One Hundred And Seven

We were assembled behind our various podiums now with our principal in the audience, looking so fucking nervous.

I wonder if she feared that we wouldn't be able to secure a win for the school without Uche. We had called Uche but he didn't pick up. Thrice, I had called three times but it just rang through. And then, just when the thing was about to start, he jogged in, taking off his jacket and exposing the school representative shirt he wore inside of it.

Our principal immediately got up and rushed to him the moment she saw him jogging in with his father walking behind him. She took his jacket and patted his back before he joined us on stage.

The girl who was brought in to replace us immediately exited the stage and the lights focused on us, all the students on the stage.

"We were worried you wouldn't come," I whispered to him and he turned to me. 

"My dad took me to see my aunt this morning, can you fucking believe him..." I heard a bit of anger in his voice as he answered.

His breathing was heavy and his hands were a bit shaky. He was nervous. It was the first time I had seen him like that. I placed my hand over his behind the podium and he turned to me.

"You okay?" I whispered again.

He didn't answer immediately, he just took a deep breath first and licked his lips."No. But I have to be." He squeezed my hand gently.

"Here are the rules for this competition..." The speakers started to boom and I realized I was comforting someone who had no problem standing in front of a crowd before now..., Julie Thompson, who was scared to speak for the whole class to hear, was comforting Uche.

"Any questions?" The voice behind the speakers asked after reading out the rules but no questions came.

"No questions. We may begin. I'd like to officially welcome every single one of you to..."

"Thanks," Uche turned to me the next opportunity we had. He seemed calmer now. I smiled and he smiled back, but after that, he separated our hands and placed his on the podium in front of us, next to the buzzer.

I realized I should place my hands there too like everyone else.

"Question one. Brook Hill High School. Are you ready?"

"Yes sir," Uche represented the group.

"If x is..." I read the question on the screen on the podium as the announcer read it out to the audience.

Find X. Find X, I had to find X. I was still picking up my pen to solve when I heard Uche."42.75 millimetres."

"Correct. Question two goes to the other school. If a ball weighs..."

"8 grams." A girl answered from the other school.

"Correct. Question three..."

"92," Uche answered for us again before any of us could finish solving.

"Correct. Question four..."

The questions kept coming and Uche kept hitting the buzzer a few seconds after the speaker read out the question. Now I knew why our principal was worried he didn't make it earlier.

"Brook Hill contestants, you've got 15 seconds left..." The announcer reminded us as we all solved a hard question. Uche didn't bother solving the others he had been answering but he was solving this one, so I decided to attempt it too like everyone else.

"Five seconds..."

"2.502." The second boy from our team hit the buzzer.

"That is...incorrect." The small crowd gasped as we failed our first question yet."The question goes to the other team."

"The answer is 20.502, Raymond." Uche ran his fingers through his hair with a sigh.

"We were running out of time, I just said what I had..."

"20.502." The girl from the other school answered.

"Correct. They get a bonus of e points."

Later.

"Brook Hill High School, this is your last question. If you get it correctly, you surpass the competing school with twenty-five points..." If that happened, we would win."If you fail the question, they get five points off your question and become ten points higher. Good luck."

My heart fell to my stomach. I was scared we would lose and all of our studying for the past few weeks would be a waste, especially Uche's hard work.

"The question is..."

I gripped my pen tighter, ready to solve again even if the other were much faster than I was and I hadn't answered a single question unlike the rest of my team that has attempted two or more questions.

The second girl from our school was about to hit the buzzer when Raymond from earlier held her wrist and turned to Uche.

"What did you get?" Uche asked her.

"15?" She answered.

"Nah, it can't be that high. It's not the answer, maybe you missed a step, check." He returned to solving.

I took his advice and skimmed through what I had solved so far, then I noticed a mistake I made.

"1.5?" She turned to him again.

"1.56..." I corrected her answer based on what I solved.

Uche turned to us."1.56 what? Round it off..." I was about to check my book when he requested it.

"Let me see..." I passed my solving sheet to him.

"15 seconds left..." The speaker's voice tensed me up.

"Is it correct?" I asked Uche as he looked through my sheet.

"Five seco..." I found myself hitting the buzzer before the speaker finished.

Everyone on my team stopped what they were doing including Uche. They all turned to me with a What did you do? Look. 

"Go ahead," I heard Uche say calmly. Somehow, he seemed to have decided to trust that I wouldn't fail the team; or maybe he saw that my solution was correct.

I leaned into the mic and heard my loud, nervous breathing through the speakers."1.57cm." I rounded up the last answer I gave to Uche.

"That is..." The man stopped and pressed on the podium in his left ear like he wà listening to someone for a second."That is correct."

Screams of joy vibrated in my ears immediately after those words left the man's lips. I didn't even know we had people from our school in the audience till we won.

My feet left the ground when Uche lifted me excitedly, kissing and pecking all over my face, and then he hugged me after and inhaled deeply. 

"We won. We did it, we won Julie..."

"A big congratulations to the winning school..." 

"Why is he hugging her, she only answered one question, and besides I had the answer to that one too." I heard the girl in my team tell the boy.

"Uche's dating her, you want him to hug you instead of her?" The guy told her.

"Uchenna..." Uche's dad joined us on stage. I saw my aunt coming behind him. I was surprised she came, I didn't even let her know it was today.

Uche put me back on the floor to answer his dad but I felt dizzy the moment touched the floor. Fearful gasps filled the air the moment I fell. I could see Uche's blurry feature over me, talking to me...and then I dazed out.