Oliver could see the sweat of frustration moistening her forehead, as she darted her eyes from side to side. Lilah was in a helpless state, right now. Soon, both their eyes locked, and Oliver quickly told her a silent no, one that no one else could notice.
"Uh... Wait, wait, wait!!"
"I remember..." she muttered under her breath, as a smile of confidence brightened up her face.
"Superintendent is spelled- S-U-P-E-R-I-N-T-E-N-D-E-N-T. And don't bother asking, because this is my final answer," she said.
The sister smiled.
"Okay, in that case, you are absolutely correct."
"Yeah, I did it, oh my god, I really did it," Lilah muttered, with her hands splayed on the sides of her face.
The other boy; Sydney, didn't spell his words correctly, so he was sent back to his seat. They were now down to three contestants, the very amount needed.
Now it was Oliver's turn to answer his final question. There was no point spelling this last word since he had already qualified, but Oliver finally agreed to do it, after heavy pressure from the audience, specifically led by Drake and the others.
"Spell-CHRYSANTHEMUM."
"C-H-R-Y-S-A-N-T-H-E-M-U-M, chrysanthemum?" Oliver said.
"Is that your final answer?"
Sounds of laughter suddenly rose from behind.
"Ha, ha, ha... Look at his face," someone said.
"I told you, Oliver, you're a loser," came a second voice.
"Is that your final answer?" the sister asked again.
Oliver looked at her face. She had the most disagreeing expression.
"No," he quickly answered, "the right spelling is- C-R-Y-S-A-N-T-H-E-M-U-M."
"You're sure that's your final answer?"
"Y... Yes."
Sister Mary Jane sighed, in disappointment.
"You are incorrect," she said.
Right now, Drake and the rest found the perfect opportunity to mock and ridicule Oliver, making him feel so ashamed, even though he passed the selection test.
The education secretary; Prof Eric MacDonald, approached Oliver, where he stood among the two others, as Sister Mary Jane Mathews was interacting with them, privately.
"Excuse me, may I have a word with Mr Oliver Logan, please?" asked the professor.
"Sure, I'm just finished," answered Sister Mary Jane.
He asked Oliver to accompany him to his office.
As Oliver walked with the professor in the empty hallway, he suddenly began to hear sounds. The sound was so frightening, and it was as if it sounded from the walls.
"What was that?" Oliver muttered to himself.
"What?" asked the professor, as he couldn't make up anything from Oliver's low mutterings.
"That sound..." Oliver said as he listened carefully.
"What sound?" asked the professor.
He thought for a while.
"Should be the faulty mower, I guess. Come on, we don't have all day."
"I'm right behind you," Oliver replied to him.
Oliver stood there in shock, as he realized that he was the only one that could hear the sound. At this point, he was stricken by a bolt of panic and raw terror trickled down his spine.
As moments passed, the sound became more familiar. The wet leathery slithery sound seemed so familiar to him. It sounded like something was moving fast within the walls. Oliver came closer to the wall and put his ear next to it. He was able to follow the sound to a distance, till it abruptly came to a stop at a certain point.
"Come along, son!" called the professor to Oliver, as he saw that he was still far behind.
"Just a second, sir," replied Oliver shortly.
He had just started hearing a voice from within the walls, a voice calling out to him. This was a familiar voice too, just like that of the talking snake once saw in the hostel passage.
Oliver listened carefully to get what the voice was saying.
"This is your final warning," said the voice, and that was the last and only comment Oliver heard.
The slithering sounds ceased, shortly, and Oliver quickened his steps, so as to catch up with the professor.
As Oliver thought deeply about the words he heard, something immediately hit his mind. The last time he heard that same voice, it also gave him a warning, a warning not to attend a certain competition, which detail it never mentioned. Oliver was convinced right now, that the talking snake was referring to the upcoming spelling bee competition which he had just qualified for, which was just two days away. He was starting to understand the whole mysteries connected to the situation. He remembered that he was also warned that there was a secret agenda and plot against him. All along, the plan seemed to have been working out smoothly, right from when his main stalker signed up for the spelling bee, using his own signature and names.
Professor Eric was already seated at his office, by the time Oliver arrived there.
"You may have a seat, please. Just a few words and you'd be off, I promise," the professor said to Oliver, adjusting both his seat and his glasses.
Oliver sat down.
"Oliver, about your performance today, I..."
