Page 11 of Alice Chen's Reality Check

“Oh. Uh. Cool,” he said. “And you’re Alice Chen, right?”

“I’m the competition,” I said. I brushed my hair back from my shoulder, hoping the gesture looked cool and flippant.

“I know,” he said, dropping to a crouch next to me. “I don’t think you’ve gotten a single answer wrong yet.”

“That’s right. In fact, I think that might be the most correct thing you’ve said today,” I said. “Despite being the team captain and the two-time winner of the Regional Science Olympiad.”

I knew I was being rude, and I didn’t care. I’d always been competitive, but during those early days right after my dad left, I couldn’t shake the feeling that nothing I did would ever be good enough. I had this gnawing need to prove myself, and you could see that need written on my face and hear it in my words. In short, I was insufferable.

Daniel didn’t seem offended, though. He simply said, “You know about me, huh?”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course. I’d never go into battle unprepared.”

He laughed. “You get that this is just Quiz Bowl, right?”

“Just Quiz Bowl.JustQuiz Bowl?” I repeated.

“Yeah, just Quiz Bowl,” he said with a laugh. “We’re competing for a title and a plastic trophy. The stakes couldn’t be lower.”

I was on my feet before I even knew what I was doing. I leveled my best, most venomous glare at him.

“Maybe the stakes are low foryou,” I said, jabbing a finger in his face. “But they aren’t for me. Even though this isn’t the finals, or even the semifinals, or even the quarterfinals, it might as well be for my team. Exeter Prep has won the Quiz Bowl championship every year for the past ten years. Andyou, Daniel Cho, were the top contributor to that success last year, and now you’re the first sophomore to be team captain in Quiz Bowl history. You might be comfortable resting on your laurels and acting like this is just another day in your perfect and completely unremarkable life, but I am here to win.”

My heart was racing by the end of that speech. Daniel was blinking at me, taken aback by my outburst. He’d clearly come over to my little corner planning to distract me with friendly overtures, but I’d seen through his trap. He wasn’t my friend. He was my competition and my enemy, and I’d just told him as much.

I expected Daniel to storm off or report me to a teacher orsomething.But he just nodded thoughtfully and said, “When your friend yelled ‘slay, queen,’ I don’t think she was telling you to literally slay me. We’re not gladiators in the arena trying to decapitate each other.”

“I know that,” I said, annoyed.

“You sure don’t act like it, Slayer,” he shot back.

“Slayer?”

“It suits you. I mean, just look at the way you dominated the first round,” he said. He raised his eyebrows, and I felt the last of my rage and adrenaline drain out of me.

“You’re right. I did basically destroy you,” I said.

“So you agree. Slayer’s the perfect nickname for you.” He grinned. “I’m calling you that from now on.”

“You don’t even know me!” I protested.

He tilted his head at me as the bell rang, signaling the end of the break. “You know, Slayer, something tells me that’s going to change.”

That had been the start of three years of competing against Daniel Cho and being at each other’s throats in every kind of competition you could imagine, from Mock Trial and academic triathlons to spelling bees and charity bake sales. We were perfectly matched in every way, always vying for the top spot. When he went away to college during my senior year, I’d celebrated. But I came to realize that competing without him just wasn’t as fun.

That doesn’t mean I don’t hold a grudge, though. We were rivals, not best friends.

“Anyway,” Cindy says, interrupting my thoughts, “about this show. It’s reality TV, not an academic quiz bowl.”

“Oh, my sweet summer child,” I say. “Any and every challenge can be broken down, analyzed, and solved for. And you know me. I have a plan.”

“Of course you do. Well, let’s see it,” Cindy says, holding out her hand. “I bet it’s color-coded.”

“All the best plans are,” I say. I show her the legal pad. “I’m starting with the source material. Since the show is themed around Dante’sInferno, I’ve reread the poem to study up on the circles of hell, and I’ve created the skeleton of a rubric.”

“A rubric,” Cindy repeats. “Of what?”

“Ultimately, it should cover what’s essential for the winners in these types of competitions.”

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