[Edward POV]
Our team of charming, attention-gathering, well-dressed intellectuals– minus Sanjay, entered the auditorium where the competition was going to be held.
"Damn Dryden and their bottomless wealth." Enid cursed underneath her breath as she noticed the size of the auditorium was at least 5 times the size of our school's Assembly hall. And this place wasn't even part of their main building.
I nodded at her remarks and added, "They are a private school after all. Even their teachers are well paid, not like ours who could barely live from their income."
Mrs Henderson nodded slightly as she led us to the registration table.
"Atlas and Gamma aren't here yet. We're the first visitors to arrive." Alex said after observing the surroundings. She frowned and added, "We're too early."
I patted her head slightly, making her calm down a bit. "It's okay. We can take the time to prepare. Although… I don't think I can join you guys for a last minute study session nor do I think us coming here early was a mistake on the organizer's part." I took a look at a few old men walking hurriedly to where I was standing with a greasy smile on their faces.
Haruna, the Japanese girl who received the Gryffindor themed uniform, walked to the stage to do a mic check, causing some laughter.
"And here is Mr NEWGATE with his new song, BEE SPELLS WITH THEIR BUTT-" But before she could sing my new song, she was chased out of the stage. (A/N: Banger song: Bees Can Talk by Moving their Butt)
"Huh? Why'd you think that?" Alex asked in confusion before she was pushed away by the old man's march.
"Mr NEWGATE!!"
The old school administrator almost ran to where I was standing with a surprisingly spring in his steps despite being over the age of 60. With a handlebar mustache and a suit that was too big for a man of his small size, the stout bodied administrator forcefully grabbed my hand and vigorously shook it up and down.
"Wow. I can't believe I managed to meet a prodigal artist right in the flesh." He said excitedly. I flashed an insincere smile as I pretended to care as part of my deal with Mrs Henderson to behave today.
As I saw her face carrying traces of fatigue, I decided not to give her any headaches today– And I almost broke my internal promise the moment I met these bootlickers.
Another tall and lanky man in a dark brown suit and red tie– who introduced himself as the school's Vice Principal, shook my hand after the administrator. After the initial greeting, the Vice Principal said apologetically to us all, "I'm sorry for the mix up. The competition will start 2 hours from now."
"To show you our apologies, how about, I take all of you Franklin Middle School students for a special tour around our Dryden academy?" He offered sincerely…without any ulterior motives…at all.
'As if.' I retorted inwardly, but I didn't say anything despite the obvious schemes of the private school. 'But at the very least he's going to take all of us around. So we could kill some time…'
As I turned to the scowling Alex, I mumbled, "But…To say that they were going to like it is a whole other thing."
"Be back in an hour." Mrs Henderson reminded us before she sat on a chair nearby. I turned to her and asked in a low voice, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine Mr Newgate. Thank you for asking. Now, don't keep the old- the representatives waiting."
I smirked as I almost caught her lacking and said, "Okay. We will go now. Have some rest. If you want something to eat, just ask one of the staff." I said before calling one of the staff members and slipping her 100 bucks to tend to the teacher.
"Anything she wants. Okay?"
The staff member nodded before moving towards Mrs Henderson to give her some breakfast while she asked another staff member to go and buy some coffee for the teacher.
Mrs Henderson turned to where I was standing with a perplexed face. However, as I waved to her, she smiled softly instead and didn't hold back anymore in asking the staff for a seat cushion to make herself more comfortable.
…
We visited the cafeteria, where the quality of the food there was on par with a 3 star Michelin restaurant, and the computer lab was equipped with a state of the art system. Although, after I pressed a few buttons, I almost broke down their entire prided system, causing the administrator to pull me away hurriedly.
"This here, is the pride of Dryden Academy, our Art and Humanities building." The lanky Vice Principal announced as we arrived at a humongous building, with Greek style pillars on the front.
Haruna's eyes glittered as she saw the building, and she asked, "This is the famed Archimedes-"
"What do you think, Mr Newgate? Want to check out inside the building?" The Vice Principal interrupted her before she could even finish asking. I glanced at the slighted Haruna and looked at the VP in unmasked contempt, but the old guys there were too presumptuous to actually understand what I was feeling.
