I just realized that Oliver hasn't spoken to me about the quiz at all. He didn't even tell me that there would be a Pictionary round. It makes me wonder what's next. Something tells me it isn't Q and A. This better be something I'm good at.
"Let's get our teams back for the next round!!", Oliver chimes into the mic.
"I wonder what's next," Min mutters nervously.
"You just spoke my mind!", I say as we return to our desks on the stage.
"I can sense the tension radiating from the participants, because believe it or not, your boy here can keep a secret! So, none of the participants knows what's next! It's CHARADES!!!! My favourite round here!! So, the two teams who have qualified for this round will play charades!" Oliver winks at the crowd.
He's good. I mean, really good with the crowd. But that doesn't make me want to punch him any less. Charades!! That'll be a nightmare! I've participated in plays before but that was rehearsed. I've never been good at charades! What am I gonna do? I really hope Min does well on this because I'm going to be a total disaster.
All of us look like we're about to hit Oliver, but he chooses to ignore that and goes on.
"So, let me lay down the rules. All of you will be given turns to pick one tiny scroll from this wooden bowl right here," he points to a wooden bowl kept on a table at the centre of the stage, "During each turn, one of you will open the scroll and see the word or phrase written on it, and try to enact it to your team-mate. If your team-mate guesses right, your team earns ten points, and if they don't you obviously don't get any points. The person enacting the word will face the audience and your partner will have one minute to guess the word."
All of us look reluctant but the audience seems really excited about this. I can see Bacchus smiling to himself.
"Now that the rules are clear, let's get started! Let's start with Team Poseidon!"
"Katherine, one of us has to go now. Do you want to go, or should I go first? I'm really bad at acting, you know, and there are so many people watching!" Min whispers.
"I'm not much of an actress either, but I guess I could try!" I say.
"Alright, good luck!" she says.
I walk up to the table with the wooden bowl and see that there are about 10 tiny scrolls tied with golden thread. I pick one from the top.
POSEIDON- that's what it says. Could it really be that simple? The name of my team here? Okay, maybe this is just a fun round.
I turn around to face the audience and Min is looking at me intently. Henry just gives me a curious look and Oliver doesn't meet my eye.
I point towards Min and at myself.
"Friends?" she says, doubtfully.
I shake my head, point at the table and move my hands to suggest a board or something like that.
"Screen," she says.
I lean over and point at our team name written on a tiny board at our desk.
"Table, us, quiz, team?", I stop her at 'team', then I move my hands in waves to suggest water and then point at the sky to suggest God, maybe this will do!
"Team, water, sky, Oh wait!! Is it Poseidon??"
"Yes!!!!" I go and high-five her.
"Poseidon? Really?" she asks.
"Ten points to team Poseidon for Poseidon!!" Oliver says in a sing-songy manner.
"Team Hades, who's coming?", Oliver asks Jeremy and Henry.
Henry stands up and walks over to pick up his scroll and carefully unties the golden thread.
The timer is on and he starts acting.
He is drawing a tiny circle and pointing to the sky. He's drawing many circles in the air and then a smaller one, and shows that it's falling down. What's he trying to do?
"Pluto!", Jeremy guesses.
"That was quick! Ten points to Hades!!!" Oliver says cheerfully. I wonder whose side he's on.
"Who's up next from team Poseidon?" he asks.
Min reluctantly goes and picks up her scroll and reads it.
She starts opening her hair tie as the timer starts.
She lets her hair down and I can see Oliver's jaw dropping just a little bit. What is she trying to say? Is it something to do with hair?
She points to her hair and puts her tongue out and moves it just a little bit, and her hands are shaped like a snake, I think. Hair and snakes, of course, I know what this is!
"Medusa!" I say, and Min looks happier than ever. She comes and hugs me. Okay, that was a weird enactment but a really good one!
"Woah!! That was a really good one Min!! Ten points to team Poseidon again!!" Oliver says rather excitedly.
"Jeremy, my friend, I think you're next!!" Oliver calls out.
