8A few days later…
Albert pulled out his phone, taking a break from the others. He facetimed Clare, she picked up leaving her camera off,
"Hey! How are you?" he asked, wondering why her camera was off.
"I'm fine, how about you?" her voice sounded different, for some reason.
"I'm good, I'm with the others right now. I was calling to ask if you wanted to come hang out? Jack is willing to come to get you."
"Uh, I don't think that I want to." she said, "I'm really tired, and I have a test tomorrow."
"Oh come on, you're one of the smartest people I know, you'll ace it. Come on, it'll be fun." he urged,
"I really don't feel like it Albert, I'm coming down with something and I wouldn't want to get you sick," she argued,
"Ok, then I'll come to you. Bye, see you in a few." he hung up before she could argue. He went back down to the basement, pulling Jack aside, "Somethings wrong with Clare, I want to go check on her."
"Alright Al, let's go," Jack said, pulling his keys out of his pocket. The two got into the car. Albert watched the buildings go by as they drove towards upper Manhatten to Clare's house. Jack pulled up outside,
"I'll wait in here," he said, Albert got out walking up to the door. He knocked, Clare opened the door.
"Hey," he noticed the bruise on her chin.
"What happened?" he asked worriedly,
"Come on, I'll explain," she said, walking up some stairs, Albert followed. She opened her bedroom door, pictures hung around the room, with a blue bed in the middle, with a few shirts and pants littered across the floor.
"So what exactly happened to your face?" he asked, stepping tentatively outside.
"Girls are crazy, I got beat up by a senior named Grace. She thought I wrote a mean comment about her in the 'burn book'."
"What's a burn book?"
"It's a book someone in the school wrote mean things about in the book, someone put papers of it all over the school. Then Mr. Duval found the book and held us all to talk about it. After a somewhat of a therapy session, no one fessed up. Also, Regina got hit by a bus." Albert paused in confusion,
"Uh, you, got beat up by a senior because of a mean comment, then you had therapy… and then Regina… got hit by a bus."
"Yeah, pretty much, and that's the story of my face," she said,
"Are you ok?"
"Not really, someone wrote some really mean things about me, and my friends in/ there. I'm worried about my teacher, Miss Norberry. Someone put in there she's a drug pusher and she could be fired unless someone fesses up."
"I'm really sorry Clare," he said,
"Regina was dead for a whole fifteen seconds. It was crazy, some people say Cady pushed her. I don't think so, even though she has gotten more and more plastic, I don't think Cady would push Regina in front of a bus." she said,
"I'm so glad I don't go to North Shore," Albert mumbled to himself,
"Believe me you don't, on second thought, I want to come with you to see everybody."
"Racer's gonna get jealous of your bruise." he joked as they walked out to the car.
"I'm counting on it."
A few months later…
The four mathletes raced down the hallway towards the calculus room, where Cady and Ms. Norberry were waiting.
"Yo yo mathletes!" Kevin cheered, "State math championship!" Cady looked around shocked and confused at the excited mathletes jumping around and high fiving, and the girl now on Tyler's back.
"First female eva on the team!" Kev shouted, throwing a mathlete shirt to Cady,
"I hate you, Kevin," Clare grumbled,
"A boxed lunch will be provided!"
"What!" all the mathletes chorused,
"Ms. Norberry, what's going on?" Cady asked very confusedly,
"You got mad squillz Africa," Cady interrupted,
"What are squillz?" she asked,
"It's a fresh new way of saying skills," Kevin said,
"Stop trying to make squillz happen, it's never going to happen!" Marwan shouted,
"Marwan get off my back!" Kevin shouted he cleared his throat, "Welcome to the team Africa."
"Alright Mathletes, let's rollout." Ms. Norberry said, Clare jumped off Tyler's back as they all made a mad dash for the bus, she was more excited for this championship because Albert and all of the newsies were coming.
"Ok team, we gotta win for the Lions, but especially because Clare's boyfriend and company are coming. We gotta show World High who's boss," Marwan said putting his hand in the middle,
"And Mary Mount," Kevin said,
"That's never going away," Clare mumbled putting her hand in, Tyler, Kevin, and Ms. Norberry joined in, "You too Africa," Cady tentatively put her hand in as well.
"GO MATHLETES!" they all cheered, soon everyone had settled in, the boys still being a tad bit crazy, Clare sat down across from Cady who was invested in a book.
