The first round was over and both schools were even with twenty points each, which mean their performance at the second round, would determine their final fate.
“Swayer are you alright? You barely answered any question out there.” Mr Griffin asked looking displeased. The rest had been doing the answering the first time Swayer tried answering, she failed the answer and the Bridge students were left to answer. That was what made their scores even if not the Salvatore students should have been ahead of them.
“I.. I don’t know.” Swayer answered almost in tears. It’s like everytime she raises her had to tap the button, it would just hang in the air and someone else would do that before her. Even the calculation they had given them, she couldn’t solve simple stoichiometry. Not that she didn’t know how to, shs just couldn’t pen down anything.
“Is there something you’re not telling us? We can help if you-”
“I don’t need help. I’m fine, I just don’t..I don’t understand what’s happening.” Swayer stuttered, wiping her tears off.
“Swayer we are all worried, we’ve never seen you like this on a competition before.” Josey said, cupping her face.
“We need to hurry. Only ten minutes left.” Mr Griffin said and everyone glared at him.
“We can’t possibly send her out there like this. She needs to get herself together first.” Miss Diane said with a frown before facing Swayer.
“Just leave us, we would come out once it’s time for the second round and she’ll be fine.” Anna smiled, reassuring them.
“Alright. Let’s go.” Josey said pulling Mr Griffin along with her as she knew he wouldn’t go willingly.
Anna was about pulling Swayer aside to talk to her but Sebastian beat her to it.
“Can we talk?” Sebastian asked, taking her hand and leading her out of the building before she could even reply.
“What could possibly be wrong with her?” Fabiola asked worriedly.
“Could it be her father again?” Maeve asked.
“That can’t be. He’s already been discharged from the hospital.” Fiona replied. They all had their gaze at the exit door, waiting for them to come back.
Ivory wanted to go and check on them, she had already made to move but Anna stood infront of her, glaring at her. That alone told her not to try it.
“They better hurry, we only have eight minutes left.” Kandle said with a sigh.
Meanwhile…
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Swayer kept looking everywhere but at Sebastian’s face which made it more obvious that something is wrong.
“I’m only going to ask this once. Do you really want us to win this quiz?” Sebastian asked, his gaze locked on her face.
“Of course I want us to win. I.. I’m just distracted -”
“Distracted? By what? Or whom?” Sebastian asked with a frown.
Swayer pressed her lips into a thin line, not knowing what to respond. Anna had thr_@ten her to tell Sebastian about the bet or she would do it herself and knowing Anna, she’ll surely do it. Should she just tell him now? No, that would make things worse.
“It’s nothing. I’m just stressed out.” Swayer smiled.
“We should head back -”
“You are hiding something, spill it.” Sebastian demanded and Swayer looked up immediately. This is the first he’s using that tone with her after they became friends. This is the tone he used the first and second and third time she had approached him after Chrystal slapped him months back.
“I… I think we should really go back, it’s almost time.” Swayer said instead.
Sebastian groaned and pulled her by the waist, making her hit her head on his chest.
Swayer immediately raised her head up with a gasp.
“Wh-at are you doing?” She stuttered.
“I don’t know what’s bothering you Swayer. I can’t know unless you tell me and if you feel you can’t trust me with wh@ťěver It is, then let me give you a reason to.” He muttered, cupping her cheek with his large palm while the other held her waist firmly.
Swayer’s heart began beating fast, faster than the other times she had been close to Sebastian and she thought she might actually have that heart attack now.
Sebastian leaned in slowly, caressing her cheek with his thumb while his gaze were locked on her small lips.
Swayer immediately shut her eyes, waiting for what will happen next and then she felt it. She felt those soft strawberry lips on hers again and this time wasn’t a game kiss, he had willingly kissed her for real!
Swayer opened her eyes to confirm if he’s really the one or if she’s just hallucinating but when she saw his handsome face, she closed it back and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him back.
Sebastian nibbled on her small buttom lip, licking them as he did so. She tasted like chocolate or was it her lipgloss that he had tasted but nevertheless, her lips tasted sweet.
He remembered they were out of time and broke the kiss reluctantly. If only they had gone out earlier, it would have been a long kiss instead of this brief one.
Swayer was speechless, she just kept staring at his lips, hoping he would kiss her again.
“We need to go back and win this and then you’ll tell me what’s been troubling you, okay?” Sebastian said rasing her head up so she could look at his eyes instead of his lips.
