by Sidharth
`Natasha ... back to my question-what is bothering Ananya? Can you please tell me?'
`I told her about the video I have of the two of you, snogging in that dark, dingy aisle of the library. And I might have threatened to make it public. That's all,' Natasha said and put on an innocent face.
`What? What are you talking about? Where did you get that video from?'
`I used to run this school remember. I can still get things when I want.'
`But ... but why? Why would you want to do that? I told you! Ananya never did anything bad to you. Why do that to her, then?' Yuvraj reasoned.
`I don't know ... maybe because it's fun to do that?'
`Fun? You are ruining her life. You call that fun?'
,TO me, it is the most fun thing ever,' Natasha said. `Now, if you will excuse me, I have a quiz to prepare for. The quiz that you and your precious Ananya could not make it into.'
And then, she left.
`Stop studying now! That's enough,' Natasha told Shreya.
`What if this one question is asked?'
`It won't be. You are getting obsessed with this!'
`You are too. It's just that you don't want to show how much winning this means to you,' Shreya said with a knowing smile.
`Whatever. Blab.'
`Is the team here yet?' Ms Juneja asked no one in particular and looked around.
`Yes, ma'am. We are here,' Shreya got up and said. `Just Vicky ...'
'Again?' Natasha mouthed, as they looked around.
`Well, call him quick. We need to leave. I will be accompanying you there, along with a few more staff members,' Ms Juneja informed.
`I am not calling him this time,' Natasha said when they moved away from Ms Juneja.
`Never mind, I will,' Shreya said, her phone to her ears.
Two minutes later, they were all set to go ... except Mr Chandra, a teacher who was supposed to be accompanying them as well. Natasha had a sudden thought.
`I'll be back,' she whispered to Shreya.
`Where are you going?' Shreya hissed back.
`Just a minute. I will be back,' Natasha said and slipped away discreetly. She knew Shreya would cover for her. She knew they probably did not have much time to spare, but she simply could not go without doing what she had to do.
She went to the classroom of the twelfth grade, section D. Ananya's section. `Excuse me, sir?' she said, standing at the door.
`What is it?' Mr Sharma asked. Just as her luck would have it, the strictest teacher in school had to be there, at that exact time.
`Sir, Ms Juneja is calling Ananya Roy,' she lied smoothly. She knew `sir, I need to talk to Ananya' would not have worked.
Ananya Roy!' Mr Sharma called, before turning back to Natasha. `And from the next time, I will appreciate not being disturbed during my lectures. Maths is important too.'
God! This man is so insecure about the subject he teaches! Natasha thought and hid a smile. Ananya came out.
`Hey!' Natasha said.
`Hi,' Ananya replied dryly. `Where will I find Ms Juneja?'
`That doesn't matter. She was not calling you. I wanted to talk to you.'
`To me? About what?'
`The video,' Natasha said shortly.
`What about it?'
`I think I am not going to leak it, after all.'
`What?'Ananya looked visibly shocked.
`You got it right. Crazy, eh? But you would be amazed to know-I do have a heart. Who would have thought?' Natasha laughed.
Ananya's smile was from ear to ear. `Thank you so much! You cannot believe how stressed I was about it. I was so. . .' she paused. She probably felt what Natasha was feeling. Strange. It was strange. To laugh with your sworn enemy, and to talk to her casually ... it was really weird. Natasha recovered quickly.
`Yeah. Whatever. As if I am interested in your sob story. I decided not to go through my threat and I told you. Now buzz off before I change my mind,' she said.
`Okay. Thank you ...'
`Save it. We are still enemies. Always have been. Always will be.' With that, she left. She felt good about it. And she felt good about herself.
She could not leave for the quiz, knowing that Yuvraj and Ananya would be worried about the video and her threat. Yuvraj had told her that Ananya had nothing to do with her downfall. She believed him. He did not lie; he was not that kind of a person.
