by T. M. Meek
Alex, Leena and Julio were seated together in a school assembly to observe the competition as a team gave a presentation they had created to win the Triple-C. The girls were instructed to sit on the right set of bleachers and the boys were seated on the left side in the school’s large, open basketball court. Julio managed to sit on the farthest side closest to the middle so he would only be a couple of feet away from Alex and Leena who were also seated on the edge of the girl’s section. The competing team had an eye opening banner that read simply "Sexual IQ vs. Sexual EQ." It had everyone's full attention.
The team's leader who was presenting was twelve year-old Lewis Perry. His father was once a manager for many famous music artists. Mr. Perry knew how to negotiate contract deals for musicians and their executive music producers. Kids liked to be friends with Lewis as he grew up since they hoped to meet a famous music artist. But now that his dad had moved onto other business ventures, Lewis was able to learn some important life lessons.
His presentation was a $250,000 production of a forty minute movie that was set to be sold as a as a DVD to other schools and any churches who might be interested. Lewis was the star of the film since he was one of the cutest and most popular boys in his grade. His teammates all played various supporting roles throughout the video. His film included some eye-popping computer graphics and special effects that sometimes had him and his team as if they were living in a video game, other times he was filmed as if he were a famous music artist performing in a video and then as a fashion model complete with a professional photographer and rapid flashes of camera light and later he was portrayed again as being famous and on TV with flashing paparazzi cameras as Lewis tried to press his way through a thick crowd of clamoring fans. He even had his dad and other adults who played roles as rich good guys and others as bad guys to make his points throughout his video presentation. His film oozed with coolness. Perry's team and their movie was money.
After a fairly lengthy but shockingly good presentation about what it means to be beautiful, not just sexual, Lewis began to close. “So choose friends who encourage your true, lasting happiness and wellbeing and you'll surround yourself with friends who have a high Beautiful EQ which is more important than IQ alone and you'll become smarter, happier and more successful for it.
“Wishing you the happiest of friendships and love in your relationships, I'm Lewis Perry. Thank you." His film then began to roll the credits as more great music played.
Leena leaned over to Julio and said, "This is one tough competition."
Julio simply shook his head and said, "May the best team win."
Alex looked at Julio and Leena and sighed, "Looks like we know who the best team is. Good for him. Good for him."