c h a p t e r 16
play nice
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BLAZE'S POV

Natasha glared at the retrieving back of Mr. Pine, the principal of Delagris High School and our host with an intense murderous look. It truly was a good thing that looks couldn't kill. Because if Glazer could have her way, Principle Pine would be in a really bad and really dead condition right now.

"Can I kill him?" She fumed, in an undertone so only I could hear her question. 

Though I wished nothing more than to sock him in his ugly bald face myself, I also didn't want to end up in any sort of trouble and so I responded to her question with a firm "No!"

I understood where her rage came from. The giant hairless meat sag of sweaty palms had the audacity to accuse us in front of everybody, of having ill intentions for missing our train. He didn't even allowed us a chance to explain ourselves. Jumping straight at conclusions he thought fit a lecture session was due.

His acrimonious speech about our generations lack of self control on our hormones had me wanting to bury my face in the ground like an ostrich and just die. He had humiliated us at length. Turning us into an entertaining topic for the audience to laugh on. 

Clutching her steel water bottle like it was Thor's hammer, she requested, "Just a little bit?" 

I firmly shook my head no. Giving her a pointed look, I  shouldered my bag. Before we walked through the gates of Delagris High School I had vowed to myself to endure whatever may happen next. To keep our heads down and avoid getting into any sort of argument, with anyone, in any regards. No matter what. And I really intended on keeping my word.

It had been a hard task, convincing Glazer but through some miracle I had gotten her to agree to follow me on this. So far it seemed to be working out. Seeing as she bothered asking for my permission first, rather than hurling her bottle at his head, right the second that idea struck her brain. 

"Let's just find our rooms. Dump our bags and hit the library. We have a lot of catching up to do if we want to beat their ass in the competition" I said, taking big steps towards the accommodation building. 

Delagris shared the same renaissance architecture as St. Josheph's, with it's old stone building gentrified from some ramshackle church of sorts. 

Natasha jogged up to meet my pace, as I sort out our rooms on the ground floor. We were given the rooms opposite each other. The single dorm rooms were bigger than the attic room of Mr. and Mrs. Moyar and the best part about the room, was the adjoined bathrooms they had. I don't think I would have been particularly thrilled by the idea of sharing bathroom with the rest of the guys of another school. 

We really didn't have much time to site see so we quickly disposed our bags and went about in search of library. It was absolutely vital for us to find it as we needed to prepare for the competition that would be taking place later in the afternoon.

Besides us and Delagris, there were two more schools taking part and they all had a head start of yesterday. We only had three hours to spare before the competition begins. After going throw enough shit just to get here, I would be damned if I returned loosing. 

Since we didn't knew the place, we had to stop and ask for directions to the library from other students who had been anything but helpful. After being falsely guided to the common bathroom, janitors room and the store room; we quit taking directions from the Dalagris students and instead sought out some teacher or warden for help.

All the detours had caused us about half an hour but I was still relived to have finally found the library, all own our own. We stormed through the doors and grabbed the pile of reference books that were available on the front desk and started cramming our heads with a cocktail of information on every subject.

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We had been peacefully studying for one and a half hour straight, when Natasha abruptly slammed her history book shut, making me look up at her.

"This is not working. My head feels like it's about to explode. This is too much." She complained, clutching her head between her hands and applying pressure. 

"Just one more hour N, then you can take a break" I mumbled, trying to memories the series of an algebra equation.

"What did you just say?" She questioned in a teasing tone and leaned forward with an oddly surprised face.

"That u can take break-"she cut me off by waving her hand in my face, gesturing me to stop. 

"No... You just called me N instead of Glazer" she quipped with a smirk and then when I didn't answer immediately, she wiggled her eyebrows at me. 

"Did I ?" I thought and she answered by bobbing her head up and down slowly like a cartoon character. It was then that I realized I had thought that question out loud. 

I wonder where it came from. I have never addressed her as anything other than Glazer, so why would I suddenly slip up and call her N now? It didn't make any sense. 