"Sure." I said before entering the building with my teammates. However, I decided to be extra critical in all of my evaluations, turning the old men flustered.
"Do you want to- test our music room?" The administrator said fearfully while wiping his imaginary sweat on his forehead with a white napkin.
"No need. Let's move on to someplace else." I said with disinterest, causing the old guys to be perplexed. They looked at each other before asking, "Then. Let's check out the amphitheater-"
"What about the Science Program?" Alex asked.
"Ohh I'm sure Mr Newgate won't be interested in that." The stout bodied administrator said with a laugh as if he had just heard a joke.
"And why is that exactly?" I asked in a cold, bone chilling voice.
The VP slapped the administrator's shoulder and clicked his tongue secretly before saying, "No. He's just old and confused. Come. let me show you our Science program building."
"I wonder if there are still sponsorships for brilliant students to enter this school?" Sanjay muttered to himself. However, the VP and the administrator heard that, took a second look at the Indian kid and replied condescendingly, "Unfortunately, our minority and diversity quota are already filled out for next year." The VP even took a glance at Haruna while saying that.
Alex almost exploded, but I held her back and said with a kind smile, "I see. I understand. That meant, being half Cuban, I couldn't get the sponsorship too right?"
"Huh? Oh no Mr Newgate, however full our scholarship quotas may be, we do still offer talented young men and women opportunities when they excel in their own areas, and dare I say Your Musical talent certainly fills that criteria.." The VP tried to retort.
"Unfortunately, I no longer have any interest in the classical music programs that are offered here. Also, while I would love to practice my songs here, I am afraid what I've seen would hinder my progress greatly." I said with a slight chuckle before I herded my teammates away from the administrator and the VP.
"Wait a second Mr NEWGATE-" The Administrator shouted anxiously.
I turned to him with a sweet smile on my face and said, "And Oh. I noticed a lot of your instruments seem to have been a little overused. And while the hardware quality of your 'state-of-the-art' computer lab is indeed exceptional, your software severely limits its use. I could give you a technician phone number if you want."
The VP face flushed red while the administrator started to sweat profusely.
Enid checked her wrist watch before dragging Haruna and Sanjay away.
"I believe that's all the time we have for the tour today. I need to get back to the venue, otherwise I wouldn't be able to win today's competition if I'm not physically there."
The two old men snorted as they didn't believe my words at all. How could they, when a young teenager who had never achieved excellence in any academic records said he was going to destroy a rich private school team that had been cultivated properly and have an insane winning track record in almost all National competitions.
I returned back to the competition venue in a bad mood, when suddenly I heard a familiar voice calling for me.
"EDWARD!"
I turned to the source and my face beamed up as I saw Dr Leonard Hostader waving towards me as he made his way to where I was standing.
"Leonard. How nice is it to see you. Why are you here?" I asked.
Leonard instead took a look at my uniform and whistled in amazement, "God. Slytherin? Is there a Hufflepuff? I like the Hufflepuff house."
"Yeah. The blue one is Hufflepuff." I said as I pointed at Sanjay.
"Well most people would say he's brown…" A greasy voice made a joke from beside us, and I saw a short Jewish man with a red dickey standing closely at Leonard's side.
"Well he's more of a caramel, you know, the color of Halle Berry skin." Another voice retorted with an Indian accent, and I saw an Indian astrophysicist in a gaudy brown suit and a horrendous sweater vest admonishing his Jewish friend.
"I was talking about his suit, but whatever." I added, causing the trio to chuckle.
"Hi. Howard Joel Wolowitz, a fan, and a Master of Engineering from MIT university, at your service." Howard said with a slight bow.
"Dr Rajesh Koothrapali. PhD in Astrophysic. I'm not offering my service. I just want to introduce myself." Rajesh said with a gleeful and innocent smile. "Also, I like you, but I love Taylor."
"Nice to meet you guys." I said as I shook hands with both of them. "Although I'm glad to get acquainted with you, I do wonder…why are you here?"
