getting a BS in nursing. So”—he shifted uncomfortably in his seat—“Rand and Tray thought it would be best to send me.”
I glanced at Billings and Johnson. They both looked back at me with eyebrows raised in surprise.
“You’re getting a BSN,” I said flatly. A BSN was more advanced than an RN. It was a popular choice for those who wanted to be a doctor but couldn’t hack the fifteen years of education and expense of getting an MD. Madison was well-known for their tough BSN program. A guy I knew who was taking it said it was brutal.
“Yup.” Jesse didn’t look at me.
“And you’re a senior?”
“Junior.”
Huh. “What classes are you taking right now?” I asked.
His gaze hugged the carpet. “Uh…it’s more nursing stuff this year. Pathophysiology, Health and Illness, Psychosocial Health Care, and an anatomy lab. But I’ve done chem and biology and calculus and physics. All that.”
I didn’t want to be impressed.
“That’s great, Dobbs!” Billings said. He looked at Jesse. “One of our best sciences guys, Sean McKinney, is going over to your side to play flag football. So it’d be awesome if you could be a heavy hitter there.”
“Cool,” Jesse said coldly, only glancing at Billings, who was trying to be friendly.
I wasn’t so sure how great it was. It remained to be seen if Jesse could be a “heavy hitter” for us in sciences or not. Just because he was taking those classes didn’t mean he was good at them. No one deserved to be that gorgeous and have a high IQ. It would throw off the balance of the universe or something.
And even guys who were good academically sometimes froze up at the fast pace of Quiz Bowl. I was reserving judgment.
“Okay. Well. SMT team, why don’t you introduce yourselves? List the areas you excel at in Quiz Bowl along with your name.”
The guys all gave their deets. The division one team included me, Sai, Felix, and now, Jesse. Sai was best at philosophy and history, especially Asian and East Indian. Felix was our math and tech wizard. The division two team was Billings, Johnson, Jorge, and now, PJ. Billings was best at American history and consumer trivia. If you wanted to know what brands of cereal were on the market in 1963, or how many soldiers fought on each side at Gettysburg, Billings was your man. Johnson was better at current events, arts, and music. Jorge was an all-around type. He pulled the most obscure answers out of his ass sometimes. He was only a sophomore, but he was definitely division one material.
In Quiz Bowl, you wanted everyone on the team to be good at general knowledge, to be strong overall. But having team members with diverse strengths helped, especially as you moved up and the questions got harder and more specialized.
After everyone had gone around, I started. “Okay. So let’s talk about the schedule—”
“What about you?” Jesse interrupted.
I’d avoided looking at him for a while. Because looking at him threatened my frayed temper and threw me off my game. It was hard enough to stay positive in the face of PJ’s smirks. But now I met Jesse’s gaze.
I’d never noticed before, but his eyes were a dark mossy green. Maybe they’d be hazel in some lights.
He stared at me.
“I’m sorry, what do you mean?” I said brilliantly.
“Your areas of expertise?” Jesse said slowly as if I were being dim.
“Oh. Uh. Computer science. Literature. Earth sciences.”
“Dobbs knows everything,” Felix put in. He put his arm over the back of his chair and gave PJ a challenging look. “Wait till you see him in action.”
PJ made a puffing noise with his cheeks, unimpressed.
“So, about the schedule…,” I went on. Sweat trickled down my side under my long-sleeved T-shirt. It was January, and the house wasn’t that warm. I ignored it. “Normally, our teams wouldn’t compete again until sectionals, given our standing. That’s still true for our division two team. That’s you, PJ. You should still start practicing now, though, because there’s a lot to catch up on.”
I looked at Jesse. “Jesse, you’ll be on our division one team. We had to request special approval to add you since you haven’t competed in Quiz Bowl before and division one is, well, top of the league. They’ll allow it, but only if we win another Wisconsin regional meet with you on board to show we’re still competitive. There aren’t a lot of opportunities left this time of year, so we need to win in Milwaukee on February thirteenth.