"Hey," she said,
"Oh, hi," she said looking up from her book,
"So, I always wanted to ask you about Kenya. I heard it's beautiful." Clare said,
"It is, it's much more quiet than here. My mom and I used to play this game where we would close our eyes and name all the birds we could hear. We don't really do that anymore, here no one really seems awake, walking on pavement all the time. There were also no lights at night, so all you could see were the stars. I would spend a lot of time staring at them when I was younger." she said, getting a wistful gaze.
"Every year I go on this retreat outside of the city, in the country. On one night we'll have a bonfire, I'll go out on my own and stare up at the stars."
"Marwan, I swear!" Kevin shouted, popping up over his seat.
"Kevin!" Ms. Norberry reprimanded, "Sit down."
"Whatever you say teach," he said, plopping back down in his seat.
"Your friends seem… interesting," she said, listening to the boys yelling and cheering.
"Yeah, I've known them since second grade. They've stuck with me through thick and thin, and plus, they seem to like you and most people at North Shore don't really test the waters with other people."
"All my friends in Kenya were animals, and the people that were there couldn't speak English, I was excited to get socialized here in the big city. You're friends kinda behave like baboons." she said, Clare gave her a confused look, "Not like that, Kevin seems to be the alpha, leading you guys and protecting his troop. Then all of you are in his troop."
"Oh, I think they taught us that in Bio… but I don't think I was paying attention."
"My classes back in Kenya were way more interesting, not gonna lie," Cady said, a smile creeping over her face.
"I can believe it," the bus pulled up into the neutral zone for Mary Mount and North Shore.
"Lions, let's go." Ms. Norberry said, gathering her stuff.
"WHO'S READY!" Kevin shouted,
"WE ARE!" everyone else yelled back,
"WE'RE GONNA POUND MARYMOUNT INTO THE GROUND!" Kevin roared,
"That's it, Kevin, get it all out now." Ms. Norberry mumbled getting off the bus with the rowdy Mathletes following after her.
"See, protects troop," Cady said, putting her book into her bag. Soon Ms. Norberry had them checked in and they made their way to the arena of math. The two sides already prepared, Clare glanced over from her spot at the table to see Albert and all the newsies were gathered in the viewing room, she waved, Jack pressed a paper up against the glass.
'You got this king!' It read she smiled, Marwan gave a wave to Albert, nudging Clare, she pulled out her phone quickly before everything was supposed to start up.
Clare to Albert 10:30:
Clare: where's Race?
Albert: he's gonna be a little late, he had a basketball game
Clare: cool, I want Tyler to meet him so I can prove how much they look alike
Albert glanced up from his phone looking at Tyler, he and Race almost looked like twins,
Albert: yeah, they really do
Ms. Norberry walked over,
"Mathletes, we've got this, we've been training-"
"And we're gonna stomp Mary Mount into the ground," Kevin growled,
"Ok then, now we all have to be quiet. Time to take a w here." Ms. Norberry joked, Marwan put a hand on Ms. Norberry's,
"Don't try and be trendy, it's not a good look for you," he said kindly, Ms. Norberry rolled her eyes before walking away.
"Welcome to ICMT State Final Math Championship sponsored by nobody. North Shore with their captain, Kevin Gnapoor, and the Mary Mount captain, Nickolas Campbell. The questions will appear on the screen above me, you will have thirty seconds to answer each question. This is your one reminder for talking, and the audience must remain quiet to let the contestants and myself remain focused. If the teams receive and outside help, the question will be discarded and ten points will be deducted from the team's total score. Please solve for,"
"X equals 2"
"The rate is two pie"
"X is greater than the value of y,"
"Both polynomials are second so the asymptote is that y equals 3."
"Function x equals mx+c,"
"The derivative of f and argument z,"
"Negative 4"
"Negative 2,"
"The slope is zero,"
"The answer is true,"
"1.7 inflection,"
"29!"
"Four is the slope of the tangent line." the teams were all tied up, and were at a timeout,
"Alright Mathletes huddle up," Aaron Samuels came out holdings water for everyone. "This question is the last chance we have to win, if you get chosen for the sudden death, we're counting on you." Ms. Norberry, "Let's stomp Mary Mount into the ground." she said, fist-bumping Kevin.
"That's right Ms. Norberry!" he said excitedly, all the mathletes went back to their spots. Clare took a deep breath,
"For all the marbles," she said,
"Whatever marbles we have left," Marwan added,
"With both teams tied up, we move into a sudden death round where each team may choose their opponent, Mary Mount who do you select?"
"We pick the girl with all the makeup," he said,
"We pick the girl too." Kevin snapped back, both Cady and the girl from Mary Mount moved up to the podium." the problem appeared on the screen,
"Please find the limit." everyone started to solve the problem, as soon as she finished she stared at Cady who was seeming to freeze up.
