Chereads / Only I Did - Only Me / Chapter 19 - Chapter 18

Chapter 19 - Chapter 18

I started going to school like usual. Two days after the exam, Autumn brought the model she had made to school. It looked amazing right at the first glance. It was also a working model! Even after seeing it with my own eyes, I couldn't believe it. While the idea itself was pretty basic, it was the execution that made it turn out great.

She had created a model demonstrating the different sources of energy. It was pretty simple. However, she managed to cram multiple types in one system and that's what made it amazing. In a way, the main model was made of multiple small models, all of which worked in harmony with each other. Unfortunately, we couldn't demonstrate every single type of energy like nuclear energy etc. The fact that Autumn did all of it on her own and in less than a week made me question if she made the model while studying for the exam or if she didn't prepare at all. But I realized that I shouldn't doubt her because even though I had scored more marks than her in first term exams, it wasn't by a lot. Even if she couldn't study because she was busy with the model, she was the still one of the top scorers in my class. She liked competition as much as I did.

I had another question in my mind. All I and Aria did was give her some money. It wasn't even a lot of money, but the model didn't look cheap at all. If anything, it looked very professional and not something a seventh grader could make. How did she pull it off? Then she told us that her dad had helped her in making it. Finally, it made sense. It was little worrying because judges could think we had cheated by taking a professional's help. But then again, who was going to tell anyone the truth? And there was no way to prove anything.

 I still couldn't help but admire her craft skills. Honestly, I was so amazed because I had never expected that she would or could make something so good. I used to think she was great at only studying. It wasn't a baseless assumption. I had seen her drawing skills. For a girl, they were below than average. But she surpassed herself and my expectations for her. I was sure we were going to win a prize. We submitted our project to the 'activity supervisor'. Only few students had participated from our entire school. Before I had seen our project, I would have been surprised, but after seeing what Autumn did, it made sense. The science fair we were participating in didn't seem like a child's play. It had high standards, and not everyone could stand on those expectations. Granted she had received her dad's help, but if someone like Autumn had managed to make such a good project, how good were others' projects going to be.

All models from every school were going to be sent to the science fair that was going to be held several days later at another school. But it wasn't over yet. To make sure our model was working, to add some final touches, to show and explain it to the spectators on the day of the science fair, someone needed to be present at the exhibition. Either all three of us could go or only one person could go. While both me and Aria knew how our model worked and how Autumn made it, we were too lazy to do anything now that we knew Autumn could take care of everything on her own. In the end, even Autumn agreed that only she should go. She was the best choice because she was the one who had made it after all.

I was an introvert and the last thing I wanted to do was to go to a crowded place and talk to strangers. But I couldn't just admit it in front of others.

Time passed and in the first week of November, two things happened. Autumn went to the science fair alone and handled everything. She explained and showed the working of our model to the visitors. Fortunately, it went well without any problems. Judges and visitors alike were impressed by 'our' work. That's what Autumn told us. I did feel a little bad for leaving everything to her but my hate for public places far outweighed my guilt and self-conscience.

The second thing was that the result of 'talent search examination' was finally declared. It took only a week for the institution that had organized the exam to declare the result. Maybe not that many students had participated after all, I thought. Although, my roll number had 4 digits, so, I was most likely wrong. The institution had sent a message to my mom's phone that informed us about the result and where to check it. Why couldn't they just send the details over the message? Since not a single person in my home had a smart phone, I had to use my cousin's computer.

My hands trembled as I typed my roll number and date of birth. All confidence I had went down the gutter in the final moments. The website took a few seconds to load, and I could feel my heart beating out of my chest. Time really was an illusion. Those few moments felt like a long time. And when the web page eventually loaded, my nervousness vanished like a lie. What I saw made me extremely happy. I was in top 30, and my rank was 25! I couldn't believe it. It said that I had won a prize! I was on cloud nine. Finally, I was going to get my own smartphone. My prize and certificate were going to be given to me few days later at the institution's main office. They would inform send the details over the message. Unfortunately, I had to failed to notice something, a small asterisk.

However, I wasn't satisfied with only scoring a high rank. What I was more curious about was how others had performed. I knew roll numbers of many of my classmates who had participated in the exam. So, I started checking their ranks one by one. Like I wanted, everyone was below me. Autumn, Patricia, Dirk etc. while all of them had done well, their ranks were lower than me by a significant margin. Finally, my happiness was complete. My cousin who used to study in the same school as me was so confused seeing me check my classmates' results. I could see what he was thinking. He thought I was crazy. What he didn't know was that that's how almost every topper was like.

It doesn't matter how good we perform in an exam or how high we score; we can't be happy unless we know for sure that we have outperformed others and scored the highest marks. And if someone does better than us, we will blame ourselves for not trying harder and curse them for performing better than us. That's how toppers' mind work, that's how we grow. until we learn…

I told my mom, grandma, and everyone else in my family about my rank and that I had won a prize. Some were very happy while some not so happy. The money my mom had given me for participation had not gone to waste after all. I couldn't wait for the day I would get my prize, a smart phone. I was jumping around my home out of excitement.

But before that, another good thing happened. During the school assembly, a teacher announced that in the science fair, our model had won a prize. Autumn really did tell the truth. Me, Aria and Autumn were called on the stage and given a prize. I didn't know what we had received because the box that contained the prize was wrapped but… it was heavy. Apart from the prize, three of us got trophies and certificates. Even though I had done nothing to deserve it, I was still happy. Although I did feel a little sad because most of the times, when I used a win a competition with my own abilities, I would get nothing but now, when I had done nothing, I actually got something. I felt like a fraud. Autumn was the one who came up with the idea and did everything all by herself, so she actually deserved it… she could have done it without us.

 I told myself to stop thinking so negatively about winning. While I had nothing to do with the project, I did give Autumn my money. If she had asked for my help, I wouldn't have refused. I tried to console myself by saying that I did whatever I could so, I deserved the prize as much as her.