"Oh. That. The Dean (Professor Gabblehauser) couldn't come today, so he asked for volunteers to become members of the panel today." Leonard explained.
"So. Which of you guys are the panel members?" I asked with a slight smile. But then, all of them smiled wryly, making me frown in realization. "Oh no."
"Well well well…Look what the cat dragged in." A condescending voice sounded from behind me.
I turned around helplessly and said, "Hello Sheldon."
"It's DR Cooper for you in case you still don't know who I am. Let me make it clear for your underdeveloped teenage brain. I'm your worst NIGHTMARE!" Sheldon said as he flashed the panel layard nametag inches away from my face.
Sheldon volunteered as the judge after Dr Gabblehauser relegated the task to anyone who was willing. He jumped on the first chance he got just to say this, "Now. I'm not saying that everything that comes out from your mouth will be wrong…but I'm sure it will. Prepare for a rigorous judgment process where you, and the rest of your team– Hey, where are you going?"
Before Sheldon could finish his words, I turned to the staff member walking by and stopped her. I asked, "Did you hear what he just said?"
"Y-Yeah.."
"This counts as a conflict of interest in the judges table. I formally requested Dr Sheldon Cooper to be removed from the panel."
"HEY YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" Sheldon tried to protest but Howard walked toward the staff member and said, "If I could say something about it…I witnessed the whole thing. And what Ed said is 100% true, and we all support it."
"HEY!" Sheldon exclaimed.
"Motion accepted. I will discuss it with the organizer." The staff member replied.
"NOOOOO!!!"
The staff member snatched the name tag from Sheldon's neck, causing him to exclaim, "Why are you so strong? Hey, YOU CAN'T DO THIS!"
He tried to protest, but no one would speak for him. Even his best friend Leonard was relieved when he saw Sheldon was removed from the panel. Then, the staff member returned to where we were standing.
Sheldon perked up and said, "So, you come to beg me to become a panel member back-"
"Dr Hofstader, will you be willing to enter the board of judges in this game?"
Sheldon was thoroughly offended by the entire ordeal, which made my stomach hurt from holding back my laughs.
I couldn't talk to the foursome for too long and returned to be with the members of my team.
"The first match will be us against Dryden." Alex said with a grimace. All of the team members were frowning, which made me perplexed. "Why are you guys already feeling defeated before the game even begins?"
Their empty gazes turned into burning anger, but before I could ask what happened, I felt a tug on my sleeves. I turned and saw Enid, who then stood on her toes to whisper something in my ears. She explained what happened when I wasn't there, where the team met with the players from Dryden Academy, and was defeated in the thrash talk mind games.
"T-They said they will throw us a few questions, for us not to completely humiliate ourselves as their mercy. They also said their teacher is one of the panel members, and looking forward to playing against us."
I nodded as I heard Enid's report and turned to the rest of the team. "So that's it. A bunch of snobs said some bad words about our team, and now you guys are giving up?"
"NEVER!" Alex said with gritted teeth.
Haruna was a bit more realistic and said, "We cannot win first place anyway. Luckily, we can still vie for third place if we do it well-"
"Nah. You're thinking too pessimistically. Don't worry. With me around, we can get first place."
Although I tried to motivate the group, they had never once seen me in action before, and couldn't help but not trust my words. I knew why, therefore I didn't speak much.
"Hey. How many points did they say they were going to throw at us so as to not let us get humiliated?" I asked.
"Huh. 3 questions. Why?" Enid replied.
I smirked evilly and said, "Nothing."
…
Instead of the Quidditch game, exciting announcer, the Decathlon was led by an old man with a hunched back and a drowsy voice, making it impossible for the player and audience to not fall asleep as he gave his speech.
"The first match will be between the Franklin Middle School team, and the Dryden Academy team." The old man announced. Both of the team members walked to the stage and sat side by side with the moderator's podium erected in between the town team.
The Dryden boys were all dressed in a blue blazer with Dryden logo on their left chest, and had the snobbish air of 'Holier-than-thou' around them.
