Mia the Meek (22 page)

“A quadratic equation is an equation of the form: ax
²
+ bx + c = 0. Examples of quadratic equations would be: 0 = 6x
²
+ 2x + 9 or 0 = 3.2x
²
+ 8.2x -1.6. When equations of this form are solved for x, you get the quadratic formula.” Tim showed me the card. “That is, you can use this calculation to find the values of x that make the quadratic equation equal to zero. These specific values of x are called the roots of the quadratic equation. They are also called the zeros of the—”

I put my hand over Tim’s mouth. “I’ll give you the five dollars if you shut up and never mention this subject again.” “You got it!” Tim yelled, grabbing the five from my hand.

As the rounds progressed, the classrooms became more crowded. Teams who had already lost stayed around, wanting to see who would come out on top. We easily beat Jefferson High School in round four and the Sioux City team in round five. We were going to the championship round!

“We did it!” I yelled, hugging Lisa.

“Not yet,” Lisa warned. “We still have to win this round for the championship. Nobody ever remembers the team that gets second place.”

When we entered the auditorium for the final round, it was already packed with spectators. The desks for the contending teams had been placed on the stage, so everyone in the audience could see the competition. I climbed the steps to the stage apprehensively and took my seat. Looking down, I saw my parents in the front row, sitting with Ms. Jackson. Then I made the mistake of looking past the front row, where I saw hundreds of high school students from across the state. I gnawed nervously on a hangnail.

Tim looked over at me and grabbed my hand, giving it a squeeze. “We can do this,” he whispered in my ear. “We make a great team.”

The acrobats started doing cartwheels in my stomach again, which I decided wasn’t such a bad feeling. I squeezed Tim’s hand back before letting it go.

A man wearing a suit walked up to the microphone. “Welcome to the final round of the Academic Quiz Bowl!”

The crowd broke into thunderous applause and the moderator held up his hands to quiet it.

“My name is Mr. Tibbets and I would like to commend the two teams who made it to the final round: St. Hilary’s High School from Des Moines, and Garfield High School from Cedar Falls!”

Mr. Tibbets waited for the applause to die down before he spoke again. “The coaches drew numbers prior to the competition and Garfield High School will begin this round.”

There were two other moderators and two timekeepers. They took their places and the competition began.

Coming into the sixteenth question, the score was tied, with each team correctly answering every question. This would be my question, and I was determined not to make the first mistake. Mr. Tibbets turned to me.

“What square dancing term fits this description: dancers advance and pass right shoulders. Without turning, each dancer moves to the right, passing in back of the other dancer. Then, moving backwards, each passes the other’s left shoulder, returning to starting position.”

I didn’t spend a night with Mr. Corrigan for nothing.

“That is a do-si-do.”

“Correct,” Mr. Tibbets said.

I smiled to myself. That was slicker than grass through a goose.

The Garfield High School team answered the seventeenth question correctly. Therefore, it was up to Lisa to answer the eighteenth question correctly in order for our team to get a chance to answer the bonus question. If we got the bonus question right, we would tie Garfield and make it to sudden death.

“What Swiss-German psychoanalyst was instrumental in bringing psychology into the twentieth century by developing one of several theories of the unconscious, especially in formulating theories on the collective unconscious and the archetypes?”

“Carl Jung,” Lisa replied without hesitation.

“Correct. Now, for the bonus question: researchers believe that this animal, the biggest, fiercest predator in the Age of the Reptiles, lacked muscle in its legs and was actually slow of foot. Can you name it?”

“I spent my entire childhood reading every dinosaur book ever written,” Mike whispered. “It’s the Tyrannosaurus Rex.”

“Tyrannosaurus Rex,” Lisa said aloud as I held my breath.

“Correct.” I allowed myself to exhale and Mr. Tibbets continued, “We will now move to sudden death. I will ask questions, alternating between the two teams until one team misses and the other team answers correctly. Any team member may buzz in and answer the question.”

We went back and forth three times before Mr. Tibbets asked the unthinkable.

“State the quadratic formula.”

A member from the Garfield team hit her buzzer. “X equals b plus or minus the square root of b squared minus four ac, all over two a.”

“That is incorrect,” Mr. Tibbets said. “Can anyone from the St. Hilary’s team answer this correctly?”

Tim and I both went for the buzzer at the same time, but I beat him by a millisecond. I closed my eyes.

“X equals
negative
b plus or minus the square root of b squared minus four ac, all over two a.”

“Correct!” Mr. Tibbets shouted. “St. Hilary’s High School is this year’s Academic Quiz Bowl Champion!” The audience broke into deafening applause.

We hurdled out of our seats in celebration, jumping up and down and hugging each other in an ecstatic circle.

“They’ll remember our name now,” I screamed to Lisa over the noise, “because everyone remembers the name of the champion!”

T
o celebrate our victory, my parents threw together an impromptu party for Sunday afternoon. Shortly after five p.m., Tim and his family arrived. I opened the door and Tim sauntered in whistling
We Are the Champions
. The Davises and Finnegans arrived next.

“What would you like to drink?” my dad asked Mike and Lisa. “We have cola, lemonade, water. . .”

