“Did you have a good holiday? After – after Rolo…” He trailed off.
“They were old pants, you know. I haven’t worn them for years,” I said defensively. There was an awkward silence while I cursed my tendency to OVER-SHARE. Then I did what I always do when faced with a yawning chasm in the conversation; I tried to fill it. “Did you know that Belgium has a museum dedicated to strawberries?”
Nathan smiled. “I didn’t know that. Have you been brushing up on your general knowledge or are strawberries a passion of yours?”
Willing my burning cheeks to cool down, I smiled back. “Brushing up. I don’t want to let the team down, after all.”
Shenice tugged at my arm. “Cass—”
I ignored her. Nathan looked pleased that I’d been working hard for the team. “Good.” Nodding at my blouse, he added, “I’m no expert but I don’t think that’s going to come out.”
He was right – in spite of the full glass of water I’d been carrying doing its best to dilute the stain, the blouse looked awful and was beyond saving. I’d have to wear my PE shirt and hope none of the teachers noticed.
“Cass!” Shenice said urgently, grabbing my arm.
Her gaze slid to the front of my blouse and she raised her eyebrows as though trying to tell me something. Again, I ignored her. Seriously, did she think I didn’t KNOW KNOW there was a great greasy stain floating in its lake of water on the front of my blouse?
Then I realized what Shen was getting at. Seeping through the sodden cotton of my blouse was a small but perfectly formed picture of a cutesy little FAIRY. I dabbed at the mess carefully, hoping Nathan might not notice. I was beginning to wonder whether the universe had it in for me; it had certainly done its best to out me as a former FAIRY FANGIRL. I was only wearing the stupid vest because Mum had insisted.
“So it’s been great chatting and all but I really need to go now,” I gabbled, covering the fairy’s smile with my arm and backing away. “See you later.”
“Wait!” he called but I scurried away to safety. That had been too close. The moment I got home, this fairy was HISTORY.
Chapter Fourteen
We’ve been back two days after the half-term holiday and ALREADY my parents have been summoned to ANOTHER meeting with Mr Archer. I haven’t got a clue what it’s about, unless it’s something to do with the Molly situation, but why would Mr Archer be involved with that? Shenice reckons I’ve been nominated for a brainy person’s award or something. I suppose she might be right but I don’t think I’ve done anything to deserve one. I mean, I did manage to make my copper sulphate turn blue in science once but I don’t think they give the Nobel Prize for that, do they? Especially not when everyone else in the class did it as well.
I’m amazed he’s prepared to have Mum back in his office after last time, to be honest. She’s even bigger now and I’m pretty sure the ground SHAKES when she walks. But I suppose he doesn’t have much choice. I hope they don’t make a habit of these meetings – apart from anything else, Liam has started calling me TEACHER’S PET. He’s just jealous because his meetings with the school always involve the words “final warning”.
At least being in the meeting means I won’t have to see Molly walking home on her own. A little sliver of sympathy sneaked through my wall of anger yesterday and I tried texting her again but she ignored it. Seriously, she’s the most stubborn person I know – she is trying not to show it but I bet she’s lonely. I wish she would get over her pride and be friends again. It’s HORRIBLE being enemies.
I cannot believe this is happening. The meeting with Mr Archer wasn’t about a special award or anything even half as good. It turns out that there was a mix-up with the CAT papers and my result was swapped with the OTHER C Bond. So she’s the SUPER-GENIUS and I’m back to being MISS AVERAGE. Her name is Clarissa, apparently, which is even worse than mine. I might feel sorry for her if she hadn’t stolen the only thing I’ve ever felt proud of. Mr Archer was very apologetic and says nothing like it has ever happened before. He’s spoken to my teachers, who have agreed that I can stay on the GIFTED AND TALENTED register until the end of the term, to make it less obvious I am not a SUPER-GENIUS after all, but who cares about that? The worst thing is that I’d have been happy with my real results before I thought I was clever. Now I just feel stupid.
At least I don’t have to worry about quitting the quiz team any more – I expect Mr Bearman will have already replaced me with Clarissa. So I don’t have to tell Nathan, which is a bonus.