"They have a pretty punchable face." I muttered as I saw their faces for the first time. Alex snorted before suppressing her laugh.
"They look awesome. I wonder if we can buy those uniforms for our Physics cup." Rajesh said as he saw our Franklin team enter the arena. The nerds' passion was instigated by the Hogwarts themed uniform, and some audience members couldn't help but snap a photo of us as we posed on the stage.
"Nah. I don't think so. He made it on his own." Howard said. Sheldon snorted and argued, "Unless he puts copyright claims on it, we can do whatever we want."
"Yeah. But you have to design it yourself. Can you?" Howard asked teasingly, making Sheldon cover his face with his shirt in embarrassment.
The Decathlon rule was announced, the first 10 questions would be counted as 10 point answers each, and the next 10 question points would be decided by the moderator based on the difficulty of the questions.
"Reveal, the Golden Snitch." The moderator said at the start of the game. Then, a covered up whiteboard was rolled to the side of the stage. The staff quickly removed the cover after getting the signal from the moderators, revealing complex mathematical questions on the board.
"Why Golden Snitch?" Haruna asked.
Alex sighed and explained, "To relate with the younger students of course."
"Ahh. To gain their attention. Thanks Alex."
I glanced at our team's side of the board and then turned to face the audience to focus on the moderator's question instead.
Alex and Sanjay both began to scribble on a piece of paper provided by the organizer to find out the answer for the Golden Snitch question, but they weren't serious in doing so, while one diversity hire– a Chinese kid from Dryden Academy did the same thing to find out the answer for their question.
"It's very rare for a team to be able to answer the Golden Snitch question after all." Haruna whispered to explain the situation to me. I didn't correct her and say that I was familiar with the rules, but instead shot a smirking glance at Mrs Henderson down at the audience seat.
She sighed and mouthed to me, 'Wait until you answer 10 questions.'
I nodded to her without replying.
"The first question is an easy one, What is the chemical formula for Monosodium Glutamate?"
Alex perked up and tried to press the buzzer, but I stopped her. She turned to me with a puzzled look, before the chance was snatched by the opposite team.
"C5H8NO4Na" One member from Dryden answered with a smug face. Then, he made a thumbs down gesture to us to demotivate us.
"Why do you stop me? I know that?!" Alex said frustratingly.
I smiled at her and patted her head softly so as to not ruffle her hair and said, "Just. Trust me."
Haruna raised her eyebrow at me, and decided not to interfere as she had already given up on this match inside her heart. Sanjay was still focusing on the Golden Snitch question, therefore I was only placating Alex.
I gave up the next 2 questions, allowing Dryden to lead the match with 30 points ahead of us.
"HAHA LOSERS!" The middle school students became juvenile as they saw our 'helplessness' in this match.
Alex started biting her nails in frustration, and even wondered if I was secretly bought off by the opposition team. Haruna closed her eyes as she accepted defeat, and Sanjay was still focusing on the question.
I turned to Dryden Academy and suddenly said something to them, "Do you guys remember what you said to my team before the competition started?"
"Mr Newgate, players are reminded that they couldn't interfere with-" Before the Dryden Academy panel member could reprimand me, Leonard interfered with him and said, "Don't worry. Ed is a polite kid."
"What?" Dryden academy leader, Ivan, asked in displeasure as he was forced to respond to me.
"You told us, you're giving us a chance to answer 3 questions first as part of your… 'mercy'..." I continued. The Dryden snobs laughed as they thought I wanted to claim what they promised right now as my team was losing, but I didn't continue and turned to the audience once more, making the opposition team confused.
"Oh shit. I got it!" Howard said with a big laugh.
"What is it?" Rajesh asked him whisperingly, his eyes not moving away from my team.
"Simple Rajesh. They trash talk them by giving 3 questions as part of their mercy. But Ed actually gave them his." Howard shared his hypothesis confidently. Even Sheldon couldn't help but give his respect to me as I did it.
"Hopefully he has something to back up his arrogance." Sheldon muttered to himself as he didn't think anyone else could do what he thought he could do.