dahlia

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Dahlia: It's English month. I'm the representative of our section for the English Quiz Bee and Essay Writing. Supposedly, it is just for these two contests but no one is volunteering to represent the Spelling Bee so I am forced to do it too. Why does no one want to participate in the Spelling Bee? Because it is the main event for English Month. It will be held during the program with the whole school watching. It will be nerve-wracking, and if you lose, it will be humiliating.

I want to back out since I already have a lot on my plate. It will be hard to prioritize things. However, Ms. Cantre, our English teacher, gave an enticing offer. She said that I will not be required to join the speech choir competition and she'll give me plus points if I win. I don't want to attend early morning groupings and even on weekend practice so I choose to be the sacrifice in Spelling Bee.

I have a MTAP review in the morning and it is the only time I can be with Timothy. Please. And to be honest, there's zero progress between us. He is still ignoring me. That's not new and he has zero interest that guys are courting me.

"Your plan did not work, Karen."

"I know! Timothy is a genius for a reason. I wouldn't know how exactly his brains are wired. You should be thinking of ways to have him back. You are the intelligent one."

I rolled my eyes at her. "If I know how, Karen, I wouldn't come to you for advice."

She jumped on her armchair, causing the metal chair to create weird, annoying noises, which irritates some of our classmates. They glared at us so I just mouthed sorry and held Karen to stay firm.

"I think of something. You get yourself a boyfriend but he didn't care. You were courted by so many guys but he didn't even bat an eye. But," She paused.

As an impatient human being, I hit her shoulders lightly to urge her to speak. "What?"

She grins widely before starting to speak, "He is pissed whenever you beat him. When you were always the top 1, he paid you attention. Naging kayo pa nga! So..."

"So you're proposing that I should defeat him on being the overall top 1 again? Can you go back to section 1 then? You're not even studying."

She chuckled and she slapped my face lightly, "No! Defeat him in competitions, like in this upcoming quiz bee...or in the spelling bee!"

I have nothing to lose but I have something to gain if Karen's strategy actually did work.

Brandon: It would be automatic in competition like Quiz Bee, ESEP and Gold will be head to head with each other. ESEP is a special section which stands for Engineering and Science Education Program.

My classmate pushes me to represent our section in Quiz Bee, especially Adrian and Ian because they heard that Dahlia will be representing Platinum.

I am nervous because it is my first academic competition. Academics are not my strongest suit. I became less nervous when they announced that it is a closed door competition meaning there will be no audience watching us.

The English Quiz Bee is divided into three parts: easy, average, and hard rounds. The easy round is multiple choices. I can still guess my answers. I was eliminated during the last question in the easy round.

It is a relief really. I can't focus on watching Dahlia because I am so pressured. I don't want to win but if you're in the game, I feel like you also have this uncontrollable urge of not wanting to lose either.

The ones left are ESEP, SPA, Gold, Platinum, and two other lower sections. The average rounds are combinations of enumeration and multiple choice. The one who proceeds to the hard round are the four top sections. It is usually these three but Dahlia represents Platinum, so she is also on their level. This proves that she is really intelligent on her own and she's not relying on Timothy.