Mum and Dad tried to cheer me up by saying that BRAINS aren’t everything, which was nice of them but didn’t exactly help. Who are they kidding, anyway? I’ve been smart and I’ve been ordinary and I know which one I preferred. And Liam is going to make all kinds of jokes. Oh God. Rebecca is going to be so smug.
Why couldn’t this have happened before I spent all those hours researching freaky facts?
Chapter Fifteen
The shambles that is my existence continues. I didn’t even try to convince Mum I was ill this morning, that’s how depressed I am. The irony is that it might actually have worked; she knows I normally like Thursdays (double English – YAY!) and seemed concerned about me for once – she even tried to feel my forehead but I batted her hand away. What’s the point of avoiding school today when I’ll have to go TOMORROW and NEXT WEEK and the WEEK AFTER THAT?
Mr Bearman actually tried to convince me to stay on the quiz team. He said lots of nice things about EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE and how I have something UNIQUE to offer the team, but really I think he has realized there are only four days to go until the team’s first test at the regional heats and that a LAME DUCK is better than no duck at all. Presumably Clarissa Bond is above such petty things as TEAM ST JUDE’S and declined their offer of a place on the team. It wasn’t hard to ignore Mr Bearman’s reasoning though; I just pictured myself getting question after question wrong and that was enough to ensure I didn’t get sucked into staying on the team.
“I can’t say I’m not disappointed, Cassie,” Mr Bearman said, when it became obvious I wasn’t going to change my mind. “I think you made a real difference to the team.”
“Yeah, the difference between winning and losing,” I replied morosely. “And just in case there’s any confusion, I doubt any of the team thinks I’d help them win. Ask Rebecca if you don’t believe me.”
He sighed. “Isn’t there anything I can do to persuade you?”
Short of turning back the clock to yesterday, there wasn’t. “No, sir.”
Spreading his hands, he looked genuinely disappointed. “We’ll have to manage without you, then. Let’s hope there aren’t any Harry Potter questions, eh?”
Dad has decided that the best thing he can do to cheer me up is sing Elvis at me. It would be a lot more uplifting if he didn’t seem to have “HEARTBREAK HOTEL” on loop, though. He says I used to love it when I was a baby. I am not sure if he has noticed but I am not a baby any more and the lyrics are super depressing.
Liam’s reaction has been typically gloating. First, he boasts about having more friends than me (I assume he means that he has taken Molly away from me, which I suppose is true but it isn’t the sort of thing I’d mention too much if I was a fourteen-year-old boy) and then he says that because he beat me at Trivial Pursuit last Christmas, he is clearly the BRAINS of the family as well as the TALENT. I wouldn’t mind but he only won because he CHEATED and sneaked an extra wedge in when he thought we weren’t looking – believe me, no one has ever accused him of being intelligent. As for talent – ha, he’s not even that good at the guitar. And I have a higher score than him on GUITAR HERO. One of these days I might remind him of that.
“Have you got a minute, Cassie?”
Nathan didn’t smile. He stood in front of my table as the bell rang at the end of English, signalling the very welcome end of Friday’s lessons. Would he be offended if I leaped over the desk to avoid him? Shenice pulled a sympathetic face but we both knew there was no escaping this showdown
.
“Sure,” I replied, trying to sound casual. “What can I do for you?”
“Not here,” he said. “I thought maybe I could – uh – walk you home or something.”
On the next table, I could see Molly straining to overhear what was going on as she packed her bag; if she’d been any more obvious, her ears would have WAGGLED. Mr Bearman wasn’t winning any prizes for subtlety at the front of the class, either; he kept glancing over and I guessed he’d asked Nathan to have a little chat with me.
I let out a heavy sigh. “Okay. See you tomorrow, Shen.”
She got the message and nodded, making a “CALL ME” sign with her fingers before heading out of the class. Nathan waited until I’d packed up my stuff, which I did as slowly as possible, purely to see what Molly did. She was clearly DYING of CURIOSITY because she slowed down too, but eventually there was nothing left on the table in front of her and she had to admit defeat and leave. I knew she’d be dawdling in front of us all the way home, hoping to work out what was going on.