Jeremy walks to the centre of the stage in his rather posh manner and picks up a scroll from the very bottom of the bowl.
He forms a heart with his hands and pretends to shoot an arrow at the crowd.
"Love, arrow, what are you getting at man? You ain't no CUPID!" Henry says with a drag.
"Wohoah! That was great guys! You make a great team! Ten points! Team Poseidon, which one of you is going to come now?"
Min volunteers to go this time, I think the Medusa one has given her a boost. I don't stop her. I'd rather guess than act.
She confidently picks up her scroll and reads it, and smiles to herself.
She draws a circle in the air.
"Circle?" I ask.
She holds up one hand as if to say 'Hold on! There's more!'
She then holds up 5 fingers.
"Five?" I say.
She joins her hands together as if she's telling me to put them together.
"Circle. Five. Five circles?" I ask.
She nods her head but gestures to me to go on. Five circles make me think of the symbol of the secret society but I don't think that's what it is. Where else do you find five circles?
"Is it a symbol?" I ask.
She nods her head again.
I think for a few seconds and just as there are ten seconds left, I guess, "Olympics?"
"Yes!" Min is almost jumping at this victory.
"Ten points to team Poseidon! One last word to go! So brace yourselves!!" Oliver says.
One last word? That means if the other team doesn't answer then we win the quiz! And if they do, then it's a tie!
"So who's coming from Team Hades?" Oliver asks.
Jeremy stand up and goes to pick up a scroll.
He is flapping his arms in the air. He points towards the sky and draws a circle high above him. He pretends to fly, I think and then he bows down, and kneels.
"Bird?" Henry asks.
Jeremy shakes his head and continues to perform the same actions.
I think he's trying to show wings. Wings? Jeremy? All that comes to my mind is 'vulture'. I imagine him turning into an elegant vulture and soaring high above the skies. Soaring high above the skies? Bird? Wings? Oh my God! I think I know what he's trying to say. By now, Henry has made at least a dozen wrong guesses and Jeremy looks almost frustrated. There are just three seconds left on the timer when I yell out "ICARUS!" as the timer goes off.
Oh, shit! I shouldn't have done that! What have I done? Jeremy looks at me in surprise and Min might be glaring at me if I met her eyes. Oliver looks confused and so do the judges. We were leading, now what have I done?
"Jeremy, what was the word?" Oliver asks, holding out the mic for Jeremy.
"Icarus," he says in a low voice as he looks at me.
I suddenly look away and Oliver tells into the mic, "Judges, what's your verdict on this unforeseen turn of events?"
The judges whisper among themselves for a minute and Bacchus calls Oliver to him and tells him something.
Oliver gets back on the stage and says, "The judges have decided to give the points to Team Hades, and that means it's a tie. So there will be another bonus round!"
"I'm so sorry, Min! You did so well and I just..." I trail off.
"You couldn't stop yourself, I know. That's okay, but I'm counting on you to make it up in the next round!" she says calmly.
"I won't let you down!", I say earnestly.
"The judges have decided that the next round will be a rapid-fire round. One participant from each team will come forward and there will be five questions, so there won't be a tie this time. Can we please have the buzzers back?" he asks no one in particular.
Two young men come on the stage with the buzzers and set up a small table with chairs on opposite sides as if for a chess match.
"So who is coming from Team Hades?"
Henry and Jeremy discuss for a minute and then Jeremy comes and sits on one side of the table. I don't want to have a one-on-one competition with Jeremy, it feels weird but I need to make up for my antics that caused this bonus round to be held in the first place.
I feel the heat rising in my face but I walk up to the chair opposite to Jeremy and sit down when Oliver asks who's coming from our team.
"So, Jeremy against Katherine! You guys just make it hard for me to take sides here! Are you ready?"
"Yes," Jeremy and I say at the same time and I can feel Jeremy's eyes on me as I struggle not to look at him, but I know I have to, for this competition, at least.
"So, buzzers at the ready! Let's get started! First question," Oliver reads out from a card, "Who is the Roman equivalent of Dionysus?"
