The Legend Of Cheshire

Chapter 15(Cerise) :Fight or Flight

The robot resembled a dog in all aspects, with a mechanical head fixed in with Lego parts and virtual eyes that blinked coquettishly when you pushed the right buttons. It was wired with many thick black wires, and was dubbed as "Bones" for a name.

Selina let out a low whistle, and I handed it to her trembling arms as she gazed at it like it was a smaller Samuel.

"Thank you so much! I..we probably would lose our grades if you hadn't saved us..." She said softly as she cradled it in her arms, stroking the wires carefully.

We thought the robot was perfect. Yesterday, we were all celebrating the completion of our robot , jumping on the bed and basically causing your average teen ruckus. To our horror, the robot was knocked off the bed, when Samuel did an enthusiastic jump.

Bones was not as perfect as we thought. We all tried to fix it up, but it could not turn on. In the end, I was left to patch it up, and I stayed up till 4am trying out the advance codes that I learnt online and also upgraded and added a few other special features into Bones.

I smiled wanly at all of them, as we huddled together for a group hug. Andrew's hands lingered longer than it should, his fingertips brushing my elbow for a split second as I tried to pretend everything was normal and that my brain was currently not exploding into fireworks of happiness.

The class was in the hall, backstage,waiting for our turn to present Bones.

We had no idea who the examiners were. We took a vote, and Summer was left to update us on the examiner's identities.

Her face was chalk-white when she returned from a "toilet break".

"Tessa Lin, Sammie Yang and James Tan are judging us!" She said, in a hushed voice.

All three were the heads of the Robotics Department, and one gaze of their cold, unimpressed expression would leave you frozen like an ice cube.

"No..." Selina groaned, her face twisting into a nervous knot.

Samuel stood closer to her, putting a hand on her arm.

"It's okay, team," he started, "even if we have the ice monarchy judging us, we cannot back down. The hotness of Bones' beauty will melt them like popsicles on a hot day."

We all whooped softly at his speech, as Selina shot Samuel a grateful look.

"Let's run through the presentation one more time."

We all nodded. Samuel and Andrew were in charge of activating and controlling the robot, Summer and I were in charge of props and presenting our Prep Work. Selina, the leader, would be our narrator.

After one last run-through of it, Selina beamed with satisfaction.

"Nothing's going to stop us now. I hope that we finish early, so fingers crossed that we go first!" She chirped.

"Your group will go last." Mr Ang said, hovering above us with a smug smirk on his face.

"What? Why?" Shrieked Selina, shock running across her face. She looked as though she was going to strangle Mr Ang.

"We Teachers always save the best for last," he beamed," that's why we always mark the girls' work last."

Andrew and Samuel started opening their mouths to argue, obviously offended as we girls giggled.

"I mark yours first, Andrew." He joked, " Just a fun fact."

We sat around in bored expressions, occasionally checking our watch and the script at the same time.