"Come on Africa," she whispered, saying a silent prayer. A buzzer went off, Mary Mount's red filling the room.
"The limit is negative one." the girl said, trying to rub it in Cady's face. The room held its breath.
"That's incorrect, thirty more seconds North Shore." the moderator said,
"The limit does not exist," Cady murmured to herself,
"Please repeat North Shore,"
"The limit does not exist!" Cady shouted,
"Our new state champions! The North Shore Mathletes!" the room exploded,
"OH YEAH! YOU LIKE THAT MARY MOUNT!" Kevin screamed, excitedly jumping in their faces, the team left the room, leaving the cheering mathletes alone. Aaron came out holding letterman jackets, he tossed one to each of the players, Clare spun around, showing off her brand new jacket. The Newsies were all finally let into the room,
"King!" Race excitedly ran into the room, with Albert not far behind.
"Way to take the win," Albert said, excitedly hugging her. Race paused spotting Tyler,
"Tyler?" he asked,
"Ben?" he asked, staring back at Race,
"Hang on, you two know each other?" Clare asked, the two ran embracing each other,
"I thought I'd never see you again."
"Explanation please," Marwan said, both of the boys were too busy hugging to answer. As soon as they both finished, gathering themselves,
"My last name was Higgins until I was adopted," Tyler said, putting an arm around Race.
"We were separated in the foster system when we were really little, this is my little brother Ben," Tyler said,
"Whoa, you have a little brother?" Clare asked,
"We really thought we would never see each other again after we got separated. Which is why I got excited when you said you had a friend named Tyler who looked like me," Race said, hugging his brother again.
"As much as I hate to break up this happy reunion, Mathletes we have a Spring Fling to attend to."
"I'm banned though," Cady said disappointedly,
"Everyone is scared of me now, I can get you in." Ms. Norberry said, "You know what, all of you can come. After this year, Mr. Duval won't care. To North Shore, let's go!" the Mathletes piled into the bus along with a group of the newsies, the other half going with the people they carpooled with.
"That was incredible King, I didn't even know what they were talking about," Jojo said, climbing over Race and Tyler.
"Well, math makes my life make sense. Not many people share my affinity for it." Clare said,
"What's an affinity?" Les asked, poking his head over Davey's shoulder.
"It's a love of something goober," he said, ruffling his little brother's hair.
"How did you guys all end up meeting?" Ms. Norberry asked the new group of kids. Clare slapped a hand over Marwan's mouth,
"Albert and I met outside of my church, and then I met the rest of them," she said quickly, Marwan finally prying her hand off of his mouth.
"And her boyfriend," he whispered jokingly, she punched him in the arm. Soon they pulled up in front of North Shore,
"Alright everyone, into the school." all the Newsies and Mathletes rushed into the school and started to party hard to the music that was playing. Gretchen came over admiring Clare's letterman jacket with Regina and Karen in toe.
"That jacket is so fetch," she said,
"Thanks… I guess."
"Congrats state champs," Regina said, walking off.
"Was Regina George actually nice to me?" she asked Tyler,
"I'm not sure, take and it run." he joked grabbing her hand and rushing over to their group of friends, the music cut out.
"Can all the nominees for King and Queen join me on the stage," Mr. Duval said, "To me, you're all winners, but I could not be happier this school year is ending. Here we go, the winner of the Spring Fling King is Shane Oman."
"Whoo!" Shane fist-pumped,
"Who saw that coming?" Marwan mumbled,
"And Spring Fling queen is Cady Heron." she looked around confused for a minute before walking on stage. Mr. Duval put the crown on her head and stepped off to the side, Cady stepped in front of the microphone.
"Um… I think I'm up here because most of you think I pushed someone in front of a bus, and that's bad."
"It's not required of you to make a speech." Mr. Duval said,
"I'm almost done I promise," she said, "To all the people who got hurt by the burn book, I'm really sorry. I've never really been to one of these things before,"
"Most people just take the crown and leave," Mr. Duval interrupted,
"I was just thinking about how many people wanted this," she said, taking the crown off of her head. "Under these lights, it sparkles like it's made of diamonds, but really it's just plastic. It's cheap, fake, and easy to break." she snapped the crown in half. "I want to share it with all of you because all of you sparkle, like the stars in Kenya. You make North Shore shine, so here, take it." she tossed pieces out to different girls in the crowd. Clare caught hers, "You're all stars."
"Look I'm a queen," she said, holding up her fragment of the crown,
"You sure are King," Albert said,