Schooling the Jock (Nerds Vs Jocks #1) - - Eli Easton Page 0,88

food. When my stomach growled so loud during practice they could hear it on the other side of the table, Jax got up and retrieved the little that was left on the buffet after the undergraduate locusts had descended. One bowl of oatmeal and raisins later and all I wanted to do was sleep.

When Dobbs stood to take us to the first match, there were prisoners marching to the firing squad with more enthusiasm than me. I mean, rushing here to declare myself and save the day had been romantic and all, but now I had to actually perform.

Dobbs squeezed my hand, which felt cold as ice, but at the door to the room, Felix stopped me. “Listen, man. I’m sorry for giving you shit. You’ve done good. Really good. I started Quiz Bowl in fourth grade, so I’m a little anal about it.” A big smile spread across his boyish face. “I guess you are too. Get it?” He laughed uproariously, and I had to admit, the walk-to-the-hanging-tree mood lifted a bit.

Inside the small room were three long tables: one for the moderators, and two for the teams of four people each. The other team, already seated, had two guys and two women. Hoo boy, nerd central. I could hear my fraternity brothers shoveling crap on the glasses, khakis, anime T-shirts, and general air of seriousness. To me, they just looked intimidating.

The match spread out in front of me like an endless trial even though the whole thing would be over in a half hour. I clutched my hands on the table as the judges read the rules.

Suddenly, Dobbs, who’d carefully seated himself next to me, covered my clenching fists with his warm hand. When I looked at him, he flashed the dimples. Softly, he said, “Give ’em the hard Knox.”

At that moment, the first question in the category, physics, was read, and Dobbs withdrew his hand. My brain whirred. It sounded so familiar. In a flash, Sai buzzed in and answered, and I realized I’d been right. I could have responded.

The guy at the head table powered on. Among those that have been found to date in bacteria include IS3, which can be among the 10-20 found in the typical E. coli cell.

All the questions, all the weeks, all the cramming flowed through me like electricity and my finger crammed the buzzer. “Transposable elements.”

“Correct. Fifteen points.”

He was reading the next question before I got that I’d not only been correct, I’d answered so fast I got the bonus points. I felt a flush of elation. Holy shit. Dobbs squeezed my knee, but his other hand flashed to the buzzer to answer the next question.

I never answered another question that fast for the rest of the round, but I did answer, and none of them were wrong. On the bonus rounds, I contributed and knew the answers several times. While I might not have pulled my weight, considering how big I was—Ha. Ha—I didn’t embarrass myself or screw our team. At the end of the half hour, we walked away with a pretty easy win.

There was no time to gloat. Hell, we barely had a minute to pee before we had to be in the next room for round two.

We won again, not quite as easily, but round two flowed into round three and another narrow victory. I was starting to appreciate just how amazing Dobbs, Sai, and Felix truly were. Then it was lunch, and I finally got to fill my belly with food. I sleepwalked out of the restaurant toward our first afternoon session.

Dobbs squeezed my arm. “How you holding up?”

“It may be good I’m too tired to think. Operating on remote control lets all the crap you’ve shoveled into my head come pouring out with no interference from me.” I smiled. I was too tired to laugh.

The next round we only won by one question, but it was enough, and after that, it was all a blur. When we went to dinner, everyone was excited because we were one of the teams in the lead and so was the division two team.

As we ate, the guys strategized and discussed the other teams that were doing well. They’d all been in Quiz Bowl so long, there weren’t many of the players or teams they didn’t know. I tried to keep up, but by the time I’d finished my salad and salmon, my eyelids were drooping.

Sai brayed, “Somebody better catch Jesse’s head before it lands in the broccoli.”