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But so did Rose

“Just switch with us,” Rose tried it this way “It’s the polite thing to do”

“Why?” I asked “Because you’re a girl?”

Her eyes narrowed “Richard”

“Rose”

She let out a srowl “What do you want for it?”

My brows lifted Be careful, Rose, was ht I knew she was fourteen, if this was her first year co to win

Maybe she was just like me

“Let’s play a garound “The winner will take the suite The loser gets the smaller room”

“S that Rose was going to fool hi

“What kind of game?” Her voice was frosted with ice

“Trivia” It took us another ten minutes to sort out the details All six of us wrote down categories on slips of paper and put them in Dillon’s baseball hat Only Rose and I would coher than theirs And both girls, Lydia and Anna, pointed iainst me or whether she was merely smarter than them, I didn’t know yet

“Who’s going first?” Dillon asked, holding the hat

Rose opened her red handbag on the crook of her arm and acquired a quarter “We’ll flip” She called tails, and I lost to chance But I wouldn’t lose to anything else

She plucked a paper fro to our rules, we had to create questions without using any reference material

I wondered if she could even do this part

I waited And her eyes ,” she challenged

My lips twitched into a smile “Thoth”

She kneas right, but her shoulders still pulled back, not giving up

“Is he right?” Dillon asked Henry who sat on the ground with his laptop propped open

“Yeah,” Henry said into a surprised laugh

Dillon patted me on the shoulder “Good job, Cobalt Keep it up”

Off the saory, I asked her, “Wife of Akhenaten?” I watched her think about it I could stop here, stuame quickly Or I could test her, to truly see how much she knew

I wanted to prolong this

So I added, “Step-e polytheistic religion to mono—”

“Nefertiti,” she cut me off

She was right

It was ory at random I read the paper aloud, “Medical Terms”

Her chest rose and fell heavily

I couldn’t hide a burgeoning sed

“Tachypnea,” she retorted “Stop s”

“Now she doesn’t like s”

“Not all s”

“Just mine then?” I questioned

“Mainly yours” It was like she was saying, don’t think you’re that special

I rubbed h “And what’s mine like?”

She glared “Like you’ve already beaten me Like you’re halfway up my skirt Like you’re the ruler of every free nation and every free o on?”

“Please do,” I said, a what else I rule Could it be every free animal? Or just the ones in zoos?”

“Oooh,” people heckled More students had gathered around us, not only from Faust and Dalton but other schools They packed around the balcony and hallway, having to craame

She ignored rowth of tissue caused by the uncontrolled and rapid multiplication of cells”

“A tumor”

“Also known as you,” she retorted

“Oooh,” the crowds jeered again

I actually laughed And that ain I could practically read her enraged eyes that said, shut up

Fifteenether so us as we spewed questions and answers to star constellations, composers, aesthetic theories, philosophy and American history

She was ht Perhaps, even, the smartest competitor I’d encountered in e, as much as me

“Your turn, Richard” She saidinto each letter, as though she was slaughtering the syllables I didn’t care to correct her, to tell her that everyone called me Connor I was taken by her passion, so I wouldn’t stop her Not once

I looked down at my slip of paper It was in neat, precise cursive It had to be her handwriting “Characters from Shakespeare’s Plays”

She tried to force back a smile

So she liked Shakespeare “Sir John Falstaff,” I told her a character Now she had to name the play

Without a beat, she answered, “The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry IV, Part 1 and Part

2” She was quick to ask er waited for Henry to confirm answers that we kneere correct “Ariel?”

“The Tempest” I assumed it must’ve been her favorite

She plucked the next paper “Birthplace of Ancient Civilizations”

I tried not to gloat since she was already heated I was the one rote down that category

She took a deep breath and stared at the ceiling, racking her brain for a trivia fact “Mesopotamia…1800 to 1686 BC” Her voice was quieter, ory than the others

“Old Babylonian,” I told her in a hushed voice too It felt like ere the only two in the hallway for a minute Our eyes met, and I could see the defeat in hers before I even asked a question She had no confidence in this subject

I waited to ask her so of silence except for Henry’s fingers hitting the keyboard

“He’s right,” Henry exhaled

Every Faust boy cheered The Dalton girls and guys whispered aements

I didn’t want to bring her down as much as I wanted to build her up, but I also liked to win And I wouldn’t lose this game “Crete, 3000 to 1100 BC”

After one minute, she frowned and shook her head “I don’t know” Each word sounded wrong from her lips

“It’s Minoan,” I announced

Everyone groaned behind her Everyone cheered behind me

I tried to tune the just her and me I craved more time, maybe even alone I wanted to talk I wanted to explore her I wanted so s in that moment that my brain went five directions at once I was overwhelmed

More overwhelmed than I’d ever been

“Congratulations!” she said, having to raise her voice through the applause and groans She pushed the keycards in ht than this I would’ve tried a different avenue, an alternate path, to obtain what I wanted

“That’s it?” I asked, dipping my head towards hers so she could hear me

“You won fairly But I’ll beat you fairly this week” She wasn’t willing toup She just played by the rules, whereas I always searched for loopholes