I looked at her and blink once, then twice than shrugged it off. Better to make it seem like nothing. 

She looked like she was about to comment when her eyes caught sight of something else over my head and she frowned.

I watched her with a quizzical look too, as she suddenly stood up and looked around at the other three pairs present in the library, preparing for the quiz just like us.

A panicked look washed over her face, letting me know something was wrong. I reached out and clasped her hand to get her attention.

"What is it?" I asked, concerned. It wasn't like her to panic.

She turned around and looked me straight in the eye. Panic replaced by irritation.

Gritting her teeth in anger she hissed, "Why do the other three pairs have different sets of books than ours?" 

__________☆__________

Glazer, stormed into my room, without knocking holding wet cloths in both her hands.

I didn't have to ask to know what had happened. I simply gestured towards my soaking wet bag to her and nodded my head, acknowledging the fact that we were played bad here.

Throwing her wet jeans over my wet bag in rage, she crossed her arms and stared me down.

"You still want to play nice?" She barked. 

Not waiting for my reply she began pacing in circles. Occasionally, stopping to kick at furniture.

"First that bald principal humiliated us in front of the whole school and..Cops! Then the little pricks of this school play us by giving us false directions! Then the fucking assholes switch our reference books with other useless one! Two fucking hours Blaze! We wasted two fucking hours and now they pull a stunt like this? Fucking throwing our bags in the bathtub!" Outraged, she yelled at me.

"No!" I whispered first to myself. Then turned and looked straight into her whiskey brown eyes and repeated my answer to her previous question. "NO more!"

"Good! Ugh...I hate this place so much. Can we just fucking burn this school down!" she blurted out. Her eyes lighting up with an excited glint.

"Seeing as it's entirely made of stones, I don't think fire is going to do much damage." I retorted and then raised my hands in surrender when she glared at me. 

"I can damn well try!" she hollered but then pouted like a kicked kitten and then feebly kicked the chair near her. 

I sighed and encouraged her, "Oh we will, but first we have got to win this compilation. It's even more important now" she perked up hearing that and promptly took a seat on the same chair she had kicked a few second ago.

"Right! So what's the plan?" she inquired.

"Well..my plan was to follow whatever you planed" I confessed, running a nervous hand through my hair.

"Great! so we have no Plan!" she got up from the chair and walked over to the bed, sat down besides me and started tapping her chin. No doubt thinking of some over the top, elaborate idea for winning the competition. 

I felt it would be better if she came up with the ideas while I kept a cool head so that we both don't end up creating a mess rather than a solution. After all Adam had been right all along in saying that we were too damn alike, and so in situations like this when we needed to work together it would be best to try an presume an opposite role to work things out. 

Ergo, while she sat on my bed Indian style thinking hard. I focused on taking out my wet cloths from my bag and dumping them into a basket to take them out later for dry cleaning. Once done with the tedious task, I turn around to face her.

"So Sherlock, any brilliant ideas?" I asked pulling up a chair to sit opposite her.

"Oh hell yes!" she took a dramatic pause before telling me her ridiculous idea with a jubilant smile paired with an ecstatic glint in her mischievous eyes. 

 "Let's steal the quiz questions." 

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Stealing the quiz questions was easier said then done. With only an hour to spend, we had to find out where and who had the quiz questions in order to actually steal them, while making sure to not get caught. 

After spending fifteen minutes debating on her absurd idea, Glazer had tasked me to; in her words 'use my charm' to find out where and who had the quiz questions. Letting that be the end of our discussion.

I wasn't thrilled by the job she handed me with but I still -after many errors- managed to corner one of the Delagris student. A shy girl with big blue rimmed glasses, pigtails and a Scottish accent. She worked in the administration office and was also the head of school's organizing committee. Which made her the perfect person target. If anyone knew anything about the competition, it would be her. So I manipulated her into giving me the lintel on our 'where and who' question.