Nathan didn’t waste any time in getting to the point as we left the school grounds.
“Mr Bearman says you’ve dropped out of the quiz team.”
I pulled my scarf up around my mouth and tried not to mind that my legs had turned to ice. Seriously, WHY are girls at St Jude’s not allowed to wear trousers? Ahead, I could see Molly and I slowed down a little. “Yeah. I’m sorry but I just can’t do it.”
“But why? I thought you were great,” said Nathan.
I rolled my eyes. “Mr Bearman put you up to this, didn’t he?”
Nathan shrugged. “We’ve got a massive hole in our team knowledge. Rebecca and Bilal are all right at the academic questions but they’re rubbish on stuff like chart music and TV and it’s let us down before.” He turned to me. “That’s where you come in.”
I blinked. “What do you mean?”
“Molly told me that you’re the QUEEN of POP CULTURE,” he said, grinning. “She said that what you don’t know about boy bands isn’t worth knowing.”
For a minute I was confused, then I remembered Nathan and Molly were old friends and the penny dropped – suddenly all that stuff Mr Bearman had said about my unique contribution to the team made sense. “So I wasn’t recruited because of my CAT score?”
“Nope,” he said, throwing me a curious look. “Why, was it good?”
The fact that he hadn’t even known about the stupid CATS changed everything, and I didn’t feel so stupid. “So you haven’t asked Clarissa Bond to take my place?”
He looked interested. “Not yet. Why, does she know more about THE DROIDS than you?”
I snorted. “I doubt it. No one knows more about them than me.”
We reached the front garden of my house. Nathan stopped. “Then you’re the only Bond for the job. What do you reckon? Fancy kicking some Royal Windsor butt next week?”
Pretending to think about it, I stared at Molly a few houses away, touched that she’d talked me up to Nathan. Then again, it was typical Molly – at primary school, she always looked out for Shen and me. It reminded me what a great friend she was, and how much I miss her. Maybe I should try harder to make things right. “Go on, then.”
“Good,” Nathan said, sounding satisfied. “Because I’m not sure Rebecca would recognize ZIGGY and RORY if they passed her on the street.”
I grinned and pushed open the gate. “Right.” There was a yowl and a volley of barks from around the back of the house. I winced. “I’d better go in. That sounds like Rolo and who knows what he’s destroying this time.”
Nathan laughed, but in a sympathetic way. “No worries.”
With a wave, he headed off down the street. I had a little grin to myself as I went in to see what my dog was up to now. I was back on the team, and this time, it felt like I belonged there. Suddenly, things were looking up.
Chapter Sixteen
Monday again, but this one could not be more different to last week. On top of some heavy duty hard work for the quiz next week, preparations for ST JUDE’S HAS GOT TALENT are starting properly now. With only three weeks until the live acts perform in an afternoon show, the judging panel has set up auditions and they’re screening the performers so that only the best go through. Part of me hopes WOLF BRETHREN are weeded out early on – that will shut Liam right up and stop him from gloating quite so much. I’m actually glad I didn’t enter in the end – performing looks TERRIFYING. I have everything crossed that Molly’s audition goes okay. After what she did for me with Nathan, without giving me the tiniest clue she was doing it, I feel like the least I can do is root for her. I’ve also decided that once the quiz team regionals are out of the way today, me and Shenice are going to sort this argument out. Even if one of us has to sit on Molly to make her listen.
Speaking of the regionals, I’m getting more and more nervous about them. I spent the whole weekend revising but it’s hard to know what to study. I slipped Mum’s JANE EYRE DVD into my Harry Potter marathon, in case there are any questions on the classics, but it didn’t half drag on. What it needs is a few ZOMBIES – they would have spiced things up no end. Anyway, I’m starting to feel glad that I’m not a SUPER-GENIUS after all – it sounds like there’d be a lot of this kind of thing involved and I’m not sure I’m really cut out for intensive studying.
Rebecca and Bilal seemed pleased to see me when I turned up to get on the school minibus to go to ROYAL WINDSOR PREPERATORY SCHOOL that afternoon. I suppose it made sense; without me, they’d have been one player short against the other teams.