Jeremy rings his buzzer and says casually "Bacchus", not for a second taking his eyes off me, but he looks away whenever I make eye contact.
"That's right!! Ten points to Jeremy!" Oliver says.
He reads out the next question, "Who is the Greek Goddess of love?"
"Aphrodite!", I say.
"Ten points! Next question, where is the burial site of Raphael?"
"Pantheon, Rome", Jeremy says as soon as he hits the buzzer, which is a second before me.
"That's right! Ten points!" Oliver says.
I knew that one! I should have rung the buzzer a second earlier!
"Which monument is called the 'Flavian amphitheatre'?" Oliver reads out.
I ring the buzzer in a heartbeat and say, "The Colosseum!".
Jeremy sighs for no reason.
"Ten points! This is tough competition! Whoever answers the next one, wins! The last question, keep your buzzers ready to buzz! Who built the earliest obelisks?"
I'm not sure of this answer, maybe the Romans? Or maybe the Egyptians? I don't know. Jeremy rings the buzzer and then our eyes meet. This time, neither of us looks away. I might just be trying to intimidate him at this point. He looks distracted.
"Um, the obelisks, um, the ancient Romans?", he doesn't sound too sure.
"Oh, that's too bad! Sorry, Jeremy, but that's not the right answer. Katherine, do you want to try answering?"
"Oh, I don't know. The ancient Egyptians, I think," I say.
"Well, maybe that's a lucky guess because you're right!!!" Oliver chimes excitedly.
We won! There are cheers from the crowd. And Min looks beyond pleased. Henry has his head hung down.
"Team Poseidon wins! Congratulations Katherine and Min! Jeremy, Henry, you did great too, and gave them really tough competition! So congrats to you too!".
Jeremy doesn't look very disappointed and shakes my hand to congratulate me. Why's he not as sad as Henry?
The judges come to the stage and congratulate our team and hand us the medals and the certificates. The college board members congratulate Bacchus and Oliver for making it happen.
After the event has ended, I say goodbye to Min and meet Oliver.
"Hey, winner!" Oliver greets me.
"Hey, traitor!" I tease him.
"Traitor? What do you mean?"
"You knew all along and you didn't tell anybody about what this quiz would really be like!", I punch him playfully.
"Well, what could I do? I was the moderator, I had to be fair! Besides, I was following Bacchus' instructions, and we like him, so I just did what I was told!"
"Okay, okay. I get it."
"Apparently the others are going to have a party to celebrate your team's victory in the evening. Do you want to go?", he asks.
"Party and I don't go well together. I'd rather"
"Stay in your dorm and read," Oliver completes my sentence, "I know!"
"I'm just a little exhausted, and a party just isn't my thing, you know that Ol!"
"Alright, I'll tell them you aren't feeling well. You can have the evening to yourself!" he says.
"Thanks," I say.
"That's okay. I was just wondering, did you realize what happened on that last question?" he asks.
"I answered it is what happened," I say.
"Not you, Jeremy, did you not notice at all?" he asks.
"Umm, he stammered, I guess," I say.
"Are you really that oblivious?" he asks.
"Oblivious to what?" I ask.
"God, Katherine, for a high achiever, you really are dense!"
"Oliver, what are you trying to say?", I ask.
"Jeremy, he couldn't take his eyes off you!"
"We were opponents, sitting on opposite sides of a desk, we were kind of obliged to look at each other!"
"It's not just that, he knew the answer," Oliver says.
"He knew? He answered wrong!"
"On purpose! It was like he changed his mind at the last minute!" Oliver says.
"But how can you tell that he really knew the answer?" I ask.
"Because he had just told me two days ago about obelisks and that the ancient Egyptians were the ones who actually built them and not the Romans. He is interested in that kind of stuff, and he showed me an article he found about it. He definitely knew the answer!" he says.
"But, why wouldn't he say that?" I ask.
"Because maybe he wanted you to win, and he was glad when you did. He lost to you on purpose."