Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 98345 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98345 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
I yanked the laxative bottle out of her hand as if I was going to play her game. I wasn’t. I just needed Shelby to think I was a willing participant in her stupid plan so she’d leave Lindsey alone. There was no chance in hell I was going to physically harm someone for the sake of a quiz bowl. Get real.
It took me all of ten minutes to come up with a new plan. One that didn’t involve forcing Jake to drink a bottle of medicated sludge without him realizing (which, by the way, was never going to work). My new plan was still wrong, and I fully expected to get in trouble for it. I was damaging public property, but I reasoned that at least this way, no one would get hurt.
All it took was a pair of scissors I found in the school’s art room. The auditorium was empty when I walked in with them concealed in my hand. We weren’t due to take the stage for another thirty minutes. There was no one acting as security, no one lingering around. The quiz-bowl organization could barely get volunteers to conduct the tournament itself, for god’s sake. Most of the time, they were an overworked and underpaid collection of teachers who were solely in it for the free Subway sandwiches the organization provided. Not one of them was trying to linger in here on their off time.
Up on the stage, there were two long rectangular tables on which rested four buzzers each, connected to the floor outlet by long black rubber cords. I walked to Hillandale’s assigned table, picked up the buzzer Jake usually used, trailed my hand down the long cord a few inches, and then quickly made a tiny cut in the rubber so small that no one would notice it unless they knew to look for it.
Then I spent the next thirty minutes worrying over what I’d done. I had sizable pit stains on my red polo shirt by the time our school was called to take the stage for competition. A mediocre round of applause greeted us as Shelby shoved me out from behind the curtain. The Hillandale boys were already at their table, poised and ready to take us on. I worked up the courage to look over at them, trying not to be too conspicuous about it. I didn’t want to give myself away, but my nerves slipped free of my tight control the moment I realized the setup was all wrong. They’d switched around their assigned spots. Jake wasn’t in the middle. He was at the helm now. Phillip had swapped places with him, making it so he and I stood directly across from each other when I took my position and picked up my buzzer.
Shelby growled in annoyance under her breath and then spun around to face me.
“Jake is here. Why?”
Earlier, I’d assured her I’d gone through with the plan, which wasn’t a lie. I did go through with the plan, just not her plan.
“Trust me,” I whispered with a small shake of my head.
We were already drawing attention to ourselves. Shelby needed to cool it if she didn’t want to blow our cover.
I adjusted my shirt and listened halfheartedly as the moderators ran through the rules and then introduced us each by name. There couldn’t have been more than five people in the crowd. One guy in the back was the janitor waiting for us to clear the room so he could finish his job for the day.
“Contestants, please pick up your buzzers. The first round is about to begin.”
My hand shook so fiercely that I doubted I’d be able to buzz in. My stomach squeezed with anxiety, tightening into a knot so tight that I could barely look up from my table, not even at the seated row of moderators.
“Question number one. The first civilizations arose around 3500 BC in this region known as the land between the riv—”
I buzzed in before he could even finish.
The moderator nodded my way. “Fairview Prep.”
“Mesopotamia,” I answered confidently.
“Correct.”
My teammates hooped and hollered, jostling me with their congratulations. It only made me feel worse. I shouldn’t have been on fire that first round, but I was, so much so that there was no chance for Phillip to realize what I’d done to his buzzer. Once I finally worked up the nerve to peer over at him from beneath my lashes, I was surprised he didn’t look angry. On the contrary, his eyebrows were tugged together as he studied me, impressed and intrigued.
I glanced away quickly and gulped, focusing all my attention on the moderators for the second round: English literature.
“In this novel, a character protects his sister Georgiana and plans to marry Catherine de Bourgh’s daughter.”
Their team buzzed in faster than we did.