Knowing that, Natasha saw no reason in making Ananya's life hell. In fact, even when she hadn't known the full facts, , she had already decided not to go through with her threats. She had simply decided not to. The love that Yuvraj and Ananya shared stopped her. She remembered the look on Ananya's face a few days ago. And she remembered the look on Yuvarj's face that morning. And seeing that, she knew what true love was. She would have drawn no pleasure in ruining their lives. But more than that, she couldn't have ruined Ananya's life like she had ruined Shreya's.
They were all the same. Little girls with broken hearts and issues they couldn't talk with other people. Natasha had hers too. There was a Shreya and an Ananya in her too. They were different, but they were also all the same in some way. She realized that life would be a lot easier if everyone was not so hell-bent on being a bitch.
he did not dare to even look at the audience. If the campus of IIT Delhi was not intimidating enough, the audience in the auditorium almost made them wet their pants. Sitting there on the stage, Natasha realized why people were dying to be in their place. Although, she had to agree, being in their place was not that easy. The crowd was huge, and it made butterflies flutter in her stomach.
`I told you it was a big deal,' Shreya whispered.
`I do realize now. Oh darn. What if we cannot answer anything? Shit. Shit. Shit. Why did I not prepare properly?' Natasha fretted. It was hard not to panic. The participants from the other schools looked like nerds. Which was a bad thing. Natasha had been so preoccupied with so many things happening in her life, that somehow, the quiz had taken the last slot on her priority list. How she regretted that! She wanted to win. Very, very badly. She crossed her fingers and whispered best of luck to Shreya and Vicky.
And then, it began.
They were stumped. They had no clue what the standard of questions would be. But they had not expected it to be that high. They were proven wrong. It was no regular quiz. The first two rounds seemed like a joke in comparison to what they were facing here. They were not prepared for it. They had no idea what hit them.
The rules were totally different. To start with, there were no multiple choice questions. Zero. All questions had answers of either one word, or a sentence. Also, there was negative scoring in each round. Some rounds were time bound. And they had to be quick, too-there was a round of questions in which the team that pressed the buzzer first could answer. When the rules were announced, Natasha, Shreya and Vicky looked at each other in sheer terror. What happened to the good old one-out-of-four multiple choice questions?
Their beginning was exceptionally poor. According to the rules, there were supposed to be three rounds. At the end of each round, the team scoring the least points would be eliminated. The team that made it to the end won.
In the first round, they came very close to being the lowest scoring team. It was a tie between The Presidency Convent and DPS R K Puram. They were going to be asked one question each, to settle the deciding score. The first question was to DPS. They answered it correctly.
`Shit,' Natasha said.
`Crap,' Shreya said.
Getting eliminated in the first round itself, standing at the fourth position out of four ... now that was not too pleasant a thought. They could imagine the kind of jibes they would get to hear at school if that ever happened. They crossed their fingers. Their heartbeats quickened. The question was asked.
'And the tie-breaking question, to The Presidency Convent is-ZETA stands for?'
`Zero Energy Thermonuclear Assembly,' Vicky replied at record speed. Natasha and Shreya turned to stare at him. `What? I read about it just
this morning,' he said.
`Zero Energy Thermonuclear Assembly is the correct answer. Seems like we need to have another tie-breaker round. This time, we have a different rule-one question will be asked and the team that presses the buzzer first gets to answer. Also, you have to come up with the correct answer within three seconds of pressing the buzzer. Are you ready?' the anchor asked.
`Yes,' both the teams replied.
Alright. So your question is-the law of segregation was propounded by?'
Shreya pressed the buzzer. `Mendel,' she said calmly into the microphone. And that's how DPS R K Puram got eliminated in the first round. After the First round, The Presidency Convent stood at 15 points, Modern School at 20 points and The Bishop Boys' School at 25 points.
Natasha sighed in relief. `What the hell is this law of segregation thing, anyway?' she asked.
`It's from biology. It's a good thing I studied that for that first round back at school. Thank God,' Shreya replied.
'At least we won't be last,' Natasha and Vicky echoed. There was an awkward pause, after which, they both turned away.
