Glimpse of Hope

Tiebreak

At the end of the first stage in the quiz competition, Daniel Chisom was disqualified. He left the stage, slowly, while looking at his feet as he walked. As for Adura and Ayo, they went into a tiebreak to know who will progress to the second stage. Ayo was still in her thoughts when the quizmaster announced the beginning of the next round. She had felt bad to see Chisom leave but if he hadn’t scored so low, she would have been the one to leave, and that would have been terrifying. So, she braced herself up and looked eager to see what the tie break with Adura will hold.
“In this tiebreaker round” – the quizmaster pointed to the ground – “the first of you two, to provide a wrong answer, will be disqualified. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir!” Ayo and Adura said, almost at the same time.
At this very moment, every student believed that’s the end for Ayomide Cole except two. Bukky never doubted her and Bayo’s faith began to build up. At first, Bayo didn’t expect her to have up to 6 points in the first stage, not to mention scoring above Daniel. It was then, he believed in her and hoped she would win. Yet, he hadn’t done more than stare awkwardly in her direction, while biting at his finger. He knew she expected more than just that but he was scared for her.
Ayo, nonetheless, was now feeling less tense as her classmates cheered her on. She believed in herself like never before and did away with the fear she’d previously felt.
“Contestant two, your question,” the quizmaster interrupted her thoughts again, all to gain her attention.
“Yes, sir!” she responded.
“Okay! You have 60 seconds to answer this question. Your time starts immediately after the question has been read.” He looked at the question paper he was holding and readout, “Find two consecutive numbers such that five times the smaller number added to three times the greater number makes 59.”
After 40 seconds, Ayo was still solving and sweating profusely. She wanted to look up to stare into the reassuring eyes of her classmates and class teacher, but doing that will only distract her. As if, the thought of it wasn’t doing a great job already, she let her pen dance freely on the sheet of paper.
“Come on! I know you can do it,” Bukky muttered with clenched teeth, her eyes fixed on Ayo.
“Do you still believe in her? Mrs Folarin asked a worried Mr Dammy.
Mr Dammy didn’t answer. He just folded his arms across his chest and said nothing. He knows she can do it, but she’s taking more time than required, hence the doubt. Moreover, exchanging words with Mrs Folarin, on Ayo’s fate, wasn’t a necessity at the time.
“10 seconds left!” The quizmaster began the count down. “9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4…”
“7 and 8!” Ayo said at the top of her voice, just before the countdown elapsed.
“7 and 8? Are those your answer?” he asked, to be sure he heard well.
“Yes, Sir!”
“Correct!” the quizmaster announced without wasting much time.
Ayo’s heart was pounding heavily after she answered the question. She wished in her mind that Adura answers wrongly to her question but her thoughts were wrong. Adura provided the correct answer almost immediately the question was read to her. They both continued providing correct answers to the questions asked for 4 consecutive times. It was Ayo’s turn now, the quizmaster read out her question and…
“42!” Ayo answered after about 50 seconds. Time was always running out on her and it appears she is not as fast as she thought she was. That’s why she keeps providing her answers late, even though they were always correct, or so she thought.
“You are wrong!” the quizmaster said after Ayo. “The correct answer is 15.”
Ayo couldn’t believe her ears when she heard the quizmaster disapprove of her answer. It shattered the little hope she had left in herself. All she hoped for is that Adura provided the wrong answer, which will, in turn, give her another chance.
The quizmaster proceeded to Adura. “Your question, contestant 6!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Three-quarter of a number, added to two and half of that number, gives 13. What is the number?”
36 seconds later, Adura arrived at an answer she wasn’t sure of. She was nervous; her palm, sweaty. “4! No, 8!” she faltered. “Please, the question again sir!” she pleaded, knowing fully well that the time would not be paused.
The quizmaster repeated the question but by then she had just 3 seconds left to answer. Out of frustration, she chose 8 as her answer.
“Wrong! The correct answer is 4.”
Adura was furious. She became tense. Ayo, on the other hand, was glad, she counts herself lucky. Irrespective of how both contestants felt, the quizmaster read out the question for the next contestant, which was Ayo.
“If five times a number is subtracted from twice the square of the same number, the result is 63.” He paused to look around and eventually fixed his gaze on Ayo. “What is the number?”
“7!” Ayo answered late again.
“Correct!” the quizmaster approved. “Your question contestant six –”
Adura’s question was read out and the quizmaster awaited her response but none was forthcoming even after 40 seconds. The whole hall was silent. Even the quizmaster kept mute. They were all surprised and this made some of them start losing faith in her. Nervousness was written all over Adura’s face. Her hands were beginning to shake and she couldn’t solve properly. ‘I can’t lose to a JS 1 student,’ she kept saying to herself.
“9… 8…” the quizmaster began the countdown. Tears flowed freely down Adura’s cheek but that didn’t stop the countdown as she would have wished. “3… 2… 1 and time up.”
“Do you have an answer?” The quizmaster looked straight at Adura.
“No, sir. I don’t,” she replied to the disappointment of her classmates and class teacher. They didn’t expect that a one-time runner-up would be beaten by a JSS 1 student.
“Okay, then. That leaves Ayomide Cole. Congratulations! You have qualified for stage 2.”
Ayo was pleased with what she just heard. On the other hand, she felt sad for Adura, as the latter left the stage in tears. “Thank you, sir!” she said at last