Unintentionally she told me about Mr. Vergil. The English teacher of this school. He was the one in charge of the competition and he was also the one who had prepared all the questions that would be asked in the quiz today.

Once we figured that out we moved on to our phase two of the plan. Finding where his office was. We figured that he must surely have a spare copy of questions lying around as a backup. In case there be any emergency; and maybe we could steal those.

The whole plan was speculative. We weren't sure if he really had the questions just lying around in his office. Or if he kept them hidden? Would we be able to keep him busy enough for me to find them? The biggest question was though, what if he didn't have them? What then? We would have wasted another crucial hour over nothing. 

However Glazer was not ready to give up. She had a staggering amount of optimism towards her plan. Which is why she didn't waste a minute second guessing and instantly began to carry out our plan.  As decided, Natasha put on the show she had thought up off in order to create a diversion that would allow me access to the office.

I watched from behind the hallway corner, casting a worried eye around to make sure there were no bystanders; as Natasha started fake crying before opening Mr. Vergil's office door. 

Without knocking on it she opened the door and then paused, acting surprised, ashamed and confused. For the second time through out this trip, I was impressed by her actions. 

This girl could act! 

"Oh...oh I am so sorry. I lost my way. I thought this was the washroom" she apologized, slowly backing away and then pretended tripping and falling down on the floor. After that she covered her face and starts rocking her body to imitate an uncontrollable sobbing. 

Someone hand her Oscars.

Mr. Vergil immediately walked out of his office and leaned down to comfort her in an awkward manner. He asked her if she was alright. I took that as my cue and quietly dashed from behind him into the office. Before closing the door, I caught Natasha's eyes peeking from behind his head and shot her a pointed look that translated to 'you better keep him out'.

Once inside, I cast a quick glance around, taking in the surrounding. Every inch of the cramped office was covered with books and papers. There were two drawers present in the office and one statutory desk that had more paper and books then the whole place. All accumulated on the burnt wood desk. 

I reckoned it to be a ration guess for the questions to be on his working desk and so started looking through the mess of papers and books. An unsealed manila cover placed over a stack of old crippling books caught my attention. Leaving the other papers, I looked into it's contents first. An almost maniacal laugh left my lips when I realised that I held in my hands the questions of the quiz. 

It was too good to be true though and far to dicey to steal the original copy. I didn't wanted to take any risk and decided to go through more contents on his desk and found not just one but two copies of the same questions lying on his desk. Though some of the questions were omitted in the original draft, it was unmistakably the same list of questions. 

These will have to do.

The office door creaked and I heard Glazer yell, "its alright sir, I don't need water" from outside. I didn't have much time to think and hastily ducked under the table to hide. I held my breath and waited for him to leave. I listened along with the echoes of my rapidly pumping heart as he picked up a glass from one of the drawers near the window and filled it with water. I waited another minute with my heart stuck in my throat; for him to leave. As the door closed behind him, I filled my lunges with a heavy breath of relief and got out from my hiding.

I didn't pause to rethink it through and quickly scanned the paper and marked down the questions that the original one didn't have and then put the manila cover back in it's place. Folding the other copy, I shoved it in my pocket and nimbly walked out. 

Glazer still sat on the floor, wiping her fake tears as Mr. Vergil took back a half drunk glass of water from her shaking hands. 

I walked up from behind casually, to appear as if I just got there. 

"So here you are! I was looking everywhere. What happened? Is everything all right?" I faked a worried tone and even shot Mr. Vergil an unsure look.

"Ah yes. It's a good thing you are here. I think you should take your friend back to her dorms and let her rest for a while." I nodded in agreement and reached out a hand for her. 

"Worry not sir, I got her. Thank you" She took my hands and hauled herself up, thanking him too. Once he went back into his office, we scampered out of there.

"Did you get it?" she demanded as soon as we rounded a corner. Ignoring her I continued walking ahead and decided to teased her a little. 

"Glazer please never try becoming an actress. You are suck at it" I threw her a wink and she retaliated by whacking me in the head.