Swayer took in her buttom lip before bouncing her head.
Sebastian let go of her waist and took hold of her arm before leading her inside again.
“Sebastian wait.” Swayer called, before he could open the door and Sebastian faced her immediately.
“What..what does this mean? The kiss.” She muttered, lowering her gaze as she didn’t want him to see her cherry red cheeks.
“You’ll find out after the quiz.” Sebastian replied, raising her face and peaking her lips again before opening the door.
Everyone turned to them immediately, their attention mainly on Swayer.
They noticed how red her cheeks were and became curious as to why.
“Feelings better?” Fabiola asked and Swayer bounced her head.
“Alright then, let’s go.” Chrystal said and they all entered the stage. The Bridge students were already seated and they were awaiting Jimmy. Even the judges were back from their short break.
Jimmy immediately came into view and everyone began cheering as they knew the second round had began.
“Alright alright alright! We are back!” Jimmy announced and everyone began clapping again.
Swayer still had a smile on her face and even Josey, Mr Griffin and miss Diane were wondering why.
“Alright students, beware that your performance now determines your fate. Are you ready?”
“Ready!” They all chorused. The judges kept noting down their observations of all students and their teamwork performance.
“Alright. This time around, i would be asking team by team instead of random and I will begin with the Salvatore students. Feel free to discuss your answers before pressing your button” Jimmy said and the audience applauded.
“First question. What is the most commonly used drug across the globe?” Jimmy asked and their eyes widened. The same question Hank had asked them at the trial.
“Omg this is amazing.” Fiona muttered since they had brought their heads closer to make it seem like they were negotiating their answer.
“I know right? So who should answer for us?” Ethan asked and everyone faced Swayer.
“See this as your starting point.” Sebastian winked at her and she smiled before pressing her button.
“Paracetamol.” Swayer answered.
“That is correct. Five points for the Salvatore students. And now to the Bridge students.” Jimmy said and everyone’s attention turned to the Bridge students.
“What is the full meaning of s.t.p and state the conditions.” Jimmy said and Natalia immediately pressed her button, not waiting for the others to even talk it through.
“The full meaning of s.t.p is Standard Temperature And Pressure and the conditions are 273 kelvin or zero degree centigrade and one atmosphere which is 760mmHg. They are used to compare volumes of various gases.” She replied and Jimmy chuckled a bit.
“Correct.” He said and everyone applauded.
“Alright next question. Who is the father of biology?”
“Isn’t he Adam Smith?” Fiona asked and everyone frowned.
“Who the hell is Adam Smith?” Chrystal asked with a frown.
“I thought he was Charles Darwin?” Natasha asked and Fabiola almost palmed herself.
“Charles Darwin is the father of modern biology not biology itself.” Kandle explained.
“Aristotle.” Swayer said.
“Exactly, I was thinking the same.” Shaun said with a smile.
“Huh?” Ethan furrowed his brows.
“Aristotle is called the Father of biology. He was a great Greek philosopher and polymath. His theory of biology also known as the “Aristotle’s biology” describes five major biological processes, namely, metabolism, temperature regulation, inheritance, information processing and embryogenesis.” Sebastian explained.
“Alright, noted.” Ethan smiled and Swayer pressed her button.
“Aristotle.” She answered and Jimmy smiled at her. He noticed her being dull at the first round but she’s coming around.
“Correct.” Jimmy said and the audience applauded.
…
They were at a semi finals now with only two questions left to ask. Suprisely, Bridge students were ahead of Salvatore with ten points. Natalia has been answering before her team could even talk to each other and as much as it was annoying them, they were glad they had the lead.
Now with only two questions left, Salvatore students were praying for the Bridge students to actually fail their next question so they could answer it and boost themselves up before answering their own question to make them the winner.
“Final question for the Bridge students.” Jimmy said and everywhere became silent.
Mr Griffin had a sulky expression as he knew they would definitely loose to the Bridge academy. If there were three schools then Salvatore would have taken second prize but that too would be shameful.
“Last question, who wrote the book, impossible paradise?” Jimmy asked and Natalia immediately pressed her button.
“Bora Lang.” She replied with a smile since she’s her mother.
“That is correct.” Jimmy said and Swayer felt her heart getting heavy. Even if Jimmy asked them the last question and they get it, they had still lost to Bridge academy.
“We lost.” She muttered, facing Sebastian.
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OMO ? ANOTHER BEAUTY WITH BRAINS AND HER NAME IS NATALIA ?