"I know, sir, I... I know I really messed up back there, and I just... I don't think I deserve to be selected for the competition, and... That is why I wish I could be replaced..." Oliver quickly said, his eyes wide and desperate. He stopped, as he noticed the facial expression of the man.
Professor Eric was staring at him with a fallen jaw and eyes that were wide with surprise.
"Is there a problem, sir?" Oliver asked.
"Oliver, what were you saying?" he asked him.
"Look, maybe you do have a little stage fright, but that doesn't mean you're not good. Oliver I wasn't going to say any of those, I just wanted to let you know how great you really are. As a matter of fact, I think you know better than the others," the professor said.
"Me?" Oliver responded with his eyes widening a bit.
"But sir... That can't be true, I mean... You saw me fail my last word, they were all laughing at me. How can you even compare me with someone that got all of her words, and even more?" Oliver said.
"You mean, Olivia Anderson? Come on, Oliver, stop doing this. The reason why you failed the last one, was that you let yourself get distracted by the audience, and that made you lose not only your focus but also your courage. In case you don't know, you got the spelling right, initially, but when you saw them laughing, you thought you were wrong. When spelling, you communicate with your mind, not with the crowd. No one's going to replace you with another kid, Mr. Oliver Logan. We believe in you, but we just hope you learn to believe in yourself."
Oliver was finally out of the office. He knew he had no other choice, since his plan to deny participating in the competition, didn't go down well. As he was moving towards the library area, he stopped all of a sudden and felt both of his hip pockets.
"Not again," he mumbled to himself, as he found out that his keys weren't with him.
"I must've dropped it in the hall," he thought.
He turned around and headed back to the assembly hall. Getting close to the door, he could notice a conversation going on inside. The voices all sounded girl-like.
Oliver wanted to ignore them and move on, but then he found that his name was being multiple times as if he was the main subject of the discussion. At first, Oliver didn't really care to know what they were saying about him, as it wasn't his first time seeing people gossiping about him, even in his presence, but then he heard a certain voice that immediately got his interest, and he quietly stood by the door. It was Felicity's voice that he heard.
The assembly hall was left almost empty after the spelling bee selection was over. While everyone else had gone to do other activities, a bunch of girls remained there, chatting and gossiping out loud. There in their midst, were Clary, Melissa, Jess, and Olivia. Felicity was also present in the hall, but she sat alone on a distant bench, writing on a book, while the others gathered at the corner, totally committed to the discussions at hand.
"Speaking of which, there's no other person half as cold as that boy, what's his name again?" Jess said.
"You mean the new kid; Oliver Logan? Everyone's been talking about him. He's always by himself, most of the time, and he hardly talks to anyone. He gives me the creeps, sometimes," Clary replied.
"Yeah, you guys should see his face more often. It's like he doesn't have emotions. I'd never seen him smile before, not even a tiny little curve in the lips. There's nothing interesting to me about him, except for his blue eyes," Melissa said with a shy giggle. The others laughed too.
"You are so silly, Melissa," Olivia said jokingly.
"I feel like something isn't right about that Oliver boy. I think he's more of an introvert, always self and emotionally reserved. It's more than two weeks already, and he's still yet to break out of his shell. He's too cold-blooded," Olivia said.
"That's not true," came a voice from the other corner.
They all looked and were surprised.
Felicity has been listening to them since, and she seemed to have heard enough of their gossip.
"I think I've been quiet for so long, but I just couldn't bear it anymore. You guys are all wrong. Y'all are here talking about how cold he is, and that he's an introvert? You can't just go around gossiping about anyone. All you have said is totally wrong. Oliver has emotions," she said.
"Wait a second, why are you even defending him, and what makes you say he has emotions when it's obvious he doesn't?" asked Olivia.
"Because I've seen him show his emotions before," replied Felicity.
"But you do know he's an introvert," Jess said.
"He's not. I know he doesn't associate that much, but with time, I know he will. He just got here, you can't expect him to start talking with everyone, you guys need to give him some time, maybe he's just shy," Felicity replied.
Oliver walked right in at that moment, in such a way that none of them noticed he had been listening to them.
"Speak of the devil," Olivia muttered as a signal to the others when she saw Oliver.
Felicity immediately took her book and went out of the hall. Oliver found his keys on the stage, where he stood earlier that day. He picked up the bunch and walked right out.