Part 17 (1/2)

I walked at a slower pace. That judge was right. It would be nice if I had a more evenly balanced team. I had to do what was necessary to win with the only partner I could get.

Mr. Robarb was visibly distraught when we saw him in the gym. When I saw the winners of the last round, I understood why. He had only two teams advance to the next round. Bethany and Laura and Jared and me. I couldn't believe Leslie and the Blimp were taken out at round one. Leslie was livid. Evidently, the Blimp had really messed up and cost the round. He was nowhere to be seen.

Our next round was with two girls. Honestly, they seemed like they should be competing in the novice division. I took no delight in producing easy evidence against every single argument. When we were done, one of the girls started crying. Her teammate looked at me with accusing eyes. I felt like a bully. By the judge's demeanor, she felt like I was, too. But she had to give us the round.

We were starting to see some of the kids from our school pop into the cla.s.srooms to watch some of the debates. I liked an audience, especially when I was on a roll and we were refuting every argument thrown at us.

The schools were being served lunch in the gym. Jared ran after our squad to sit with them. As usual, I wasn't eating lunch. I sat down in the debate room to close my eyes and think about our case. We were presenting next and I was using some new material.

”Hey, Bea,” I heard Brody say from the doorway. I opened my eyes to see him leaning against the frame.

”Brody, what are you doing here?”

”It's still school for the rest of us,” he laughed. ”How's debate going?”

”Good. We won our first two rounds.”

”Congrats. Do you think I can watch you in the next round?”

I felt my stomach tighten. I wasn't sure how I felt about Brody watching me. It might make me too uncomfortable and I'd lose my focus. ”I don't know,” I said hesitantly.

”Would it make you uncomfortable?”

”Maybe,” I said.

”Too bad. I'd love to see you in action. But I understand.”

I picked up my case in my hand. ”I need to go over this before the next round.”

”I know you're busy. It was good seeing you. You look really good in your suit.”

I felt a big smile spread over my face. ”Thanks, Brody.”

He smiled back and held up his hand to say goodbye before walking out. If anything made me distracted, it would be Brody. I didn't know what was going on with him and Lanie because I'd been so caught up in this debate that I hadn't been working much. Dang. I missed seeing him around.

I sat in the debate room till the third round was about to start. Jared met me outside the music room. Thankfully, he didn't have food in his teeth or on his clothes. He actually seemed to be in a good mood.

”I sat by the team we're debating against,” he said cheerfully when he met up with me.

My heart sank at his words. ”What did you talk about?”

”I felt really good about myself. They were asking questions about our case and I couldn't believe that I remembered. I mean, you must have drilled this debate stuff in my brain.”

I tried to remain calm. I really did. ”You told them about our case, Jared?”

He was oblivious to how I was feeling. ”I couldn't remember all of it, but I was proud that I remembered a lot.”

”Jared, do you realize what you just did? You gave them an advantage.”

”Naw,” he protested. ”They already knew most of the stuff I told them. I didn't give away any secrets.”

I was seething inside. I didn't know whether to knock him in the head or open my mouth and yell at him like a drill sergeant. ”You know what? I'm not sharing any more information with you, Jared. I can't believe you wouldn't think before sharing our debate evidence.”

Jared suddenly started laughing. ”Gotcha! I'm not as stupid as people think I am. I did sit beside Chad and Todd, and they were pumping me for information--like I didn't know what they were doing. I fed them what they wanted to hear. Those boys bought all the manure I was shoveling to them that they're swimming in it.”

”You mean, you didn't give our case away--all those hours of preparation aren't down the drain?”

Jared grinned broadly. ”You're the one who told me to be paranoid of everyone. You're right. I knew the minute those boys came over and started being friendly that they were up to no good.”

”Jared, I could just squeeze you,” I said with a relieved smile.

”Don't you start trying to get frisky with me, Beatrice,” he joked.

I'm not a sentimental girl. I'm putting that out there because I just happened to look at Jared through new eyes. He had stood beside me through all the rounds, taken my foot stomps, bad att.i.tude, yelling--and yet, he still came through for me when it mattered. It reminded me of our first debate tournament. He was someone I would call a friend. As crazy as that might sound.

”Jared, we can win this thing.”

”I know we can,” he said with conviction. ”You keep feeding me the words to say and I won't let you down.”

I reached out and gave him an awkward hug. Some idiot walking by gave us a shout. Really. Like I would ever hug Jared that way.

”Let's get to our next round,” I said and grabbed my file cabinets.

”You know we're the last team standing, right?”

I stopped in my tracks. ”Are you serious? Bethany and Laura didn't win?”

He shook his head no. ”Nope. It's just us now.”

I felt an increase in pressure as we continued walking. This round would determine if we would advance to semi-finals. I told myself to breathe. We couldn't let our school down.

The judge was already in the room when we got there. Chad and Todd were there too. Wearing great big grins. Jared walked by, holding up his hand to give them a high five as we pa.s.sed.

”Hey, fellas,” he said loudly.

I settled into my seat and got us prepared. Jared looked over the new case I had pulled out. I know he wasn't really paying attention to the changes, but to the judge it would appear that he was getting ready for the round to start.

I stood up and waited for the judge to give me a green light to start. As soon as I had it, I started off at a quick pace, conscious of Chad and Todd scrambling to grab their pads to write it down. They had underestimated us and were caught completely off guard. For once, Jared had contributed to the round in a big way.

For the rest of the round, the other team seemed as though they were to trying to catch up. Their arguments weren't solid and they couldn't produce evidence against my case that would make them win.

It was actually a dull debate round. Several of the music students had stopped by half way through and watched us. They gave us a thumbs up when it was over. I appreciated their support and kind of wished I hadn't discouraged Brody from watching us.

I stayed in the music room while everyone left. Jared ran to the gym to find out the results. I felt more calm the less interaction I had with the other teams. It wasn't long before Jared poked his head through the door.

”We're in the semi-finals,” he said happily.