since they’d arrived all day.
She also happened to be the one student they believed should’ve been in the Honor’s bracket, if not for the fact that she had transferred over from her school in Russia to study at Westchester Prep in her sophomore year.
Safe to say, Westchester Prep believed they had this round with her in the bag. Sure, they couldn’t compete against Midtown High in the Honor’s Division, but they could very well close the gap.
Enough that if they did well enough, they would cinch victory if the disparity between points across rounds and the scores from their written exam was tallied up.
Midtown High also knew this. Compared to their Varsity and Honor’s team, their Scholastic Team wasn’t as mighty.
That said,
’We already have a staggering lead. We just have to make sure to stay close behind.’ Flash mused, his fingers rubbing his chin.
Clearly, everyone seemed to have sidelined Silverlake High completely, and even the audience were more or less the same as they looked forward to the two schools at the top duking it out.
As the host stepped up to the podium though, microphone in hand, he then spoke;
"Alright, contestants. You will be given a series of increasingly difficult questions. Buzz in when you believe you have the answer. An incorrect response will open the question to the other teams."
The lights dimmed slightly after that and the massive screen behind him flickered to life with the words;
SCHOLASTIC DIVISION: SUPER QUIZ
Aiden sat in his designated chair, elbow resting against the armrest, cheek supported lazily by his palm.
He was still tired.
Very tired.
The constant power naps and forty-five-minute break had helped... but apparently it hadn’t been enough.
Not after he’d bastardized his sleep schedule by trying to get the PC port to work these past three weeks.
Troy and Gabriella occupied the other seat on his left and right, and just across from them sat Westchester Prep, the semi-circular arc of arranged tables and chairs housing the other four teams.
Evelyn was already staring intently at the screen.
Midtown’s representatives looked equally prepared as well.
"First question." the host smiled and the screen slowly transitioned behind him;
"Which of the following describes the phenomenon in which a population bottleneck results in a--"
Before the host could finish reading out the question--much less allow the screen behind him update the question, a sharp BZZZT! echoed throughout the auditorium.
Practically everyone froze, his teammates included as Aiden’s hand was already back on the table.
The host however, managed to get out the words despite his surprise as he gestured;
"Silverlake?"
Aiden blinked once, and one would’ve almost thought he accidentally pressed the darn thing, only for him to speak a moment after;
"Genetic drift."
For a moment, the host glanced down at his card... then back up as he slowly said;
"That is... correct."
The scoreboard changed immediately.
-
1. Silverlake High – 1 point.
-
A murmur immediately rippled through the audience, Aiden’s very own team still stunned by the speed of his action.
Westchester Prep’s team on the other hand looked at one another, Evelyn’s eyes narrowing slightly.
Not a moment wasted, the host read the next question;
"Next question. Which economist is most closely associated with the concept of comparative advantage?"
BZZZT!
"David Ricardo." Aiden answered.
"Correct..." the host responded, clearly surprised as the scores updated again.
-
1. Silverlake High – 2 points.
-
Aiden found himself yawning a bit after that, his eyes doing that lazy blink that was actually starting to scare the opposition.
As Flash stared at him, his expression slowly changed from condescension to confusion. As for Theo, Megan and Damian, a light grin had touched their lips, same as several of their peers.
Yet again, the host cleared his throat and spoke;
"Question three."
This time, a considerably more complicated question appeared, one concerning organic chemistry.
Evelyn’s fingers hovered near her buzzer.
She knew this one. She was certain of it.
Unfortunately--
BZZZT!
"It’s a Claisen condensation." Aiden casually answered.
The host looked down again, his expression stunned to no ends as he said;
"...Correct again."
By the time the twentieth question rolled around, the scoreboard had become almost ridiculous.
-
1. Silverlake High – 13 points.
2. Midtown High – 3 points.
3. Westchester Prep – 2 points.
-
At this point, a single question was already running through everyone’s mind, the audience utterly flabbergasted;
How?
Aiden wasn’t just merely answering. He was answering disgustingly fast.
Sometimes before the question had even finished being read. Other times, he waited until the final few words, seemingly knowing exactly where the question was going.
And somehow, he was doing it dryly and without much enthusiasm. Like it was something he needed to get over as soon as possible.
Be it history, physics, literature, biology, economics, art, geography... he was bulldozing through everything.
Before long, the audience began buzzing with genuine awe and excitement.
Even Mr. Lazlow looked utterly bewildered, Mrs. Delacroix having dropped her professional composure as she ecstatically squealed at some point.
Then came the next question.
This one was thrown to Westchester Prep after they had buzzed first.
"Which Roman emperor issued the Edict of Milan?" the host had asked.
Westchester’s representative hesitated, unsure of what to say as the pressure got to him.
"Emperor Galerius..." he managed a moment after.
"Wrong." the host said and promptly turned, gesturing to the other teams;
"Open question."
BZZZT!
"Constantine the Great." Aiden pounced on it without mercy.
"Correct!" the host declared, the scoreboard updating again.
The auditorium had practically cheered as Aiden continued his clean sheet, a feverish air of excitement rippling through the air.
The coal-haired youth on the other hand gently rubbed his eyes. He was honestly starting to feel sleepy again.
Flash’s jaw on the other hand, had tightened. Henry’s eyes had narrowed. Evelyn simply kept staring at Aiden, her aloof expression having long switched to disbelief.
’Where in tarnation did he come from?!’ she internally screamed.
By the time they were nearing the end of the round, Silverlake had accumulated a staggering 18 points from Aiden alone.
It also helped that his teammates refused to be completely carried as Troy hit the buzzer again this time;
"Photosynthesis?"
"That is correct." the host smiled.
Gabriella followed shortly afterward, snatching a question about classical music with the final buzzer.
"You are... correct!" the host declared a moment after and Gabriella visibly beamed!
As for the auditorium, a powerful silence had descended within its walls...
...only for everyone to erupt a second after, cheers and applause rippling through the room, the scoreboard well and truly absurd;
-
1. Silverlake High – 22 points.
2.Westchester Prep – 8 points.
3. Midtown High – 7 points.
-
As Midtown High’s and Westchester Prep’s representatives looked to one another, they suddenly realized one thing.
They should’ve never, for one moment, ever underestimated Silverlake High.
More so, they realized how absolutely cooked they were if they couldn’t manage to pull off a comeback in the final rounds.
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