By the time we’d arrived, I was starting to feel sick with nerves. Nathan looked like he had ICE for BLOOD, he was so CHILLED OUT, and the others hardly looked worried either. They’d all done this before, though; I was the only newbie. I suppose it would be weirder if I wasn’t nervous.
We were led into a large wood-panelled hall filled with tables, where lots of other teams were already sitting. Noisy chatter filled the air and on the wall was a huge, unsmiling picture of the Queen. At the front of the hall, there was a giant screen, which almost made me pine for popcorn. Almost. Mr Bearman found our table and we settled into our seats. He checked his watch.
“They’ll be starting soon,” he said, patting Nathan on the shoulder. Then he nodded towards the chairs around the edge of the hall. “I’ll be sitting over there with the other teachers. Good luck, Team SJ!”
“There’s the Royal Windsor lot,” Nathan said, pointing to a group of kids in burgundy blazers a few tables away. “They beat us every time we competed against them at our old school.”
I crossed my fingers and hoped his faith in me wasn’t a mistake, as I watched a man dressed in a multi-coloured waistcoat and carrying a microphone walk into the hall.
“Welcome to the regional heat of this year’s KIDS’ QUIZ!” he exclaimed. “My name is Winston Jacobs. Are you ready to have your brains TEASED and your memories TESTED?”
Every table cheered in reply.
“Then let’s get started!” he said. “Don’t forget to make sure those phones are off. Anyone caught using one will be immediately expelled from the hall, and that goes for you teachers too!”
The room was filled with rustling as a hundred phones were switched off. Winston nodded in satisfaction. “Excellent. Now, pens at the ready and brain cells steady, here we go with Round One – IT’S SO NATURAL.”
One by one, he read out the questions, which were all about natural history. After each one, fierce whispering broke out on every table. Rebecca was in charge of writing our answers onto our sheet and, boy, did she take it seriously. Her tongue stuck out when she wrote and she was frowning so hard it had to hurt.
Nathan spotted my raised eyebrows. “If the quiz markers can’t read our answers, they won’t give us the points,” he murmured. “We lost the junior title because of it once.”
Which made Rebecca’s concentration easier to understand. This was Bilal’s specialist round so I didn’t have to provide any answers but I was
surprised to realize I did know some of them. Maybe all that studying had done me some good.
Our answer sheets were collected and Winston started on Round Two, which was all about sport. I didn’t know a single answer and wished I could phone a friend; Shenice is FOOTBALL CRAZY and would definitely know which team won the FA Cup in 2008. As it was, Nathan was pretty hot on sport so we did okay.
Round after round went by. The scores were displayed on the screen and it soon became clear that a few schools were streaking out in front. It was us versus Royal Windsor! I caught one of the girls glaring at us and smiled sweetly back. As the rounds ticked by, the room was filled with the sound of hushed conversations and feverish scribbling. Although Nathan did his best to include me, and I did supply a few answers, I didn’t really feel needed until Winston announced the penultimate round.
“Here’s one to test your knowledge of all things trivial,” he called. “POP GOES THE WEASEL is the perfect round for anyone who keeps up with the gossip columns.”
I resisted the urge to punch the air. “Yes!” I hissed, grinning at the others. “This is my kind of round.”
It was as though someone had looked into my head and plucked out the PERFECT set of questions for me. Which celeb recently named their baby daughter Honey Cheeks? Which artist sold the most copies of their album last year? Who refused to present the Best Actress Oscar unless they were promised a Tiffany’s goody bag for their Chihuahua?
At the end of the round, I knew I’d nailed all ten questions. Beaming, I caught Nathan’s eye.
“Royal Windsor don’t look quite as comfortable as they did,” he said, grinning back at me. “Nice work, Cassie.”
I held my breath as the scores were updated. We’d been neck and neck with the hosts all the way through but had dropped two points in the last round and Royal Windsor had edged in front. As I’d hoped, we’d got every pop culture question right. If Royal Windsor couldn’t match us then we stood a chance of taking the lead.
Completely Cassidy – Accidental Genius (Completely Cassidy #1) Page 6