"Alright I take it back. It doesn't sucks...." I turned around and walked backwards so I could see her face as I complete my sentence, "It fucking shits!" I commented, then ran as fast as I could.

"BLAZE WARNER!"

_______☆_______

I was pretty confident of us winning. How could we not after having all the questions beforehand.

I would be lying if I said that finding the quiz questions that easily didn't threw me off at first but while Glazer was busy memorizing the answers, I had taken a trip back to Mr. Vergil's office to see if he suspected anything and luckily it wasn't the case.

We were asked to take up our seats on the stage in the auditorium, along with the other three teams, fifteen minutes early.

The two boys of st. Peter's school, sitting on the left hand side besides us looked incredibly nervous. The blonde haired boy with specks was mumbling something repeatedly under his breath and his partner, a tall red haired freckled boy who seemed younger in age than all of us was busy biting his nails to a brittle pulp.

Across from them sat the Congress school of Missenden in their ridiculously bright yellow and cream school uniform. The boy and girl had their heads leaned towards each other as they discussed their strategies in hushed tones.

Besides them and right across from us sat the Delagris team. One ebony boy and a tall brunette with an upturned nose. The pair appeared to be quite calm and confident by their relaxed siting position.

Catching me looking at them the guy threw me a smirk and leaned forward on his desk, placing his hands on the table.

"Hey pretty boy. I hope you spent your time well in the library" he mocked me, fist bumping his partner who let out a snorting pig laugh. 

It was funny seeing him try to play me. To see the absolute certainty on his face. To know how he thought he had it all figured out. When in reality the poor guy had no clue. 

Since I didn't feel like he was worth any reaction, I turned my attention to Glazer. She was busy braiding a single thin strand of her loose wavy hair, out of boredom. She usually always had her hair tied up but today she had let them loose and flow about behind her back. I didn't knew how long her hair were till now. Reaching almost to the middle of her back.

I have never been the kind of guy who admires something as ludicrous as a girls hair and yet I found myself doing exactly that. They were alluring with their deep dark brown hickory colour that appeared leather black in darkness and a rich melted blend of caramel and cinnamon in sunlight. The contrast of her hair color to the bisque color of her skin gave her an unique and distinctive look.

Really dude? You are thinking about her hair and skin? Could I be anymore lame! What's next writing poetry on her eyes and lips? I internally scolded myself for loosing my shit. 

First I slip up and call her N and now I was admiring her hairs? What the fuck is wrong with me?  

Shaking my head to clear out the silly thoughts, I focused on observing the crowd of students that slowly trickled into the auditorium.

Once we had the questions, we were left with roughly twenty six minutes to memories all the forty five answers and Glazer had been more than happy to accept the challenge. She told me that she was good with memorizing things. Be it name, face, place or a series of events; she would have no problem remembering it all, down to the very detail. She boasted about having a photogenic memory, which seeing our position was no less than a 'superpower or talent'. Her words not mine.

So we decided that I would memories twenty two questions and she will memories all of them. Since I was good at science and mathematics, I chose to remember them while she focused on the other three subjects; History, Sociology and English, slightly more than those two. 

"How much longer do we have to wait?" Glazer whined, leaning over me. She placed her head on my shoulder and huffed.

The air of awkwardness that momentarily had a grip over as during the ride had disappeared as swiftly as it had came. As soon as we entered through the school gates, the awkwardness had been replace again by a silent familiarity of a budding friendship. 

Suddenly the school bell rang through the auditorium, silencing the mummers of the crowd and giving a dramatic entry music for the judges and Mr. Vergil to enter and take their respective places.

The other three pairs along with us, sat up straight in their seats too. We all had on the same determined look on our faces, the minute Mr. Vergil began the competition by greeting all and then narrating to us the rules. Once everyone had understood what the rules were, the competition officially began. 

"Now teams please ready your buzzers. Here is the first question.." Since we already knew the sequence and that the first question was of science, I readied myself to press the buzzer.

