She's Older Than Me

Chapter 10: Competitions, Anyone?

Third Friday of July. Afternoon.

 

The math wizards in selected schools in the metropolis were buzzing, for today will be the Math Quiz Bee, which was sponsored by certain major business entities and some non-government organizations. This competition was held in order for students to do well in Math and Science, and to take up courses with Math as the heart of the matter. The upperclassmen will be competing against each other, and each student was hoping that his or her school will bring home the trophy.

Because the event will be held in Ayala Center Cebu, the said students were exempted from classes. The competing schools included SIDL, Frigate Academy, Pale Jade Academy, Scientific Research Institute, and Academia de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe.

The SIDL team, composed of four best students from the fourth year and third year combined, headed by Joseph Casidsid, was getting ready. Joseph was confident that his team will win the competition, just as they had done the past three years. Joel’s brother was famous among the girls because of his looks, but he was highly respected by his 4-A classmates and underclassmen for his wickedness in Math. He was sure with this, and he was sure he will be leaving a legacy once he will graduate come March.

As he and his comrades took the first table, he noticed that the Pale Jade girl (the girl having an altercation with Ashley and friends in the previous chapter) was winking at him. He squinted his eyes and rolled his eyeballs after the girl gave him a flying kiss. He was really annoyed at her.

“This loser ended up as last place last year,” he fumed. “Why is she here again?”

The Pale Jade girl was, to most of the competing schools, a Math loser, but to Pale Jade, she was the Math Queen. Whatever the reason, Joseph wished she was never there to start with.

“Let’s sit there, beside SIDL,” the Pale Jade girl said to her juniors, for she was the lone senior in her four-girl team.

“But Alexa, there are labels, see?” one of her juniors whispered in embarrassment.

Alexa (so, that’s her name, all right) gaped in anger and jealousy when she saw a girl and her team from Nuestra Señora taking their place near SIDL. The team was headed by Alyssa, a girl who was a mixture of eye-catching beauty, admirable grace, and overwhelming sense of intelligence. And Joseph liked her a lot. In fact, she was his ideal girl. Joseph could not deny that his cheeks were feeling warm when Alyssa took her seat near him.

“Hey, Alyssa,” Joseph greeted her coolly but politely.

Alyssa smiled and nodded before getting back to her team. Joseph was crestfallen because Alyssa never seemed to notice him. Why not? The SIDL guys were never Alyssa’s type at all. Alexa, meanwhile, fumed that Alyssa managed to brush away Joseph’s attention. How dare she? And it made her all the more furious that Pale Jade took the third table next to Nuestra Señora.

The fourth table was occupied by the very flamboyant gay guys from Scientific Research Institute. Joseph and his guys shot them an irritated glare for two reasons: the gay guys were boisterous, and these gay guys were experts in Math. SIDL did not want any other school to come up against them.