Scorpion's New EQ

Chapter 18

"I'm not going to sugar coat it, that hurt like hell," I muttered as I walked out the front doors of the hospital. Toby and Paige on either side of me and Ralph on the other side of Paige.

"That tends to happen after getting 28 stitches in your arm. Although you really only needed 27," Toby said, the same confused look on his face.

"Odd numbers make me anxious," I stated for the seventh time in an hour. Toby rolled his eyes and diverted his attention.

I clenched my left hand and ran my right hand down the bandaging on my arm. Three hours in the hospital had paid off, I guess.

Happy pulled up in the van then, and as Paige, Toby, Ralph, and I began climbing in, Happy said with exasperation, "This driving back and forth thing is getting kind of old. How's Cabe?"

"He's expected to make a full recovery, but they wanted to do a few x rays before they released him," Toby said quickly.

"So in other words, I have to come back again later. Fantastic," Happy muttered. After a moment she continued, "Sylvester stayed at the scene with Walter when I went back. Last I heard before I left, Collins was being hauled back to his cell. Hopefully he'll stay there."

"Wouldn't that be dandy," Toby said with sarcasm. I could tell he didn't trust Collins to stay in jail. From the tension coming off of Happy, she didn't either.

When we got back to the abandoned super market, it was less abandoned than usual. There were four police cars and an FBI van parked outside.

I jumped out of the van, Ralph following me closely, as if I was going to fall over at any moment. Maybe I would, I was still slightly dizzy from the loss of blood.

Walter came out of the building then, Sylvester in his wake.

"How's your arm?" Walter asked, I could have sworn I saw a flash of worry in his eyes, but it was gone to quickly to be certain.

"Better. It wasn't as serious as it could have been," I stated, flexing my fingers, "I guess I could have had my arm amputated, so this isn't bad."

Walter cracked a smile and opened his mouth to speak, but Toby interrupted him.

"I don't know about any of you, but I need a drink," he said loudly, then surveyed the group.

"I don't drink," Walter said blandly.

"Underage," both Ralph and I replied at the same time.

"I have work to do," Paige said with a shrug.

"I'm against the idea of alcohol after today," Sylvester said with a nervous look. Then again, maybe it was his normal look.

Toby threw up his hands, "Honestly, does nobody understand my needs right now?"

Happy rolled her eyes but then said, "I'll opt, if you pay."

Toby stood shocked for a moment, his mouth hanging open, then said, "Deal, I just won a bet," then he held his hand out to Sylvester.

"That didn't count, it was not a formal invitation," Sylvester interjected quickly.

"I'm the king of bets here and I don't remember anyone saying it had to be formal. I believe you owe me twenty five."

Toby managed to get the $25 out of Sylvester after a while, which left the rest of us wondering what exactly happened, but nobody said anything.

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"No, there's no way. I've studied the exact design of the game. It is completely impossible."

"Wanna bet?"

"Not really."

Toby creased his forehead in my denial, "I am still convinced there's a way."

I sighed, setting down my calculus 2 homework and going over to where he was sitting at his desk, messing with his music player.

"The game is designed to give a less than satisfactory number for how well you do on each song. There's no way you could get one million points on any of the songs. The only way to do so is if you were to completely rewire the game, give it a new system, and do absolutely perfect," I interjected.

Toby narrowed his eyes at me, "The makers of Guitar Hero are not nearly as smart as I."

I rolled my eyes and went to resume my homework on the couch. As I sat, Paige came down the stairs from Walter's loft.

"Taylor, we're going to be late," Paige deadpanned. I sighed but shoved my homework into my backpack.

"Doesn't matter, it's the last week of school," I said with a shrug.

"It does matter, now let's go," Paige said. I sighed but obliged.

Once we were in the car and on the way to the school my mind started drifting. I don't know how long I had sat in my trance before Paige said, "You still have that habit?" I popped my head up and noticed she was looking at my arm out of the corner of my eye. I had been running my right hand up and down my left arm. It had been two weeks since the case and since then my arm had almost completely healed.

"Geniuses are accustomed to habit more than normals. It gives us something sturdy to stay with," I stated, but moved my hand away from my arm anyway.

Paige hesitated before asking, "What are you going to do after you graduate?"

I wasn't expecting the question, so I sat quietly before saying, "Probably take online college courses. There's no point in going to a college. I can afford anything I do though, thanks to Cabe," Cabe had paid me for all the cases we had solved, and he said he'd continue doing so.

"Why wouldn't you want to go to an actual college?" Paige asked.

"I could finish four years of college in eight months. Maybe even less. I don't see the point in stopping the life I have now to go do something I could have done in a simpler way," by the time I finished, we had pulled up to my school, but I could tell the conversation wasn't over.

Paige took a breath before saying, "Whatever you do, I'm proud of you."

Whether Paige said that because she was under a lot of pressure, Drew had moved to Maine and Ralph had gone to visit him for a week, or she really was proud of me, I wasn't sure of.

"Thank you, Paige," I said, I gave her a quick smile before getting my stuff and getting out of the car.

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Author's Note

Woah, it's been a while, but I did just start school and I'm still adjusting to the life of being a Freshman. Plus this week was homecoming week, along with my mom and brother's birthday. Then there's wonderful soccer and Drivers Ed. But, soccer will be over soon so that opens more time for me.

This chapter wasn't the best, but it will get better, I promise. This is also unedited.

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