"Which metal forms an amalgam with other metal?" An adrenaline rush came over me when he asked the same question I had crammed, not too long ago.

Without missing a beat, I pressed the buzzer right as he finished speaking and confidentiality spoke my answer into the microphone.

"Mercury."

"That is correct! Five points to team A" Mr. Vergil clapped along with other few rare good souls present in the audience. Which was no surprise since I doubted the school would be rooting for anyone from the opposite team. 

With a smirk I turned my attention back at the guy who had taunted me earlier and threw a wink back at him, giving him the answer for his earlier question. It felt good seeing him turn his gaze away in anger.

If only he knew it was going to only get worst from here on.

I felt Glazer tug at my blazer sleeve from under the bench and turned my attention at her. A dazzling and unfiltered smile was lighting up her face like bulb. Which stated both happiness and relief.

Even though we faked confidence on the outside, inside we were both worried about it blowing on our faces. Relying solely on the questions we stole was a liability. A risk which we had no way of knowing the outcome of. There was an enormous chance of not getting the same questions but luck truly seemed to be on our side today.

I smiled back at her, letting her know through it that I shared in her relief and placed my hand over the buzzer again waiting for him to finish the next question, I already knew the answer off.

______☆______

"Now for the last bonus question worth fifteen points. Be ready team A and D. This might be the question that could put you in a tie situation team D, or it could give team A, a clear victory." Mr. Vergil announced in a dramatic fashion for the sake of entertaining the crowd.

Delagris' team hadn't exactly backed down easily. They had given us a neck to neck fight, despite us having known all the answers and now as a curve ball Mr. Vergil had announced a forty sixth question which wasn't in our list of questions and that had both Glazer and I sweating with nervousness. 

We weren't prepared for this question and the Delagris team was only fifteen points behind us. So this really could result in a tie. Which wouldn't be of any help as we wouldn't know the answer to the tie breaker question too.

Natasha and I shared a nervous look. Both of our hands were hovering near the buzzer. Our earlier confidence utterly demolished.

"The question for fifteen points and probably the toughest one yet is...." he took another tense pause and I heard Glazer mumble "Fucking spit it already" under her breath.

"What connects the following works of literature: City of Glass (Paul Auster), Lanark (Alasdair Gray), Money (Martin Amis) and Summertime (JM Coetzee)?" His question left a pin drop silent in the auditorium filled with a crowd of three hundred.

I let my hand go limp at my side and cursed under my breath. I had never even heard any of these names before, let alone know what connected them. 

This is it. Even after having the fucking quiz answers, we are going to loose. 

Gutted I looked at team D and saw them looking at us. 

I shook my head knowing there was no way we were winning this.

The crowd along with the judges seemed to think the same as they all quietly stared at us. Waiting for one of the team to answer. Mr. Vergil took that silence as a sign of passing the question and started going through his list of questions to find another one.

Among the quite hum of hushed whispers the sound of the buzzer, resonated an echo throughout the auditorium. In an almost comical looking synchronization, every pair of eyes turned in the direction of our table. More specifically towards Natasha, who had pressed the buzzer hard enough to make sure it got everyone's attention.

I saw a ghost of smirk take shape on her face as she slowly leaned into the mic.

"The authors all appear as a character" her voice was clear of any hesitation or second guessing. She was sure of her answer and she delivered it with same surety.

"That is correct!" Mr. Vergil boomed in the microphone and the crowd broke into thunderous applause, even though their team lost. 

"Yes!" I screamed and gave her a disbelief look. She jumped like a little kid and threw herself at me.

Getting high on the feeling of victory both of us forgot everything and embraced each other. She circled her arms around my neck and I lifted her up. Sweeping her off of her feet, I twirled her around, not carrying about where we were or what we were doing.

The loud cheers dissolved into a distinct hum in my ears, as I soaked in the only sound I wanted to hear. The melodious laughter of Natasha Glazer.

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Ever taken part in an intense quiz? Did you win? psttt...*whispers* Be honest did you cheat?

LOVE N