“No more questions!” Mike exclaimed. “I’ll take whatever you’ve got.”

After Ms. Jackson arrived, my mom wanted a picture of us all with the celebratory cake.

“Everyone move in closer,” my mom commanded, aiming the camera at us.

As Tim leaned against me, I could feel my heart pumping rapidly. Afraid he could feel it, I called out, “Any day now, Mom!”

“I’ve got it,” she said, snapping the picture. “Let’s do a few more—I think Mia’s mouth was open in that one.”

“That wouldn’t be unusual,” Tim commented.

“I heard that,” I said, elbowing him hard in the ribs.

Finally, the pizzas were delivered and everyone spread out to eat and talk. Mike, Lisa, Tim, and I sat in a circle on the floor of the family room, reliving our glory moments from the day before, talking on top of each other.

“I could’ve died when Mia answered the question on the quadratic formula,” Lisa said.

Mike shook his head. “How in the world she pulled that out of her head, I will never know.”

“It was my expert teaching,” Tim exclaimed. “It was well worth your five bucks. Wasn’t it, Mia?”

“I didn’t understand a word you said.” I said, playfully pushing him over. “I swear, I was channeling Mr. Grizzling in my brain.”

Lisa made a face. “How repugnant. Mr. Grizzling was in your brain?”

“So, were you channeling Mr. Corrigan when you answered the square dancing question?” Mike asked.

“It was my expert dancing!” Tim shouted. “I’m telling you, Mia gets all her knowledge from me.”

“Would you shut up?” I said, throwing my pizza crust at him.

Ms. Jackson sat down with us. “I can’t believe you knew the answers to all those questions yesterday. Even I didn’t know some of them.”

“Who told us we had to live, eat, and breathe trivia?” I asked.

“I didn’t think you really would, Mia,” Ms. Jackson said with a laugh. “My blood pressure was sky high during a few tense moments yesterday. In fact, I still need to cool down.”

“That can be arranged,” my mom said, getting out the ice cream containers. “I’ve cut the cake, but I can’t seem to find the ice cream scoop. Have either of you seen it?”

I shook my head. “I haven’t had ice cream all week.”

“I think it’s in the garage,” Chris said. “There was a dead bird in the backyard, and I used it to scoop it up and throw it away.”

My mom gasped. “Chris!”

“I think we have an ice cream scoop at our house you can use,” Mrs. Radford offered. “Tim, will you go over and get it? Mia, could you go with him so he brings back the right thing? Usually, Tim listens to only half of what I say.”

“I know how you feel, Mrs. Radford. I have to be his science partner, and he doesn’t follow directions in there, either.” I rose from the floor and started to follow Tim out the door.

“At least I didn’t set the lab on fire,” Tim replied.

“
I
set the lab on fire? It was
your
fault the table caught fire!”

“Who was stirring the test tube?”

“Who was bothering me?”

“Here we go again,” Lisa moaned. “Go get the ice cream scoop and quit fighting!”

“Yeah, I’m hungry,” Mike called.

“We’re going—that is, if Mia would hurry up,” Tim said, pushing me out the door.

“You’re so slow it takes you an hour and a half to watch
Sixty Minutes
,” I replied, pushing him back. I closed the door behind us. “Lisa’s right. We need to stop arguing all the time. I just can’t take it any more. Is there anything we can do to end our war?”

“I know one way.” Tim leaned over and gently kissed me.

This time, I didn’t pull away. Instead, I pulled out my retainer and kissed him back. After a long, glorious kiss, I finally stepped away.

“I like the way you call a truce,” I said.

“Would you like to sign another peace treaty?” Tim asked hopefully.

“I’m all for world peace.” I smiled and kissed Tim again.

We were in the middle of enjoying our peace accord, when suddenly Tim was ripped out of my arms by an enraged Jake.

“Step off!” he shouted as he punched Tim in the face. “What do you think you’re doin’, triflin’ with my chassy?”

Tim fell to the ground and Jake jumped on top of him, pummeling him with his fists. Tim’s lip split open and began spewing blood. Furiously, Tim grabbed Jake by the shirt and rolled him over. In a fit of rage, he whaled on Jake with his fists. Blood was flying everywhere.

“Jake, what are you doing here?” I said, grabbing Tim by the back of his shirt and pulling him off Jake. “Both of you, stop it!”

Tim punched Jake one last time, and then stood up, gasping for breath. Jake hoisted himself off the ground and panted.

“I had my mom drop me off here so I could give you props for your big win yesterday.”

I bit my lip. “Oh, that’s nice.”

“That’s what I thought, too.” He brushed himself off. “Then I caught this punk gettin’ all up in my bizzness. If he hurt you, I swear I’ll cap on him.”

Tim lunged for Jake again.

“Like you could,” Tim said. “And besides, I didn’t hurt her. She wanted me to kiss her!”

I threw myself between them.

“Tim, go to your house, clean up, and calm down. I need to talk with Jake alone.”

“I don’t trust him with you,” Tim said, wiping the blood off his chin.

“Dude,” Jake replied, spitting blood, “you’re whacked. Mia and I are goin’ out! I can’t trust
you
.”