The second round had very simple rules. Each of the teams would be asked five questions. Correct answers got them 10 points. Incorrect answers lost them 5 points. If the team failed to answer that question, it was passed to the next team, for 5 points.
And in that round, The Presidency Convent stole the show. They passed one question and answered the other four correctly. Plus, they answered one bonus question correctly, too. By the end of second round, they were sitting comfortably at 60 points. Whereas, by answering three questions correctly and passing the other two, Modern School was at 50 points by the end of the second round. The Bishop Boys' answered three questions and two bonus questions correctly, and passed the other two to stand at 65 points. They got a bit lucky with both the questions Modern School passed. Otherwise there was no match to the way the Presidency Convent performed.
After Modern School got eliminated in the second round, there came the bonus round. Heartbeats were rising. There was a lot at stake. Natasha exchanged looks with Shreya and Vicky. `We have to do this,' she said. `This is our chance to outdo Bishop. We cannot let them have an upper hand when we enter the final round.'
`I know,' Shreya whispered back. She was visibly nervous.
Vicky nodded.
The rules were announced. `This round-the bonus round-does not have negative scoring. A question will be asked to both teams and they have to write down their answers in the cards that are placed on their table. Five questions will be asked, and every correct answer adds 5 points to the score. All the best! Now, shall we start?'
Both teams murmured their approval.
The questions were asked one by one and they wrote down their answers on the cards. When the cards were collected, Natasha's heart gave a flip. This was one round in which they had no idea how the other team did ... or if their own answers were correct. Her palms felt cold and she gave a slight shiver. It was announced.
`The result of this round is quite surprising,' the anchor said. `Both the teams have performed a little inferior to their own standards. In the bonus round, The Bishop Boys' School got only two answers correct. That is-10 bonus points!'
Natasha held her breath. 10 points. That meant Bishop was at 75. They needed to have gotten three answers correct to match their score. But then, didn't the anchor say that both their performances were poor? What did poor mean? Getting how many answers wrong? She wondered.
Three, she got to know. `The Presidency Convent also got just two answers correct. 10 points! The total score, at the end of the bonus round is-The Bishop Boys' School leads at 75, while The Presidency Convent stands at 70 points,' the anchor announced.
Darn. Bishop had a slight upper hand in the final round. 5 points could turn out to be pretty important in the last round of the quiz. The competition was tough. Natasha was scared, but she was excited too. There was a much needed short break before the final round. Natasha sipped her glass of water. They did not leave their seats. Neither did they talk. The environment was getting thick with anticipation. Shreya looked tenser than ever. Even Vicky looked a bit worn out.
The quiz resumed. They sent a silent prayer to the heavens and wished each other luck. Natasha shivered a little and could feel Shreya shiver right next to her, too. The rules were announced.
`In the final round, both the teams will be five asked questions. Again, there is no negative scoring and every correct answer adds ten points to the score.'
The round started with the first question to The Presidency Convent. After three questions each, they stood at 90 points. And the Bishop at 105.
Yes, they totally screwed up. They answered two questions correctly and The Bishop Boys' answered all three of them right. So that meant, in order to win, The Presidency had to answer both the remaining questions correctly and The Bishop Boys' had to get both the questions wrong. Probability was not in their favour.
Their fourth question was asked. `The fear of books is called?'
`I know this,' Shreya whispered. `I know this ...'
Vicky looked blank.
Natasha thought hard and fast. She knew she had read it. She just did not remember what the answer was. It was all very confusing. But she remembered that the word begun with the letter B and ended with phobia. But she was not sure. 'Bit ... biliophobia?' she asked Shreya softly.
`No. Bibliophobia,' Shreya looked up and said. `Right? It's bibliophobia?'
`Yes! That's it,' Natasha cheered. `It's bibliophobia,' she said into the microphone.
'And that's the correct answer. The Presidency is now at 100 points. The Bishop is at 105. Their fourth question is-the fear of crowds is?'
There was a brief discussion, after which they answered, `Clinophobia.'
The anchor said, `No! Clinophobia is the wrong answer. The right answer is ochlophobia. With that, the score remains unchanged. The Presidency stands at 100 points. The Bishop is at 105.'
It was their last question. The deciding question. They had to get it right in any case. And they had to pray that The Bishop got it wrong. The anticipation was killing Natasha.
The fifth question was asked. `The German physicist who first demonstrated the existence of radio waves was?'
`Hertz!' Natasha replied instantly. She felt almost giddy with happiness. She had got it right! She had got the final question right.!What just happened? Such an easy question?
`Full name?' the anchor asked. Not that easy.
Darn. She tried to remember what it was but knew that she would not be able to. She remembered reading about the demonstration of radio waves somewhere. And she remembered reading Hertz there. Her mind had discarded the name and just remembered the surname. It was easy to remember. She looked at the other two helplessly.
Shreya shook her head. Natasha's heart dropped. That means they lost? just like that?
`Henry?' Vicky murmured. `Or ... Henrich?'
The girls shook their heads.
`Choose one. Let's give it a try, at least,' Vicky said.
They shook their heads again.
`It's Henr . . . it's Henrich Hertz,' he said. Natasha could see his fingers crossed under the table. Same as hers.
The anchor said, `And Henrich Hertz . . . is the . . . right answer! The Presidency is at 110 points now, just 5 points ahead of The Bishop. The competition is stiff. It all boils down to the last question. If The Bishop gets this last question correct, they win, and if not, The Presidency does.'
Natasha literally stopped breathing this time. She stopped listening. She stopped seeing. Speaking was out of question. Her mind was buzzing. One question. Last question. Deciding question. She breathed heavily, as if she had just run a marathon. She blinked repeatedly to clear her vision. She could see the anchor ask the question. She did not hear it She just stared at the anchor. She was waiting for a `and that's the wrong answer.' She bit her lip.
`Michael Faraday,' she heard someone from The Bishop answer.
'And... Michael Faraday...' the anchor paused dramatically. `Michael Faraday... IS THE RIGHT ANSWER! With that, The Bishop Boys' School wins.'
And Natasha stopped listening to anything at all after that.
They had lost.
t was not as bad as Natasha had first thought it would be. Once the initial pain subsided, it was easy to take. The transition took only about ... thirty minutes to happen! When the shock of losing dwindled, they realised how amazing an achievement being first runners-up was. It was nothing in comparison to actually winning the thing, but it wasn't too bad either. They had put up a mighty good fight, right up to the last answer. And in turn, people had applauded their effort. It was a good feeling. Nobody had expected them to come this far.
Another good thing was-the guys from The Bishop Boys' School had come to shake hands with them. The boys at The Bishop had always been famous for being ten on-ten. And the ones that had come up to them were especially cute. They were Facebook friends the next day. Natasha told herself that she would be careful about the guys she chose now. She would talk to her mom and take her advice. While Shreya and Natasha talked to the boys from The Bishop Boys', Vicky sulked in the corner. He told them later that they shouldn't have talked to them. He was jealous. Shreya later told Natasha that Vicky liked her a little. Natasha brushed the thought away.
What they had feared was the reaction of people at their own school. They were sure to get some pretty ugly jibes thrown at them. They were officially losers. But they were in for a surprise. No such thing happened! The Presidency Convent received them proudly. Apparently, everybody knew about the tough fight they had put up.
Natasha finally got her respect back. When she walked the corridors of The Presidency now, people did not pass comments on her character. Just about her long legs! It was just like before. Only ... Natasha did not care about what they thought anymore. They could abuse her character, or they could drool over her legs, it did not matter to her either way. They meant nothing to her.
The only people that meant anything to her were with her. And that was enough for her. And oh! Her mom shifted back to their place two days after the quiz. Natasha jumped around in happiness for the next whole week. She was still giddy. She had a mother again! She had a family again!That was a reason to celebrate.